April Basi's Sensitive Skin Picks: What She Rates and Why

"If you have dry skin or just really irritated skin, the Skinfix Triple Lipid Peptide Cream is a must, there's a reason why it's won so many different awards. This one also has all three of the ceramides I talked about earlier, as well as peptides to really work on the collagen levels in your skin, repair the skin barrier, and increase elasticity and strength. There's also a lot of emollient in it, like hemp seed oil. It's always sold out everywhere, it's amazing for dry skin."

"For the first step of cleansing off makeup, I recommend the INKEY List Oat Cleansing Balm. I love it because one of the main ingredients is oat kernel, which is really great for moisturizing and hydrating the skin, and there's also colloidal oatmeal, which helps reduce any irritation that could happen from makeup. I really like this product, it's under ten dollars, and it's just an all around amazing product that works for any skin type."

"The last product I love for dry skin from CeraVe is their SPF 50 Facial Lotion. This one is great because it has pretty much all the things I talked about earlier, niacinamide to control transepidermal water loss, and ceramides for the skin barrier. There's also SPF 50, so if you're someone who doesn't like having so many different products, like a separate sunscreen and a moisturizer, this would be great for you because you have an SPF and a wonderful lotion that's great for your skin all in one. You can't go wrong with this."

"K beauty has my heart, and the rice bran extract in here plus niacinamide is wonderful for hydrating and brightening. There are three types of hyaluronic acid for multi weight hydration, and it also has a ceramide complex, but it's lightweight, milky, and less emollient than the others. It's going to be amazing for my oily skin girlies to combo skin who are wanting brightening and lightweight hydration without the heaviness, and it's truly a way for my oily and combo skin baddies to get that glass skin glow. But if you're looking for actual barrier repair, this is not going to be very functional for that. It's more of a brightening toner, not repair support."

"The glazing milk is where I started to pay attention, this one has interesting science behind it and it's a product for melanin rich skin specifically. It has four forms of hyaluronic acid, sodium hyaluronate cross polymer, hydrolyzed sodium hyaluronate, and sodium acetylated hyaluronate, so that's hydration at multiple skin depths, not just at the surface. This formula has a full ceramide complex, ceramide MP, AP and EOP, beta glucan for barrier support, and copper and zinc gluconate for skin regulating benefits. For melanin rich skin specifically ceramides matter more than most people realize, because when our skin barrier is healthy our melanocytes behave much better, and hyperpigmentation is significantly worsened by barrier disruption. Oleic acid, linoleic acid, and linolenic acid are listed here as standalone ingredients, and for acne prone skin those fatty acids at higher concentrations can be comedogenic, so if you have reactive oils on your face, patch test this one. This is actually the most functional formula in the Rhode lineup to me for our skin's actual needs, the multi-depth hyaluronic acid and full ceramide complex are doing real work for melanin rich skin focused on skin barrier health and long-term hyperpigmentation prevention, and this one genuinely earns its place."

"This one has two vitamin C forms in it, sodium ascorbyl phosphate and ascorbic acid, alongside a bioactive blend that includes plum, which is rich in vitamin C, and a gold complex for stability. The formulation pH is around 5.5 to 6.5, which is high for L-ascorbic acid to penetrate effectively since pure vitamin C needs a pH of about 3.5 for optimal skin penetration, so at this pH the ascorbic acid is probably not doing the most potent work, but that doesn't mean it's not working, it's clearly formulated for someone with more sensitive skin. The Vitamin C Complex Serum is honestly one of my favorites so far, it's super gentle, it worked really well on my skin, and my skin barrier absolutely loved it, I used every single drop out of the bottle. The vitamin C forms are legit, but the pH issue will limit the potency of that acid unless you have sensitive skin, in which case you would absolutely love this."