Doctorly, dermatologist: 466 skincare products reviewed

Every review.

All 466 products Doctorly has reviewed, grouped by product type. Click a product to see the full guru consensus.

All takes Yay takes Nay takes Against the gurus

Type

Serums93 reviews

Magic Molecule Hypochlorous Acid Solution

"I find the Magic Molecule hypochlorous acid to be my most repurchased and reused product currently because I've gotten to the nuances of hypochlorous acid. Lots of formulas are not stable, and when not stable, hypochlorous acid doesn't have the efficacy of why you would actually be using it. Because of Magic Molecule's formulation and their expiration date, I find it to be a trusted form of hypochlorous acid to get the efficacy. I use it every single day—as a hand sanitizer, as a facial mist, and probably as much if not more now in 2026 than I did before."

✓Yay

89%Guru Score

The Ordinary Azelaic Acid Suspension 10%

"When it comes to suspension, a really affordable option is the one from The Ordinary. To me, it can be a bit gritty, it's a bit heavy on the skin and it can peel, but some people really like that formulation."

~Mixed

75%Guru Score

Medicube Age-R Booster Pro

"This device combines multiple technologies including microcurrent, EMS for muscle stimulation, and electroporation, which is a validated way to create microchannels into the skin to enhance absorption. Electroporation has been shown in multiple studies to increase the penetration of ingredients going back 30 years. I honestly would buy this device just for the electroporation technology alone, because one of the biggest reasons why skincare products don't work is they don't get enough concentration into the skin past the stratum corneum, and by aiding it through this device, you can actually make your skincare products work better. However, I have strong opinions about this device because I think the benefits come from only a part of the technology. The red light component doesn't make sense as a spot treatment. Overall, it's a very thoughtful, very deep device that brings something unique to the table."

~Mixed

72%Guru Score

Clarins Double Serum Complete Age-Defying Concentrate

"This is the most overrated skincare product of all time that people actually use. It's a laundry list of ingredients, and out of all of them, how often do you hear dermatologists talk about these? Almost never. The only functional thing about this entire product is the peptides, and you can get peptides anywhere in your routine. You probably love the way this feels on your skin, but it's probably not going to make a big difference, and you're probably just paying more for the experience."

✕Nay

62%Guru Score

SkinCeuticals P-TIOX Wrinkle Modulating Peptide Cream

"I actually kind of like this product, and I have a lot of derm friends who use and recommend it too, so it's a good product. But skincare has gotten a lot more interesting over the past few years, and this is really just a combination of polyhydroxy acid and some anti-aging peptides like acetyl hexapeptide 8, so it's not that interesting, because there are so many other formulas with this same combination of ingredients at a much lower price point. Overall the product is good, and it's a product I would recommend if it was less expensive. I'm just disappointed in the innovation, because this is about a year and a half to two years behind where it should be for a big launch."

~Mixed

75%Guru Score

SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic

"The SkinCeuticals vitamin C has been the gold standard in vitamin C for the last three decades, and there is some validation because of the research, they did pioneer the stabilized formulation with these other antioxidants as a synergistic benchmark for how you want your vitamin C to behave. I would have no doubts that my vitamin C from SkinCeuticals was doing benefit. But it started closer to a hundred dollars and now it's closer to two hundred dollars, nothing has changed in the formula, there's been no innovation in decades, and it cost a dollar to make, so I've always caveated it as not perhaps worth the price. It's also never been the most stable formula, mine oxidized within a couple of months and the dropper has exploded and deflated from the pressure."

~Mixed

77%Guru Score

Trader Joe's Vitamin C Serum

"This is probably in my opinion the closest dupe I've seen to SkinCeuticals, ingredient list wise and active wise. They have the same concentrations of ascorbic acid, vitamin E and ferulic acid, so the key functional ingredients are the same, though the inactive ingredients aren't identical, they use polyglycerol 10 and sunflower seed oil and citric acid instead of laureth 23. The bottle is less opaque and the formula is more straw colored and slightly cloudy with a bit more of an oily texture from the sunflower oil, so if you have oilier skin you might not like it as much. But I do believe the Trader Joe's formulation is using ingredients in a formulation that would work, and I would personally trust it to deliver similar results over time. I actually like products that have a bit more slip to them, so for ten dollars instead of a hundred eighty five, I'd probably opt for this."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Finacea Azelaic Acid Gel 15%

"Azelaic acid has historically been suspended rather than dissolved, so it's gritty on the skin, and because it's at a low pH it actually burns when you apply it. It's uncomfortable, it stings, especially if you have sensitive skin. Even Finacea, the drug, is formulated that way."

✕Nay

77%Guru Score

Remedy Copper Peptide Complex Advanced Firming Serum

"This is our new copper peptide serum, and it's one of the most beautiful and elegant serums in the world. Copper peptides support collagen by boosting fibroblast collagen production, support elastin, and firm the skin, and unlike vitamin C or tretinoin they're extremely gentle, so almost everyone can use them. Pure copper peptides are shockingly expensive to formulate with, ten to fifteen thousand dollars per kilo, so we wanted to bring them in at an effective, high concentration but at a more affordable price point, even though it's not the lowest priced product in our brand. It also has ectoin, PGA, and lactobacillus ferment lysate in it, which are hydrating and calming for the skin barrier, so you could even use it as your hydrating serum. I love the glass packaging, it's heavy quality with a serum dropper and it stands on its own. This is probably the best we've ever done in terms of the sensorial, I love the way it feels on the skin, it gives a subtle glow, blends in nicely, isn't tacky at all, and it sets in quickly while still leaving a good amount of hydration. You can use it morning or night since peptides play well with other ingredients and tend to be non-irritating."

✓Yay

76%Guru Score

COSRX 6 Peptide Skin Booster Serum

"One of the most under-sung peptide products of all time is actually the peptide toner serum from Cosrx. They have two neuropeptides in here, the one everybody knows, argireline or acetyl hexapeptide-8, but they also have syn-ake, another neuropeptide to inhibit the nerve stimulus for muscle movement. If you're looking for a peptide serum and you have wrinkles and you're trying to treat wrinkles, this is top-tier for the price point."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

Allies of Skin Copper Tripeptide + Ectoin Advanced Repair Serum

"It's beautiful packaging, the formulas are very thoughtful, very complicated, and I just have a hard time bringing myself to buy it. It's an incredible copper peptide serum, but it's 199 dollars, so what I'm looking for is a very deep discount, 20 to 30 percent, to splurge and indulge in this copper peptide product."

~Mixed

81%Guru Score

Real Actives Go Deep 8% Mandelic Acid Serum Concentrate

"I actually love this product. Mandelic acid is a very nice balanced alpha hydroxy acid that is underutilized. It's a larger molecule so that it doesn't cause as much irritation, but maybe has a lower sealing than its counterpart, glycolic acid. It's a nice gentle serum, not tacky, absorbs well into the skin, overall feels great. Mandelic acid is one of my favorites. It's super gentle, larger molecule alpha hydroxy acid, so it's not as irritating as glycolic acid. It's become a favorite amongst estheticians. Estheticians love this for their acne patients. It's not classically an acne fighting ingredient, but a lot of times with sensitive skin, it can be really exfoliating. What I think is underrated about this formula is actually that it has hexorcinol. Hexorcinol is not only a good acne fighting ingredient, but it's also really good for dark spots that could potentially be left behind. So this is an underrated ingredient in a product for somebody who has acne."

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

Eucerin Radiant Tone Dual Serum with Thiamidol

"I love Eucerin's Radiant Tone line, it has thiamidol, an ingredient for dark spots that's proprietary to Eucerin. I specifically love their sunscreen from this line because it's a new wave of sunscreen that both protects and prevents dark spots and will actually help treat dark spots you already have. Thiamidol is a resorcinol derivative and it works quite well at treating dark spots."

✓Yay

71%Guru Score

Maelove Peptide Squad Collagen Renewal Serum

"My personal favorite product from Maelove is the Peptide Squad. I've become a huge fan of copper peptides in general, my skin tolerates it extremely well, and in many cases it can be a vitamin C substitute for me in my routine. Copper peptides are one of the most expensive ingredients you can formulate with, a kilogram costs tens of thousands of dollars, so getting a high concentration of copper peptide at a relatively affordable price means you're getting a good deal on this product."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Cetaphil Healthy Radiance Brightening Antioxidant-C Face Serum

"One of Cetaphil's great products is their vitamin C serum, it's just a very simple ascorbic acid, a staple form of vitamin C. If you're looking for an affordable introduction to vitamin C and want to try something a little less traditional, I love that one."

✓Yay

72%Guru Score

Maelove Fade Away Dark Spot Correcting Serum

"One of my most frequently used products from Maelove is their dark spot serum. I love the green aesthetic, and I also love how they have complementary ingredients to help address that one problem."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Theramid 15% Azelaic Acid Treatment

"We talked about their azelaic acid serum before, it was 15%, which is equivalent to what we prescribe for rosacea in the US. It's a phenomenal product aesthetically, and being able to get that 15% load in a product without making it gritty for the skin is amazing."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Hyaluronic Acid Serum

"I love the ordinary peptide serum. It's inexpensive and it has complementary benefits with peptides that mildly and softly help with the hormonal part of hair loss, and it also has ingredients that help with the hair growth phase. It's not just for hair loss either, it helps with hair density, the appearance, the strength, the structure, even the anchoring fibers based on some of the studies. For just a healthy full head of hair, it's full of supporting ingredients at a reasonable cost."

✓Yay

75%Guru Score

Timeless 10% Vitamin C + E Ferulic Acid Serum

"For an ethyl ascorbic acid option, I'd pick the Timeless 10% Vitamin C. Vitamin C can easily be a coin flip on irritation, and the higher the concentration the more effective it can be, up to about 20%, but also the more irritating. For someone who wants to see if vitamin C works for them, you still get benefits at 10%, it's more gentle, and historically vitamin C had been very expensive but this one was relatively affordable. It's their bestselling product, a great option if you want ethyl ascorbic acid at an affordable price point without spending $185 on a vitamin C serum."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Minimalist Niacinamide 10% Serum

"If you want an affordable niacinamide with a very thoughtful concentration, the Minimalist 5% Niacinamide is the one to use. If you want that dedicated ingredient in a dedicated step, this is one to use."

✓Yay

78%Guru Score

Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Serum

"Neutrogena has a retinol serum that's a face serum. It's very rare to get a serum with a watery base for retinol, but it is a really nice serum for the skin."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Good Molecules Niacinamide with Ectoin Serum

"Good Molecules also has an affordable niacinamide product. You definitely don't want to overspend here, since niacinamide isn't a very expensive ingredient to formulate with."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel with Hyaluronic Acid

"A simple moisturizer that's pretty easy to find is from Neutrogena, the Hydro Boost line. You have the gel cream, which is very light, and the water cream, which is a little bit richer hydration. This line is really widely adoptable, most people will love how it feels on their skin, give you good hydration, and you can just kind of tailor the texture towards what you prefer."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Timeless 20% Vitamin C + E Ferulic Acid Serum

"There's a wide variety of vitamin Cs on the market at various price points, from $180 down to $10. I think a really good middle price one would be the one from Timeless, a combination of vitamin C, E, and ferulic acid. I really like the 10% one, I think that's a great one to start. It's not as irritating as the 20%, but it's going to get the job done."

✓Yay

71%Guru Score

L'Oreal Revitalift Derm Intensive 1.5% Pure Hyaluronic Acid Face Serum

"The L'Oreal Paris Revitalift 1.5 HA, love it. Super clean, super refreshing, super simple, which I like in an HA serum. Not that expensive. That's mine."

✓Yay

75%Guru Score

e.l.f. Vitamin C Serum with Ferulic Acid

"E.L.F. just came out with a 30% ascorbic acid formula. It's also quite nice."

✓Yay

63%Guru Score

Vanicream Vitamin C Serum

"They use THD ascorbate in their vitamin C. So a good derivative of vitamin C, but it has a lot less data."

~Mixed

83%Guru Score

DRMTLGY Needleless Growth Factor Serum

"This is the dermatology Needleless Growth Factor Serum. It's a really nice serum from dermatology and it has multiple different peptides that act as growth factors in the skin. And that is able to stimulate your skin cells, fibroblast growth factor, platelet derived growth factors that can stimulate your collagen and elastin to build. It can speed up your skin cell turnover. [...] If you're looking for growth factors, which I think are a little bit more advanced, meaning you've already mastered your retinoids and you've already mastered some of the more entry-level peptides like metatricxel or copper peptides and you haven't seen great results with them, I think growth factors are really the next step. I think the one from dermatology is a great option for somebody who is looking to introduce because it's not so expensive like the one from Allies of Skin."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster

"If you don't have very sensitive skin, [L-ascorbic] acid is a good option for you. The one from Paula's Choice is a good option."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1% Serum

"The Ordinary's got a higher concentration. [...] From an efficacy standpoint, I would get the one from The Ordinary."

✓Yay

89%Guru Score

Timeless Coenzyme Q10 Serum

"I really like their Coenzyme Q10 Serum too. I think probably in descending order of data driven products is Vitamin C, peptides, and Coenzyme Q10. But you really can't go wrong with all three of those."

✓Yay

88%Guru Score

Timeless Matrixyl 3000 Serum

"I really do love their Matrixyl 3000 Serum as well. [...] I think probably in descending order of data driven products, Vitamin C, peptides, and co-enzyme Q10. But you really can't go wrong with all three of those."

✓Yay

75%Guru Score

DRMTLGY Needleless Peptide Serum

"I love their Needleless Peptide Serum. They were really early to peptides too, and their peptide serum is a really good one."

✓Yay

78%Guru Score

iUNIK Beta Glucan Power Moisture Serum

"This one is from iUNIK. It's the Beta Glucan Power Moisture Serum. Beta glucan again a very great barrier building ingredient. This dropper didn't do the best job there, but you can see it kind of has that sort of snail mucin feel to it. Absorbs super well into the skin and it's just going to give you that extra hydration that's going to give you that dewy skin."

✓Yay

86%Guru Score

Vichy Mineral 89 Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Serum

"This is like 11 ingredients, simple formula, hydrating serum with high molecular weight hyaluronic acid. A lot of hyaluronic acid serums use a mixture of low molecular weight and high molecular weight or sometimes only low molecular weight, and those can be pro-inflammatory for some people. The higher molecular weight, the one that doesn't penetrate the skin, the one that sits on top of the skin, is just gentler. It's more cushioning to the skin. It's softer on the skin. This uses a high molecular weight hyaluronic acid. I feel like it's lost a little bit of its hype because there's so much newness to get excited about, but it is still a phenomenal formula that I definitely stand by. It's still an all-time favorite. One of my go-tos if I just want some refreshing hydration. Simple formula. It just does what it does and does it well."

✓Yay

91%Guru Score

Beauty of Joseon Calming Serum: Green Tea + Panthenol

"One of the most interesting ones is this one. It's the Beauty of Joseon Calming Serum: Green Tea + Panthenol. I am a sucker for green tea. I'm obsessed with this ingredient. It's so soothing. It's such a good antioxidant and it also does a little bit of oil control. It's just so good for the skin. It might be my favorite antioxidant, although I flip-flop between that and maybe ferulic acid. This one is 50% green tea water, like chamomile water. That's the first ingredient on the product. I love that. I also love a green tea toner that's like mostly green tea. And then panthenol, amazing hero ingredient for the skin barrier, but it's that hydration that really hits and it's just such a soothing product. The body of this is actually pretty rich. So it's like not sticky, not tacky, but it's very full and just settles in like thick water. Not sticky at all, not tacky. Sets into the skin really nicely and gives you that nice cooling, hydrating feel. Plus, it's loaded with a lot of great ingredients. And the elegance from Beauty of Joseon is really hard to match."

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

Abib Jericho Rose Bifida Serum

"It's the Abib Jericho Rose Bifida Serum from Abib, which is a Korean skincare brand. It's more of like a milky hydrating serum where you apply it and your skin just feels immediately calm afterwards. Bifida is one of the best ingredients for people who have sensitive skin, and again, this is a Korean skincare brand so the textures are just hard to match. I use it every single day, and it's a product that I love."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Allies of Skin Multipeptides & Growth Factor Advanced Lifting Serum

"This one is one of my guilty pleasure products and it's only a guilty pleasure because of the price point. I think it's $180, maybe up to $200 at times, but it combines multiple peptides. They have a 9% lifting peptide complex, and again these are also listed in terms of oligopeptides, so it does use multiple different types of growth factors. Aesthetically, I love it. Sits beautifully on the skin just like all of the Allies of Skin products. It's just the price point. I really do love this. They have a lot of thoughtful formulations in their product lineup and this is just another banger. Phenomenal serum, 3% Shalopeptide, so that's the growth factors. It also has copper lysinate, but it's not blue, which makes me think that the copper concentration in this is quite low. Copper lysinate isn't usually as bright blue as other forms of copper anyway. But in general, this is a beautiful serum, beautiful packaging as always from Allies of Skin. Will perform incredibly well and they've also done some really great clinical studies on it, albeit at a much higher price point for people. But if you like the brand, you can find a discount code. You should definitely check it out."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

SkinMedica TNS Advanced+ Serum

"This is kind of a flagship product. Price point is about $300, and it has the studies to back up its clinical use and the benefits you'll see. It was extremely popular amongst physicians, probably 5 to 10 years ago. I haven't heard much about it lately, I haven't really heard anyone talking about it lately, but it does definitely have a cult following and it has a plethora of clinical data around it to support its efficacy. This one is derived from humans, specifically the foreskin. I haven't personally tried it, but it definitely has a cult following. So if you're looking for growth factors derived from humans that have been around for the longest, this would be the option to go with, again at a much higher price point. If you're a growth factor purist, if that type of consumer exists, this would be the one for you. It really is kind of like that idealistic type of product that has been the gold standard for some time now."

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

Allies of Skin Peptides & Antioxidants Firming Daily Treatment

"The peptides and antioxidant advanced firming daily treatment from Allies of Skin, this thing is loaded with different types of ingredients here. It's hydrating, it has what they call nine different antioxidants, seven different peptides. There are some really interesting combinations of ingredients in this formula like allantoin, like babassu oil, like glutathione, like ergothioneine. They also have this algae extract that I really like, and algaes are very powerful antioxidants because of the environment that they live in, and so they also can have profound benefits on the skin. And then they have a slew of different peptides in this one, so this one is really super formulated."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Paula's Choice Advanced Antioxidant Serum

"Paul's Choice has an interesting one, it's a good one. It has a lot of those supporting antioxidants in there. I think it has glutathione, it has superoxide dismutase, it has ferulic acid. Interestingly the forms of vitamin C in it are very low for me. It has THDC tetrahexadecyl ascorbate and then magnesium ascorbyl phosphate, which is absolute trash when it comes to vitamin C's, but if those vitamin C's do nothing, I actually think the rest of the supporting antioxidants in that formulation are good enough to compensate. So I actually like this product as another alternative for your antioxidants."

✓Yay

78%Guru Score

Naturium Azelaic Acid Emulsion 10%

"Ntorium also has an azelaic acid product. This is the direction that I would go if you have rosacea, and if that doesn't work for you, I'd move on to the prescription options."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Allies of Skin Azelaic & Kojic Advanced Clarifying Serum

"This formula is just amazing. They were able to solubilize azelaic acid into just sort of a beautiful beautiful texture. There's no grittiness to it. When you apply it to the skin, what you'll notice is if you look at it, there's almost like a milkiness and it almost looks like it's going to be gritty, but then when you apply it, it really is just so smooth. Now, this is 10% azelaic acid, but it packs a much heavier punch. I also love this packaging. I think it's absolutely beautiful and premium. 1% kojic acid, 10% azelaic acid, 3% hexylresorcinol. So just an overall good formula for dark spots. It's very expensive, 90 to 100 bucks. Texturally, Allies of Skin crushed it. Never skimps on formulations or aesthetics. But you do pay for it on the back end."

✓Yay

75%Guru Score

Minimalist Multipeptide 10% Facial Anti-Aging Serum

"Peptides are great, they're another complimenting supporting ingredient, they play well with everything. The aesthetics of this are nice, it is very hydrating, it has like a nice slip and glide on it, not tacky, not sticky. Really could plug in for anyone's skincare routine no matter what the cause as long as it's age related. One of my things with peptide serums, a lot of times they're extremely pricey from a lot of other brands, so you see these multipeptide combinations and they end up being quite unaffordable. But for the price of this product plus the amount of matrixyl plus the other peptides that they're not even mentioning on the front of pack, plus the fact that it's actually a very, very hydrating product that could supplant essentially your hyaluronic acid serum. So they have a hyaluronic acid and PGA serum which again is a nice serum, but I actually think this one is just as hydrating plus it's got the peptides in it, so I would choose this one over their hyaluronic acid and you're actually going to get a lot more out of this."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Minimalist Alpha Arbutin 2% Face Serum

"I like their Alpha Arbutin serum. Now similar to a lot of the other brands that carry a single Alpha Arbutin serum, it has the 2% Alpha Arbutin, but again it's got that Alpha Arbutin plus and it's got Bakuchiol and resveratrol and ferulic acid and hyaluronic acid so a hydrating serum with Bakuchiol. Resveratrol is a phenomenal ingredient for dark spots, probably heavily underrated, but it complements Alpha Arbutin really well because it's going to help the ingredient penetrate better and it's also going to help to remove some of the existing dark spots, plus ferulic acid which is one of our favorite antioxidants. So again this is an alpha arbutin plus serum. Can this be your only dark spot treatment? I would still say no despite a really great complimentary formulation, but if you did have like a hero, let's say you're using tretinoin or let's say you are aggressively exfoliating, this would be a great complement to another step you're already doing for your tone and dark spots."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Minimalist Tranexamic Acid 3% Serum

"They have tranexamic acid, which I just didn't overall like this formula. It's 3% tranexamic acid, which is the active concentration you do want to look for. They have [mandelic] acid, which is thoughtful in this ingredient list because the thought is that tranexamic acid has some difficulty penetrating into the skin and [mandelic] acid as an exfoliant could help to amplify that absorption process. So it does have a thoughtful list of ingredients, it was yellow, I didn't find the serum really great to use. And also I think there are dark spot products even within their own lineup like the alpha arbutin one which are going to give you better results with dark spots."

✕Nay

71%Guru Score

Minimalist Vitamin C Vitamin E Ferulic Acid 16% Serum

"This is a vitamin C, E, ferulic, and that's a formula you should all know because that is the staple, tried and true formulation for vitamin C for dark spots and tone, an amazing antioxidant. So this has ethyl ascorbic acid as the form of vitamin C. Ethyl ascorbic acid makes it more stable, adds more skin neutral pH, has improved absorption, and it still has clinical benefits. It's more studied than a lot of the other vitamin C alternative derivatives. So if you're looking for a vitamin C product that may be more gentle on your skin still with good benefits and a great price point, this one is outstanding. I would venture to say that ethyl ascorbic acid is probably a better ingredient than L-ascorbic acid for the skin. L-ascorbic acid is the pure form, so it's the one that's actually doing the active activity, but it's got absorption issues. You have to formulate at very low pH, which is very uncomfortable for the skin. It can be pro-inflammatory in some cases. Whereas ethyl ascorbic acid is able to get in the skin, convert to L-ascorbic acid, and actually deliver similar results."

