Mad About Skin's Guide to Moisturizers: What He Rates and What He Skips

"I love this one because it is one of those cleansers that genuinely doesn't strip or dry. It adds moisture back to the skin. Most brands will say that their cleanser hydrates and moisturizes, but by their nature cleansers are going to be a little bit drying. So you have to use really good quality humectants to avoid that. Medicate have done that. One pump will do the whole face and neck. This is great. I've been using it all year, and I would say one of these will last me three months. Genuinely, one of the best cleansers I have ever used, bar none. Especially if you've got dryness prone skin type, and I think that's a good thing to bear in mind as we're coming into the cooler winter months."

"This is my summer skincare staple. It's a lightweight gel that's so hydrating and moisturizing but doesn't weigh the skin down, great for summer. Keep it in the fridge and it gives you the most beautiful cooling experience. It actually adds hydration back into the skin to plump it, unlike most gel moisturizers which are useless, and the B5 helps calm and soothe. It's not expensive, and it's never steered me wrong. I'm on my third summer with it and I always have multiples because I'm never going to be without it."

"I absolutely love the Stratia Liquid Gold. This has been a favorite of mine for years, it was one of the first products I spoke about here on the channel when I set it up 5 years ago, still going strong. I love this product. A lot of brands will say that niacinamide will boost the barrier function of the skin and help heal the skin, but you need a lot of other ingredients to achieve that, and Stratia have done the work for us. This product has that 5% niacinamide, which is perfection, but it's also got all those lipids, those ceramides, those other barrier-boosting ingredients. If your skin is going through it at the moment, maybe you're coming out of winter here in the northern hemisphere and your skin might be dry and sensitive and you want to get it in tiptop health for the summer, this product is a must-have. It is amazing. It feels beautiful on the skin, uses that niacinamide responsibly alongside some other amazing ingredients, and it's super affordable. Use it as your moisturizer. This is so hydrating, most of us can do without having a moisturizer after. Use this as like a barrier-boosting niacinamide serum and a moisturizer all-in-one. An absolute favorite of mine."

"This is one of the best moisturizers I have ever ever used. Packed full of ceramides in meaningful concentrations that's actually going to deliver you improvements to barrier health, locking in all that hydration and genuinely delivers. This is a powerhouse. I absolutely love it."

"This is the VT Reedle Shot PDRN Capsule Cream, and it's a relative newcomer to my skincare routine. I first used it maybe two weeks ago, fell in love, and it's one of my favorite products now that I use every morning because it just calms, soothes, and really gives like a burst of hydration and peptide action to the skin. PDRN is one of the biggest trends in skincare right now, and it's a great ingredient to boost collagen and elastin production and firm the skin. You've got to be really careful with the products that you buy to make sure you're getting that PDRN in a meaningful concentration because it's very trendy, so brands will put it on the label but not actually put a meaningful amount in the product. This has a sky high amount of PDRN. It also has seven different peptides in it, it's got ceramides. This is going to firm, lift, tighten, and just help really nourish the skin. It's a great great product, and one that whilst it's new to my skincare routine, I definitely think is going to be a feature throughout 2025."

"The Happy Barrier is the more hydrating of the two, I'd say the more heavy duty of the two options. You can use the one that's best suits your individual skin's needs, or if you have combination skin, you can buy both and use the Happy Barrier heavy duty one on the dryness prone areas."