As your skin naturally repairs itself at night, your nighttime routine should be all about treatment and giving your skin what it needs, says Dr. Rogers. “If your skin is looking dull, exfoliate. If it is irritated, hydrate and protect.” Here’s the best order of skin care products to make sure you get the most out of them:

Aside from addressing crow’s feet and dark circles, eye creams can also serve to protect your delicate eye area from your other skin care products.

“Generally, you’d want to apply your eye cream before your treatments to protect your eye area against potent ingredients, which could potentially cause irritation,” according to Dr. Rogers.

Like the rest of the body, skin does the bulk of its repairing, restoring and regenerating as we sleep. This is why most targeted skin care treatments—like prescription meds (tretinoin, acne and rosacea creams), retinol creams, exfoliating treatments (peel pads and masks) and anti-aging serums (infused with peptides, growth factors and other biologically active ingredients)—are better used at night. However, instead of layering up all your treatment serums and creams, Dr. Rogers suggests choosing your evening treatment depending on your skin’s of-the-moment needs.

“Too many steps just increase the risk of irritation and decrease the likelihood of the desired result,” says Dr. Rogers. “Pick your evening treatment based on what your skin needs that night, not based on what you have in your medicine cabinet. Some nights, it may be just wash, moisturize and bed. There is always tomorrow to give your skin more love.”