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

Minimalist 100% Squalane Oil

"We have their 100% squal and oil"

~Mixed

78%Guru Score

SkinCeuticals Phyto Corrective Serum

"Anecdotally in N of one I've had no worse reaction to any product than this"

✕Nay

70%Guru Score

CeraVe Skin Renewing Vitamin C Serum

"My least favorite vitamin C is actually the CeraVe vitamin C. On paper there's absolutely no reason for this to be my least favorite because the vitamin C concentration I think is reasonable and the packaging is opaque, but I find that this vitamin C oxidizes ridiculously fast and it's exploded all over multiple of my backpacks and it's just a mess. Aesthetically it's okay, it's not like a win in any category. So I think if you're new to a vitamin C, the CeraVe vitamin C is a reasonable starting point, but I wouldn't stay there for long. I just think there are a lot of better options out there. As you learn more and try more and new innovations come out on the market, there are a lot in my opinion better vitamin C's now than the CeraVe vitamin C. It oxidizes quickly but it stains everything that it oxidizes against, like more than any other vitamin C products I've ever seen."

✕Nay

72%Guru Score

CeraVe Hydrating Hyaluronic Acid Serum

"I never hear anyone talk about it and I think there's probably a good reason why, it's just not that good. It is a simple hydrating serum, but it actually comes out more like a lotion. So to me, you have their range of moisturizers and some of their moisturizers like CeraVe PM or even their new lightweight gel moisturizer are actually very close in texture to this. I don't find this [...] to be very hydrating. I don't find that the experience is great. As a hyaluronic acid serum, there are a lot of other competitors in this space that I would prefer. [...] I find this one to be okay but not great. [...] Because of its modest benefits, aesthetics plays a huge role for me. I love a very cooling, refreshing hyaluronic acid serum. [...] This one is more of a gel lotion and it just doesn't have that."

✕Nay

66%Guru Score

Paula's Choice 10% Azelaic Acid Booster

"It's a 10% azelaic acid with licorice root and salicylic acid. The formula is much nicer than grittier options, it rubs in beautifully and is very elegant. Azelaic acid is great for acne, [...] dark spots or discoloration, and people who get acne followed by post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. It's great for rosacea and it's one of the few acne ingredients that's safe in pregnancy. [...] The downside is that they threw salicylic acid in it, which makes it a product you would have to questionably recommend in pregnancy. [...] We don't know with those concentrations how safe they are topically for pregnancy. It would be much nicer if it was just azelaic acid, because that's when we consistently use azelaic acid in the office, [...] for the pregnant patient with acne. [...] You'd probably exclude this just out of caution."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

Paula's Choice 10% Niacinamide Booster with 2% Mandelic Acid and Lactic Acid

"When you see a 10% niacinamide you're like do I really need 10%? It's double what the recommended amount is. Is that good? But then you get up into like the 20% and it's like wow, okay, now you're more likely to get irritation. The more you have of anything, it's not like the more of things the better it is. Sometimes less is more. Studies show 5% is sufficient for pretty much all your clinical endpoints. Between 10 and 15% you're probably going to tolerate it, not that it's more effective but the tolerability perhaps isn't terrible. But then you get a 20% and you're really quite far off of the ideal concentration balancing effectiveness and irritation potential."

✕Nay

72%Guru Score

Paula's Choice Niacinamide 20% Treatment

"At 20% you're really quite far off of the ideal concentration balancing effectiveness and utility and irritation. So this one, the 20%, really I think is just unnecessary. You can just use the 10% and you don't need to find a way forward from there. 10% is more than enough than what you need from my angle."

✕Nay

67%Guru Score

Paula's Choice 25% Vitamin C Plus Glutathione Clinical Serum

"Really good so concentration price, formulation is all very good for a vitamin C. Really no knock on it. I think it's great."

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

Good Molecules Discoloration Correcting Serum

"Good molecules um Dark Spot Corrector also has a good combination of red ingredients out there"

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

Allies of Skin Mandelic Pigmentation Corrector Night Serum

"I really like their mandelic acid serum as well so really cool brand a really good opportunity to take advantage of their discount right now"

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Tula Brightening Treatment Drops Triple Vitamin C Serum

"Tula has a vitamin C that anchors on ethyl ascorbic acid, a particularly stable form with good clinical data behind it. It's coupled with some probiotics, prebiotics, some antioxidants. I would say this is just extremely robust vitamin C, and normally at a good price point of $58, and then 30% off, that's around $40. Strong vitamin C, I think it's a good deal. Ethyl ascorbic acid is hard to formulate with and expensive to formulate with, so I do think that it's even more expensive to formulate with 30% ethyl ascorbic acid, actually far more expensive than it is to formulate with pure L-ascorbic acid. Ethyl ascorbic acid is more expensive from a formulation standpoint and an expense standpoint, so 30% ethyl ascorbic acid serums are more expensive. This is the product that you'll find scattered around my house that I would purchase right now and I would try to get the jumbo size to get the most value out."

✓Yay

63%Guru Score

Abreva Cold Sore Treatment

"This is meant to be a Cold Sore Treatment topically. The data on it is kind of mid so some studies say it does help some studies say it doesn't help. It's meant to shorten the duration of cold sores and cold sores are caused by the herpes virus. Maybe helpful for a specific case use scenario."

~Mixed

58%Guru Score

The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%

"Niacinamide from The Ordinary is pretty lightweight, niacinamide is extremely stable and there is no wrong way to do it. [...] Both of those ingredients play really well with most other things, and it's so stable if you wanted to use it in the daytime you sure could. Generally though what you would do, you'd probably wash face, use niacinamide twice a day as an earlier step."

✓Yay

70%Guru Score

The Ordinary Resveratrol 3% + Ferulic Acid 3%

"Resveratrol 3% + Ferulic Acid 3% from The Ordinary, top tier, top tier. It's one of my favorite antioxidant combinations of all time if you're going for a pure antioxidant and you just want two extraordinary ones. [...] The funny thing is I always forget this product is slightly yellowy tinged to begin with and I always wonder because I don't use it very frequently when I pull it off the shelf if it's gone bad, but it is outstanding. There are a lot of studies head-to-head with antioxidants and there are just a lot of good ones, so if you're going for a purely antioxidant ingredient with potential to help with your sunscreen, help with your protection for your skin, yes, Resveratrol is great. Is it better than vitamin C? Probably not, but only because it doesn't have the supporting, complimenting benefits."

✓Yay

88%Guru Score

Vichy LiftActiv Vitamin C Brightening Skin Corrector Serum

"I love the Vichy serums, the LiftActiv line is a real win for me."

✓Yay

76%Guru Score

Drunk Elephant C-Firma Fresh Day Serum

"This one needs to be actually mixed together so it comes separately and you have to mix the powder into the serum, which I find some people like to be chemists and some people don't like to do it. [...] The interesting thing about this particular formulation is that Drunk Elephant was sued by SkinCeuticals for patent infringement, so the formula was so close to SkinCeuticals' formula [...] that they actually ended up suing them over formula copying, so just important to note there. [...] This is not an inexpensive product, probably still in that 60 to 80 dollar range. What's kind of nice about this is that you're getting exactly what you need and you know that it's stable from the time that you get it, which is actually pretty cool because you don't know how long the other products have been sitting on the shelf with the cap on. [...] The value is that you have these unstable ingredients that can break down and so this may stay stable longer."

~Mixed

70%Guru Score

DRMTLGY Vitamin C Serum with Peptides

"Here's a product I love as a dupe: the DRMTLGY Vitamin C with Peptides. This one has L-ascorbic acid as Vitamin C, Vitamin E, ferulic, and it also has peptides and ceramides. It's an extremely functional formula, it's fragrance-free, it tells you the pH. The texture is amazing. I love the texture of it. I find it less tacky. It's terrific for $70. Even though it's not inexpensive, it's actually quite a bit less expensive if you want to try it. This is worth the try if you're looking for a vitamin C with that classic formulation."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Matter of Fact Vitamin C Serum

"Matter of Fact has one of the most interesting textures of all the products. This is L-ascorbic acid but it's not liquidy, it's like it feels very oily. [...] This is getting wiped off, this is not making it to my face. It's just a texture I don't enjoy. It's just too oily for me. But if you have dry skin this is going to fall into the category similar to the Neutrogena one, where it might sit well with you. A lot of people won't like this formula. [...] It is L-ascorbic acid but it really has that oily texture to it."

✕Nay

48%Guru Score

First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Niacinamide Dark Spot Serum

"First Aid Beauty has their niacinamide dark spot facial radiance serum. This one contains a 5% niacinamide which is the perfect concentration of niacinamide that you need in your skincare routine and it also has licorice root. Both of these ingredients are either going to help with the pigment formation or the transfer of pigment which is really important. You could also lean in the more niacinamide direction which agrees with more people's skin, is a little bit more gentle on the skin and a little bit more cost effective as well."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Bubble Day Dream Vitamin C + Niacinamide Tone & Texture Serum

"This has sodium ascorbyl phosphate, which is what you'll find in a lot of your more budget friendly vitamin C options. [...] This is not your L-ascorbic acid, this is not your ethyl ascorbic acid, which I'm a huge fan of, but this is a serviceable vitamin C with a huge supporting cast. I'm a big fan, it's on the best list for me. [...] I would not say this is a vitamin C serum personally. I would say this has other benefits in it. I would use it in the morning after cleansing before applying my sunscreen and I would use it as my antioxidant and lightening brightening serum for complexion. It has a lot of added benefits and the vitamin C not being the heavy hitter here, and for $17 I think it packs a big punch."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Vichy LiftActiv B3 Dark Spots and Wrinkle Serum

"This is the Vichy Lift Activ line and I really love the lift activ line in particular from them. This is their B3 serum. B3 is niacinamide and it's an amazing supporting ingredient, but it also has glycolic acid here and then also tranexamic acid. I find this product to be very, very, very balanced and this whole line from them is just very simple, straightforward, minimalistic ingredient lists that are all thoughtful and complimentary. This one is fragrance free and it just sits nicely on the skin, it feels great. It's a little more expensive, but I think it's a pretty comprehensive glycolic acid product. It's actually delivering more than just glycolic acid, so a little bit pricier, but it's got glycolic acid, niacinamide, and tranexamic acid which has been shown to help with pigmentation and maybe even help a little bit with redness as well. So pretty comprehensive product to add to your routine."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

The Ordinary Soothing & Barrier Support Serum

"I like this a lot more than I wanted to. I kind of wanted to hate this formula [...] coming in because it was going viral and it was pink and it's a barrier support product. [...] I do actually feel after using it for a long period of time that my skin did feel more calm, less red, less irritated than it had prior. I felt like it layered really well with my other skincare products whether I was using it at night or in the morning. It was easy to integrate into my routine because it doesn't really conflict with any other products that I was using. I don't think it's a necessary skincare product, especially if you have a moisturizer that's going to already bring in a lot of these ingredients, but it's definitely approved. I like the product a lot. [...] They put the coloring in to grab your attention but they followed it up with a functionally great formula. [...] The Ordinary nailed it with this one."

✓Yay

76%Guru Score

The Ordinary Lactic Acid 10% + Hyaluronic Acid

"Lactic acids are moisturizing and exfoliating at the same time, which is really important when you're aging because your skin becomes more dry. [...] You can get the one from The Ordinary which is going to be relatively affordable."

✓Yay

88%Guru Score

Eucerin Advanced Repair Cream with Polyhydroxy Acid

"For the body you can add in something like the Eucerin Advanced Repair Cream. This is super nice, super friendly, budget friendly, and it also has natural moisturizing factors and ceramides which would play exactly how you would want with maturing skin."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Biosons Copper Peptide

"The Biosons Copper Peptide, this product is like a little light blue, phenomenal product. It's a hyaluronic acid plus Copper Peptide. It makes me angry that it's so good, to be honest. It would be great for maturing skin because it brings the hydration of hyaluronic acid plus those antioxidant and collagen building effects of copper peptides to it."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

SkinCeuticals H.A. Intensifier with Arbutin and Azelaic Acid

"SkinCeuticals H.A. Intensifier is a good product with peptides and lipids, though it contains essential oils which some people may find irritating."

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

Good Molecules Vitamin C Serum with Oryzanol

"Good Molecules is a brand that puts the percentages of their ingredients on the label, which is transparent about their formulation."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

The Ordinary Ascorbic Acid 8% + Alpha Arbutin 2%

"There have been some vitamin C serums that have come in the $30 range, Timeless and The Ordinary, that are using the C E ferulic acid combinations and are great products."

✓Yay

75%Guru Score

Experiment Super Saturated 30% Glycerin Hydrating Barrier Serum

"There's a product from Experiment that came out that's like 30% glycerin or more, and it's also got polyglutamic acid, bisabolol, niacinamide, allantoin, so it has other ingredients that are beneficial in it. It is a little bit of a tackier serum, but it is a nice serum and has been very popular on social media and has sold out definitely a few times."

✓Yay

86%Guru Score

Differin Dark Spot Correcting Serum

"This product no longer has the hydroquinone in it and is going to be less effective. It's got alcohol as the second ingredient, which can be irritating and stinging, especially for sensitive skin. The niacinamide replacement is not as effective as the original hydroquinone formula was in real clinical practice, even though one small study showed similar efficacy. Alcohol in the ingredient list could be a problem for people with very sensitive skin. Overall, there are a lot better dark spot treatments on the market, especially at that price point, because there are so many better competitors out there now."

✕Nay

64%Guru Score

The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5

"The Ordinary's hyaluronic acid is really good. I would just find the cheapest one since you're applying it to the hair rather than the face, and The Ordinary's one is a good option for that."

✓Yay

76%Guru Score

The INKEY List Hyaluronic Acid Serum

"The Inky List hyaluronic acid is better than The Ordinary one in general. It also has Matrixyl in it, so it's very effective for the skin and may even have some benefits to the scalp as well. The Inky List also has a dedicated hyaluronic acid product for the hair."

✓Yay

86%Guru Score

The INKEY List Tranexamic Acid Night Treatment

"The Inkey List Tranexamic Acid Night Treatment is very affordable and is going to have a benefit in hyperpigmentation."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

Anua Azelaic Acid 10% Hyaluron Redness Soothing Serum

"One of my favorite products here is the one from Anua, which is fully solubilized. Now, where this product falls short is that it does have propylene glycol, which in dermatology sometimes we avoid it because it can be an allergen for some of our patients, but this does feel incredible on the skin. It feels so good on the skin and it can't possibly be the same suspension as the ordinary one."

✓Yay

65%Guru Score

VT Reedle Shot 100 Collagen

"This takes little spicules and increases the absorption of other ingredients into the skin, marrying the idea of microneedling at home without really much of these structural needles. This helps with texture, it helps with pores. I find it amazing how this has lasted, and not only that, people have engaged with this technology and are expanding on it over time."

✓Yay

59%Guru Score

Dr. Althea Vitamin C Boosting Serum

"This uses hippophae rhamnoides water extract as a source of vitamin C and antioxidants. I much prefer a straightforward vitamin C using ascorbic acid as the source of the antioxidant, dark spot, and other benefits you get from vitamin C. But this is a good source of antioxidants for you. It's a good serum, it lays nicely on the skin, easy to incorporate. But for me, I prefer more traditional vitamin C. It's not your traditional vitamin C, or the only vitamin C you'd want to use in your skincare routine, but a great product for just that antioxidant benefit, calming and soothing benefits."

~Mixed

70%Guru Score

Remedy Healthy Aging Firming Advanced Serum Stick

"The first ever retinaldehyde serum stick for the face, neck, and back of the hands. Retinaldehyde is more effective than retinol and good for aging skin. It comes in a metallic mirror-like finish, very simple and aesthetic, easy to take on the go and fit in a pocket or purse. It's an anhydrous formula, a complex process to create because the retinal has to be added once the formula is in its cooling phase so it doesn't get damaged by heat. It contains pure retinaldehyde encapsulated in hydroxysomes, dimethicone, peptides including palmitoyl tetrapeptide 7 and palmitoyl tripeptide 1 (Matrixyl), and spilanthes acmella flower (spilanthol), which gives an immediate argireline like firming and softening effect. It's specifically formulated to be gentle enough for the face, neck, and hands, non-greasy, and goes on smooth. It's meant to be used once a day, morning or night, and doesn't increase sun sensitivity. This is an exceptionally innovative product and should do well for your skin."

✓Yay

87%Guru Score

Remedy Healthy Aging Serum

"This is your retinol, [...] with exfoliating acids and peptides. It's everything for aging skin you need, for 35 dollars."

✓Yay

76%Guru Score

Remedy Daily Defense Vitamin C Serum

"This is one of the most stacked, ethyl ascorbic, stable, gentle vitamin C plus serums you can find, for dark spots and collagen. It's one of my favorites, and at 28 dollars that's actually a really good price point to begin with."

✓Yay

93%Guru Score

Madagascar Santella Hilu Water Fit Sun Serum

"This is the second bestseller and actually my preferred sunscreen. It comes in an airless packaging which sometimes I like, sometimes I don't, sometimes it fails. But it's a completely weightless lotion. It just blends in so nicely into the skin that you just don't feel like you're wearing sunscreen. And to me that's the objective. Like I really just don't like that heavy feel of sunscreen. And it gives you that nice glow which I love. So you get that immediate nice glow. Blends in perfectly. It doesn't feel like a sunscreen."

✓Yay

72%Guru Score

Remedy Dark Spots Nightly All-in-One Treatment

"We chose mandelic acid for Remedy for Dark Spots instead of glycolic acid so it could be a bit more gentle on the skin, since it's nine actives in one formula. We used mandelic acid to increase the penetration of other ingredients like tranexamic acid, and also to exfoliate and remove existing dark spots without being too irritating. It's a top selling product for people and it works very well."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Biossance 100% Squalane Oil

"If you like skin oils, I love that little golden skin oil thing. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of skin oils, that product is incredible. I think it's the most elegant, unique, beautiful packaging and aesthetics skin oil out there altogether."

✓Yay

73%Guru Score

Biossance Squalane + Copper Peptide Rapid Plumping Serum

"Biossance's copper peptide is just a beautiful peptide product. I still might say it's my favorite of all of them. It's such a good, beautiful product. It's like a hyaluronic acid serum plus your copper peptides. Lower concentration of copper peptides, which is not as blue like something that has high concentration of copper peptides would be, but it's more of a lighter blue. Just lower concentration, but just such an elegant, beautiful formula."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Remedy Clear Serum

"If you get occasional breakouts, I would go with remedy for pore size."

✓Yay

89%Guru Score

Anua Niacinamide 10% + TXA 4% Dark Spot Correcting Serum

"This is their Anua 10% niacinamide, 4% tranexamic acid. And interestingly, as far as other actives in this, they have 2% arbutin, which they don't highlight on the front, but it's also a really important ingredient in this cocktail to really target and brighten that skin. The ingredient profile is unique and complementary because when you think about dark spots, not only do you create pigment through tyrosinase, but then you also transfer the pigment through melanosomes and then it also is taken up in the keratinocytes or skin cells. So the ingredient profile here, especially with niacinamide and the tranexamic acid, it does add multiple mechanisms by which this works. Now, a lot of ingredients that treat dark spots can be irritating. So nicely, this product also coupled a lot of soothing ingredients to help offset that. So you have things like PGA, hyaluronic acid, and ceramides to soothe and it couples nicely with just this almost like hug to your skin that the serum gives you. So not only does it treat it, but it also kind of helps protect it from it. This is a beautiful pink serum. I love a colored serum, and I am a sucker for the way their products look."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Biossance Squalane + Lactic Acid Resurfacing Night Serum

"Lactic acid is my favorite exfoliant because not only does it exfoliate, but it also moisturizes at the same time. So, lactic acid is also an alpha hydroxy acid. It has that additional moisturizing benefits if you're somebody like me who always feels like their skin's a little bit dry. This is one of the products that definitely helped improve my skin texture over time. It does have some lavender in it and I think linalool in it. I tend to tolerate it pretty well and it doesn't have an overwhelming lavender smell. It is super well tolerated by me."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Sunscreen71 reviews

EltaMD UV Clear Tinted SPF 46

"I like tinted sunscreens because they block against visible light which contributes to pigmentation, so they give you better coverage, but they also have a slight makeup like effect, kind of like a light tinted moisturizer. I actually like the EltaMD UV Clear tinted in this scenario because it has this finish that gives you a little bit of reflective glow. I find that in a pinch it makes my skin look better than it probably actually does look on that day. I'd recommend the EltaMD UV Clear tinted, use the medium tinted one, because I think it gives you that elevated look without your skin being any different."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Anthelios Melt-in Milk Sunscreen SPF 60

"La Roche-Posay has a melting milk sunscreen that I really like. It comes in a large, voluminous bottle, so you get the value you need out of it. Really any body sunscreen is going to do great here, but this is one of my go-to options for sun protection on the body."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Vanicream Sunscreen SPF 30

"In the morning, I prefer a zinc-based sunscreen, whether it's from Vanicream or EltaMD. This is going to give you those added additional reparative benefits, lower risk of allergy and irritation, but I really really like the zinc more for the healing benefits, not just because it's a physical sunscreen."

✓Yay

71%Guru Score

Eucerin Sensitive Tinted Mineral Face Sunscreen SPF 35

"One of my two favorite products from Eucerin is their tinted SPF, I think it's SPF 35. Those products are amazing."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

Skin1004 Madagascar Centella Hyalu-Cica Water-Fit Sun Serum SPF 50+ PA++++

"If I had to pick one Korean sunscreen and one only, I would go with the Skin1004 Madagascar Centella sunscreen. It has incredible ingredients, it's SPF 50 with broad spectrum coverage, especially strong in the UVA range, which is helpful for aging skin. This is what I'm wearing on my skin right now, and the sun here is brutal. It has a watery finish that gives you a slight dewy glow, it's not greasy at all, and this is the Korean version with the Korean filters in it."

✓Yay

90%Guru Score

Trader Joe's Daily Facial Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 40

"The Trader Joe's sunscreen is the OG dupe for Super Goop, and even years later people still bring it up because it feels so similar, but also it's very affordable, and now that Trader Joe's isn't just in California it's much more accessible for people across the country."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

EltaMD UV Skin Recovery SPF 50

"There's the one from EltaMD, their UV Recovery. I think the green is nice, it probably reduces redness by about 20%, but it's not a thick green coverage so it's not going to completely block out your redness. I still like the EltaMD one the best, I love the way it either strongly or subtly decreases the red hue in your skin, but it is a very soft cushion for redness."

✓Yay

92%Guru Score

EltaMD UV Daily Tinted

"There are two tinted sunscreens I really like and keep reaching back for. One is EltaMD, they have almost all of their products now in tinted, UV Daily, UV Clear, UV Hydration, and I go for the medium tint personally."

✓Yay

72%Guru Score

Native Unscented Mineral Face Lotion SPF 30

"One I've tried recently is the one from Native. When I applied it, I fell in love with it, I was actually shocked with how good this felt on the skin. They did a great job with their formulation, how it feels, how it sets, and how it protects. It's SPF 30, so it's not going to have so much zinc that it leaves a white cast on everybody, but if you have deeper, darker skin tones you'll probably notice a bit of a white cast on your face if you're applying the right amount. It's a massive bottle, so you can use it on body and face, and you get more bang for your buck at an affordable price point."

✓Yay

87%Guru Score

Neutrogena Collagen Bank SPF 30 Facial Moisturizer

"My favorite product here is the Neutrogena Collagen Bank line. We're going to consider it the best product here because they use the word collagen, but really the technology pushing this line forward is a proprietary peptide that's actually small enough to get into the skin, smaller than the 500 kilodalton limit, and charged in a way that lets it penetrate the skin. They have really good studies showing it increases elasticity and reduces wrinkles. So it's that collagen bank micropeptide, but it's actually not a collagen protein, so the name is a bit misleading, which is common."

