HotandFlashy has worked through 44 dry skin products, and her record tells a pretty clear story. She approved 28 of them, gave 9 a mixed take, and skipped 7. Four earned her highest praise as category winners, including the e.l.f. Holy Hydration! Face Cream Fragrance Free and the Lineage Lip Sleeping Mask. Her Guru Score for dry skin sits at 64%.
What does HotandFlashy recommend for dry skin?
When she loves something, it usually does one thing really well: it sinks into the skin instead of sitting on top. The e.l.f. Holy Hydration! Face Cream Fragrance Free won her over because it shares a lot of the same ingredients as her other favourite night cream. It packs in glycerin, niacinamide, a peptide, and hyaluronic acid, and it feels like a gel cream rather than a heavy coat. She raves about the Lineage Lip Sleeping Mask in the same breath, saying she uses it every single night and wakes up with her lips still moisturised. The RMS Beauty ReDimension Hydra Bronzer made her winners list too, and what she kept coming back to was how easy it blends. She also praised the Cocokind Ceramide Barrier Serum for being light enough to use even on hot days when a full moisturiser feels like too much. She noted it is loaded with five ceramides alongside hyaluronic acid and glycerin. The pattern is lightweight, ingredient-packed, and comfortable to wear.
In her words
"I use every single night of my life and that is my Lineage Lip Sleeping Mask this is the best overnight lip moisturizer. I just butter up my lips with this at night and when I wake up in the morning it's still there. This really keeps my lips hydrated and feeling comfortable especially this time of year but I do use it all year round."
"The bronzer that I use most this year, which means that I loved it the most this year, is from RMS Beauty. It's their ReDimension Hydra Bronzer in the shade Tan Lines. It's just so beautiful. It's not too dark. It's not too cool. It's not too warm. This shade is just perfect for me. And it blends beautifully. I have this bronzer on this half of my face and I just put it on with a brush. [...] It just gives your face a little more dimension. [...] If you're looking for a really great bronzer that's really easy to blend, give the RMS bronzer a try."
"The Peter Thomas Roth Eye Patches come in three types, one is for firming, one is for brightening, one is for de-puffing. My girls and I are getting these in our stockings this year and we're going to have a little eye patch party."
"This is their Ceramide Barrier Serum and this is so lightweight. If you're in a heat wave and you just don't even want to put on moisturizer but you still want to get your ceramides, your hyaluronic acid, your glycerin, your niacinamide in, this is packed with all those things. I think this has like five ceramides in it. It just feels really fantastic. If you kept it in your mini fridge or in your fridge and then put it on, it would be so nice and cooling for these hot summer days."
"The YSL Love Shine lip glosses are in the sale as a two pack. I discovered this earlier in the year and I love this lip gloss. It's in my handbag, and it's so pretty."
"My night cream is usually either the Olay Regenerous microsculpting cream fragrance free or my e.l.f. Holy Hydration Face Cream fragrance free. These have very similar ingredients. They both have glycerin, niacinamide, a peptide and hyaluronic acid. They're both nice creams. This one is more like a gel cream."
How many products has HotandFlashy reviewed for dry skin?
HotandFlashy has reviewed 44 products for dry skin, for a Guru Score of 64%. 28 approved, 9 mixed, and 7 skipped.
What has HotandFlashy skipped for dry skin?
She is honest and direct when something does not work on her skin. The Maybelline Lifter Plump and Glow Foundation was a near-complete skip for her. She said it settled into every wrinkle, looked heavy and waxy, and seemed to make pores and texture worse through the day. The ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 40 got a similar verdict. No matter how she applied it, with or without skincare underneath, it broke up on the surface and just would not sit right. The Ordinary Squalane + Amino Acids Lip Balm also disappointed her despite its appealing packaging. She found it thick and strange to apply, and felt it actually left her lips drier than before. The thread running through her skips is texture that sits on top rather than sinking in, which matters a lot for anyone with mature or dry skin who wants a smooth finish.
"This foundation, it's not funny, because I'm sure they were trying to make a good product, but this looks terrible already, terrible. It settled in every wrinkle on my face, and it just looks heavy, waxy, makeupy. Today is almost a complete fail, just save your money on this. I was really, really disappointed in this foundation. It just felt like foundation sitting on the surface of my skin all day, and I didn't really think it did anything for me. It really seemed to accentuate pores and texture throughout the day. The wear is pretty good on it though, I'm not really seeing a ton of wearing off."
