Dr. Somji Skin.

"If you don't have access to prescriptive azelaic acid at 15 and 20%, Paula's Choice do a nice one at 10 and 15 that you can use, and they're normally available as creams or gels which are really quite nice. Azelaic acid helps with redness but also will help with pigmentation as well, so it can treat that, and in pregnancy you can get some acne as well, so azelaic acid will help that too. It's that superstar ingredient that you can use that will just protect your skin over time."

"15% vitamin C is quite high so it's a good concentration that you can get over the counter, it's very similar to even some of the medical grade stuff. You've got vitamin E and pure hyaluronic acid in there, so vitamin E will act as a very good barrier protection. Whilst you have the vitamin C as an antioxidant layer, it's very prone to sort of evaporating off the skin, but with the vitamin E you seal in all the products and you also have hydration protection as well. You've got hydrolized hyaluronic acid there which is great to have, you've got the tocopherol which is obviously the vitamin E, you've got glycerin which again is going to be helping the barrier. Ascorbic acid is high up on the list which is really good to see because it means it's more of a concentration of the vitamin C. And interestingly you've got pinus pinaster bark extract as well, and it's got some great antioxidant properties that work very well with vitamin C. So if you've got kind of like sun damaged skin, maybe a little bit more sensitive skin, this is not going to be a bad thing. It's going to really help with the brightness."

"It's a really nice formulation if you've got if you want to be using some vitamin C but you've got pigmentation and also with niacinamide it's not going to damage your skin barrier so even with darker skin types like me because niacinamide is so high up on the list I wouldn't need to worry so much about the glycolic acid causing post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation so all around a nice product and it feels really nice too actually so layering maybe the hyaluronic acid first and then using that might be a nice way of utilizing the moisturizing properties of the hyaluronic acid and then still treating your pigmentation at the same time which is pretty cool."

"I find myself prescribing a lot at two different concentrations, one at 15% which is known commercially as Finacea, that's a prescription I have to write. These are prescriptions that are available for most pharmacies once I write out the prescription for the patient that they can use at home, and I find that you get great results using these prescribed skincare compared to high street stuff."

"There's nothing better for the Skin Barrier than niacinamide and the Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% from The Ordinary is quite good. [...] Don't get scared with a 10% because it's almost [...] like a sugar coating on a label, they say it's 10% but really it's not too strong. Most patients don't really irritate from there, but I would still use it sparingly. But definitely to help your skin barrier, to help the way that your skin functions, and to reduce the chances of the sebaceous filaments coming back, then this is a good idea."

"I just picked this up mainly because it's got pucha in there, which is like an alternative to retinol. There's a lot of studies that look at pucha and look at its effectiveness in comparison to retinol, so it does pretty much a similar thing to retinol but doesn't have the sensitivity. Good retinol formulations nowadays have pucha on it because they just take down the concentration of retinol, build it up with pucha, and then suddenly you've got something that you can use all the time."

"The Ordinary have a great hyaluronic acid that you can use which is really nice to just kind of hydrate the skin. Because the superficial skin is a bit more dehydrated with rosacea, it's going to hydrate both in the upper levels of the skin and also the mid layers of the skin as well because of the different molecule sizes that you see within a product, and your body will then draw in moisture to that area so it's going to help with hydration."

"If you have sensitivity [...] and you want a little bit more nourishment to that skin barrier and you want to reduce the sensitivity, in your nighttime routine before you apply the azelaic acid you can use rose hip oil which is fantastic for rosacea. I'm a big fan of oils. You just got to make sure that you're not acne prone within the area and it's more that you've just got kind of sensitivity. So you could cleanse the skin, you could use the oil and then you can use the azelaic acid over the top and you should be absolutely fine."

"The Hyaluronic Acid Serum from The Inkey List does exactly what it says in the tin. It's made of hyaluronic acid and is designed to have a thin layer. It should rapidly absorb because it's not a thick cream, it's a serum. Once you've got hyaluronic acid within the skin, that's going to help with moisture. If you have an impaired skin barrier, your skin is maybe a little bit sensitive and it can be a little bit dry and fluctuates between oily and dry, this is where hyaluronic acid is normally paired with another serum called niacinamide, and niacinamide is vitamin B3 which really helps the protective layer on the skin, the skin barrier, that lipid barrier that prevents moisture from releasing."

"If you've got pigmentation that's a little bit more apparent or a little bit more severe then you can use the Ascorbic Acid 8% and Alpha Arbutin 2% so it's double the strength but also it's mixed with vitamin C. We know that vitamin C is fantastic for pigmentation too because it's got some effect on tyrosine as well. Now if you combine the two you're going to get more of an effect. Now if you've got sensitive skin I'd probably start with that 2%, but if you've got skin that's not so sensitive and you only want to rapidly get rid of that pigmentation you can go up to that 2% mix with the 8% Ascorbic Acid."