✓Yay

70%Guru Score

Beauty of Joseon Daily Tinted Fluid Sunscreen SPF 40

"This is the daily tinted fluid sunscreen by Beauty of Joseon. And this is actually available at Sephora. And this is using American filters. So it's got a benzone and homo salate, octaalate. It still blends really nicely because they're still applying that same philosophy around that experiential skincare that you get from any Korean brand. So still a phenomenal sunscreen. Maybe not as elegant, but it's still really nice."

✓Yay

66%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Anthelios UVMune 400 SPF 50

"It's the La Roche-Posay Anthelios UVMune 400. I just love this. I love how it feels. It's extremely effective. One thing you'll find with some of these filters there's some unique coverage with the filter itself. So for this one, UVA protection is exceptionally good. And I just love the aesthetic and how it sits on my skin. It sits on the skin really nice. My POV on this is I find it a little bit hard to rub in, if that makes sense. It has that grippiness that isn't smooth like a moisturizer. But it does lay nicely. It's almost like a different aesthetic. It's not heavy but it is like a grippier one, but you can blend it and it ends up sitting very nicely on the skin."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Naturium Dew Glow Tinted Moisturizer SPF 50

"This is a chemical sunscreen and it gives you that dewy look when it comes to hydration. So, this is a sunscreen I've loved for a very long time. It also has a little measuring cup on the end of the cap which is nice. This one is also incredible hydration. I think it's really worth looking into these things if you just are a simple person or someone who struggles with time because then you just put wash your face maybe in the morning, put on your sunscreen and go if that's the type of lifestyle you want."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Eucerin Radiant Tone Sunscreen SPF 30

"One of the sunscreens that this year came out that I was extremely excited about is from Eucerin. This is in their Radiant Tone line. And this is their Radiant Tone sunscreen. This line really highlights an ingredient called Thamadol. This is something that was available in Europe and now is available in the US. And I looked at the studies like four or five years ago now. I benchmarked this ingredient, bookmarked this ingredient, and was like, "This is one I want to watch for," and it finally arrived. So, the sunscreen not only helps prevent damage from UVB and sunburns, but it does have an active ingredient that's pretty well studied and shown to be helpful to prevent pigment production. So, I've loved the sunscreen throughout the year. It blends well and is going to be a sunscreen that does more. The mechanism of thamadol is fascinating. This one does have fragrance in unfortunately, but there really is no alternative because it is proprietary to Eucerin. So, only Eucerin can formulate with this ingredient. What's nice about that is you can get thamadol in the morning and then you can use your dark spot treatments at night with other ingredients in them so you can target the pathway from multiple angles."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen SPF 40

"I'm a big fan of the Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen. Yeah, this is like amazing."

✓Yay

69%Guru Score

DRMTLGY Universal Tinted Moisturizer SPF 46

"I love their universal tinted moisturizer. It's a beautiful moisturizer."

✓Yay

86%Guru Score

Vacation Classic Whip SPF 30

"You're going to have to wear more than you would normally wear of your regular sunscreens, get a nice thick layer. It smells phenomenally. If you have eczema or you are sensitive to fragrances, not for you, but if you love an experience, I would have to say this is 10 out of 10 on experience. My first outing with the sunscreen I hated it because I used it before surfing and I found that this sunscreen was extremely irritating when it got in my eyes. So if you're going to be running, sweating, maybe in the water and active, not a sensitive skin, sensitive eyeball sunscreen, not gentle at all. But from the experience standpoint, this will probably elevate your beach trip. It will probably create some nostalgia to go along with whatever adventure you're having. Love this sunscreen."

✓Yay

65%Guru Score

Vacation Crystal SPF 50 Invisible Face Gel

"More expensive to formulate than traditional sunscreens, I believe, because the silicone bases tend to be a little bit more expensive. Not actually bad, cheaper than Super Goop. Similar performance, completely invisible, kind of cool retro packaging. I would say 10 out of 10 experience, 10 out of 10 ingredients. You know what's funny, I actually wish it had fragrance. I just think for the brand, I wish there was something extra to the sunscreen. It's pretty comparable to what else is out on the market. It's not bringing in a whipped experience. I would say it's comparable in performance, but it's not bringing in that brand experience that leisure meets sun that I would have expected."

~Mixed

78%Guru Score

Vacation Classic Lotion SPF 50

"I love this body sunscreen. I'm going to go 10 out of 10 here because not only does it go a long way there's a good amount of volume, this is 20 fluid ounces, this is a massive amount of sunscreen. But also the thing I appreciate most out of all the body sunscreens I have tried, this competes for the least tacky and the least grippy on my arm hairs that I've ever felt, and that's like a qualifier for me. I hate when I put on sunscreen and I can feel sunscreen on my body. But I think from an aesthetic standpoint as well as an experience standpoint, of course coverage and volume, this really just nails every mark. The classic lotion comes in multiple sizes. You can get 3.4 oz for 16 bucks, so that's like 4 dollars an ounce. You can also get the 20 ounce for 48 dollars, which makes it like around 2 dollars per ounce, which is pretty good. I would say overall so price per ounce is phenomenal. It feels like a lotion, like a body lotion. You do not feel like you're applying sunscreen, which is a nice experience. Overall, it's got hints of coconut, hints of banana, and if this is gonna get you to wear sunscreen, this is a win to me."

✓Yay

80%Guru Score

iNNBEAUTY PROJECT Mineral Sunlow Broadspectrum SPF 43 PA+++

"I like their sunscreen a lot. They have a really nice sunscreen."

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

Beauty of Joan Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50

"Beauty of Joan Mineral is a tinted sunscreen that I do like a lot. The filters are mineral, it's zinc oxide, but in the inactive section they have an ingredient called octyl salicylate, and octyl salicylate can be an allergen in people. So even if you're looking for a mineral sunscreen, make sure it doesn't have this chemical filter in it."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

CeraVe AM Facial Moisturizing Lotion SPF 30

"They even have a lightweight gel moisturizer too that they've recently released that's actually a really good one too"

✓Yay

72%Guru Score

Heliocare Oral Sunscreen Capsules (Polypodium Leucotomos Supplement)

"There are also pill options of polypodium you can get Heliocare which was the first brand to come out with this"

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

Vanicream Daily Facial Moisturizer SPF 30

"We're huge fans of the mineral Vanicream moisturizer which is SPF 30, we still feel it's underrated. Now if it's mineral there's always going to be a slight white tint to it, but it's probably as good as you can get and it's a formula that I really really like. I took it on vacation, I used it on most days. I did find when I went in the pool it became very drippy very quickly, so it has very little water resistance."

~Mixed

78%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay UV Clear

"I took it on vacation and used it on most days. I did find when I went in the pool it became very drippy very quickly, so it has very little water resistance. If you're looking for something that's a little bit more water resistant, I would go with UV Clear from La Roche-Posay."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Dr. Jart+ Cicapair Tiger Grass Color Correcting Treatment SPF 30

"Dr. Jart+ offers a product that can help mask redness for rosacea."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Allies of Skin One SPF 50 Invisible Sunscreen Gel

"Allies of Skin is definitely doing the right things. This is just more of an aesthetic preference. Some people will like it, some people won't. I just didn't personally like it."

✕Nay

66%Guru Score

Sun Bum Original SPF 50 Sunscreen Lotion

"Sunbum the original, the original just called it SPF 50 sunscreen lotion. Chemical sunscreen. It blends. It smells incredible. It is waterproof. It's just so reminiscent of summer. Good for the body, good for the face. They have like a nice pump version that would work for both if you want to save a little bit of money."

✓Yay

78%Guru Score

Blue Lizard Baby Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50

"This is Blue Lizard Baby Mineral SPF 50 sunscreen lotion. So, this is a body and face. I discovered this for my daughter. I was looking for pretty minimalist ingredient profiles to start using sunscreen on her now that she's over 6 months. It's a really nice sunscreen. It is mineral. It does have a little bit of a white cast when you first put it on, but it actually absorbs really well and it stays on. I know this because when I put it in water, I can kind of still see the sunscreen on the body. It doesn't have a terrible white cast really for a mineral sunscreen. The caveat here is that it does have one of those chemical boosters, octyl salicylate, so technically not really a pure mineral sunscreen, but it is fragrance-free. It does stay on really long. It's got the 80 minute water resistance to it."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Apostrophe Hybrid Sunscreen SPF 43

"I even loved their sunscreen quite a bit before they also discontin that one"

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

CeraVe Hydrating Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30

"The Hydrating Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30 is a good tinted sunscreen. It's pure mineral and blends at least with my skin type. One of the challenges with mineral sunscreens is that it will rub off on things, similar to makeup. The iron oxides will rub off on things, get on your clothes, etc. Now some are worse than others, and this is in the worst category of rubbing off on things. That doesn't mean it doesn't work well or blend well, it just rubs off really easily onto clothes, so just be very aware of that. It does leave you with that tint on everything that it essentially touches. But it's a great sunscreen, especially if you're looking for a tinted sunscreen. I've worn this quite a bit and it struggles to blend with darker skin tones. I think it's good and gentle for lighter skin tones, who are definitely going to appreciate this more."

~Mixed

76%Guru Score

CeraVe AM Facial Moisturizing Lotion SPF 50

"Their AM SPF 50 [...] is a new launch from CeraVe. It's a mixed chemical and mineral sunscreen. I actually find it easier to blend than the 30. [...] The SPF 50 feels nice and aesthetically feels good. It blends a little easier, so I think as time moves forward this might become the go-to for people's starter sunscreens."

✓Yay

88%Guru Score

CeraVe Hydrating Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50

"The Hydrating Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50, I've worn this quite a bit and it just struggles to blend with darker skin tones. It's [...] very casty. I [...] would classify this as unwearable. [...] This is a criminal release from CeraVe. Unless you have the lightest skin tones or you really don't care about a white cast, you will otherwise hate this sunscreen. It's a pure mineral, it's like a paste. It just doesn't blend really well at all and it'll sit on your face kind of just all white. [...] You can't tell how it doesn't essentially blend very well with my skin."

✕Nay

55%Guru Score

Black Girl Sunscreen Make It Matte Sunscreen Gel SPF 45

"It's very similar to the Unseen sunscreen but it's mattifying, so my problem with the Unseen and a lot of the Supergoop ones is it leaves you dewy. But it's extremely good aesthetically. It's hard to find an invisible sunscreen that's also mattifying."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Paula's Choice Barrier Protect Mineral Sunscreen

"No matter what your skin tone, you're going to love this sunscreen. It just suddenly started to irritate me, I would get itchy, so I think I'm somehow allergic to one of the ingredients in here, but because there are no common allergens in this product, it's difficult for me to even pinpoint what it is, so I just had to stop using it. But it's a sunscreen that I loved for a very, very long time. Mineral-wise, pretty close to invisible outside of your beard, that's as good as you can hope for with a pure mineral sunscreen. [...] It'll set in like any sunscreen will set in a little bit more, [...] but that's a good blend. Squalane has become the foil for mineral sunscreens and the white cast, it's like the vehicle, but when I was applying it, it didn't seem to have that squalane feel. For a mineral sunscreen though, this is great, this is gentle. A lot of mineral sunscreens, especially with the [...] octyl salicylate filter enhancer, that one irritates my skin quite a bit, but this is great."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Missha Waterproof Sun Milk SPF 50+ PA++++

"This is the Waterproof Sun Milk from Missha. It actually set pretty nicely. It's a hybrid sunscreen, it's chemical and mineral, which usually are pretty aesthetic anyway."

~Mixed

62%Guru Score

Bondi Sands SPF 50 Broad Spectrum Sunscreen Lotion

"Bondi Sands and L'Oreal Posay sunscreens would be a really good combo actually."

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel SPF 50

"This is an SPF 50 and it gives you that dewy look that I particularly love"

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Isntree Onion Newpair Sunscreen SPF 50+ PA++++

"Onion is a strong ingredient, it has a pungent smell, a very spicy flavor. It might sting a little, but I don't know if that's because I just applied so many things to my skin. Overall, nice though. I like it. It is nice. It's actually a decent sunscreen too. I just find it super fascinating their dedication to this onion and the yam and the whatever other very deep vegetable roots they're now delving into."

~Mixed

77%Guru Score

Beauty of Joseon Ginseng Moist Sun Serum SPF 50+ PA++++

"I'm getting the Beauty of Joseon serum, the SPF serum, and I'm expecting I'm going to like that a lot."

✓Yay

64%Guru Score

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hydrating Tint Lotion SPF 30 Fragrance-Free

"Neutri foil I was very sorry I almost ate the mic very skeptical of supplements they did their research they use evidence-based ingredients"

✓Yay

70%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Anthelios UV Correct Daily Lotion SPF 70

"There's one product I don't like from La Roche-Posay in their sunscreen category just because it was so heavy for me and difficult to rub in. This is their Anthelios UV Correct face sunscreen SPF 70. So this product was just very difficult for me to rub in and so I'd ended up not liking it. If you don't like that heavier sunscreen white cast, then I wouldn't recommend it."

✕Nay

60%Guru Score

Supergoop Glow Screen Sunscreen SPF 40

"My wife's most frequently reused sunscreen by far is still the Supergoop Glow Screen Sunscreen. She buys that all the time."

✓Yay

68%Guru Score

Bubble Solar Mate Daily Mineral Sunscreen with Broadspectrum SPF 40

"Their sunscreen is actually pretty good too. This is their Solar Mate daily mineral sunscreen SPF 40. It actually blended really well for a mineral sunscreen, so for that reason alone it's like worth mentioning. It's good. It doesn't blow me out of the water, it's good."

✓Yay

73%Guru Score

Purito Daily Soft Touch Sunscreen SPF 50+ PA++++

"The purito has a new soft touch sunscreen I'm loving it, it's a little bit more hydrating, it's a little bit more expensive"

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

EltaMD UV Restore Tinted Sunscreen

"I also like the EltaMD UV Restore Tinted one, phenomenal tinted sunscreen for somebody who's got normal skin but is also trying to fight dark spots and wants to make sure they have coverage of that visible light."

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

Biore UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence SPF 50+ PA++++

"It's the most liquidy sunscreen I've ever tried because it doesn't have that tack, and it's harder to apply. Normally I apply two finger lengths, but you can't do that with this. You almost have to apply it into your hand and dab it onto the face, so my application technique doesn't work very well. It also has a relatively strong fragrance, almost like a fresh kind of fragrance. I didn't hate this product, but I really didn't love it the way that everyone else had loved it. The spray version grips pretty well actually, the spray grips more than the lotion. The reason I say that is because a way that people go wrong with sprays is they don't rub it in. It's weird that it grips so much for a spray. The smell is subjective, but I think it's nice."

~Mixed

86%Guru Score

Canmake Mermaid Skin Gel UV Sunscreen SPF50 Clear

"This sunscreen is absolutely awful. I'm not even joking, it's probably one of the worst sunscreens I've ever tried in my life. Extremely disappointed in this purchase. It's very green and clumpy. It leaves a terrible green white cast. I don't know who, like maybe if you have a super light skin tone it could look better on you, but if you have any tan at all this thing leaves a terrible, terrible white cast, a white green cast. It's even worse than a white cast."

✕Nay

76%Guru Score

Anessa Perfect UV Sunscreen Skincare Milk

"I think it has fragrance in it even though they told me at the store that it didn't. I'm pretty sure it does because I can smell it throughout the day. I found that it started to become more mattifying, so I don't know if it has something in it that's absorbing oils throughout the day. It went from dewy to matte pretty quickly, and I think that's that grit that we're feeling in it. I didn't love it despite all the billboards, to be honest. It has a weird balance of like grit, greasy, and now you're telling me it's going to mattify over time. It's just a weird combination. For someone with oily skin I don't think this is going to be a win."

~Mixed

76%Guru Score

Biore UV Aqua Rich Sunscreen Protective Mist SPF 50

"It does have a little bit of an alcohol smell and does have fragrance from what I can smell in it. I did like this as a reapplication and it does dry pretty quickly, and that's probably because of the alcohol. It does have a little bit more of a tack to it, like it's a little bit more mattifying than even the water gel. I didn't hate it, also didn't love it. I'm looking for the perfect spray, I haven't found the perfect reapplication spray, but this one's pretty good overall, so I would recommend this actually over that one."

~Mixed

78%Guru Score

e.l.f. Suntouchable Whoa Glow SPF 30

"This is the elf Suntouchable Whoa Glow, a budget friendly option that's very gentle with an incredible feel. If you just want to look extra glowy, like to the point where it's noticeable, this one delivers. It's incredibly sheer with a really nice filter shine. It's like putting a filter on your skin, so it almost has a little bit of a makeup effect. For somebody trying to have that no makeup makeup look, this might be a really good option as a sunscreen in one step so you don't even have to put on foundation. It's fragrance free, blends super well with the skin, and it's only $14, which is a really good price for a sunscreen like this."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Cetaphil Derma Control Oil Absorbing Moisturizer with Sunscreen SPF 30

"This one is for oily sensitive skin according to the packaging. The nice thing about this one is that it's great for oily skin, it's got starch and silica which are good oil absorbers, but at the same time it doesn't feel too heavy. I also think it's a little bit hydrating as well. I don't think it's drying just because it has these ingredients. It does leave you with a nice finish. It's a chemical sunscreen so it blends with every skin type. I've tried this on every skin type from one to six and everybody agrees that this will leave you no white cast and blends super well. It does have a nice hydrating finish. People with oilier skin tend to love this."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Eucerin Daily Protection Face Lotion SPF 30

"Both of these Eucerin products will be on our best list for the best budget options"

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturizer SPF 30

"This is SPF 30 and it is very moisturizing. I would pat in to avoid any pilling with it. It does have niacinamide and your prebiotic thermal waters. A lot of the products from La Roche Posay are very good for the skin. You're going to find it to be moisturizing and at the same time protect you from the sun."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Black Girl Sunscreen Moisturizing Sunscreen Lotion SPF 30

"This one is one of the first that I just saw nail blendability with dark skin tones. This is just an excellent excellent finish for people who struggle with any sort of cast. Plus, the ingredients are also on point. Fragrance-free, it has jojoba oil, which I really like in skin care products. And just the blendability—that's the main thing I'm emphasizing. So, it's their SPF 31. I really like it. Blends very well. And it's actually very affordable as well. And you can pretty much find it anywhere."

✓Yay

87%Guru Score

Neutrogena Sheer Zinc Mineral Sunscreen

"This is just if you don't care if you have a white cast, this one's for you. Super thick, ultra effective. The reason I love it, I find it to be a lot less irritating on my eyes than a lot of other active sunscreens. Like when you're outside and you're doing active things, you're going to sweat and it's going to run. If you're in the water, it's going to run. Doesn't irritate my eyes like a lot of other active sunscreens."

✓Yay

59%Guru Score

ThinkSport Sunscreen SPF 50

"This one is also broad spectrum. I believe this one comes in tinted and untinted. This one similarly is just a pure zinc one. It has multiple moisturizing ingredients, has antioxidants in it. Pairing all of that together is just a very well-rounded active sunscreen. And of course, with that, it's also water-resistant up to 80 minutes."

✓Yay

72%Guru Score

Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Watery Sun Gel SPF 50+ PA++++

"This is one of the OGs that has stood the test of time, SPF 50 with UVA, UVB, and PA++++ protection. It's just classic, lightweight, and hydrating. It's something people will wear every single day, and you just won't find a replacement for it because it feels so good on the skin. Lightweight hydration without feeling heavy, it doesn't feel like a sunscreen at all."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

iUNIK Centella Calming Daily Sun Water SPF50

"This blew my mind the last time we made a video about it. It comes in this essence-like bottle and makes you want to apply sunscreen to your face, it almost has a cooling effect. Think of your favorite essence, and it happens to be a sunscreen."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun: Rice + Probiotics SPF 50+ PA++++

"I think sunscreens are still their favorite. [...] I just love that rice relief sunscreen, it's been one of my favorites, go-to. I have it with me traveling, I also have it at home, at least four versions of this I use everywhere. They are known for their sunscreens, they make incredible sunscreens."

✓Yay

92%Guru Score

Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Moisture Airy Fit Daily Sunscreen SPF 50

"This product is absolutely phenomenal. It just showed up in my backpack one day and I used it consistently, used it on vacation a ton of times. Just absolutely phenomenal, lightweight sunscreen, skin-like finish. You're just going to absolutely love this product. And it is a top seller."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

Round Lab Birch Juice Moisturizing Sunscreen SPF 50 PA++++

"The sunscreen, their birch juice, [...] it's just phenomenal. Even the US version is very nice. The Korean filters [...] allow it to have a bit more of a sensorial experience, but the US version, which you can find in Target, is also phenomenal."

✓Yay

90%Guru Score

Numbuzin No.1 Clear Filter Sun Essence SPF50+ PA++++

"My favorite is probably their number one sunscreen, which is just for sensitive skin. Blends and creates really well. I'd say this is one of the most underrated Korean sunscreens out there. A lot of people who have oily skin say this plays perfect, but it's really hydrating, really lightweight."

✓Yay

88%Guru Score

Anua Zero Cast Moisturizing Finish Sunscreen SPF 50

"I also like their zerocast sunscreen. I think that's a great option. It has a little measuring cup on it so you know exactly how much to use."

✓Yay

74%Guru Score

EltaMD UV Clear Broad-Spectrum SPF 46

"This is currently 45 dollars for their UV Clear, which is what I'm currently using on my face right now, tinted. I like it, it's just a standard one. When did the prices get so high for this product? Maybe they were always high and I just didn't realize it."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

Purito Deep Sea Pure Watery Sunscreen SPF50+ PA++++

"This sunscreen actually brings to the table a mix of US and Korean sunscreen filters to achieve things that really are hard to obtain otherwise which is water resistance. Interestingly too, this one does tout a bit of oil control, sebum control. So those of you or me with like normal to oily or normal to combination skin, this might do a lot of different things beyond just sun protection for you. And I always find that the stick, well, it depends on what the base is of the stick, but I do actually find that they give more of a dry down, but has more of like an oil finish actually, believe it or not. Even though they're touting like oil controlling ingredients, it gives you a bit of an oil finish like a skin oil almost."

~Mixed

81%Guru Score

Beauty of Joseon Day Dew Sunscreen Lightweight SPF 50

"From an ingredient perspective, it's fragrance-free. It has hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, and panthenol, which is a great ingredient for barrier support. It does layer well, grips kind of like a primer, and it's not tacky. It doesn't peel. I've used this multiple times already in multiple settings and I can say that it really sets nicely on the skin. This is a phenomenal sunscreen now made for the US market, which is incredible. It's definitely a task to try to create a really beautiful, elegant sunscreen for the US market and Beauty of Joseon absolutely nailed it. I think it's crazy now that we can just pick this up at Sephora, which is very cool."

✓Yay

66%Guru Score

EltaMD UV Daily

"EltaMD is a dermlod brand that started in the derm offices. They do tons of clinical studies on their product and they really have a high standard. [...] The EltaMD UV Daily doesn't have niacinamide and has hyaluronic acid and it gives you that nice dewy finish which I absolutely love because you're already getting your niacinamide in the remedy for dark spot product at night. So use remedy for dark spots at night. Use EltaMD UV Daily in the morning and that's your entire dark spot routine."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Biossance Squalane + Zinc Sheer Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30

"I really love the Biossance Squalane + Zinc Sheer Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30. It struggles in facial hair but on the skin I love the way it feels, super hydrating."

