Here's some great basic information supplied to us from our friends at Meg 21. 

Wash your face and apply a moisturizer. It’s the motherhood and apple-pie advice offered by just about every beauty professional. Moisturizers are one of the best selling skincare products on the market. Not everyone will use an antioxidant serum, nor apply a sunscreen, but at the very least most will apply a moisturizer on a regular basis.
Now for the million-dollar question: Which moisturizer is ideal? Everyone wants a great moisturizer, but how can you tell you’re getting one that’s best-in-class?

Not all moisturizers are created equal.

A great moisturizer will perform three functions:

1. Attract Moisture
2. Bond Moisture
3. Trap Moisture

To determine whether or not a moisturizer will perform all 3 functions, carefully examine the ingredients.

Attract Moisture
Ingredients that attract moisture to the skin are know as humectants, which work by attracting water to the upper layer of the skin (stratum corneum). Look for ingredients such as:

•  Propylene Glycol
• Glycerin
• Aloe Vera Gel

If a moisturizer contains one of these ingredients, it is pulling moisture from the environment into the upper layer of the skin.

Bond Moisture
Moisturizers should contain specific ingredients called Emollients, that bond moisture to the skin, smooth fine lines and nourish. There are a long list of emollients that bond moisture to the skin. Some of the most popular include:

• Jojoba Oil
• Squalene
• Shea Butter
• Coco Seed Butter
• Coconut Oil

Trap Moisture
Finally, in order to keep all of the attracted and bonded moisture in the skin, moisturizers should contain a third key ingredient, Occlusives. They trap moisture in the skin to ensure ongoing positive moisture content. A few of the most popular are:

• Dimethicone
• Mineral Oil
• Zinc Oxide
• Lanolin

Occlusives also give many moisturizers that cosmetically elegant glide when applying the product to the skin. Often times occlusives get a bad reputation as being comedogenic or pore clogging. However, in small quantities they perform this valuable function without any adverse reactions.

Most high-quality moisturizers will contain emollients as the bulk of their ingredients Emollients nourish and hydrate as they bond with the skin cells. If a moisturizer contains mostly occlusive ingredients, it’s just trapping moisture rather than nourishing the skin.

The MEG 21 with Supplamine® Face Treatment and Advanced Formula are both sophisticated moisturizers that contain Supplamine, a patented ingredient that prevents and inactivates glycation and relieve inflammation. In addition, MEG 21 products with Supplamine are formulated with sophisticated humectants, emollients and occlusives to ensure the most sophisticated performance, leaving the skin perfectly moisturized