"The non-Aquaphor side just looks so much better overall, less heavy, less cakey, less settled in wrinkles. So for me the Aquaphor lip balm experiment today was an epic fail. I don't like anything going on on this side of my face. I have combo skin so I am oily through the T-Zone but not super oily, just a little bit through the T-Zone. I have some dry patches around my mouth and my temples and the rest of my face is fairly normal. I tried the Aquaphor concealer hack three days in a row just wanting to make this work, but for me I could just never get it to work no matter what I tried. I don't love it by itself with my regular stuff. I don't love it with this. I just don't love the whole thing. My normal concealer setup is much, much better, looks nicer and smoother."
"I love the packaging. It is so adorable, and I thought it was going to be like the most hydrating, the most nourishing lip balm. Oh boy. It is just not. Sadly, there just wasn't much that I liked about this. Putting it on, it just goes on like so thick and weird on the lips. I just didn't enjoy it. I didn't feel like it gave me any kind of hydration. I felt like it actually dried out my lips by the time it was off. My lips were so dry and I was running for my regular lip hydrator."
"I had tried the previous ILIA Skin Tint that didn't have sunscreen in it and that one didn't work for me at all. No matter how I put it on, it just did not look good on my skin. It didn't sit well, it just was not for me. And I gotta say this one was exactly the same. I didn't have to use it with sunscreen since it has sunscreen in it. I tried it as my sunscreen, so using a lot of it over my skin care didn't work. Looked weird on my skin, broken up on the surface, just not good. I tried it without putting on any skincare, like not even a moisturizer, and still it went on weird. It broke up. It just didn't sit on my skin right. So no matter how I use this, it just doesn't sit on my skin right."
What should you take from HotandFlashy's picks?
HotandFlashy is a useful guide for dry skin because she tests things properly and tells you plainly what flopped. She leans toward lightweight, multi-ingredient formulas that feel comfortable all day, and she is quick to call out anything that reads as heavy, waxy, or prone to settling. If you have dry or mature skin and want to know which hydrating products actually perform, her record on this category is a solid place to start.
Watch HotandFlashy say it
Every verdict here comes from a video. These are the moments themselves, each one jumping straight to the bit about that product.
- RMS Beauty ReDimension Hydra BronzerNamed a winnerWatch at 23:54
- e.l.f. Holy Hydration! Face Cream Fragrance FreeNamed a winnerWatch at 12:21
- Lineage Lip Sleeping MaskNamed a winnerWatch at 11:17
- NuFACE Hydrating Aqua GelNamed a winnerWatch at 22:21
- Maybelline Lifter Plump and Glow FoundationSkipped itWatch at 17:39
- Aquaphor Lip Repair StickSkipped itWatch at 12:49
- The Ordinary Squalane + Amino Acids Lip BalmSkipped itWatch at 9:28
- ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 40Skipped itWatch at 13:23
- DRMTLGY Daydream Broadspectrum SPF 40 Moisturizer/SunscreenSkipped itWatch at 5:54
- IT Cosmetics Do It All Sheer Tinted Face BalmSkipped itWatch at 25:25
- La Roche-Posay Toleriane Hydrating Gentle CleanserSkipped itWatch at 2:37
- Peter Thomas Roth Water Drench Hyaluronic Cloud Hydrogel Eye PatchesRated itWatch at 16:59
- Cocokind Ceramide Barrier SerumRated itWatch at 14:20
- YSL Loveshine Plumping Lip Oil GlossRated itWatch at 7:07
- CeraVe Skin Renewing Gel OilRated itWatch at 6:28
- CeraVe Hydrating Hyaluronic Acid SerumRated itWatch at 27:28
- Merit Flush Balm Cheek Color in Beverly HillsRated itWatch at 5:58
- Pacifica Vegan Ceramide Barrier Repair Face LotionRated itWatch at 8:31
- Maelove Hydrator SerumRated itWatch at 26:13
- CeraVe Hydrating Facial CleanserRated itWatch at 20:33
- CeraVe Hydrating Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30Rated itWatch at 10:50
- DRMTLGY Luminous Eye Corrector SPF 41Rated itWatch at 4:12
- Pacifica Vegan Ceramide Barrier Repair CreamRated itWatch at 12:26
- CeraVe Daily Facial Moisturizing LotionRated itWatch at 2:20
About this expert
See everything HotandFlashy has reviewed
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This guide reflects what HotandFlashy said across their videos about 44 products for dry skin, aggregated by The Guru Index. Sponsored takes are excluded. The Guru Score is our read on how warmly they talk about them. It is general information, not medical advice.