✓Yay

68%Guru Score

ISDIN Eryfotona Actinica SPF 50

"This non-tinted mineral sunscreen blends phenomenally well. It's as about as good as it gets when it comes to a mineral sunscreen blending with any skin tone. Like, you cannot get better than this. It feels so lightweight when you put it on. If you're looking for that more elegant sunscreen, this is certainly one of the products that you want to try out. Just be aware that this product does have fragrance in it."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

ISDIN Eryfotona Ageless SPF 50

"This mineral sunscreen blends insanely well for a mineral sunscreen. It has almost like a little bit of a primer feel. It's as about as good as it gets when it comes to a mineral sunscreen blending with any skin tone. Like, you cannot get better than this. It feels so lightweight when you put it on, and it easily blends with no issues. If you're looking for that more elegant sunscreen, this is certainly one of the products that you want to try out. Just be aware that this product does have fragrance in it."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

Moisturizers52 reviews

La Roche-Posay Lipikar AP+M Triple Repair Moisturizing Cream

"Some of my favorite thicker moisturizers would be La Roche-Posay's Lipikar AP+ moisturizer. It's one that both of us love."

✓Yay

88%Guru Score

Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream

"Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream is a classic I always recommend for normal skin, just super balanced, kind of like a lotion cream, really nice, consistent, no frills type of moisturizer."

✓Yay

90%Guru Score

Vanicream Daily Facial Moisturizer

"The Vanicream facial moisturizer is another one you can just simply rely on. People love it, people repurchase a ton of it. It's affordable and has really low allergen potential as well."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion

"The Clinique Dramatically Different moisturizer is something my wife used for a long time before becoming a Remedy user, and her sister still uses it too. It has a buttery finish but it's a lighter weight lotion, the yellow bottle many will recognize. It's really just a consistently good moisturizer for normal skin."

✓Yay

78%Guru Score

Vichy Mineral 89 48-Hour Moisture Boosting Matte Sorbet

"One of my favorites here is the Vichy Mattify Sorbet. The brand never puts any ad spin behind it, I've complained to them in person and on social media, but it still just needs more love. It has incredible aesthetics, incredible visual, incredible feel, and it helps absorb oil."

✓Yay

69%Guru Score

Avène Cicalfate+ Restorative Protective Cream

"Something that's sort of a hybrid between the pure petrolatum world and the zinc based barrier butt pastes is something like a Cicalfate from Avene. [...] I actually think the Avene one must have zinc in it. [...] It feels very zincy when you rub it in. And I've used it in the past like when I've had laser done for example during the healing process."

✓Yay

90%Guru Score

Aquaphor Healing Cream 3-in-1 Diaper Rash Cream

"Any zinc-based diaper rash cream, fragrance-free is going to be very effective here. Aquaphor has great options for this. You can use this on the face to help repair a damaged skin barrier during this 7-day healing period."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Real Actives Do More Barrier Boosting Moisturizer

"I loved this moisturizer personally and I think the aesthetics of the whole line are great. It does have a slight scent to it. [...] I think overall they really did a great job with the formula. I think it's hydrating and how it plays with your skin, especially if it's acne prone. [...] This is a really nice from a tactile perspective, a nice moisturizer. It's somewhere between a gel and a cream. Maybe you can call it a gel cream, maybe a lotion. Absorbs really nice. Isn't greasy at all. The shea butter base is something that I personally like a lot."

✓Yay

67%Guru Score

Vanicream Moisturizing Cream

"I love Vanicream's cream in a tub. It's just a thick moisturizer, and if you're really not wanting to guess at all whether something will be safe for your skin, this big tub is going to do really well for you."

✓Yay

88%Guru Score

Eucerin Intensive Repair Lotion

"I like the Eucerin Intensive Repair, it has some exfoliators plus a really thick hydrator for very damaged skin."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Illiyoon Ceramide Ato Concentrate Lotion

"Shout out to Illiyoon, their body moisturizer, the ceramide ato lotion gel, is just absolutely phenomenal. It's a 12 ounce, really affordable product with a cool looking pump, and it feels amazing on the skin. If you're looking for a lightweight body moisturizer for the summer, I'd check this out."

✓Yay

91%Guru Score

Topicals Faded Brightening & Clearing Gel

"If you're using Topicals Faded in 2026, drop a note, because it's so interesting how quickly we move on from good products in the skincare space. It's actually probably to our own detriment that we see a great product and we don't stick with it long enough."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

CeraVe Moisturizing Cream with Urea

"The [CeraVe] one I actually really like."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

COSRX Advanced Snail 92 All in One Cream

"It's the Advanced Snail 92 All-in-One Cream. [...] Snail mucin as an ingredient we know is incredibly beneficial for the skin, and I actually love how it sits on the skin. We have a whole video on snail mucin where we did a deep dive on all the science behind it, and it really is quite fascinating. But the aesthetics are so good. It's a little bit of a lighter weight moisturizer, but it really brings a ton of just deep, deep hydration. It's light, non-greasy. If you have oily skin, you'll still like it. If you have combination skin, you'll still like it. But the amount of hydration it adds and the way it sets, perfect. [...] This one I actually find myself reaching for more and more, especially as my skin has gotten a lot drier. I don't reach for the essence as much as I reach for the cream. And the way that it plays with the skin is just really unlike anything else. It keeps you super hydrated and dewy without being very heavy. [...] If you're drier, it will leave you with moisture. If you're oilier, it won't leave you with that feeling that you don't like where you feel oily. It really is just such a balanced moisturizer."

✓Yay

74%Guru Score

Dieux Instant Angel Lipid-Rich Firming Moisturizer

"This is another thick moisturizer that you can use if you have dry skin. It's thick, but it's not so thick you have to push it. It spreads really easily. It melts into your skin. It has still a kind of a lighter body despite being so rich. This one feels incredible."

✓Yay

91%Guru Score

Peter Thomas Roth Peptide 21 Wrinkle Resist Moisturizer

"Peptides are a breakout group of ingredients over the last couple of years that has now become a cornerstone in skincare because the way they're made, they're all very deliberately purposely created. Each one actually has a specific function in your skin. The skin injection peptide cream from Peter Thomas Roth is outstanding. They have a serum and then they have a cream and the cream and the serum both have 21 different types of peptides in it including ingredients like argerene and arjgerox. Now arjgerox I believe that particular combination of peptides has been shown to increase the longevity of your botox. So if you get botox done it usually lasts only 3 months. This can increase longevity at up to 6 months. So it is just a really interesting combination of ingredients and it's power packed with different types of peptides. And because of that, even though it's a little bit more pricey, it definitely makes our list of the year definitely."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

CeraVe PM Facial Moisturizing Lotion

"CeraVe PM is a PM moisturizer but there's no reason you can't use that during the morning. It's got niacinamide, it's a lightweight gel moisturizer that could be used morning or night."

✓Yay

89%Guru Score

Hero Cosmetics Rescue Balm+ Red Correct

"Hero Cosmetics Rescue Balm is another really popular one that's actually really quite affordable. This is their redness correct color correcting green serum. This is a heavier color correction, much heavier than the La Roche-Posay one, so it can be a little heavy for some people, but I think it's going to do a better job correcting color than the La Roche-Posay one."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

Soolantra Ivermectin Cream 1%

"Ivermectin is wild and can work really well because it actually treats the mites and the mites have a pretty prominent role in especially the acne form of rosacea. Some people have tried a lot of other ingredients and they try ivermectin and they're like, 'Wow, it wipes out those demodex mites.' And then the rosacea gets much much better. The problem with this ingredient is the crazy cost. For a tube of cream, it is still $600 plus. No healthcare insurance company wants to cover these things. But there are now some generic forms and you can also get them compounded."

~Mixed

79%Guru Score

Minimalist 5% Marula Oil Moisturizer with Hyaluronic Acid and Vitamin F

"This is their marula oil face moisturizer. It's a really nice thicker cream and it leaves you with this really nice dewy marula oil finish. Now to be honest, that's not going to be for everybody. For me, this is the ideal texture in a moisturizer."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

SkinCeuticals Phytocorrective Gel

"The whole Phytocorrective line for me is a no. I don't really know who it's specifically for or who I would recommend it to."

✕Nay

66%Guru Score

CeraVe Daily Facial Moisturizing Lotion

"I recommend the moisturizing cream a lot. It's just generally recommendable, most people kind of like how it feels, and it's very safe for all skin."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

CeraVe Oil Control Gel Creme

"The oil control moisturizing gel cream, if you have oily skin you're going to love this. That mattifying effect from the starch is great, it's subtle, it won't leave you flat, but it's a great one."

✓Yay

63%Guru Score

CeraVe Intensive Moisturizing Lotion with 5% Urea

"I would make the argument when it comes to a body moisturizer that I actually like the experience of their Intensive Moisturizing Lotion the best of between the regular lotion and the regular cream. I kind of like that lipid slip that stays around a little bit longer. It feels a little bit greasier, more of an oilier afterfeel, more of a slip, but I like that feeling when I'm moisturizing the body. It feels more like the lip barrier than any of the other products from CeraVe. I do actually think it's okay for the face and the body, but I prefer using that on my body than my face. It does have 5% urea in it which is going to have multiple benefits, but you really want to see if you want a strong exfoliating benefit, it really needs to be 10% or greater."

✓Yay

89%Guru Score

SkinBetter Science AlphaRet Overnight Cream

"If we're looking at something that's expensive but probably still worth the money, I would say it would be AlphaRet from SkinBetter Science. This is what would be medical grade skincare personified, this would be the definition of that category if it existed. AlphaRet is still a great product."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

SkinCeuticals A.G.E. Interrupter Advanced Moisturizer

"One of the ones that have won a lot of Beauty Awards is this P toox from skin pical which is truly just a blend of peptides and maybe some niacinamide in it really not a groundbreaking ingredient maybe if it came out 3 4 years ago it would be but in 2024 there have been a lot more products that are much more advanced than this product out there"

✕Nay

70%Guru Score

Eucerin Intensive Repair Cream

"This is one of the best body moisturizers for dry to very dry skin that I found. I use it every single day now and I have created more empties of this bottle than anything else this year. It has exfoliating ingredients, I think it has lactic acid and urea, and the low concentrations so they kind of just help. But it's a real thick moisturizer that doesn't leave you greasy. [...] It has a very similar sensation in terms of how well it hugs your skin and hydrates, it's got that similar thickness, but I think it elevates it a little bit with the light exfoliators in there. [...] This is definitely one of the best of the year in the drugstore."

✓Yay

89%Guru Score

The INKEY List Super Solutions 10% Urea Moisturizer

"If you just want to start super simple, The INKEY List has a 10% Urea online. A 10 to 20% would probably be tolerated okay on the arms."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Matte Moisturizer

"La Roche-Posay Toleriane matte moisturizer, another really good moisturizer gel-like moisturizer for the summer."

✓Yay

87%Guru Score

Glossier After Baume Moisture Recovery Cream

"This has become a staple in my repair skincare routine now. I have just been wildly impressed with that product. I absolutely love it."

✓Yay

80%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5

"This is definitely part of the best of list from La Roche-Posay. This product is phenomenal. It also adds that dimethicone into the moisturizer. It's a little bit of a heavier balm, which gives it more healing properties than some of the other products. [...] These are products I generally recommend in the office to people in real life, and this is for the person who's struggling with sensitive irritated skin barrier. They're looking for a recovery balm. This is where that lives."

✓Yay

91%Guru Score

Bubble Slam Dunk Hydrating Moisturizer

"The Slam Dunk Hydrating Moisturizer feels like [...] a heavier cream. This one I personally prefer because I like heavier moisturizers. If you have drier skin, this is something that's going to be for you."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Bubble Cloud Surf Water Cream Moisturizer

"I also think the name Cloud Surf is insanely cool I love clouds I would like to be a cloud I love to Surf I wish the product lived up to the name"

~Mixed

78%Guru Score

e.l.f. Holy Hydration! Face Cream

"I have one, this is I don't know my fourth, fifth time talking about it this month, elf Holy Hydration, obsessed with this product. It's interesting, it's just like, subjectively the texture is dynamite. It matches very closely those very fine, more like middle, higher end facial moisturizers that you can find. So texturally I just think it delivers, it blows it up. It has hydrating ingredients, it has peptides, and for the price point it just nails it for me. It's been something I've been obsessed with for a little bit here. I'll probably get bored with it, but right now I love it, it's so good."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturizer

"La Roche-Posay is one of my favorite moisturizers for dry skin. Their Lipikar line is phenomenal, the Toleriane line is phenomenal as well. So trying any of those products is going to be awesome for your night routine."

✓Yay

88%Guru Score

CetaPhil Moisturizing Cream

"You can use other just bland emollient fragrance-free moisturizers, something from CeraVe, from Cetaphil, from Neutrogena, something that's going to calm and soothe the skin."

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

Tatcha Water Cream Oil-Free Pore Minimizing Moisturizer

"Tatcha Water Cream is a high-quality moisturizer, though more expensive than alternatives like Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel."

✓Yay

78%Guru Score

Mederma Advanced Scar Gel with Allantoin

"There was a good paper that came out on the benefits of this onion extract that's in Mederma to help with scars. And then later on, they did the meta-analysis that analyzed Mederma and found that it probably does not have benefit. The benefits that people are probably seeing are just because they're keeping the wound moist rather than the actual onion extract doing something for the skin."

✕Nay

51%Guru Score

Silicone Scar gel

"I actually like the silicone bandages that they have because they're something that actually just stick on the wound and they're reusable. So you can just apply them and cover your scar as long as your scar is not too big. I actually like even when I was healing my own scar from my Mohs surgery that I had on my chest, that's what I used was the silicone bandages because they were just easy to apply, easy to wash, easy to reapply. Silicone has the most data."

✓Yay

88%Guru Score

First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Firming Collagen Cream

"The First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Firming Collagen Cream is actually just overall a really good moisturizer. One of my issues, well I don't really have an issue with it, but part of the marketing of course is the word collagen. You think collagen and you want collagen on your skin that's going to get in your skin, but collagen is way too large of a particle. It's a combination of amino acids, long chain, so it's really just not going to penetrate the skin. That being said, it's actually a great moisturizer. Collagen does make a great moisturizer, which just doubles down on the effectiveness of this moisturizer. It's just wonderful, effective and just good all around for everyday skin. It is a little bit on the heavier side. It's not like a gel, it's truly a cream. I've gotten a lot of use out of it. I like the way that it feels on the skin. It has beneficial ingredients like niacinamide, panthenol, shea butter, and ceramide. It also has colloidal oats, which is one of those standout plant-based ingredients that's been studied in eczema. It doesn't cause any issues with my skin. It's fragrance-free and it's safe for sensitive skin. I'm a big fan of First Aid Beauty in general. This one really stood out to me."

✓Yay

74%Guru Score

Remedy Barrier Repairing Rich Cream Moisturizer

"I'm a big proponent of the Remedy Rich Cream Moisturizer, which is our most repurchased product. If you bought it, you're more likely to repurchase. I use it every night before I go to sleep and it's really really helped a lot with dry skin. It's become sort of a non-negotiable and has not changed in my routine."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Etude SoonJung 2X Barrier Intensive Cream

"This has panthenol and madecassoside from centella, and it just feels so good on the skin. Somehow despite being so light, it's extremely hydrating. I think if you have dry skin and you're in a warmer season, you're going to love this product."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Dr. Althea 345 Relief Cream

"Dr. Althea's 345 Relief Cream is great for acne prone skin, and a lot of my friends are obsessed with this product, it's insanely viral. It has a range of ingredients that target dry, normal, oily, and blemish and acne prone skin: acne controlling ingredients, soothing ingredients, nourishing ingredients, and irritation reducing ingredients. It has niacinamide for oil control, centella, glycerin for hydration, beta glucan, hyaluronic acid, vitamin E, and ceramides. It's almost a gel cream hybrid, more cream than gel, with a beautiful water break on the skin and a cooling effect. It has a distillate of tea tree that gives antimicrobial and soothing benefits without the irritating allergens, which can help acne prone skin and possibly even fungal acne. A clinical study showed a 92% increase in hydration, a 10% decrease in acne, and a 33% decrease in oil production. I brought this on a recent trip to the desert and it was a savior, extremely easy to use, my skin just loved it, a perfect lightweight foil for that dry, hot air, and it also worked well for me in humid weather in Spain. It's perfect for someone dry in the summer or great for someone with normal skin year round."

✓Yay

66%Guru Score

Celimax Pore and Dark Spot Brightening Cream

"This has some familiar ingredients that we know to be working: niacinamide, tranexamic acid, ceramide, all at effective and perfect concentrations. It also has this ingredient melasyl, which helps inhibit melanosome transfer, one of the pigment-making steps that very few ingredients touch. Super lightweight lotion. It's great for anyone with dark spots. Easy to incorporate into routine."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Remedy Barrier Repair Lightweight Gel Moisturizer

"It's a lightweight moisturizer which actually pairs great for the summer it's a great uh summer one this is a great morning moisturizer if you don't like a heavy moisturizer just in general"

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

CeraVe Moisturizing Cream

"I recommend the Moisturizing Cream a lot. It's just generally recommendable, most people kind of like how it feels and it's very safe for all skin types."

✓Yay

87%Guru Score

CeraVe SA Cream for Rough and Bumpy Skin

"I really like the one from CeraVe, which is their 20% rough and bumpy. What I like about it is that in order to get that exfoliating benefit of urea it needs to be 10% or greater. Now if it's less than 5% it still has incredibly hydrating properties for the skin but you're not really going to get as much of an exfoliating benefit. And so what I like about the urea from CeraVe is that you have it at 20%."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

CeraVe Itch Relief Moisturizing Cream

"CeraVe would be my kind of my two go-tos for itch, and CeraVe does have an anti-itch lotion like a moisturizing lotion it comes in like a maroon tub."

✓Yay

80%Guru Score

Biossance Squalane Probiotic Gel Moisturizer

"One of my favorites still is the Biossance Squalane Probiotic Gel Moisturizer every summer it rolls around and I use it"

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

SkinFix Barrier+ Restoring Gel Cream

"I also love this one for really really dry skin now my facial moisturizer would be the SkinFix Barrier+ Restoring Gel Cream this year so I'm a lipid guy normally now when it gets a little bit colder I'm going to be going into their dark blue one the one that's a little bit heavier but probably most reused this year or I know most reused this year because I purchase it the most often is actually the SkinFix Barrier+ Restoring Gel Cream. Now it just is a little bit less heavy but still the same like their textures are incredible on their moisturizers just absolutely phenomenal. I've been kind of having a little bit less thicker creams lately and I love it."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

SkinFix Barrier+ Triple Lipid & Peptide Cream

"Skinfix Triple Lipid Peptide Cream is similar in efficacy to SkinCeuticals H.A. Intensifier, and I would actually prefer it because it doesn't have the essential oils that the SkinCeuticals product has."

✓Yay

95%Guru Score

First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream

"This is one of my favorite moisturizers for drier seasons, the First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream. It has ingredients like glycerin which are humectants that help to moisturize the skin, shea butter which is a lipid and emollient that helps to soften the skin and prevent transepidermal water loss, dimethicone which is one of the best ingredients in skin care and serves as an occlusive, squalane which is one of my favorite skin care ingredients and helps to prevent transepidermal water loss, and ceramide which is the most important lipid in the skin barrier. It also has colloidal oatmeal which is an FDA designated skin protectant and very effective for people with eczema, dry skin, and itchy, dry, irritated skin. The texture is whipped and it just kind of melts away on your skin as you put it on, and even though it has heavy hitter moisturizing ingredients and provides a ton of protection, it's got that really lightweight feel. It's non-comedogenic, very effective, has amazing ingredients, and has ingredients that soothe the skin if you have dry, itchy skin during the winter. Overall, it's a fan cult-favorite and a really good moisturizer for the winter."

✓Yay

75%Guru Score

Cleansers48 reviews

Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm

"This is a bit of a greasier cleansing balm. Anecdotally, I don't love it. I have no doubt that it works, but only acceptably, based on how it's kind of melting into my skin, more like a pure oil. To me these balms are just too soft, and in some ways I don't like that experience."

✕Nay

68%Guru Score

Beauty of Joseon Ginseng Cleansing Oil

"I really like their cleansing oil, they have a really nice cleansing oil. It has almost a tea scent to it, [...] like tea leaves that have been boiled, [...] but it's nice. I've tried and tested most cleansing oils on the market, [...] I've become a power user of cleansing oils, and I think it's my favorite viscosity [...] of any cleansing oil that I've used, the thickness of it is my favorite experiential of any cleansing oil on the market. Performance-wise, just as a fun fact, my favorite is a different one, but as far as texture, it's one of my favorite products."

✓Yay

72%Guru Score

Numbuzin Easy Peasy Cleansing Oil

"Their cleansing oil is also my favorite. It's just one of the rare foaming cleansing oils."

✓Yay

74%Guru Score

Vanicream Gentle Facial Cleanser

"I really like Vanicream products, especially for those who have sensitive skin. I think they're super trustworthy."

✓Yay

92%Guru Score

CeraVe Hydrating Cream-to-Foam Cleanser

"Someone might love that CeraVe creamy cream cream cleanser. Even though it's not our particular aesthetic, it really does great for very damaged skin."

✓Yay

78%Guru Score

CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser

"I hate the way that product feels on my skin. It feels like I'm rubbing lotion on my skin with no foam. It's not something that I enjoy."

✕Nay

85%Guru Score

Real Actives Makeup Melting Cleansing Balm

"So many of you know I love a cleansing balm. This comes in a jar which is very similar to other ones, which is hygienic. The formula is a bit stiffer cleansing balm, it's got more body to it, whereas some are a bit more on the oily side. Both are incredible at removing any makeup and any sunscreen. They're fragrance-free, they're going to be gentle on the skin and they're going to remove everything pretty well. I love cleansing balms whether you have acne or you don't have acne. I love the aesthetic. It melts into your skin and your hand. With cleansing balms, just as long as it's not too greasy, that's definitely one side that people error on, and just too stiff and chunky and clunky, that's the other side where you can really miss. But it's effective, feels great. Nailed it."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

Real Actives Pore Power Exfoliating LHA plus BHA Gel Cleanser

"This is actually one of the rare functional cleansers. As far as aesthetics and product use, it's a lightweight gel cleanser with a medium lather. It doesn't strip, so I think it's very balanced. Nothing extraordinary, certainly no misses on it. I like it. It's a really nice gel texture and it foams nicely, so I think people with acne will enjoy the texture of this product. It does have peppermint in it, so if you're somebody with sensitive skin or some sensitivity to menthols, then this could potentially irritate your skin. It's really low on the ingredient list and it's not something that you can even really smell or feel when you apply it to the skin. The 3.4 oz is a bit on the smaller side, but you could take it in a travel size. Price per ounce is a bit on the expensive side, but overall a good cleanser."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Then I Met You Living Cleansing Balm

"I like Then I Met You's cleansing balm, it's more of an oily cleansing balm rather than a stiffer one. It's a really nice experience, really great at removing anything on the skin without overly stripping. It's a phenomenal product."

✓Yay

88%Guru Score

Geek & Gorgeous 101 Mighty Melt Cleansing Balm

"I bought Geek and Gorgeous's cleansing balm when I was in Germany, it was really affordable, close to maybe ten or under fifteen dollars. It's a really nice cleansing balm, a bit on the softer side, but incredible at removing things without stripping the skin. It's one of my favorite cleansing balms I've ever tried."

✓Yay

94%Guru Score

Cetaphil Pro Acne Prone Skin Micronized Benzoyl Peroxide Wash

"Cetaphil's acne line is topnotch. They have a micronized benzoyl peroxide wash that helps minimize irritation while still being extremely effective."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Prequel Non-Drying Glycerin Cleanser

"I've tried a few things like their cleanser is quite nice."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Dr. Althea Pore Refresh Grinding Cleansing Balm

"I actually like their cleansing balm quite a bit."

