What Are Ceramides, and Why Does Your Skin Need Them?

If your skin barrier had a favorite ingredient, it would probably be ceramides. Why? Well, ceramides are lipids, fatty molecules found in the skin’s outermost layer, and they work to reinforce the skin barrier, helping to prevent transepidermal water loss—which plumps the skin and minimizes the look of fine lines and wrinkles—calm irritation, and protect against external stressors. In other words, ceramides are essential for keeping your skin smooth, healthy, and resilient. 

Here, we’re taking a deep dive into ceramides, explaining how they work, why they’re so important, and how to incorporate them into your routine.

Ceramides in Skincare: Where They Come From, How They Work, and What They Do for Skin

Your skin barrier is the outermost layer of your skin. It’s made up of skin cells surrounded by a lipid complex, which consists of ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids. This protective lipid structure helps your skin keep moisture in and external stressors (think: irritants, pollutants, etc.) out. Ceramides make up 50% of the lipids in this structure, making them very important to maintaining a healthy skin barrier. 

Picture your skin barrier—the outer layer of your skin—as a brick wall. The bricks are your skin cells, and the mortar holding everything together is the lipid complex, which includes ceramides. When the mortar is intact, the wall is able to do its job. But when the mortar cracks or develops gaps, the wall isn’t able to stay as strong or act as a protectant. 

The state of your skin barrier is an important factor in how your skin behaves. When the barrier is healthy—a.k.a. there are no gaps in the lipid structure—your skin feels hydrated, calm, and balanced. But when it’s compromised, the barrier struggles to keep moisture in and harmful irritants out, which can lead to dryness, redness, sensitivity, breakouts, and inflammation.

We naturally produce our own ceramides, but production decreases as we age. Plus, seasonal changes, harsh skincare products, UV exposure, and other environmental stressors can also cause ceramide levels to drop.

When this happens, the skin barrier can start to break down, and a damaged barrier has trouble holding in water and protecting the skin. Using topical skincare products with ceramides—like Instant Angel Lipid-Rich Firming Moisturizer—helps replenish the supply, keeping the skin barrier healthy, hydrated, and resilient.

Here’s what ceramides do for your skin:

• Supports the Skin Barrier: Ceramides help close the gaps between skin cells, creating a strong and resilient barrier. A strong skin barrier keeps moisture in and irritants out, and ceramides play an important role in maintaining that strength. Plus, when skin is more resilient, it’s able to better tolerate active ingredients like exfoliants or retinoids.

• Reduces Transepidermal Water Loss (TEWL): When your barrier is compromised, your skin loses water faster than it can hold onto it (this process is called transepidermal water loss), making your skin dry and flaky. Ceramides can help fill in those gaps in the barrier, slowing down moisture loss and keeping skin hydrated. This plumps the skin and reduces the appearance of fine lines, leaving skin looking firm, smooth, and full.

• Calms Sensitivity and Irritation: When skin is feeling reactive or uncomfortable, ceramides can help reinforce the barrier to keep irritants out. This barrier reinforcement helps to calm inflammation, soothe redness, and make the skin less reactive overall. 

• Supports Long-Term Skin Health: Rather than providing a quick fix, ceramides work to keep your barrier intact, resilient, and calm, both in the moment and for years to come. They create the conditions for your skin to function properly and handle daily stressors.

Humectants vs. Emollients vs. Occlusives: Where Do Ceramides Fit In?

All moisturizing ingredients—a.k.a. ingredients that help increase the skin’s moisture levels—can be divided into three categories: humectants, emollients, and occlusives.

Humectants, like hyaluronic acid, attract water to the skin’s surface from moisture in the air. They can also draw water to the surface from the skin’s deeper layers. Humectants work to boost the skin’s water levels. 

Occlusives, which include ingredients like petrolatum, don’t add hydration to the skin; instead, they form a barrier on top of the skin to seal in moisture and stop it from evaporating. They can help keep your skin hydrated for longer. 

Emollients—ceramides are a part of this category—fill in the gaps between skin cells to reinforce the barrier, prevent water loss, and help to soften and smooth the skin.

You’ll want to apply products with these ingredients in order of thinnest to thickest. Humectants are typically the thinnest and most lightweight out of the three, so they should be first. Emollients come next, followed by occlusives to lock in moisture.

Do You Need a Moisturizer with Ceramides? (Short Answer: Yes)

Because ceramides play an essential role in supporting a strong and healthy skin barrier, all skin types can benefit from adding them into their routine.

A moisturizer with ceramides like Instant Angel Lipid-Rich Firming Moisturizer can help support the skin barrier by replenishing lost lipids and reducing water loss. In a clinical study with daily application of Instant Angel, 100% of people had improvement in skin barrier function and visible plumpness in 24 hours.* 

It's also formulated with meadowestolide, a plant-derived ingredient that functions just like the natural ceramides found in skin, delivering the same benefits of a ceramide while keeping the formula affordable (since ceramides themselves are notoriously expensive to formulate with—you can read more about that here).

You can also find humectants—like glycerin and urea—in Instant Angel to boost skin’s hydration levels, plus peptides to help visibly firm skin. In a clinical study, 100% of participants had an increase in hydration, glow, and brightness on application, and a reduction in the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles after four weeks.*

How to Use Ceramides in Your Routine Without Overthinking It

Ceramides work well with most ingredients and can be easily incorporated into almost any skincare routine. A simple rule: apply your ceramide-rich moisturizer after your serum and humectant-rich moisturizer (if you’re layering creams), but before SPF in the morning. At night, use it as your final skincare step to help support your skin barrier while you sleep.

Maximizing Your Results: How to Combine Ceramides with Other Skincare Ingredients

Ceramides are great on their own, but if you pair them with other skincare ingredients, your skin can benefit even more.

Take peptides, for example. When combined with ceramides, the two work together to support the skin barrier, calm skin, and promote collagen and elastin production, which can lead to increased firmness and overall skin health. When niacinamide is paired with ceramides, it can improve both barrier function and visible skin tone. Niacinamide also helps boost the skin’s own natural ceramide production. 

You can find both niacinamide and peptides in Deliverance 3-in-1 Repair Serum; pair it with Instant Angel to get broad support without overloading your routine. You can also find peptides in Air Angel Peptide Plumping Gel Cream—on the days you feel your skin needs a little more hydration, consider moisture wardrobing a.k.a. layering Instant Angel over Air Angel. This is especially helpful during the winter months, for those with dry skin, or those living in a dry climate.

The Bottom Line: Ceramides Are Skincare Staples, Not Trends

Ceramides don’t provide dramatic, overnight results, but adding a ceramide-rich moisturizer into your routine and using it consistently changes how your skin feels and functions over time. For skin that's dry, sensitive, or reactive, ceramides help give it the structural support it's missing. And for skin that's already in good shape, they help keep it that way.

As always, you’re Dieux-ing great.

*Based on a 4-week independent clinical study of 40 panelists, measured via instrumentation and expert grading.