After cleansing i know i need to seal in hydration with a moisturizing cream. is there any benefit to layering a lotion underneath the cream?

duplicating efforts: Moisturizing lotion is lighter than a cream. So adding lotion first, and moisturizer is not going to make the effects any better. In fact you may be somewhat duplicating effort. If you're using a moisturizing cream at night, you probably will not need the lotion. A serum would be better to use in place of a lotion, if you're going to combine it with the moisturizing cream. This depends how dry your skin is.