✓Yay

76%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Toleriane Purifying Foaming Cleanser

"The La Roche-Posay one I feel like is a bit silkier. It leaves me a little bit more hydrated and so when comparing those and again this is coming from someone with a perspective of normal to dry skin. If you have oily skin, you may prefer that more oil removing properties that the other one has, but because of the surfactant system and the way that it's formulated, I do feel like it leaves you a little bit more dry where the La Roche-Posay one leaves you a little bit more hydrated with a little bit of a silkier finish. So, as far as texture and performance, I personally prefer the La Roche-Posay one."

✓Yay

92%Guru Score

Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm

"I prefer the fragrance-free version. If you can get that one 40% off, it is one of my favorite cleansing balms. It works really well."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

Anua Heartleaf Plus Vitamin E Pore Control Cleansing Oil

"A good option here is the one from Anua to use a cleansing oil to dissolve some of the sebaceous filaments that have built up into your pores."

✓Yay

62%Guru Score

Remedy Rich Cream to Foam Cleanser

"When we formulated our hydrating cleanser, part of the calculation was how do we have a surfactant that removes oil, dirt, and debris, but then is designed in such a way that it can leave your glycerins and camides behind."

✓Yay

78%Guru Score

Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm

"Clinique makes a really good one, but still it's hard to hold a flame to the pharmacy one which just works so well."

✓Yay

78%Guru Score

Tatcha Indigo Cleansing Balm

"I bulk ordered it for myself. We try a ton of cleansing balms, we use cleansing balms maybe more than almost any other product, and it's still one of my all-time favorites. It just works, period. You can try lots of cleansers out, they have a fragrance-free one and they have a fragranced one, you can go with either quite honestly because you're going to wash your face again right afterwards."

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

Minimalist Oat 6% Gentle Cleanser

"I do like oat cleansers in general for people with sensitive skin dry skin irritated skin. This one aesthetically really was good. It does have a different feel than the rest of the cleanser lineup. It's not as much of a foam, it is just kind of a rich lather that sits on your skin, but it does not feel like you're just rubbing lotion on your skin. It still feels like cleanser. It has a nice lather but no foam. It leaves you feeling hydrated and soothes your skin barrier. So somebody who has sensitive skin, somebody who has drier skin, this is the one that I would choose from the Minimalist lineup."

✓Yay

78%Guru Score

Minimalist Aquaporin Cleanser

"The Minimalist Aquaporin Cleanser has more of that glycerin slip and leaves behind that little bit of that glycerin feel. Glycerin is known to actually increase aquaporin expression, and as you increase aquaporin expression, you're able to bring more water into the skin, so it is a hydrating cleanser. It does have hyaluronic acid, it does have betaine, all the products are fragrance-free, and I think it's a good gentle cleanser that leaves behind a little bit of a hydrating finish. Is it rocking the world? No, probably not."

~Mixed

76%Guru Score

Tirtir Hydroboost Enzyme Cleansing Balm

"I was using this new Tirtir cleansing balm during the conference that I really liked."

✓Yay

72%Guru Score

CeraVe Foaming Facial Cleanser

"The foaming cleanser is probably one of their best selling cleansers and it's really made more for oily skin so it has more of a foaming effect than the cream to foam cleanser. It is a little bit more stripping so if you have oily skin I would go with the foam cleanser."

✓Yay

80%Guru Score

CeraVe Renewing SA Cleanser

"They also have a CeraVe Renewing SA Cleanser, which is different than their Acne Control cleanser. Both of them have ceramides. The difference is the CeraVe SA cleanser, which comes in the clear bottle, is actually a lower concentration, around 0.5%. They don't actually disclose the number. Where the Acne Control one is around 2%, this is going to have less salicylic acid. And I would actually make the argument that both of them are actually good for acne. Now if you have acne and sensitive skin, or acne and drier skin, I'd go with the 0.5% CeraVe SA cleanser. [...] That's actually some very valuable nuance. I always found those two cleansers a bit confusing, to be quite honest."

✓Yay

75%Guru Score

CeraVe Acne Foaming Cream Cleanser with 4% Benzoyl Peroxide

"The 4% benzoyl peroxide cleanser is a really good one. 4% benzoyl peroxide is incredibly effective for acne, but it can be drying and irritating, so they paired it with ceramides to help offset some of that and keep your skin barrier intact. 4% is also all you need, it's certainly effective with less irritation and a great option if you have acne-prone skin. I always really opt for that 4% especially for the face. You could make the argument for a 10% cleanser on the back and the body, but you can still get results at 4%. It's been shown that even 2 to 2.5% benzoyl peroxide can be equivalent in efficacy to 10% benzoyl peroxide, so this is one of those scenarios where more doesn't always equal better. You can get away with a 4% benzoyl peroxide cleanser and you'll get that efficacy from it and it will be gentle on the skin."

✓Yay

76%Guru Score

Paula's Choice Omega Cleansing Balm

"It works fine, I mean as expected. There's a lot of residue though. [...] It feels more greasy than like leaving the skin hydrated, so I wouldn't say it's my favorite cleansing balm. [...] From an ingredient standpoint it works well, but it separates a little bit. [...] If you just bought a bottle off the shelf you may want to shake it up a little bit just to kind of re-emulsify the oil with the rest of the balm."

~Mixed

75%Guru Score

Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel

"The Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel is an extremely gentle cleanser that feels rich and great on dry or irritated skin. It has [...] oat kernel extract, hyaluronic acid, squalane, aloe, and green tea, that's a nice top line of ingredients for a cleanser. It's extremely soothing and doesn't strip. One of my favorite cleansers that I've been using very regularly over the last few months."

✓Yay

71%Guru Score

Tula Cult Classic Purifying Cleanser

"It actually is a really nice cleanser. It does have fragrance in it which, you know, plus or minus. I'm not a huge fan of fragrance in general, but in a cleanser I tend to do well with it. I also like using it as a body wash. If I use a cleanser for the face I'll often use it on the body. It's a really nice cleanser, and you can get the 30% off right now."

✓Yay

64%Guru Score

Do Skincare Baptism Cleanser

"They just recently came out with a cleanser called Baptism that came in both a fragranced and a fragrance-free form. [...] The fragrance form is actually really quite nice, but I like the fact that there's also an option for people who have sensitive skin and want that fragrance-free option."

✓Yay

66%Guru Score

DHC Deep Cleansing Oil

"I like the DHC cleansing oil."

✓Yay

89%Guru Score

Kate Somerville Eradicate 3% Daily Foaming Cleanser

"You have like a Kate Somerville sulfur cleanser which is kind of classic. This ingredient can be wonderful for, especially rosacea, the acne form of rosacea in particular. Sulfur if you're developing rosacea is a really, really excellent ingredient."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Bioderma Sensibio H2O Micellar Water

"Bioderma, I've tried theirs. There's so many good options. They're not that expensive. They have micellar water that's perfectly fine. I like that as well, budget friendly."

✓Yay

96%Guru Score

Versed Day Dissolve Cleansing Balm

"The Versed has a cleansing balm in a pink container. I don't love that one as much as their green balm, [...] but it certainly works. Both of these are very gentle and I think they're fragrance free."

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

CeraVe Micellar Cleansing Water

"CeraVe has a micellar water that's perfectly fine. I like that as well, budget friendly."

✓Yay

61%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Micellar Water

"I've gone through the La Roche-Posay Micellar Water quite a few times those big bottles. I think there are some amazing micellar waters out there."

✓Yay

75%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Lipikar AP+ Gentle Foaming Cleansing Oil

"I'm pretty darn obsessed with this cleansing oil right now. It really is the only cleanser I've used for probably the last month and I just don't want to move on from it. [...] It's the perfect balance between a hydrating cleanser and it still has a decent amount of lather to it, so I don't feel like it leaves me greasy or oily at all. It's functionally very effective. It's interesting because it doesn't have a strong robust skin oil as the core component, [...] but it is just an oil-based cleanser with surfactants, and anecdotally it's outstanding for drier skin. [...] I feel like this one doesn't feel like your prototypical cleansing oil, and maybe that's why it's going to have a chance, because I'm not the biggest fan of a real creamy cleansing oil where you feel it too much."

✓Yay

89%Guru Score

Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser

"For cleansing, definitely don't overthink it. You just want a gentle cleanser in this step. Your results with hyperpigmentation and dark spots is going to occur with the heavy-hitting actives, the treatment steps of your skincare routine. So for this gentle cleanser, Cetaphil, Neutrogena, we'll put some here. Otherwise, don't overthink this step."

✓Yay

80%Guru Score

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water

"Garnier has a micellar water so you don't need to break the bank here. It's low pH, great for your skin, has niacinamide so great for your skin for acne, blemishes, dark spots, barrier. Super straightforward, simple, fragrance-free."

✓Yay

66%Guru Score

CeraVe Makeup Removing Cleanser Balm

"I tried the CeraVe Cleansing Balm and for me cleansing balms come down to efficacy, do they do the job of removing things well, and I thought it fell short compared to the Pharmacy Green Clean cleansing balm."

✕Nay

59%Guru Score

CeraVe Acne Control Cleanser with 2% Salicylic Acid

"If you have more of those dry comedonal type of acne, the CeraVe Acne Control Cleanser, this one has 2% salicylic acid. They had their SA cleanser which has around 0.5% salicylic acid in an undisclosed amount, they'll never tell you how much is in there. So if you have acne and you have more comedonal acne, then I would go with this option probably over the benzoyl peroxide option."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Bubble Fresh Start Gel Cleanser

"It has a hydration component but also has lavender flour water and lavender and spearmint, which can be irritating for a lot of people. It gives you that kind of cooling sensation, but it can also [...] be irritating to the skin. Although this is fragrance-free, those are technically essential oils and for some people could end up irritating them. Overall, it's a good affordable basic cleanser, but it's definitely not on my best of Bubble list. It's a cleanser and it will serviceably cleanse."

✕Nay

70%Guru Score

Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash

"The hero product here was Neutrogena for like ever, with that orange pump top bottle. It still is pretty effective, but it's fragranced and I think that we've made a lot of advances in skincare since then, so it's probably not the best product out there. I actually don't like the smell of the Neutrogena one even though it's the one that I use growing up. It just maybe reminds me of childhood and kind of like that Proactiv smell bothers me."

~Mixed

61%Guru Score

The INKEY List 2% Salicylic Acid Cleanser

"The Inkey List has one, too. I think also affordable 2% Salicylic Acid Cleanser as well."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Cetaphil Gentle Clear Complexion Clearing BPO Acne Cleanser

"The Cetaphil Calming line came out with this Gentle Clear line and they have a complexion clearing BPO acne cleanser. That's a 2.6% BPO. What I like about it too, it's micronized. It has zinc topically and liquorice in it. This line is lit. It is amazing. The micronized portion not only helps with stability and increased penetration into the follicles to really increase the efficacy, but some of the studies with micronized ingredients also show that it kind of disperses more evenly across the skin to prevent hot spots and minimize irritation. There are a lot of prescription benzoyl peroxide products. This mimics those and it does it better. I think it's great."

✓Yay

86%Guru Score

PanOxyl 4% Benzoyl Peroxide Cleansing Wash

"Madison Beer did a video where she said that PanOxyl or a cleanser that has benzoyl peroxide in it was something that really helped her acne, and I think that's great because it is an ingredient that has that level one grade A evidence."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Anua Heartleaf Pore Control Cleansing Foam

"The entire Heartleaf line is incredible for oily skin. I have a personal relationship with this cleanser. It actually found its way into my shower one day, and the more I used it, the more I loved it, and I completely emptied out this product. Extremely good. I love the cleansing oil, but the cleansing foam is actually an even bigger selling product for Anua than the oil."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Remedy Gel-to-Foam Cleanser with Salicylic Acid

"This is a gel to foam cleanser with salicylic acid. It has 0.5% salicylic acid in it. It starts as gel and then it turns into a nice foaming lather. This has become a product that people really really love. My wife uses this every day and it's really good for anyone who has like acne prone skin. If you're somebody who breaks out occasionally and you're looking for something that has gentle exfoliation is not going to be overly drying for the skin you'll really really like this cleanser here."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

SkinFix Acne Plus 2% BHA Cleanser

"I'm a huge fan of the Skinfix Acne Plus Cleanser because it has a very unique formula. It uses azelaic acid at 1%, 2% salicylic acid, niacinamide, and 3% glycolic acid. They have multiple ingredients that are going to be very effective for treating acne. You want to leave this cleanser on for about 2 to 3 minutes before washing it off to really let that salicylic acid set in. This whole combination brings the majority of active and effective ingredients over the counter into one step, into one product. It consolidates it, and they all have a unique and complementing role to each other. It's a really nice cleanser, very creamy, turns into a foam almost. You can use it for your face and your back. It's very gentle, and it was also formulated to be safe for people that are prone to malassezia folliculitis or fungal acne."

✓Yay

80%Guru Score

Other39 reviews

Skin Smart Antimicrobial Spray

"The Skin Smart hypochlorous acid is actually the product to product that I still use today that I used in 2020."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Visine Visine

"There are topical things you can use to cause vasoconstriction of the eyes for bloodshot eyes. I know that not a lot of ophthalmologists like these because they can cause rebound vasodilation and can actually make the bloodshot worse. But Visine is something that does help with that immediate bloodshot eyes. So in a pinch, although not optimal, maybe it's acceptable. I use these occasionally before we shoot, infrequent use, it does help, it does work."

~Mixed

67%Guru Score

Arazlo Arazlo

"Arazlo and other companies solubilize the azelaic acid by putting it at a higher pH in the salt form so it actually dissolves, which is actually the more effective approach for getting it into the skin. But the biggest complaint about Arazlo should really be that they have to use propylene glycol, which is a common allergen, to solubilize the ingredient."

~Mixed

75%Guru Score

Grande Cosmetics GrandeLASH-MD

"There are also some over-the-counter prostaglandin analogs, like the ones in Grandelash and many others, and people also notice inflammatory effects and hyperpigmentation effects with them, and they can change your eye color. But they're extremely effective, and people are generally quite happy with them. Keep it directed with a spoolie on the eyebrows and you should see some growth with it."

~Mixed

47%Guru Score

Latisse Latisse

"Latisse, also known as bimatoprost, is a prostaglandin analog that uses a signaling pathway to induce hair growth, and by its mechanism it works on all hair growth, so it will also thicken the hair shaft, not just extend the growth phase. Studies are done more towards the eyelashes, but there is some data showing it can work on the eyebrows too. Some side effects are hyperpigmentation around the eyes, even fat loss around the eyes, and some people get an inflammatory reaction because a prostaglandin is pro-inflammatory, so I'd be cautious with it, especially kept directed with a spoolie so there isn't a lot of spillover. Studies comparing topical minoxidil two percent to Latisse and a lower concentration of bimatoprost found they all grew hair about equally from a physician evaluation, but patients were most happy with the results of Latisse, probably because it also darkens the hair, which makes lighter and blonde hairs look fuller."

✓Yay

61%Guru Score

Medicube Zero Pore Pad

"My favorite product is the Zero Pore Pads, one of their best sellers, specifically the version for sensitive skin. It cleans out your pores, helps with exfoliation, helps with texture, but it plays well with sensitive skin, so it's much more generally recommended and easy to incorporate into a skincare routine. I use it after shaving, about twice a week. I've developed some texture along my temples after a laser procedure, and it's really helping to reduce some of that with time. It's a great addition to your retinoid, to use on the days you're not using your retinoid. It's probably my favorite product."

✓Yay

55%Guru Score

Desitin Maximum Strength

"Any zinc-based diaper rash cream, fragrance-free is going to be very effective here. Desitin has great options for this. You can use this on the face to help repair a damaged skin barrier during this 7-day healing period."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

Vanicream Clinical Strength Antiperspirant

"I like Vanicream's deodorant too, it's an antiperspirant that helps stop odor because it stops the perspiration. It's an aluminum deodorant, so if you're allergic to aluminum it's not for you, but beyond that it's really hard to find any deodorant that's fragrance-free, so this is a great option."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Accutane Accutane

"One video claimed Accutane can shrink your nose by up to 40%, but even if that number exists from someone who's seen hundreds and hundreds of patients take Accutane, 40% is egregiously exaggerated. Will it shrink your nose? Yeah, it can for some people, and I've definitely seen that, and it's also gone viral outside the looksmaxing community. It reprograms your oil glands, it can be curative for acne, and that permanent shrinkage of oil glands where they're densest does have a physical change."

~Mixed

73%Guru Score

Remedy Remedy

"One of the promises from Remedy is that we don't white label formulas. Even though it does take longer, which is why sometimes it could take us up to 2 years to launch a formula because it doesn't make it through stability because we have to do all the stability ourselves. But in the end, at least you get a unique product and at least when you try it, it's the first time you've ever tried a product like that and then that's a net benefit to you."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Hibiclens Hibiclens

"When I do surgeries, my preferred cleanser of choice is Hibiclens, because when studied against something traditional like iodine, it is much more effective. It's not inactivated by routine things like saliva and blood, and it forms a complex with the top layer of the skin, so it has prolonged antibacterial benefits that last for up to an hour after using it, even after you're using it as your body wash in the shower. The only caution is that it can be damaging to the eyes and ears, so we don't generally use it as a face wash or in the ear area, but you'd want to use it from the neck down if you're using it at home."

✓Yay

76%Guru Score

Scar Away Silicone Scar Sheets

"Scar Away has the sheets and they have the gel. The sheets are actually really nice and the gel is also good. It's a good option for you."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

SkinBetter Science SkinBetter Science

"I like the products from SkinBetter Science. I think their formulations are nice and I think that they have effective formulas."

✓Yay

80%Guru Score

Water Wipes Water Wipes

"Water Wipes had the best ingredient profile for sensitive skin. It's really just simply water and [...] an extract preservative that is pretty safe for the skin, and my daughter has had no reaction to this over the year that she's been using it. Just a really nice safe product that does a great job. [...] If sensitive skin, huge, huge fan of this product here."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Crest Whitening Strips

"Big fan of the white strips to be honest. I think they work incredibly well."

✓Yay

80%Guru Score

SkinCeuticals Triple Lipid Restore 2:4:2

"This is one of the best moisturizers that's ever been created. This blend of moisturizing ingredients is very similar to what we see in the natural skin barrier. There is a ratio of fatty acids to cholesterol that we normally see in the skin, and this product is meant to replicate the natural healthy skin barrier. It's quite expensive though, and you don't get much for that, you get 1.6 fluid ounces and the product's over $100. The trouble with this product is that it would have been perfect had they not added fragrances to it. If they had just made this a fragrance-free product, I would say it's one of the better products out there. My two qualms with it are the price point for a moisturizer, and the fact that you took this great blend of restorative lipids and mixed it in with fragrances. Moisturizers are there to help heal dry and damaged skin, that's vulnerable skin, that's their job. So when you add something like fragrance to it, that's problematic."

~Mixed

77%Guru Score

SkinCeuticals Silymarin CF

"I actually like the Silymarin CF so it's also a 10% but it has the additional benefit of a little bit of salicylic acid and silymarin and silymarin has actually been shown in studies to be equivalent to hydroquinone in its ability to fade dark spots and so 1% silymarin is very similar in efficacy to 4% I believe of hydroquinone and that's the reason why we put silymarin in our remedy for dark spots product as well"

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

SkinCeuticals Phloretin CF

"You have your Phloretin CF, this is your vitamin C 10% but it also has 2% phloretin and 0.5% ferulic acid so the additional benefits of the antioxidant phloretin which can help with some discoloration and can be a little bit gentler on the skin because it's not that 15% but instead a 10%. This is a good one, this was one that my chief resident used to love."

✓Yay

89%Guru Score

SkinCeuticals Discoloration Defense

"This is a great serum, I'm not saying it's not, but it has aged a bit. I used to recommend this quite a bit when I first started residency. It is pricey, over $100 for a dark spot corrective serum. Now we have products that target all of the steps in comprehensive ways of preventing pigment production, preventing the transfer, and removing and exfoliating the existing pigment. There are things that exist now that have comparable or better results at a much lower price point than this one."

~Mixed

71%Guru Score

Galderma Epiduo

"Epiduo is great for acne it can be drying absolutely. You just need a good moisturizer."

~Mixed

76%Guru Score

Hyaluronic acid Filler

"Hyaluronic acid filler, not quite so high. Perhaps I don't think it's going to provide the long lasting benefits. In short term I don't know it's going to do anything for you."

✕Nay

61%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Thermal Spring Water

"You don't need it, it does feel nice to spray, and if you're especially somebody who likes to spray water before you apply your hyaluronic acid, this is something that can give you that added boost. You don't need it, but if you're extra you might like it, extra in the summer. I love it, I love doing like a Thermal Spring Water spray and then like a hyaluronic acid drippy and then like a lightweight moisturizer, like if I'm in Arizona or Colorado somewhere horribly dry and barren, that will save my skin."

~Mixed

72%Guru Score

Medik8 Super C Ferulic

"It's got a pretty full ingredient list in terms of just supporting cast, but what I really like is it has a lot of different types of vitamin C. The combination of vitamin Cs is unnecessary, it's a little bit eccentric, but [...] there's a reason, they each bring something a little bit unique texturally. It has niacinamide, it has arbutin, it has turmeric, it has ferulic acid, it has ascorbic acid, ascorbyl glucoside. I love the texture, I think the price point's good. I've gone through a few bottles of it this year alone, so that's one of my current favorite vitamin C serums."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Peter Thomas Roth Instant FirmX Temporary Eye Tightener

"This is the Peter Thomas Roth Instant FirmX, a product that's gone viral for the last two years on social media because the effects are so dramatic. What's actually happening is it's essentially an acrylic polymer of sorts that forms a glue on the surface of the skin, and that glue tightens and basically causes the under eyes to essentially just collapse in on itself. The pros are that it has an immediate effect. The cons are some people are allergic to the acrylic, and second con that we see is that with movement of the eye, eventually that glue basically falls apart. It can leave a residue on the skin that some people don't like, so it doesn't last very long and it also can create a residue that's difficult to layer makeup over. But even with makeup, it does actually not create a chalky appearance."

✓Yay

68%Guru Score

Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Multi-Recovery Complex

"The poster child for this ingredient is actually the Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum. They're the ones that pretty much did all the studies on this ingredient, showing that it helps to calm and soothe the skin. I wanted to hate that product because it's one of those heritage products that's been on the market forever, but it's actually fragrance free, and I actually loved it when I used it. The biggest pitfall of this product is that it's super expensive, closer to that $100 range, so it's hard for me to always recommend it, but it actually is a really nice product with a lot of data, and they have a patented peptide that's part of this formula. Specifically, it has this bifida ferment extract that's been shown to be helpful for people with sensitive skin."

✓Yay

65%Guru Score

SkinBetter Science AlphaRet Intensive

"They also have an intense one that one actually has a higher concentration of glycolic acid. Personally I don't think it's necessary. I think if anything it's just going to add more irritation. If you are somebody who's been on AlphaRet for a while, your skin is used to it and you're looking for a little bit higher kick, then you can go to the AlphaRet Intensive. I probably wouldn't start there though."

✕Nay

69%Guru Score

Alastin Regenerating Skin Nectar

"I actually did use it post-procedurally, it was the Regenerating Skin Nectar. I was like, oh, this has been studied post-operatively, post-procedurally, let me try it out. I loved it. I know it is expensive, you don't need it, but I like you can't simply just use your moisturizer or CeraVe healing ointment. But you want your fragrance-free things, you want things that are not going to irritate the skin at all, and that's what you're going to do the night when you get home and then for a few days after that."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

The Ordinary Argireline Solution 10%

"Another good option here for peptides is acetyl hexapeptide-8, or Argireline as it's more commonly known. This one can work to mimic some of Botox's properties, certainly not to the same extent, and then it may have some benefits of its own. You can find it as a solo ingredient. There are some fairly affordable products with that, The Ordinary housing Argireline product."

