Unfortunately this is partially something you will just have to deal with until your skin gets used to it. Whenever starting a new topical medication almost everyone goes through a period of extreme dryness until their skin eventually adjusts to the medication, regardless of how good their skincare routine is. Especially since you started using 2 different topicals at once right off the bat.

Did your derm prescribe you both and tell you to use both of them daily? What you might want to do is start off slow, using them every other day or alternating between the two and eventually build up to using one in the morning and the other at night. That should definitely help.

The reason your moisturizer isn't sinking into your face that well is because the build up of dead skin cells on the surface of your skin is preventing it from absorbing properly. Topical medications act as chemical exfoliants on the skin - they speed up cell turnover and cause you to shed dead skin cells much faster. This will get better as your skin adjusts.If your skin isn't too sensitive... I like to use a gentle exfoliating cleanser 1-2 times a week followed by a nourishing/moisturizing mask (I use raw honey). The exfoliation gets rid of any dead skin cells/flakes so that the mask can penetrate my skin more thoroughly - it makes it super soft.

My derm recommended cleansing my face with Cetaphil cleanser, applying Aczone and then a moisturizer to follow. And then makeup and so forth. At night is the same routine except using Tazorac instead. I suppose I could skip to every other night, I was just worried about the effectiveness of the medications if I did that. I do exfoliate to try and remove the dry skin, but it doesn't seem like it's done much else either. Thank you for your help though

Hi, I know this might sound crazy, but try Vaseline. It always works wonders as a moisturizer:)