"The INKEY LIST is essentially 100% squalane, formulated for all skin types to help hydrate skin and control oil production. It's a very lightweight oil that naturally occurs in our skin and can be essential for hydration. You can put your serums on and then if you're really serum-based and you want to repair your skin barrier without having so many creams on, you can put your squalane on afterwards and it's fantastic for locking in the moisture. You can incorporate squalane into your slugging protocol as well. Just remember to make sure that the squalane in your products is sourced from plant-based rather than animal-based sources, since squalane was previously derived from shark livers, which isn't humane."

"I love this product because I know that I'm going to send someone away and they're going to get the results. [...] It really helps to plump out fine lines wrinkles, firming, it's very anti-aging. It's fantastic for hydration and helps to restore the barrier function as well. [...] You've got these bluebell stem cell so it helps prevent future aging, you've got [...] polymorphia sinensis root extract which helps calm and soothe the skin as well as has ginseng extract which helps with elasticity and firmness. If you actually look at the ingredients, yes we've got some silicone in there which is a little bit disappointing, but those root extracts come up a lot more higher on the list so it's a very natural, plant-based growth factor stimulating serum."

"Softwave is extremely effective if you read one of the clinical studies looking at patients that were treated with one treatment of Softwave, 88% of patients had a significant improvement in fine lines, wrinkles and lifting on the face. There was also high patient satisfaction with the treatment as well. There is some pain involved with Softwave because it is a very powerful treatment, but we have some good tactics to actually help with pain. We numb the area for a good hour prior to the procedure. There's also contact cooling in the hand that we can turn up that quickly reduces the heat that is experienced from the procedure. We also have the ability to inject anesthesia for very sensitive areas as well as some analgesia in the form of a gas that can be used during the procedure as well. So there are many different strategies that can make the procedure a lot more comfortable. Majority of patients are absolutely fine just with topical anesthetic, but we have a number of different strategies to help you."

"I think it's a fantastic price point. For the price you're getting quite a bit. You're getting the hyaluronic acid, you're getting the three essential ceramides, you're also getting vitamin B5 in this as well. You've got sodium hyaluronate which is fantastic, panthenol which is quite high up, and then you got your three ceramides as well which is great. You got a kind of mild citric acid lower down as well so it just helps remove any dead skin at the same time. It's a nice formulation. It'll spread nicely, it's a nice texture, doesn't need any thickening agents, easily absorbed."

"Mandelic acid is fantastic for even skin of color for reducing pigmentation, it will also reduce redness as well. We use it in the clinic all the time at high strength, so like 40%. This one from the INKEY List, you can see it's a mandelic acid treatment. You can put it on targeted for pigmentation in the evening and it really helps just reduce that pigmentation. You can use these treatments at home alongside a combination of other ingredients and you can really get a tailored routine in terms of pigmentation."

"The Rhode Peptide Glazing Fluid is quite a simple formulation. It's got baobab seed oil in it, niacinamide which is fantastic for the skin barrier, glycerin, and some peptides. [...] There's not as many peptides as I thought they would be in the product, but [...] it's a nice simple formulation. There's nothing kind of groundbreaking from it, but it definitely will help with hydration. There's no doubt about it with those ingredients. [...] It's actually fantastic. The packaging is fully recyclable, less harm to the peptides because they've got some great packaging from recycled tin materials. Overall it's a nice kind of clean brand [...] with no nasties in it, but again not going to change your skin too much. [...] I love applying this over my toner when the toner is still a little bit damp as well. I just feel like it helps the product absorb so nicely."

"It's not a strong retinol, it's designed for people with sensitive skin, so it's not really going to change your skin with this product, but it's going to keep things going, and especially if you've got sensitive skin, it's at least giving you small amounts of active ingredients to help you have a little bit more glowing skin. So it's not a terrible product, but it's not going to change your skin overnight. One of the reasons why it's got such good ratings for skin being a lot smoother is a combination between the hyaluronic acid and things for the skin barrier. As long as you have those two things, your skin will feel better, might not necessarily reduce things like wrinkles."

"It's super thin so it's easily absorbed, there's no doubt about that, but it's thin. It really needed that thickener. There are better other hyaluronic acids on the market that we've talked about in previous videos. Yes, there's some additional B5, but it's so low down the list that it's not really going to make a difference. I personally don't think that this product's worth it. I think there's other things on the market that can do probably much the same job if not better."

"I'm disappointed again by the niacinamide, but it's a more interesting formulation, so it's a good four out of 10, yeah I'm going to give it a five out of 10. I do like the concentration of niacinamide, but again it loses marks with the hybrid nature of the serum slash cream, the denatured alcohol and the perfume. I'm not sure adding titanium dioxide adds much to it if you're going to wear an SPF, which they recommend. I think it's an unfortunate addition to it in my opinion."

"If you wear makeup, micellar water is fantastic as that first cleanse. I've got [...] the CeraVe Micellar Cleansing Water which obviously contains the three essential ceramides and niacinamide to help with your skin barrier. This is fantastic you can massage this into your skin with a cotton pad or even with your hands to really give you that first step clean and sometimes for some people that's enough."

