This Top-Tested Night Cream Firms Skin While You Sleep

We carefully reviewed this article in April 2023 and stand by our picks.

The key to maximizing your beauty sleep could be adding a night cream to your evening skincare routine, say top dermatologists. "Night is the best time to treat skin and repair concerns such as water loss, skin aging and dark spots," says Howard Sobel, M.D., attending dermatologist and dermatologic surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and founder of Sobel Skin. "This uninterrupted state is the optimum time for ‘rest and repair’ since you don’t have to protect skin against daily assaults such as UV damage, blue light exposure and pollutants, and skin is free of makeup and other pore clogging residue that disrupts the repair process."

But how is a night cream different than your typical daytime face moisturizer? "Whereas regular moisturizers focus on improving the natural moisture barrier of the skin only, night creams contain active ingredients that assist with improving the skin beyond adding moisture," explains Tonya McLeod, M.D., a dermatologist in Charlotte, North Carolina. Night creams are packed with effective skincare ingredients and powerful anti-agers that aim to address skin concerns like lines, wrinkles and dark spots, leading to a more hydrated, youthful-looking complexion over time.

Our top picks:

To find out which night creams really work, the Good Housekeeping Institute Beauty Lab scientists, who have decades of experience rigorously testing night creams, assess efficacy both in the Lab using technical instruments that can measure skin hydration and changes in wrinkles and dark spots, as well as on consumers at home, who evaluate them on ease of use and cosmetic factors. Here, read more about the best night creams you can buy according to GH Beauty Lab testing, including picks for all ages, skin types and budgets.

Take note: While these creams can hydrate and brighten your skin, they work best in tandem with a good night's sleep, the body's natural repair process. "Growth hormone, produced during deep sleep, plays a role in protein synthesis, which helps our bodies heal damage to cells, including skin," explains Christopher Winter, M.D., a sleep medicine specialist in Charlottesville, Virginia.