✓Yay

72%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Lipikar Line

"La Roche-Posay is one of my favorite moisturizers for dry skin. Their Lipikar Line is phenomenal."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Vicks VapoRub

"I would say that Vicks Vapor Rub contains eucalyptus oil, camphor, thymol, and menthol, and there have been studies showing that individually these ingredients have anti-fungal properties. There was a study on 18 patients looking at whether Vicks Vapor Rub helps to cure toenail fungus, and the majority of them either showed partial improvement or complete resolution. All 18 people in the study were satisfied with the treatment. It does help, and it actually caused both mycologic cure rate in some people and a physical cure rate. Yes, actually, this is a good hack. Doctorly approved. There is no reason you couldn't use an oral terbinafine plus Vicks Vapor Rub in combination, which is not going to cause any harm and is worth trying to increase the benefit of these two medications together."

✓Yay

69%Guru Score

Polysporin Polysporin

"If you want to use an antibiotic for a wound like a scrape on gravel, we prefer Polysporin to neomycin because Polysporin removes that neomycin component and it's just bacitracin and polymyxin. However, bacitracin is high risk of allergy, not as high risk as neomycin, but it also carries this additional risk of more of an anaphylactic reaction where you get swelling and hives and your throat closes up, though the percentage of people that happens to is way, way, way lower than the amount of people that get that poison ivy type rash from neomycin."

~Mixed

61%Guru Score

Bacitracin Bacitracin

"You don't want to use any of that stuff. Not only are they super high risk for contact allergy, but they're not really going to benefit the wound healing process in any capacity."

✕Nay

62%Guru Score

Hero Cosmetics Mighty Patch Original

"I really like the Mighty Patch from Hero Cosmetics. It's not a non-medicated patch, you put it on and it fades really well with my skin and blends decently. I prefer this over other options because it's not obvious on the face."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

The INKEY List Alpha Arbutin 2%

"The Inkey List alpha arbutin is a good substitute for hydroquinone because they're sort of downstream of each other. Arbutin is very effective and has a similar mechanism to hydroquinone."

✓Yay

80%Guru Score

Tria FRX

"This technology is absolutely mind-blowing that it's available at home. The wavelength is exactly what you would get at the office with a Clear and Brilliant laser. Even though the power may be less than what's available at the office, the technology is very true and at the exact wavelength that you'd want, with great clinical studies showing the results. The device is super simple with one button and three power levels, and it feels exactly like what Clear and Brilliant feels like. The treatment duration is quick, and because you glide as you treat, it's really quick. This is going to excel at treating texture, fine lines, and wrinkles, and it's beneficial for discoloration, tone, and pigmentation. For optimal treatment, use it on clean, dry skin nightly for eight weeks, then rest the skin for four weeks."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Vichy Mineral 89 Prebiotic Recovery and Defense Concentrate

"One of my favorite hydrating serums still is Vichy Mineral 89, their worldwide flagship product. It's simple, straightforward hyaluronic acid and glycerin hydration, lightweight, and feels great."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo

"I love La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo, the US version. It's really great for closed comedones because it's got both benzoyl peroxide and lipohydroxy acid, which are both comedolytic."

✓Yay

67%Guru Score

dutasteride Dutasteride

"Dutasteride is like a sister or brother of finasteride. There are different types of 5-alpha reductase receptors, and dutasteride inhibits two of them. And this is actually more potent than finasteride, which can be good and bad depending on what it does for you. This medication shows a lot of promise. It's not FDA approved, and we'll kind of see how it does, I think, as we get more data about it. But it has been shown to be more effective than finasteride. However, you may experience some stronger side effects with it, depending on how you tolerate it. So, just something to keep in mind and something worth looking into. It is quite effective."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

Propecia Propecia

"I do personally take oral finasteride, which is marketed as Propecia. I think it's extremely effective. I think the literature is very much behind its use and the safety of it overall."

✓Yay

74%Guru Score

Haircare24 reviews

The Ordinary Multi-Peptide Serum for Hair Density

"There's also The Ordinary Hair Serum, which combines Capixyl, Redensyl, and Procapil. There's definitely a lot less data on this one, but these peptides have such a wide range of benefits for hair growth, hair structure, and hair fullness that they would theoretically probably also help with eyebrow fullness, though more in a supporting role. There's some good data on these ingredients, and I think Capixyl acts very similar to minoxidil, so there's some overlapping benefit if you want a safer alternative to the other options out there."

~Mixed

69%Guru Score

K18 Airwash Dry Shampoo

"I'm not a big dry shampoo person, but I really like this one, and my wife likes this one, and all the women in my life are obsessed with this dry shampoo. The feedback on this has been so positive that they've convinced me that this is the best dry shampoo on the market. Currently 48 dollars."

✓Yay

86%Guru Score

L'Oreal EverPure Bond Repair+ Shampoo & Conditioner

"This is a citric acid base complex, it just does so well for my hair. [...] In general, I just like the foam, the lather, the clean of this shampoo. It's 17 dollars for the shampoo plus conditioner in the 7 ounce bottles, [...] already a good discount. [...] These are relatively smaller bottles, so if you use a lot of shampoo like I do, you're going to go through them pretty quickly."

✓Yay

76%Guru Score

Necessaire Rosemary Mint Shampoo

"Shout out to their shampoo, since they also do hair care, and their Rosemary Mint Shampoo is just absolutely phenomenal."

✓Yay

78%Guru Score

Dr. Groot Hair Growth Shampoo

"I ordered Dr. Groot's shampoo from Tiktok Shop and wasn't sure if I liked it the first time I used it, but I ended up really really liking it a lot. It's a gel formula unlike most shampoos I use which tend to be creamy, so you really have to work it in to get the right lather, and sometimes you even need to double shampoo. It's supposed to increase volume and I don't know if it does that, but overall it doesn't strip my hair, it keeps my hair super hydrated, and my hair doesn't feel flat afterward. It was a nice experiential product for me."

✓Yay

65%Guru Score

Vegamour GRO+ Advanced Hair Serum

"This one from Vegamour I actually thought was pretty sticky in the hair, so I wasn't overly impressed with that."

✕Nay

66%Guru Score

K18 Molecular Repair Hair Oil

"I really like the one from K18. I think it's really nice and lightweight, it doesn't make my hair feel greasy or oily, and my wife likes it too. I don't like things that are too heavy or greasy in my hair, and this one doesn't do that."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer

"I think probably like the goat of hair dryers would have to be the Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer. [...] This is a really good deal for the hair dryer currently at $399, 27% off for Black Friday, and it appears to be a lower price than it's been on sale for, not even on Prime Day."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Dyson Airwrap Long Complete Styler

"The Dyson Airwrap is $499, 23% off. What you do is you also get the hair dryer setting, which is kind of nice. So you get more features, you get more bang for your buck than just buying like an expensive hair dryer. I actually have both, so I kind of know, but yeah, I think the Airwrap you'll get more utility out of it."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Minimalist Bond Repair Hair Mask

"I put it in my hair and I thought it smelled so bad that I actually when I went to get my haircut shortly afterwards I apologized in advance. Although it might be helpful for your hair health in general with some just generally helpful ingredients like it's oil, squalling, argan oil, amino acids, that's all fairly legitimate in terms of hair health, the smell was off-putting. So this is not my best, it's towards my worst. Would I use it? Maybe if I needed it, but I would not enjoy it."

✕Nay

72%Guru Score

Minimalist Hair Density Serum

"Their Hair Density Serum has kxel renil and caill and then a few other ingredients as well. This would be a good compliment if you're someone who really wants to go all out for hair growth and you're looking for an over-the-counter blend to complement hero ingredients like minoxidil or Rogaine. This would be great. There are some studies showing it can be beneficial, some studies comparing it to minoxidil. It's one of those things where you're not studying it against minoxidil to show you use it instead of it. The thought process should be you should use it with it. So a nice compliment for an over-the-counter hair growth, Hair Density Serum."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Nutrafol Hair Growth Supplement

"Nutrafol is definitely one you've seen more for, but because of the inclusion of an ingredient called saw palmetto in their Syneren complex, this is generally thought to be unsafe during both pregnancy and breastfeeding. The risk in pregnancy is much stronger because it inhibits DHT and that would inhibit hormones and fetal development. Breastfeeding, the risk of absorption and passing on is probably a lot less, but it's still probably something you should avoid. Nutrafol does have more studies in general, but because of the ingredient profile, it comes out as less ideal in the postpartum period."

✕Nay

63%Guru Score

Viviscal Hair Growth Supplement

"Viviscal uses an amino Amar complex which does not have this Sal petto in it, which makes it a much safer option. It passed my three tiered checklist for what I want out of a supplement. Neutral has more studies in general than Viviscal, but in this particular subset of people in the postpartum period, Viviscal because of the ingredient profile comes out as the winner."

✓Yay

65%Guru Score

CeraVe Anti-Dandruff Shampoo with Zinc Pyrithione

"I would try this first especially if you have mild sebic dermatitis. I would simply just use a regular non-medicated shampoo at first because for some people with mild sebic dermatitis or mild cradle cap, I'm doing for my daughter which is using this simple gentle cleanser from CeraVe. This is their wash and shampoo. I basically just massage it into her scalp and then I wash it out."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Happy Cappy Zinc Pyrithione Baby Shampoo

"There's another brand that exists although I don't see it getting enough attention that deserves it: Happy Cappy. I'm just looking at it here, they sent this to me when I had kids and I found it to be a nice sensitive skin option. So it has zinc pyrithione, licorice, apple, provitamin B5, and then also no fragrance, no dyes. So another good option here and another good line if you're looking for something for your kid."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Neral Ketoconazole Shampoo 1%

"I use the shampoo as a body wash to try to prevent it from coming back. I am somebody who's actually prone to Tinea Versicolor so I am on this maintenance routine about once a week when I'm doing my dandruff routine where I'm actually treating my dandruff. I take that dandruff shampoo, usually Neral, I massage it onto my body, I leave it on for 2 to 3 minutes before I wash it off and that keeps my Tinea Versicolor from coming back."

✓Yay

71%Guru Score

Neutrogena T/Sal Therapeutic Shampoo

"The Neutrogena is a 3% salicylic acid dander shampoo. I reuse it frequently because I've had this issue with residue in my hair, and 3% salicylic acid is actually an incredible clarifying shampoo. Not only is it really good for cleaning the hair and removing dandruff, but it's incredibly effective. I find it better than any clarifying shampoo that's available on the market by far. I think people underappreciate salicylic acid in hair care and scalp care."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Nioxin Scalp Recovery Cleansing Shampoo

"It's probably the Nioxin shampoo I think I've been using that this year. It used to be Head and Shoulders, this year it's like the year of Nioxin. Nioxin was my most frequently repurchased product in 2021, I think I repurchased it like 40 times or something like that, which is insane right because they come in small bottles and I used a lot of it. It's been leaving me a little bit more residue lately, but it could just be a water quality issue, I'm not sure what's going on."

✓Yay

78%Guru Score

Nizoral A-D Anti-Dandruff Shampoo (1% Ketoconazole)

"When it comes to dandruff, one of my favorite shampoos is the Nizoral shampoo because it has the 1% ketoconazole in it, and then you can also alternate with this one that has the 3% salicylic acid."

✓Yay

86%Guru Score

Neutrogena T/Gel Coal Tar Shampoo

"If you have psoriasis, a good over-the-counter regimen is to actually rotate the T/Sal and the T/Gel. One has salicylic acid, the other one has coal tar. You're going to be treating by two different mechanisms, but both are going to have efficacy together."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Tria 4X Advanced Laser Hair Removal Second Generation

"If you're trying to treat your knuckles, you can do it in one press. But if you're trying to treat your entire stomach or your entire back, then you have to do it pretty slowly over a smaller spot size. Now, having used this for over a longer period of time now, I will say that that smaller spot size actually does make a difference. It's also hard to see where you've been before, hard to know if you overlapped or if you need to make it a little tighter. But overall, this is going to be much more effective for you. It's probably the premier option for at-home hair removal right now, especially in terms of long-term results. If you're looking for at-home laser hair removal, this is a phenomenal option."

✓Yay

76%Guru Score

Remedy Anti-Dandruff Shampoo

"This does help keep my dandruff under control. I also use it as a face wash. If you ever feel like you get dry skin in your ears, behind your ears, along your nose and your beard, you also can use it as a face wash. You can use it as a body wash. Let it wash your feet. This has so many benefits beyond just the simple dandruff shampoo, and for me leaves my hair feeling extremely clean. Often times now at the end of the day I'm like extremely grungy and I just want to feel very clean and this just leaves my scalp and hair feeling like clean clean. So I love that feeling. Remedy for dandruff has ketoconazole. Extremely unique product, very often sold out. I personally don't use it every day. I use it twice a week when I'm rotating it with my Garnier shampoo. And so you can use it less often, especially if you're using it for dandruff and for hair density support like I am."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Rogaine Minoxidil 5% Foam

"I still always recommend the 5% minoxidil preferably the foam. This is tested for androgenetic alopecia but because of the way that it works by prolonging the anagen phase and by increasing blood flow to the scalp it probably will help to some extent with telogen effluvium. If you have androgenetic alopecia, it is a long-term commitment. It's not going to send you way back, it's going to just kind of reset your hair loss. If you stop using it, you'll lose the benefit. If you have telogen effluvium you probably can get away with stopping this and not having to use it forever because telogen effluvium is a self-resolving condition. Androgenetic alopecia is a permanent problem where the underlying cause never goes away, so it is a long-term maintenance requirement. This directly helps the anagen phase, the growth phase of your hair cycle. It is probably the most direct treatment from a physiological standpoint and what is going to help your postpartum hair loss out of anything."

✓Yay

86%Guru Score

Necessaire Shampoo

"I've had this available now for like at least a couple of months, and I've been trying it consistently. It really feels like you would expect. It's very gentle, very lightweight, not a heavy lather, and it does a great job at removing just simple debris and that everyday wear and tear gunk that's on my scalp. I style my hair every day with a clay wax, and a lot of my shampoos don't do a good job removing that, and then I'm left with a lot of residue. I found that this shampoo is actually really good at cleaning the hair, so I don't feel like I have a lot of residue and build up, but at the same time, it's not like really drying out my hair and making it feel like I used a clarifying shampoo. So, it's just like that perfect in between for me. My wife also used this for over a month now, and she had the similar experience where she felt it wasn't drying out her hair too much, but at the same time was able to leave it clean."

✓Yay

68%Guru Score

Retinoids24 reviews

Altreno Tretinoin Lotion 0.05%

"I cycle back to Altreno, which is a prescription tretinoin."

✓Yay

75%Guru Score

Maelove Moonlight Retinaldehyde Serum 0.1%

"Maelove was so early with retinol. Their retinol product is actually one of my favorite smelling products of all time, even though that's kind of illegal for a dermatologist to say."

✓Yay

80%Guru Score

CeraVe Skin Renewing Retinol Serum

"The CeraVe Resurfacing Retinol is a very good starter retinol."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

DRMTLGY Retinol Body Complex Cream

"This is a really nice luxurious moisturizer for the body and it has retinol at that effective concentration to really help with crepey skin, even skin tone, and just helping your skin stay resilient as you age so you don't develop that solar purpura. I do love this product and you can apply it pretty much anywhere. Not only does it have hydrating ingredients, it's definitely not tacky, but because of the whole formulation you can use it on more sensitive areas like the neck, the decolletage, and the arms, even for some people with sensitive skin. This is an amazing product, it's been viral on social media over the last couple months."

✓Yay

Notverified

Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Retinol Pro+ Regenerating Cream

"This one is a fond one for me. It's the first retinol product I ever used. Even though the concentration is not disclosed, it is effective. They have a lot of studies backing it up. This retinol is paired with a lot of hydrating ingredients, so it offsets irritation especially for someone who's just starting a retinol. I think this is a perfect pick. They have some really fascinating internal studies that show retinol activity on the skin and increased retinol activity compared to other moisturizers that have retinol in it. They really have a lot of good science behind their products."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Olay Regenerist Retinol 24 Night Moisturizer

"I would go with the Olay one because it's got the more interesting ingredient combination, the niacinamide, the peptide. Biased by the internal studies and the fact that it's kind of like a derm favorite with a lot of studies, I would say [...] that I agree with that assessment."

✓Yay

70%Guru Score

RoC Retinol Correxion Max Hydration Cream

"The thinnest product, meaning the most lightweight formula, is the RoC Retinol Correxion Max Hydration Cream. [...] It gives you a little bit of a shimmer, a little dewy glow moment just for a second before it absorbs really nicely into the skin. It has this [...] silky hydrated dry down."

✓Yay

87%Guru Score

Paula's Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Treatment with Peptides and Vitamin C

"They have a 1% retinol that's going to be your intermediate, somebody who's a little bit used to it, wants something that's gentle but still effective."

✓Yay

66%Guru Score

Paula's Choice Resist Barrier Repair Moisturizer with Retinol

"This is their barrier repair Advanced moisturizer and this has many different types of ceramides in it and also some peptides in it so incorporating some of that new peptide technology. It's kind of like a midweight cream, I would describe it as going a little bit more towards a heavier cream. For somebody who has more of that combination skin, more of that dry skin, this is going to be like my preferred range of moisturizer from them. I just really like something that's a little bit heavier, something that when I wake up, my skin feels hydrated. This to me is really just a wonderful thicker moisturizer. Paula's Choice is fragrance free because they have like a pretty stringent ingredient list. I think a lot of times a moisturizer that also has irritating ingredients is completely counteracting the whole purpose of protecting and repairing a skin barrier."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

A313 Vitamin A Pommade (Retinol Ester)

"I don't really see a good reason why using this product anymore. I think in the past when retinol wasn't as widely available or as stable as it is today then there could be a reason to use this type of product, but I think now there are products that are way more available, way more effective, and you can really expect to see results with. I actually do not like this product. I tried it for a while and didn't love it. I personally don't want it and don't need it."

✕Nay

61%Guru Score

The Ordinary Granactive Retinoid 2% Emulsion

"I think it is good. I would not pick granactive retinoid over tretinoin, I might not even pick it over retinol because of the just plethora and abundance of literature on how retinol works, but for someone who struggles with irritation, I think it's great. And because of that I love granactive retinoid, or HPR, high performance retinoid, same thing. For around the eyes, that's probably my favorite place to use it. It doesn't mean you can't use it elsewhere, but I love it there."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

The Ordinary Retinol 0.2% in Squalane

"It's inexpensive, it's a retinol that also has some ingredients to help with really just most aging concerns, uneven tone, dark spots, etc. While it's probably not the most effective and aesthetically it's good but not like lights out, I wouldn't take the time to talk about how good it feels."

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

Olay Retinol 24 Max Night Moisturizer

"Olay has a great retinol line. They often combine retinols with peptides, especially in their eye cream. They don't get much love, I guess it's their fault they didn't really invest in the whole social media buzz, but Olay does have some good products."

✓Yay

75%Guru Score

SkinCeuticals Retinol 0.3/0.5/1.0

"Skin medicials ooh that's a good one"

✓Yay

71%Guru Score

Versed Press Restart Gentle Retinal Serum

"The Versed Press Restart Gentle Retinal Serum, that is a good one too"

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Naturium Retinol Complex Serum

"Naturium has a good retinol that's not too expensive."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Retinol B3 Serum

"Something like the rock retinol they pioneered retinol so they are the ogs in that category"

✓Yay

57%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Adapalene Gel 0.1%

"This is a phenomenal acne ingredient, it's probably the most powerful acne ingredient you can find over the counter. It's incredible for those open and closed comedones and it's going to really improve the texture of your skin short of getting a prescription medication from your dermatologist. This is definitely on the best list, but I don't think that it is superior than any of the other options out there. So if you can find it for a good price, I highly recommend it."

✓Yay

87%Guru Score

Differin Adapalene Gel 0.1%

"You could take some Differin gel or a dappling, smear it onto one of these little spatula back buddies and then just put it on your back there. I find this to be like an impractical thing to do, but if you really wanted to do it, if you really wanted to avoid oral medications, I think that there's probably some benefit in doing that."

✓Yay

91%Guru Score

Maelove Stargaze Enhanced Retinol

"This is the best, in my opinion. It is my favorite smelling product I've ever experienced. The experiential side of skin care is my favorite. It smells very citrusy, like honeysuckle. However, it is very yellow and does leave a little bit of yellow tint on the skin. It can stain, so you should use it at night."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

RoC Retinol Correxion Deep Wrinkle Night Cream

"RoC Retinol Correction Cream is also hydrating, it's like the Max 24 Hour Hydration Cream, hydrating similar to the Olay one. I just like RoC when it comes to retinol because they were the first over-the-counter brand to stabilize retinol. Tretinoin was invented at the University of Pennsylvania by Dr. Kligman and then that was a prescription and it became Retin-A, and then after that it became retinol which was available over the counter, and the first company to stabilize that form of retinol was RoC and they've withstood the test of time, you know, 50 plus years in formulation. This is a moisturizing cream from them, and they have a fragrance free one and a fragrance one, go with the fragrance free one."

✓Yay

76%Guru Score

Kiehl's Retinol Skin-Renewing Daily Micro-Dose Serum

"One of our favorite starter retinols is the Kiehl's Micro Dose Retinol, which slowly releases over time micro dose amounts of retinol so you don't get that irritation. If you're looking for a starter retinol, that's a really good place to start."

✓Yay

89%Guru Score

Kiehl's Retinol Fast-Release Wrinkle-Reducing Night Serum

"The Kiehl's Retinol Fast-Release Wrinkle-Reducing Night Serum is really interesting. In addition to improving texture and fine lines, this one in studies has actually been shown to improve deeper wrinkles and the elasticity of the skin because it's stronger than the other ones. It's a super unique formula with a powder that you release into the liquid in order to keep it as stable as possible for as long as possible. I'm a retinol pro at this point, so I have no irritation with this product at all. The serum actually has a few other ingredients that I really like like glycerin, panthenol, and adenosine."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Biossance Squalane + Phytoretinol Serum

"This has squalane in it that is going to also just make it even better tolerated and provide that back-end moisturizing effect. It does smell good. It's not a fragrance mix, and there is actually a difference. This does have like naturally fragrance things like citrus, but it doesn't have like a mix of a combination of just a barrage of other things. It's like a subtle smell. It also has niacinamide, just another really well-rounded plug-and-play ingredient for a lot of skin conditions. Then it also has glycerin, just another humectant and moisturizing ingredient."

✓Yay

68%Guru Score

Body & Tan23 reviews

Kerasal Intensive Foot Repair Ointment

"There are foot creams that are specifically made for thickened, cracked feet, and the two I think are most effective are something like Kerasal, which is an ointment with salicylic acid and urea. It really is quite occlusive. It is an ointment, so it's going to be a bit messy unless you cover it with a cotton sock, which I actually prefer because it helps to lock it in further."

✓Yay

88%Guru Score

Eucerin Eczema Relief Body Cream

"I personally like the Eucerin eczema moisturizer. I think it's thick, and even though it's more targeted towards eczema, I think it would work really well for mature skin."

✓Yay

89%Guru Score

Necessaire Vitamin C Body Serum

"For actual true skin care body care, I'll go with the body vitamin C, that's 62 dollars. This act body vitamin C formula product is great, extremely good benefits for the skin, but yeah, 62 dollars, if there's a discount I'm taking it."

✓Yay

73%Guru Score

Eucerin Advanced Repair Lotion

"It's the user and intensive repair. I said this one last year so I was really hesitant just to say it again, but it's still the number one most frequently used product in my household. It is the number one empty I've created. So it just has to exist. The body of it is very thick. It's very rich hydration. It leaves like this protective feeling on it. It's not greasy though, not tacky. And also has some exfoliating acids in it, too. Takes a little bit effort to rub this one in. This is a frequently repurchased one for me and I buy them in bulk. I buy like three or four at a time because it really is just that incredible."

