Preservatives have a bad reputation in skincare marketing, with labels proudly announcing what a product is free from. Yet any product that contains water needs something to stop bacteria and mould from growing in it, and an unpreserved or poorly preserved cream can be far riskier for your skin than a well-preserved one. Most cosmetic…
Some foundations barely even out skin tone, while others can hide a birthmark or a dark under-eye circle in one layer. Labels such as sheer, medium and full coverage describe the result, but what actually makes one formula more opaque than another, and why do some full-coverage products look natural while others look heavy? Makeup…
Combination skin makes choosing a face oil tricky. Your cheeks may feel tight and flaky while your forehead, nose and chin are shiny by lunchtime, sometimes on the very same day. An oil that comforts the dry areas might leave the T-zone greasy or congested. For combination skin, the best face oils are usually light,…
Exfoliation is often presented as essential for smooth, glowing skin. But for many people, scrubs sting, acids leave the face red and tight, and every attempt ends with a week of repair. If that sounds familiar, the good news is that smoother skin does not depend on harsh exfoliation. Gentler alternatives to exfoliation include better…
Ten-step routines, new launches every week and endless advice about which serum you are missing can leave you with a bathroom shelf full of half-used bottles and skin that seems no better for it. Sometimes it is worse, because every extra product is another chance for irritation. A minimalist routine for most people is three…
Travel days are hard on skin. Hours in dry cabin air, sunlight streaming through a plane or car window, snacks instead of meals, broken sleep and then a completely different climate at the other end. It is no surprise that many people arrive with tight, dull skin or a crop of breakouts a few days…
Most faces are not one skin type. A shiny forehead and nose, dry cheeks, a patch of breakouts on the chin: one mask applied all over will suit some areas and not others. Multi-masking is the simple idea of using different masks on different zones at the same time, so each part of your face…
Skincare advice is full of warnings about which actives must never be mixed. Vitamin C and niacinamide, retinol and acids, benzoyl peroxide and almost anything. Follow every rule and you end up with a routine that feels like a chemistry exam. A small number of combinations really can make one active less effective. The best-known…
If your skin feels tight and flaky every winter and shiny and congested every summer, your routine is not failing you. Your skin is responding to changes in temperature, humidity, sun and indoor heating, and a routine that worked perfectly in one season can feel wrong in the next. Adjusting skincare for the seasons usually…
Living in a hot, humid climate changes what your skin needs. Rich creams that felt comforting in a cooler place suddenly feel greasy. Sunscreen slides off by lunchtime. Your forehead shines within an hour of washing, and breakouts or small itchy bumps appear where they never did before. In humid climates, most people do best…
Waterless skincare has become a trend, with brands selling balms, oils, powders and solid bars under labels such as anhydrous, water-free or concentrated. The pitch is often that ordinary products are mostly water, so you are paying for filler, while waterless ones are purer, stronger and better for the planet. Waterless, or anhydrous, skincare has…
Humectants are the ingredients that pull water into the outer layer of your skin. Glycerin, hyaluronic acid, urea and aloe are all humectants, and they are in almost every moisturiser and serum on the market. How well they feel, though, can change with the weather. In humid weather, humectants tend to work well, because there…
It is late, you are tired, and the bathroom sink feels a long way off. Skipping your evening cleanse once in a while seems harmless, and for many people it is. But if it becomes a habit, or if you are going to bed in makeup and sunscreen, it can start to show. For most…
Vitamin C serums are among the more expensive products in many routines, and they are also among the most fragile. A bottle that starts out clear or pale yellow can turn orange, then brown, well before you reach the bottom. At that point, much of what you paid for may have gone. To make vitamin…
For many men, skincare starts and ends with a face wash, and anything more feels like an unnecessary extra. Toner in particular is often dismissed as a product that does little. Others remember the sting of an alcohol-based aftershave and assume toner is the same thing. Men do not need a toner, but some can…
Look at the ingredient list of a good antioxidant serum and you will rarely find just one antioxidant. Vitamin C often comes with vitamin E and ferulic acid, green tea with resveratrol, niacinamide with a handful of plant extracts. Brands often describe these blends as synergistic, meaning the ingredients are supposed to work better together…
Vitamin C serums and exfoliating acids are two of the most popular ingredients for brighter, more even skin. It is natural to want to use both, and just as natural to wonder which should go on first, or whether they can be used together at all. The simplest and gentlest approach is not to layer…
Facial oils have gone from something people with oily skin avoided to a staple of many routines. Yet the worry remains: if your skin already makes plenty of oil and you are prone to breakouts, is putting more oil on it asking for trouble? Facial oils can clog pores, but not all of them do…
If you wear sunscreen or makeup, a regular face wash does not always remove everything. That is where pre-cleansers come in. The two most popular are cleansing oils, including balms, and micellar water. Both lift makeup and sunscreen before or instead of your usual cleanser, but they work differently and suit different situations. A cleansing…
Sensitive skin puts you in an awkward spot. You may have rough patches, dullness or clogged pores that exfoliation could help, but every time you try a scrub or an acid your face turns pink, stings or feels tight for days. The question is not really whether to exfoliate, but how little you can get…
Walk down any skincare aisle and you will find night creams promising to repair your skin while you sleep, sitting next to serums, gels and lotions labelled as overnight treatments. Both go on at bedtime and both stay on your skin until morning, so it is easy to assume they do the same job. They…