So, I'm still in the "gather all the information" stage and this is something I haven't seen before.

I've got the Asian Skincare 101 post from the sidebar pulled up and saved while I look into products I might be interested in trying out, and in that post there's this:

Here are some popular ingredients and their functions:

Vitamin C: Brightens, fades sunspots and age spots, repairs sun damage, increases collagen production over time.

Niacinimide: Brightens, fades sunspots and age spots, strengthens skin's moisture barrier

Snail secretion filtrate/snail mucin/snail goo: Alleviates redness, treats pimples, speeds healing, repairs sun damage, evens skin tone. Source[2]

Arbutin: Brightens, fades sunspots and age spots by blocking the expression of melanin with long term use.

Yeast ferment extract/galactomyces/saccharomyces: Brightens, fades sunspots and age spots, evens skin tone, controls cell turnover and oiliness

Hyaluronic acid/Sodium hyaluronate: Hydrates by attracting and binding water within the skin

Glycerin: Hydrates by attracting and binding water within the skin

Salicylic acid: Chemical exfoliant (BHA) for the clearing of pores and treatment of acne; anti-inflammatory. Requires a pH between 3 and 4 to be effective.

Glycolic acid: (a type of AHA) Chemical exfoliant for the smoothing of skin's surface and treatment of acne; hydrating. Requires a pH between 3 and 4 to be effective.

Hydroquinone: Lightens dark spots. A controversial ingredient, hydroquinone--commonly associated with “skin bleaching” products--is rarely offered in over-the-counter products, except in extremely low concentrations, and you won’t encounter it much in popular Asian skincare lines. Hydroquinone works by inhibiting the activity of tyrosinase by acting as melanocyte cytotoxic inhibitor and by increasing the cytotoxicity of melanocytes. Arbutin is a gentler and much more common cousin of hydroquinone.

Kojic Acid: Also lightens dark spots. Kojic acid lightens the skin by suppressing tyrosiase activity and is commonly used in topical formulations to treat dark spots. Kojic acid has a higher efficacy than arbutin in lightening the skin. (source: Skin Lightening and Depigmenting Agents : Article by Alaina James)

Mandelic acid (a type of AHA), a popular option for those who react poorly to the more common AHA options.

Starfish extract: Could starfish be the new snail? The preliminary research is promising, showing starfish’s anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, whitening, and wound healing potential. Source[3]

So I read through the ingredients and picked a few that sound like they could help me and started searching, searching, searching, and now my question. Because many, if not all, of these ingredients are prominent in products across multiple steps, is there a "most efficient" order for ingredients (not product order).

Err... I guess the better way to word this is should I try to get certain ingredients in certain product types so that they are applied in a certain order?

/End confusing post here