✓Yay

93%Guru Score

Versed Press Restart Gentle Retinol Body Lotion

"So really good option is the Versed Press Restart Gentle Retinol Body Lotion. You get six fluid ounces for that, and this is a pretty good deal too for Black Friday, normally twenty dollars now thirteen ninety-nine, so that's thirty percent off sitewide no code needed. Body retinol in general is going to be a good option for you. I think this is a good one."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Olay Retinol body wash

"I'm pretty low on them. [...] Here's why I have very good reason for my especially the retinoid family in a wash. There are studies on multiple different types of retinoids and the idea of short contact therapy. [...] When it comes to the setting of washing your face, it's like a minimum of 30 seconds, an average of like three to five minutes per short contact therapy for your wash. So unless you're actually putting that wash on, lathering it up, keeping it on at a good constant concentration for I'd say three to five minutes, I think the absorption is quite questionable and so the benefits are fairly negligible. [...] Beyond that, I think just let your wash be a wash and let your actives be your actives. I don't see a big purpose for the [...] retinoid wash, the retinol wash. I just don't see much utility in those whatsoever."

✕Nay

64%Guru Score

Gold Bond Age Renew Retinol Overnight Body & Face Lotion

"The Gold Bond has a retinol that has become kind of popular, at least better known. It's a body retinol, very inexpensive, and another good option."

✓Yay

93%Guru Score

Paula's Choice 5% Niacinamide Body Serum

"Paula's Choice had a niacinamide at 5% perfectly functional for your skin. Now you can use that morning and night."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hyaluronic Acid Body Lotion

"I really like the Neutrogena Hydro Boost body gel cream I think it's called but ultimately this product is dimethicone hyaluronic acid and it's a really thick moisturizer and something I've actually recommended to a lot of my friends and family who have gotten pregnant"

✓Yay

93%Guru Score

Necessaire Deodorant Gel

"Something like the Necessaire Deodorant, this one has alpha hydroxy acids in it. It's also fragrance-free. Now if you have very sensitive armpits this could be irritating because what you're doing is you're including that acid underneath the skin, but these are formulated so that they can be for those sensitive skin areas."

✓Yay

80%Guru Score

Secret Clinical Strength Antiperspirant

"Another one that has a lot of clinical studies on is the Secret Clinical Strength Antiperspirant. This boasts a 72-hour blocking of sweat. I haven't tried that out over that period of time, but I can tell you it's extremely effective at least blocking sweat for the 24-hour period that I'm usually not reapplying. For this claim, over the top so we've talked about this behind the scenes, we talked about before it's not that it doesn't work. I'm not questioning the validity of the 72-hour anti-perspirant claims because they're not the only one with this claim. My beef with this sort of thing is practically, who is doing this, who is relying on their deodorant to get them through 72 hours of hard living? If possible, I recommend your shower the next day and don't put that claim to the test. I think it's over the top, that's all I'm saying."

✓Yay

75%Guru Score

DRMTLGY Exfoliating Renew Body Lotion

"The Dermatology Exfoliating Renew Body Lotion is a 12% lotion for your body and this is excellent. It's just a very straightforward product that's going to help resurface your skin. It's a very rich moisturizer. In this you have ceramides which are going to provide a backbone of support for your skin barrier along with multiple other hydrating helpful ingredients. Texturally it's great, volume is great, very thoughtful. I love this product."

✓Yay

Notverified

Aquaphor Healing Ointment Body Spray

"Aquaphor actually has a spray that's pretty cool, in case you like a petrolatum spray. If you could spray that on your body for really, really dry skin, that's helped out a ton of my patients."

✓Yay

90%Guru Score

Necessaire Eucalyptus Body Wash

"Necessaire is the body care brand whose whole focus is on body care, they do it exceptionally well, but they are fragrance free. The body wash, eucalyptus, 17 ounce, is 42 dollars."

✓Yay

75%Guru Score

Necessaire 0.1% Retinol Body Lotion

"I love Necessary's body retinol, it's a combination of retinol and exfoliating acids. It's been around for a long time, it's amazing for hands and body, it's a really good one."

✓Yay

88%Guru Score

Remedy KP Exfoliating Body Scrub

"I would recommend using this up to two times a week in the shower. That's basically how I've been using it. And what I've noticed [...] is that not only does it improve the texture immediately of the skin on my body, but I've also noticed that my hands are a lot smoother. They're like baby soft afterwards. This [...] will do double duty on elbows, knees, legs, hands as well. I will say, [...] if you do this and you do the Remedy for body bumps leave-on lotion, maybe you get a little irritation, you do it less frequently. Maybe you can do it more frequently, but just tailor this to your skin type. Everyone has different degrees of sensitive skin. Whatever you can be consistent with is how you're going to get the best results."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Remedy KP Exfoliating Body Moisturizer

"Remedy KP Exfoliating Body Moisturizer has lactic acid, urea, and retinol. [...] Use it in the shower, rinse it off. [...] I would recommend using this up to two times a week in the shower. [...] What I've noticed when I use it is that not only does it improve the texture immediately of the skin on my body, but I've also noticed that my hands are a lot smoother. They're like baby soft afterwards. This [...] will do double duty on elbows, knees, legs, hands as well. [...] You may find that if you do this and [...] get a little irritation, you do it less frequently. Maybe you can do it more frequently, but just tailor this to your skin type. Everyone has different degrees of sensitive skin. Whatever you can be consistent with is how you're going to get the best results."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Remedy For Body Bumps

"Many of you have already tried our remedy For Body Bumps. This is a combination of 10% urea, 5% lactic acid, and 0.1% retinol as a body moisturizer. It's a thicker cream to really hydrate the skin."

✓Yay

88%Guru Score

Qure Shower filter

"It has much improved practical utility, like no one has this in America yet as far as I understand, but you get to flip the faucet around so you could treat it like a drinking fountain if you wanted to, which I found terrific, because when I washed my face I had a hard time getting my face or mouth under the faucet, apparently no one else does that. It solves for those little practical issues that you may not think of or wouldn't encounter until later, that's more of what I'm seeing from Qure in terms of product development, where everything is not only functional and innovative but there's that extra layer of thought."

✓Yay

Notverified

First Aid Beauty KP Smoothing Body Lotion

"First Aid Beauty has a KP lotion that has lactic acid in it, which has ingredients that both moisturize and exfoliate at the same time. If you're noticing that you're getting thickened skin on the legs, then it would be worthwhile considering using a moisturizer that exfoliates at the same time."

✓Yay

75%Guru Score

Nécessaire Multivitamin Body Lotion

"I like with Nécessaire, they do have their body lotion, which is a super nice moisturizer. I would use this on my face with no questions at all, except this does come in a 6.8 oz bottle, so it's much more realistic to use this on the body in addition to using this on the face. In the lotion vehicle that you have, you have some really nice moisturizing ingredients. You have hobo oils, which are like just full of wax esters, just a great emollient, just protector of the skin. And then you also have linoleic acid, which is just so good at protecting the skin barrier. It's excellent. So linoleic acid, niacinamide, glycerin, so just overall a good body moisturizer that's going to go a long way, and just hydrating, finding a good moisturizer is going to make a big difference to making your skin look less crepey."

✓Yay

73%Guru Score

Nécessaire Body Exfoliator

"This one also has both chemical and physical exfoliant in it. So it has pumice which is a physical exfoliant and it has your chemical exfoliants your glycolic acid, your salicylic acid, your lactic acid. So it's going to do both. Your chemical exfoliants really help to build collagen especially at higher concentrations, but even at lower concentrations they send signals into the dermis to boost collagen production. So they are going to even out your skin tone, your skin texture, it's going to give you more radiance, but at the same time it may also boost collagen. You're going to have the benefits of both worlds, but you're not having like a super super harsh ingredient super harsh exfoliator. I actually use this on my beard, and I've noticed it's actually really helped to kind of build out any itchiness I get underneath the beard, and it seems to kind of help and it does have that exfoliation to it."

✓Yay

90%Guru Score

Nécessaire Body Oil

"They also have a Body Oil that's fragrance-free and has some really good body oils in it as well. It's a really lightweight oil, but look how much it adds to the shine. It just adds a ton of sheen, shine, luster. If the goal here is to make your skin, especially crepey skin, appear more healthy, these topical oils just add a ton to this. It actually does. It makes your skin look just much more healthy when you have skin oil on them. Skin oils are not the best at like preventing water loss or bringing moisture in to the skin with it, but they are very very very effective in making your skin look hydrated, dewy, and overall just healthy. So I'm a big fan of skin oils for that reason, and so this is actually a really nice one with really great ingredients."

✓Yay

80%Guru Score

Masks & Peels19 reviews

Qure Q Rejuvalight Mask

"This was probably the flagship product that won us over into the technology coupled with all of the studies. The nice thing about this mask is it just feels like quality. It's got a good number of lights, sufficiently powered, with a combination of red light for aging and blue light for acne. You can couple it with an app so you can personalize and treat your skin as it changes over time, and since the battery is built into the helmet, you can walk around hands-free. It's extremely gentle, works on all skin tones, and really can be additive to everything else you're using."

✓Yay

78%Guru Score

Cetaphil Exfoliating Rough & Bumpy Cream

"The Cetaphil Rough and Bumpy is a good option if you're looking for a high percentage urea product."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Biodance Bio-Collagen Real Deep Mask

"If anyone's ever tried one of these, Biodance is the goat when it comes to hydrogel mask. I was a bit skeptical, but I remember using this overnight once and waking up, and I think it was the best my skin had looked in a really long time. It basically starts out as a white mask, it melts into a clear, and then your skin is just so hydrated. It's fragrance-free, super gentle on the skin, and really helps deliver those ingredients deeper into the skin. This is my favorite mask, I actually use this in the office post-procedurally for people too."

✓Yay

75%Guru Score

St. Ives Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub

"That's your St. Ives apricot scrub. I recommend these on the body, but I generally do not recommend these on the face."

~Mixed

39%Guru Score

DRMTLGY Pumpkin Enzyme Mask

"They have this pumpkin mask and it just smells so freaking good. Every year I talk about it. It's a fun product. It's a really good one."

✓Yay

70%Guru Score

Paul's Choice 2% BHA

"You could use a salicylic acid leave-on product like the one from Paul's Choice which is 2%."

✓Yay

71%Guru Score

Medicube Collagen Night Wrapping Mask

"Collagen doesn't get into the skin, but it's actually a nice, great moisturizer. I actually really enjoyed this experience. I found it quite moisturizing. And if you need something really visual for your morning shed, this would be a good option. I do hate trying to get it out of the beard and hairline. That's my knock on that one."

✓Yay

64%Guru Score

Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant

"This is a great product, great for people with oily skin, great for people with blemish prone skin, and it's their most viral product, most purchased product. If you're going to try any product from Paula's Choice, I always think this is a good starter product for you."

✓Yay

89%Guru Score

Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 25% AHA + 2% BHA Exfoliating Peel

"It's a purple solution, really beautiful, but it's only meant to be left on for 10 minutes and then you wash it off. It's meant to be basically similar to the Ordinary's peeling solution that red solution you saw on social media and L'Oreal's new Green Solution that you're going to be seeing on social media. It works extremely well but it's meant to be used only once a week and you're supposed to leave it on for only about 10 minutes at a time. If you have oily or acne prone skin, go with the 2% BHA liquid exfoliant. If you have more sensitive skin, go with the 6% mandelic 2% lactic acid solution. If you fall somewhere in between all of that and you have normal skin, go with their glycolic acid product."

✓Yay

88%Guru Score

Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 6% Mandelic Acid + 2% Lactic Acid Liquid Exfoliant

"Mandelic acid is one of the larger alpha hydroxy acids and because it's a larger size it doesn't penetrate as deeply into the skin, so it's usually my preferred exfoliant for people with sensitive skin. It's really a great ingredient for people who want to exfoliate but also have sensitive skin. Then you add lactic acid which is slightly moisturizing and you put it in a time-release formula and this is really a great product for people who have sensitive skin but want to exfoliate. Smell this product. To me it smells like alcohol, really like vodka, and even though there's no alcohol in it I'm really enjoying the sensorial experience. It's completely fragrance free but I'm loving the smell of the ingredients. It's like wine tasting for me. It could be the bayberry fruit extract, the chocolate vine stem extract, or the cherry blossom extract. It smells slightly cherryish, almost like a wine smell. Very good for sensitive skin."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution

"You have things like the Ordinary peeling solution that you could potentially use on these. They are higher strength exfoliants but you would still only want to leave those on for 15 minutes maximum and then definitely wash them off. You don't want to leave them on all day or anything like that."

✓Yay

58%Guru Score

Tatcha Rice Polish

"The Tatcha Rice Polish, it's actually a body scrub not only is it fragranced but it has a physical exfoliant in it and I'm actually out twice in the last two months of this product. I don't know, I like it a lot. You have to try this one, it's phenomenal."

✓Yay

88%Guru Score

Bubble Overnight Hydrating Sleep Mask

"The overnight hydrating mask, I don't think it's maybe necessary for anyone. If you just pick the three that we went through before based on your skin type, that's probably where you're going to have the most success."

✕Nay

65%Guru Score

Bubble Deep Dive AHA PHA Exfoliating Mask

"It's got gluconolactone, those are your alphahydroxy acids and your PHA. It's got allantoin, it's got licorice root, turmeric, it's got pineapple which is essentially an enzyme exfoliant in it. This is meant to be left on as a mask, it's not meant to be left on all night. You leave it on for 10 to 15 minutes and then you wash it off. You're going to use this once a week and it's going to be a strong exfoliating step. I love this product. [...] It's very affordable and especially for what it's bringing to the table and delivering, a premier product from Bubble."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

Krave Beauty Kale-Lalu-Yaha AHA/BHA Exfoliant

"5.25% glycolic acid effective but also gentle on the skin and so you're going to see good results with that especially when it comes to texture. It really is good."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Caudalie Instant Detox Mask

"I think it functioned like it's supposed to function as a mask. It probably worked better than the Aztec clay mask for removing oils and cleaning out my pores as far as how I feel right now. The fragrance was nice and I enjoyed the experience up until a point. That said, with the allergens that are in there and the price point of $42, there are probably products that are safer and less expensive. The Ordinary Salicylic Acid Mask would be a good alternative since it's fragrance-free and lower price. This product targets people looking for more of a spa type experience, and it definitely gives you that with the wooden cap, the way the product smells, and how tight it gets. But I understand why it went viral—it is visually and physically a very interesting experience—but again, I think there are probably better alternatives. I probably wouldn't use it regularly."

~Mixed

65%Guru Score

The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Mask

"I kind of mix in once a week in addition to all this The Ordinary salicylic acid mask. I use it in the T-zone to really kind of help clear out those pores. It's got the 2% salicylic acid, which will give you a little bit of an extra boost, so you don't need to use the pore strips as often or at all."

✓Yay

86%Guru Score

L'Oreal Bright Reveal Dark Spot Exfoliant Peel

"This is my favorite part of the peel. [...] It's very gentle, so I put it on specifically for this purpose. [...] I find this peel extremely gentle. There's a very nice cooling sensation afterwards, and I love how my skin feels for the next two hours after I use this peel. [...] Because of all the thought and science I know they put into creating a gentle formulation with a lot of efficacy, this one does great for me. The whole point of this is that it does great results while still being gentle. [...] I came up with the phrase 'gentle enough for the beginner but strong enough for the experienced exfoliator,' and I still think that's true with this peel. This is one of the highest strength exfoliants that you're going to get available over the counter anywhere, pretty much. [...] This is a really heavy hitting product and this is really as close to an in-office chemical peel as you're going to get at home."

✓Yay

66%Guru Score

SkinFix 2% BHA Acne Spot Treatment

"It's combining salicylic acid and 10% azelaic acid. So not only is it treating the potential acne spot, but it also is treating dark spots that can occur afterwards because of that salicylic acid and the azelaic acid. And that's where we move in the direction of a product with multiple ingredients working towards a common goal, which is always a very nice thing. Almost always give extra points for something cohesive like that. Great product. Is it the best product? I don't know. We're going to keep going through the potential spot treatments here today and we'll find out."

✓Yay

Notverified

Acne16 reviews

Starface Hydrocolloid Pimple Patches

"I've always been a big fan, ever since I've been introduced to Hydrocolloid Pimple Patches. Those ones are from Starface. They're a little bit of decoration on your face. They're great."

✓Yay

58%Guru Score

Florence by Mills Pimple Patches

"I actually do like pimple patches quite a bit. These ones from Florence by Mills are like little butterflies which I think are pretty cool. And I wore one on my neck for a while. I think these are super cute. So when she sees me wearing these, she'll think I'm cool."

✓Yay

70%Guru Score

Neutrogena Stubborn Acne AM Treatment 2.5% Benzoyl Peroxide

"You can also get a 2.5% micronized benzoyl peroxide just by itself from Neutrogena Stubborn Acne line. That's another option if you don't tolerate lipohydroxy acid well, so people with some drier skin type can be a little bit irritating with both of these ingredients together. Just going to say it: only use one benzoyl peroxide product, so don't use the wash in a leave-on. In my opinion I would just pick one."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Neutrogena Stubborn Acne Hydrocolloid Patches

"The Neutrogena one is great. I think it's extremely straightforward and simple. I like the ones that contour to your nose because it targets the pimple area or the acne-prone skin, but it can still be a reactive way to remove oil. So I love the nose contour for those Neutrogena ones."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Hero Cosmetics Pimple Patch

"I still like the hero cosmetics ones. I like them really just targeted at your acne, inflammatory or close to the surface acne pimples, right, to maybe not only hide them but also give them a little bit of a healing property. I like the loaded ones. I want your Pimple Patch like the plain hydrocolloid for this."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Bubble Fade Away 5% Benzoyl Peroxide Acne Spot Treatment

"They have one that is a benzoyl peroxide called Fade Away that Fade Away is best for inflammatory acne, so something that has pus in it. Neither of these really blew me away ultimately, but they're all good. We've covered better spot treatments in the past, but it's a good option if that's the type of acne you're dealing with."

~Mixed

78%Guru Score

Differin 2% Salicylic Acid Body Spray

"I know that different makes one"

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Bliss Body Acne Spray 2% Salicylic Acid

"I know Bliss makes one"

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Solution

"As an anhydrous solution, this doesn't have water in it; instead of being in a water base, it's in an oil base, in squalane oil. Squalane is a non-comedogenic or non-pore-clogging oil, so this is supposed to not cause acne. One of the main reasons I got excited about this is we get questions all the time about having acne and sensitive skin, and this is actually going to help fill that space, especially for the over-the-counter world, because this gives you a salicylic acid but squalane is just such a soothing, moisturizing ingredient. It's like a humectant and a moisturizer. This actually provides that dry, sensitive, acne-prone skin with an actual simple and easy to use product. If you're somebody that's wanted to use salicylic acid but you find that every salicylic acid product out there tends to dry you out, then this is the product for you because that squalane base really tends to hydrate the skin and have the benefits of salicylic acid that slowly over time concentrates in your pores but at the same time doesn't dry you out. I would use this product now."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Remedy Pimple patches

"I actually use those every now and then they seem to work pretty well and they keep you from itching and picking at them. You get 36 Pimple Patches for $7.50 right now, it's actually a pretty good deal."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Cetaphil Gentle Clear Mattifying Acne Moisturizer Salicylic Acid Treatment

"For someone with acne, Cetaphil Gentle Clear Mattifying Acne Moisturizer, even though they never promote the product, I actually said to the Cetaphil team like this is my favorite product on camera and they're like can you pick another one and I was like no, this is my favorite. I love that moisturizer."

✓Yay

80%Guru Score

Hero Cosmetics Mighty Patch Micropoint for Blemishes (Microdart)

"I'm a huge fan of the micro, the little acne patches with the darts. I've worked with them before but I really love their stuff."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Mighty Patch Original Hydrocolloid Acne Pimple Patches

"As a spot treatment, I think it's a good option. Mighty Patch has ones that are medicated. The original is not medicated. That's actually the one that I prefer. It's less irritating. What I love about pimple patches is that they cover and treat at the same time, but they also keep you from picking at your acne. The reason why a lot of people get scarring is because they pick at their acne. So it's something that keeps you from picking."

✓Yay

86%Guru Score

Vichy Normaderm SOS Acne Rescue Spot Corrector

"I like sulfur and I think this is a great space for sulfur. It's one of those heritage ingredients where it's just been used for a long time and maybe I'd like to see it used more. I think we're starting to, but this is a good purpose for it where it can help with the antibacterial part of it, maybe modulates inflammation in a unique way. I think it's a nice reactive spot treatment for it as well. Also, it's actually pretty gentle. So it does have glycolic acid, but it might be more gentle than some of the high concentration benzoyl peroxide ingredients or some of the ones with benzoyl peroxide, glycolic, and a lot of fragrance. I'm probably not going to pick this as my number one option, but this is definitely good. Sulfur is an ingredient that's underrated in the sense that it's underused, and also you don't see it in a lot of other acne products. So if you're already using retinoid in your routine or you're already using salicylic acid in your routine or you're already using a retinoid in your routine, this is an additional ingredient you can add as a spot treatment to maybe act in a different way from the rest of your ingredients. I definitely put it high on the list, but I don't think I'm going to call it number one."

✓Yay

80%Guru Score

Murad Rapid Relief Blemish Spot Treatment

"2% salicylic acid is definitely an option as a spot treatment. Salicylic, I like this ingredient more in your cleanser. Not that I don't like it as a spot treatment, there are a lot of great 2% spot salicylic acids, but I like the vehicle though. The thing it brings to the table is it's very lipophilic. It absorbs into the oil, it helps remove oil. At lower concentrations, it's like modestly exfoliating. Because there's not really any other supporting ingredients in this to complement this, I would say it's a good one, but not a great one."

~Mixed

63%Guru Score

CeraVe Acne Control Gel with Salicylic Acid

"This is an actual true exfoliant treatment with salicylic acid, glycolic acid, and lactic acid, plus ceramides. I would use this as my exfoliant because of the lactic acid and glycolic acid in it, and it will help get deep into the pores with salicylic acid. You still need to moisturize after using this because it's super lightweight, and it will make you more sensitive to the sun because it has the lactic acid and glycolic acid in it, so definitely wear sunscreen. I'm usually very skeptical of spot treatments, but this does enter that space because of that exfoliating property—it might help bring acne bumps that are already near the surface to the surface and then remove them. Up until this point, there are really no good exfoliants in my opinion that are widely available to the extent that this one is going to be. This could be a really good addition to a lot of people's skin care routines and it's going to serve multiple benefits outside of acne."

✓Yay

71%Guru Score

Lip14 reviews

Minimalist L-Ascorbic Acid 8% Lip Treatment with Vitamin E and Glycerine

"I really do like this product. I don't know how robust your results will be from a brightening standpoint, but I think it's a great alternative to other options out there like aggressively exfoliating your lips and also lip balms that maybe have brightening ingredients but also have fragrance, allergens, irritants. This is very, very gentle, hydrating, and might help with its intended goal. So I actually like it a lot for what it is. It tastes pretty weird, so if you can tolerate that, that's up to you. It is flavor-free and fragrance-free, so that's to be anticipated, but it does have a little bit of a weird taste."

✓Yay

69%Guru Score

Aquaphor Lip Repair Stick

"The oxybenzone based Aquaphor lip product is below zero for me, probably one of the worst products you can get. Now this product is not bad actually. I think from a functionality standpoint it actually works incredibly well, the problem is it does have those potential allergies in it, so I'm going to put this one on the mid tier."

~Mixed

67%Guru Score

Vaseline Lip Therapy Original

"I love Vaseline for the lips. I truly always continue to recommend this even though I have my own lip product which has petrolatum in it. I still recommend this because of the price point on it. Overall love this except I would take the dye out and just use their regular pure petrolatum for Vaseline."

✓Yay

80%Guru Score

Carmex Classic Lip Balm

"If you're in a situation where you went skiing or you got a sunburn, that Carmex numbing sensation is going to give you some relief for some time, but in the background you're going to be dealing with a low level of inflammation from the common allergens, flavors, fragrances in this product. This will give you temporary relief, which is addicting to get temporary relief just like painkillers can become addicting. I would avoid this product. I would never use this again."

✕Nay

58%Guru Score

Sun Bum Sunscreen Lip Balm SPF 30

"It does smell nice, wow, look how oily it is. I don't like this at all. It tastes like banana, it tastes good, that's a problem. That's a big problem, just like with the sugar lip scrubs it has you licking your lips, it's creating a big problem. I don't like it at all. It's a no for me."

✕Nay

65%Guru Score

Tree Hut Sugar Lips Lip Butter

"It's very rich, kind of a hug when you have that kind of microcrystalline wax. It's grippy. I mean, it's obviously a bad product for your lips though. It has that glossy look, that glowy look to it, but all the other ingredients make it a no for me."

✕Nay

57%Guru Score

Glossier Balm Dotcom

"The Glossier Balm Dotcom, it's a balm, it's thick like wall paste. [...] Those are extremely gentle options that really just saved my skin."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

The INKEY List Tripeptide Plumping Lip Balm

"The Inkey List has that controversial plumping lip balm that sits with those peptides, but I much prefer it to anything else, like menthol or camphor formulas, which are trashier and worse."

✓Yay

60%Guru Score

EltaMD UV Lip Balm Broad-Spectrum SPF 36

"EltaMD has a lip SPF. It just has octinoxate and zinc. I find that they can be like a little casty. You know how like sometimes your lips look chapped? Like you get that residue on the lip. I find that lip sunscreens tend to do that which can be a little bit frustrating. But EltaMD lip balm is the one that I usually would recommend. I liked it quite a bit but it did leave a little bit of a white cast because of the zinc."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Aquaphor Lip Repair Stick Plus Sunscreen

"Aquaphor has a lip product that is actually a lip sunscreen, Aquaphor Lip Repair Sunscreen. This lip sunscreen contains an ingredient called oxybenzone, which is a sunscreen ingredient and well-known sunscreen ingredient being removed from most sunscreen products. Oxybenzone is actually the most common photo allergen in skin care products. A photo allergen is basically when an ingredient becomes allergic when exposed to the sun. So oxybenzone as a sunscreen ingredient to me this seems like the worst idea possible: you have a sunscreen filter that is a risk of a photo allergen. This is a product that's specifically made to be used in the sun but is the highest risk ingredient for photo allergic reactions. To me, that's a compelling reason not to use oxybenzone. If you had to suspect why these people are suddenly getting their lips exploding and then getting peeling and itchiness on the lips, it's because of the oxybenzone and not because of the underlying base of Aquaphor. I'm at a point where I'm going to tell people not to purchase this product. Don't buy this lip SPF from Aquaphor. This is not the best product you should be using to protect your lips in the sun."

✕Nay

72%Guru Score

Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask

"I don't think they're really necessary. They're a little bit pricey. They tend to have fragrances in them. They can be a little bit irritating. But then again, they have lipids like shea butter that can be moisturizing as well. If I was going to choose one between Laneige and Tatcha, I'd choose Laneige. I hate the fact that they have fragrance in them because this is a leave-on on a sensitive area where the fragrance is absolutely unnecessary because you're asleep. You can't even enjoy the fragrance. But what I do like about them is this gives you like 6 to 8 hours where you have the opportunity to intensely hydrate your lips."

~Mixed

73%Guru Score

Tatcha Kissu Lip Serum

"When I compared the Laneige one and the Tatcha one head to head with each other, I like the Laneige one better."

✕Nay

75%Guru Score

Drunk Elephant Lippe Balm

"The Drunk Elephant lip balm, which I think is called F-Bomb, is good. It's got good ingredients in it, but it's not as hydrating in my opinion as even the CeraVe Healing Ointment. It's good if you like something that's a little bit less petrolatum based."

~Mixed

77%Guru Score

Remedy Lip Balm

"My go-to ends up always being Remedy for dry lips because it's just not decoration for the lips. Any type of lip product, like I pretty much can't go any without it on me, like I start to get frantic."

✓Yay

70%Guru Score

Eye Care12 reviews

The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG

"This is one of the rare scenarios where I would recommend The Ordinary's caffeine and green tea serum. This is something I would often recommend for people underneath the eyes for depuffing, but it could also be used as an overall facial serum for someone who is feeling tired in the morning. It's a very simple complementary product from The Ordinary, and I love the price point."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Remedy Super Stacked Under Eye Dark Circle and Depuffing Treatment

"We have a Remedy Dark Circle Under Eye Cream, that's something useful for you. It has all the ingredients that you would need in an eye cream, but it's not going to correct under eye hollows and it's not going to correct some of the structural issues that somebody might have underneath the eye."

~Mixed

78%Guru Score

RoC Retinol Correxion Line Smoothing Eye Cream

"For a single product, I'd pick the RoC Retinol Eye Cream. It pisses me off to no end that I love this one so much, because they don't tell you the concentration and they don't tell you much about the retinol itself, but they did do a ton of studies on this product showing that it works. The reason I like it is because it's very gentle. I use it as the under eye cream like it was meant to be used, but I've also had people use it around their lips for hyperpigmentation and lines, and it does so well on sensitive skin. It's kind of like a little hackable retinol tube and I love it."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Shark Beauty Cryo Glow Under Eye Cooling LED Anti-Aging and Blemish Repair Mask

"There's a new one from Shark Beauty. Using that consistently is where we're going to see results. And specifically when we're talking about anti-aging, we're usually talking about red light and infrared light, and it stimulates that collagen production by stimulating those fibroblasts, and by doing that your skin will be healthier for longer. But you do have to be consistent. It is a technology that we do believe in."

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Minimalist Vitamin K Retinal 0.1% Eye Cream

"This product is the Retinal 0.1% Eye Cream. What's interesting about this is retinal by itself is a great ingredient because retinol is converted to retinal, which is then converted to retinoic acid, which is active in the skin. Retinal is a little bit more powerful and we're finding it more and more in serums. I think it's a phenomenal effective ingredient at a great concentration, 0.1%. So that alone I would say this is a good product, especially at this price point. But you add in Bakuchiol, which is an adaptogen to adapalene, so now you've got two precursors of two retinoids, retinal and Bakuchiol, that act on retinoid receptors but can have similar benefits in the skin. I would never use Bakuchiol in a serum by itself, but when you add it in with two other proven ingredients and you put it in a really nice squalane base, this is actually a serum where you see most retinal come in a more lotion or cream form. This one comes in a serum form, which is really interesting and can layer really well into your existing skincare routine. It's a unique product in terms of thoughtfulness, complimenting benefits with the ingredients, formulation, effectiveness, and then price. There's just so much going for this. It's a serum in squalane oil. Although it feels greasy initially, it absorbs very deeply and so it'll set on your skin."

✓Yay

78%Guru Score

Dieux Forever Eye Mask

"If you don't like the wastefulness of throw away masks but you want the benefits of occlusion this is actually a pretty good option. My one caution with this is just most location this is an area that's particularly sensitive and if you're really wanting to drive ingredients home you're probably really wanting to emphasize those ingredients on more resistant areas thicker skin the body the feet. If you have a retinol Eye Serum you're using I probably wouldn't occlude it if you've got some sort of gentle acid or even a vitamin C serum occluding might be too much for you so just gauge it be cautious with that increase in effectiveness for those potentially irritating ingredients. This is where you want to put something hydrating maybe something peptide something brightening maybe even depuffing something like a caffeine serum that would be the type of thing that you would want to occlude underneath here."

~Mixed

80%Guru Score

L'Oreal Revitalift 2.5% Hyaluronic Acid and Caffeine Eye Serum

"The L'Oreal Paris eye serum with the cooling rollers is my favorite eye product because it combines cool temperatures, a novel applicator with hyaluronic acid and caffeine. I like that for like a puff, puffy look, it's like a plump depuff combo."

✓Yay

68%Guru Score

Olay Retinol 24 Eye Cream

"I like eye creams for this area. The Olay Retinol 24 Eye Cream would be great here, you're just looking for gentle ingredients that also would help with whatever your specific problem is on the lips there."

✓Yay

66%Guru Score

La Roche-Posay Retinol Eye Cream

"The one that's underrated is the LA one with retinol and peptides. It's a very underrated eye cream. It's nothing new but it's been around for a long time and it's very very good. I can think of a lot for irritated eyes because that's a very common problem."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

DRMTLGY Brightening Eye Masks

"On paper it should be on one of the best lists because it's got caffeine which helps with puffiness around the eyes and peptides that really help with anti-aging collagen and barrier around the eyes. But I'm not a huge fan of disposable eye masks like this one specifically that just sit on top of the skin. I [...] like the eye masks more that have the little micro needles in them because at least they have the added benefit of increasing the penetration of your products, whereas this is just going to sit on top of your skin like a serum and maybe the elusiveness of it would give it a little bit more penetration but it's really not going to be much better than just any topical eye cream that you have, which then won't have that disposable component to it. The other reason is Dr Maxfield and I both tried these [...] and we both somehow got irritated by them even though they don't have any really common allergens or irritating ingredients in them. [...] It looks good on paper, [...] it has your caffeine, it has your peptides, it minimizes any potential allergens and irritants, but the irritation was a real issue for us."

✕Nay

70%Guru Score

Remedy Eye Cream

"This formula targets all three pathways that contribute to dark circles and it also helps with that puffiness due to the edema or the fluid buildup that's inside of the tissues. The results from our studies have been absolutely phenomenal with this product. I was personally blown away and when I showed it to my brother, he was so blown away that he didn't even think it was an after photo and he immediately asked to take the only eye treatment that I had left in my house. If you're consistent with time, you should notice an immediate improvement in puffiness due to edema and the dark circles should start to fade over time. And that collagen support should help the skin become translucent over the course of 8, 9, and 10 weeks. When it comes to texture, it is very luxurious. I would say it's a gel cream consistency, but it does have that buttery finish, and it layers perfectly under makeup. We actually asked people in our study if it layered well under makeup, and 100% said that it would layer well with their makeup and not cause any peeling. You can be safe to apply makeup under this, and it's not going to cause any creasing. I'm personally very excited about this product."

✓Yay

72%Guru Score

Biossance Squalane + Marine Algae Eye Cream

"I still also like their Marine Algae Eye Cream. I haven't found anything that I like as much as their eye cream."

✓Yay

81%Guru Score

Toners9 reviews

First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads

"The ones from First Aid Beauty, their Facial Radiance Pads, that's something I recommend often to my patients as well. A bit spicier, but definitely gets the job done in terms of texture."

✓Yay

70%Guru Score

Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Toner

"I've recently been using their toner frequently, it's very hydrating. [...] The Dokdo toner is incredible, it's just a nice experience, especially when it's summer and the weather's hot and you just want some light hydration on your skin. It's got glycerin, aloe, water, soothing ingredients, really super great for a lightweight hydrating step."

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution

"My favorite product for glycolic acid has to be the glycolic acid from The Ordinary. It's large, it's voluminous, it's affordable, and it's hackable, the nozzle even lends to it being hackable. You can use it on your scalp for dandruff, underarms, although it's irritating there, it just can be used in so many places."

✓Yay

76%Guru Score

Numbuzin No.1 Pure-full Herb Calming Toner

"I love their soothing toner."

✓Yay

74%Guru Score

Hero Cosmetics Salicylic Acid Toner 2%

"Hero Cosmetics has one."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

The Ordinary Saccharomyces Ferment 30% Milky Toner

"I probably used it for a solid month along with the ltmd toner and I did use the Ordinaries Saccharomyces ferment milky toner. That was a good one for me, but even that kind of irritating."

~Mixed

75%Guru Score

Isntree Green Tea Fresh Toner

"I love these green tea toners, I really do recommend the Isntree Green Tea Fresh Toner in the office to patients too. Love it to start off your routine if you have oily skin, which you very well likely do. These feel good, they're functional, they're great."

✓Yay

73%Guru Score

Bubble Break Even Balancing Toner

"You add rose water with a bunch of other fragrant essential oil derivatives in them and that can be irritating to the skin. The thing is that it's not adding many benefits in terms of active ingredients to the skin, so it's something that's an additional step in your routine that really isn't going to be adding much, especially if you're using something like a vitamin C niacinamide serum [...] that's going to have all these benefits without the downsides. [...] It's a toner you don't need. It's neither a stringent you don't need nor is it your active ingredient essence toner, so for me it's a miss."

✕Nay

65%Guru Score

COSRX Hydrium Watery Toner

"The can make mermaid skin gel or skin uvf one it's another amazing Korean option it just sits nicely Blends invisibly feels like your Skin's naked but it's not"

✓Yay

77%Guru Score

Tech8 reviews

NuFACE Trinity Facial Toning Device

"I still have not seen good studies on microcurrent to date. The at-home and in the office don't really have that much good data and it's still unclear how these work. There are some studies showing it can increase ATP, but we don't know if that's good or bad for our skin. Another theory is it can stimulate muscle contraction, which is the opposite of how Botox works, so using it on the upper face could make your Botox wear off faster or make your wrinkles more pronounced. Really it's only useful on the lower face. I'm still looking for studies on microcurrent but they're quite sparse, so it's not a technology that I currently recommend."

✕Nay

60%Guru Score

Tria Laser

"There's a Fraxel-type laser over the counter you can use from Tria. I've used this device on myself and it actually seems pretty effective. I was shocked by how similar the experience was at home compared to in the office, and I think this is an amazing option if you have the income and want to make the investment and you're looking to help volume, especially for crepey skin. This might be the most effective reactive treatment you could do at home that could be very meaningful for you."

✓Yay

83%Guru Score

Omnilux Face Contour Red Light Therapy Mask

"They had a lot of really good technology around their red light specific LED and then they were one of the first ones to launch masks, um FDA cleared mask, um flexible right so it's a soft material that lies flat and you kind of wrap it around your face. It also has like a handle that you attach in a remote. It's a nice mask right and you're going to see results with that red light. If you want something that's more malleable and moldable that gets a bit more coverage, the Omnilux mask is great if you have a bit of a smaller face."

✓Yay

75%Guru Score

CurrentBody LED Light Therapy Mask Series 1

"Current Body has an LED mask that covers the entire face. It's soft and malleable. It also has a cord, so very similar to Omnilux mask, but they also have this chin extension that's really nice to really just kind of cup your face underneath the skin. Current Body is definitely a reputable brand."

✓Yay

89%Guru Score

Qure Micro Infusion Targeted Patches

"These are targeted patches that with the micro cones on them are able to deliver ingredients deeper into the skin. The penetration into the skin is one of the biggest barriers to your ingredients actually working. And so if you need to deliver something that's difficult to get into the skin, a really good way to deliver it is through these microprint patches. They have really thoughtful ingredients, especially for around the eyes, things like retinol that are able to be delivered deeper into the skin. They pull off in a really cool way. These ones are blue, which are quite visual, and they will have some benefits while still looking ridiculous."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

iRestore Elite Low-Level Laser Hair Regrowth System

"We did purchase the iRestore Elite version, but I really think any version would work well for you. This thing was very expensive and I even got the additional battery pack, so I think I spent over $2,000 on this product. It came pretty quickly and it seems to work pretty well. I mean it's really intuitive to use. It's about 12 minutes per day that she's using it and she just does it while the baby is napping or during any time, but she's been very consistent with this. She hasn't had any issues with it so far and it seems to work."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

iRestore Laser Hair Growth Helmet

"The iRestore headlight device for hair loss, that's legitimate. The thing about red light for hair loss that's interesting is it's been around a lot longer than the public realizes. For anyone who has ever seen someone go through hair restoration surgery within the last probably 20 years, they've been using red light and red light laser devices. Your hair helmet has to have lasers [...] to be adequately powered, not just LED lights. [...] The iRestore one is legitimate, it's good."

✓Yay

76%Guru Score

Qure Micro Infusion System

"I'm a big fan of microinfusion from Qure. I think it's amazing. I've been converted into a believer of this product and basically it just infuses and it's just 0.5 millimeters, so it's quite gentle for the skin."

✓Yay

79%Guru Score

Mists & Essences6 reviews

COSRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence

"If you haven't tried snail mucin, this is a good time. Their snail essence is 18 dollars."

✓Yay

78%Guru Score

Anua PDRN Hyaluronic Acid Mist

"Anua has a very viral PDRN spray that's in really cute packaging. If you're looking for something a bit more aesthetic and fun, I would check out the Anua PDRN spray. Love that one."

✓Yay

70%Guru Score

Tower 28 SOS Daily Rescue Facial Spray

"Tower 28 is sort of the leaders in the category and they remain that way. [...] This one also has salicylic acid and some other skincare goodies in it. [...] I see Dr. Maxvi kind of take this with him everywhere he goes. [...] I actually really like it as a really non-drying hand sanitizer. [...] The practical utility of it cannot be overstated."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

CeraVe Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence

"The power Essence from CeraVe, that's the 96% filtrate, that's the product that I have the most experience with. It's a very high concentration of the snail mucin, it's fragrance free so it's going to be probably one of the best and safest options that you can use for the skin. And because the concentration is so high, this is also something that you could definitely use post-procedurally after you get a treatment like microneedling and laser therapy. Some of the studies do have it down to like an 8% extraction of the snail mucin so you don't have to have that 90 plus percent, but I do think you will see increasing benefits as concentration goes up."

✓Yay

84%Guru Score

Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier Essence

"This is really the hero when it comes to barrier repair. Something like this that you layer in your routine that is a replacement for those actives that could potentially be adding to the irritation. What this is is just this beautiful lightweight emollient milky texture. This product's actually viral on social media, and I think it's because of how good it feels on the skin, because I think a lot of people, even influencers who try lots of different products, have an irritated skin barrier, and so they end up gravitating towards a product like this. Like you can see, it's very milky, and that milkiness just feels so good on sensitive skin. But, it's not just milky for no reason. This has those barrier restoring ingredients. It actually mimics the natural skin barrier. So, it has the ceramides, the cholesterol, and the fatty acids in the ratio that our normal skin barrier has it. It just feels so calming on the skin, and it has those incredible ingredients, and it's fragrance-free. The elegance of the packaging actually meets the elegance of the formulation of this product. It just plays well with so many skin types, and it's a great foundation for hydration and soothing your skin. Because it's not like a rich cream, you will be able to layer a richer cream and occlusive on top of this to help lock everything in and protect your skin even further."

✓Yay

87%Guru Score

Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Probiotics Barrier 2% NAD+ Serum Mist

"This is the use case scenario for an essence or a milky essence like this, in my opinion. The Haru Haru Black Rice Probiotic Barrier 2% NAD+ Serum Mist is a beautiful way to apply this product with a fine mist that gives a wide distribution. What I like about mists in general for barrier is that if you have a barrier mist because it's so lightweight and it evaporates it gives you that immediate cooling effect on the skin which I think most people have damaged barrier they'll actually like that sensation quite a bit. What's nice from an ingredient perspective in this is it does have that bifida ferment lysate which is a really incredible probiotic ingredient very good for sensitive skin. It also has ceramides in it which are the key ingredients to helping to repair the skin barrier and the 50% of the skin barrier that makes up that mortar between your cells. And it also has lipids, it also has cholesterol for that complete mortar between the skin cells. Not only does this have the bifida ferment lysate in it for the microbiome, it also has NAD 2%, which you're going to be seeing more and more in skin care over time. A lot of Korean brands have adopted this broadly, and it can be very helpful for the skin. In this case, it's going to also help with that skin barrier."

✓Yay

85%Guru Score

Balms & Ointments4 reviews

Vaseline Original Healing Jelly

"You could use Vaseline as a richer occlusive that will help lock in hydration, repair your skin barrier, and allow your skin to heal."

✓Yay

86%Guru Score

Cetaphil Healing Ointment

"This one here from Cetaphil is their Healing Ointment. This is 71% petrolatum so it's got that Vaseline in it, it also has shea butter and other ingredients in it that are kind of hydrating and it has those lipids in it that are going to make your skin softer over time."

✓Yay

65%Guru Score

Neosporin Neosporin

"Neosporin is a triple antibiotic made up of neomycin, bacitracin, and polymyxin B. While it was created to treat infected wounds, over 10 percent of the population is allergic to this medication, which means if you're applying it to areas like the lips or an infected area, those wounds are actually going to get worse, take longer to heal, and you're going to have a worse outcome. Additionally, neomycin causes co-sensitization where it helps your body develop an allergy to bacitracin too, even though these compounds are completely unrelated. For wound care, the data shows that Vaseline or pure petrolatum outperforms Neosporin across the board during the first two weeks of healing, so you're applying this antibiotic and it's not having any additional benefit than just pure regular Vaseline, but it has increased risk with it now. For using it on the lips for perlèche or angular cheilitis, the antibiotic would do nothing for the yeast component, and it's just assuming the ointment is a good barrier comparable to something like Vaseline or zinc oxide, which would both probably be better options. Overall, I don't agree with using Neosporin for these hacks at all. It's not a good role for this. The bottom line is do not use neomycin on the lips because there's a high risk of allergy with very little limited benefit."

✕Nay

31%Guru Score

CeraVe Healing Ointment

"You could use CeraVe Healing Ointment as a richer occlusive that will help lock in hydration, repair your skin barrier, and allow your skin to heal."

✓Yay

92%Guru Score

Tools2 reviews

Clean Skin Club Clean Towels XL

"Even though it's not expensive, I do feel guilty about it because I use so many of them, for my own face and when I give my daughter a bath. These are the XL size, the original, 18 dollars currently. They never go bad, so you can stock up on a year's supply. It's really truly one of the most practical things you'll use in your life, one of my most reused items throughout life."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

Solawave 4-in-1 Radiant Renewal Skincare Wand

"From a practicality standpoint, if you're trying to get exposed to at least three to 10 minutes of red light in that frequency, it's going to take you a very long time to get that much exposure through this little wand. It'll take you pretty much all day. I really don't like this as the way to deliver red light into the skin. It's extremely impractical to get three to five minutes spot by spot by spot for your whole face, and then you kind of miss out on the red light benefits altogether. That said, I do think it could be helpful for lymphatic drainage to help with deep puffiness in the morning. I don't think those have permanent benefits to the skin, but similar to gua sha it is going to help move fluid and help de-puff at least temporarily. This has the added benefit of the vibration and red light, so not only are you pushing fluid around but you're maybe having some additional benefits with it. If you're somebody who does gua sha or facial massage, this may be a good tool to deliver that. Otherwise, this is a no for me."

✕Nay

52%Guru Score

Eye Makeup1 review

The Ordinary Multi-Peptide Lash and Brow Serum

"The Ordinary had one as well and the peptides do help the density of the hair they help it appear fuller although I don't believe they actually help it grow itself."

✓Yay

68%Guru Score

Supplements1 review

Inner Glow Age Defense Vitamins

"Inner Glow Age Defense Vitamins has the polypodium in the leaf format which is phenomenal plus green tea plus so many other things turmeric which I'm a huge fan of, resveratrol which some of the data is mixed on but a lot of people take resveratrol as it is so it has a lot of other powerful antioxidants. The dermatologist that created it has great skin as well so I am a big fan. [...] This is a really good interesting combination of ingredients."

✓Yay

82%Guru Score

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