"If you have combination skin or oily prone skin, [...] you can use a product like the Cetaphil Gentle Foaming Cleanser because this not only adequately cleans the surface of the skin so you get that nice clean look, but also what it does is it supplements your skin barrier so it gives things like humectants to the skin so it doesn't over strip your skin. [...] When I use this because I've got that sort of combination oily, sensitive [...] skin, my skin feels kind of nice and soft, really clean afterwards, and it also controls the oil production as well, which is fantastic."

"If you've just got generally good skin on the High Street, the probably cheapest and the most safest thing to use is the oat blend in balm from The INKEY List. Fantastic because oat, it's one of the properties of oat is to help with a Skin Barrier, but this gives a good clean and a lot of patients love this that come to my clinic so it's really nice to use if you do wear a little bit of makeup and you don't have much time."

"I do love this jelly based cleanser from Drunk Elephant because it's got that nice kind of gel based cleanser but it also kind of purifies and melts things, so it incorporates a gel based cleanser and a more almost like a balm type effect as well. It's got salicylic acid, lactic acid, and glycolic acid within it, [...] all botanically derived. It's got a nice blend of surfactants and makeup dissolving emollients and it leaves the skin feeling very soft but without damaging the skin barrier. With water as a top ingredient, [...] glycerin in there which is great for the skin barrier, a few leaf extracts and surfactant things that melt things. It removes all traces of makeup, excess oil and pollution. It's really [...] kind to my skin without damaging it. I actually bring this on holiday with me because it's a nice small formulation. This is really strong though, so I actually say to patients just use this once a day and maybe just use micellar water maybe at night or your cleansing balm because I worry about patient skin barriers."

"It's a water-based cleanser that's great for the skin barrier. It's got jojoba seed oil in it, mafengpro seed oil in it, also nice triglycerides and things that will just help with the skin barrier. There's nothing really terrible here. It's not going to really get rid of absolutely everything, so you probably need a double cleanse to get rid of a full face of makeup, but it's not going to damage the skin and that's the main thing. I actually put it on my face and I'm managing to take off all my makeup off with it, which is fantastic."

"This is a hyaluronic acid based cleanser, and it says from normal to combination skin, which basically is for most people, and I would even go as far as saying if you do have dry skin you could probably use this too as well. It's clean, it avoids the use of any sort of harsh acids. There's no acid in there, you've just really kind of cleansed it quite nicely, so this could be your double cleanse routine, use the micellar water first and then use this cleanser afterwards. I used it for about a week or so and it was absolutely fine, I didn't get any impaired skin barrier or anything."

"The SA smoothing cleanser is pretty cool. It's got no fragrance in there, no essential oils, no alcohol. The only thing I would say with this is, if you've got somebody that has hormonal, so female adult hormonal acne, for some reason the SA smoothing cleanser doesn't really work so well because someone with hormone acne doesn't necessarily really want to dry out the skin, and I find that the SA smoothing cleanser can sometimes be a little bit dry for people with combination skin types, and that's what you get with hormonal acne. So you want to be a little bit careful about using it on the face. I like it on the body because the body's got a thicker barrier, you've got a thicker epidermis on the body, it responds better to induction of ceramides, it thickens up, you've got less evaporation generally. But on the face, if you've got that sort of mixed skin type, I'd exercise caution because I do get patients coming back saying my acne seems to have gotten worse since I've used it, and we've talked about the presence of silicone in there, and if you're using those products and you're not necessarily double cleansing, then you're going to end up with some problems."

"Physical exfoliants, as you know, chemical exfoliants are much better, much more controlled. When you may hold on one area for longer, you're going to be damaging that skin barrier. And all of our videos talk about the skin barrier, or most of them anyway, so it can actually cause more problems with like further acne, dryness, dehydrated skin in the future. And it's probably not a good idea. It's unhygienic as well. How can you sterilize it? There's some kind of like celebrity skincare people that use their routine and they use the Clarisonic and you wonder whether they sterilize it. So it harbors bacteria. I mean, at the clinic we do some exfoliating stuff right, so we do chemical peels, which are chemical exfoliant, but then we have things like the hydrafacial, but that's controlled. And it's all sterile, single use stuff, so we're not introducing any bacteria into compromised skin. So not a good thing, guys."

"A lot of my patients actually like the Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm. They say it helps really remove makeup. [...] The Clinique cleansing balm has got some interesting ingredients: you've got safflower seed oil, caprylic triglycerides which are great for the skin barrier, and some vitamin E as well. [...] So essentially it's just a fatty acid cleanser that helps with the skin barrier. It's amazing that it was able to take off a lot of heavy makeup."

"I actually thought it was really really nice. [...] The foam didn't turn into water and it stayed quite a thick consistency and got absorbed into the skin. It was really nice. The main ingredients are water, coco glycinate, betaine, cocoate glycerin, these are all things that going to help the skin barrier, so not drying things out. We got caprylic glycol as well and some citric acid, so you're going to get some exfoliation from this. It's not going to cleanse as well as you want it to cleanse because I would have wanted to see, especially from a foaming wash, maybe some nice acids in there, AHAs, BHAs, a little lacking in that point of view. And then you come up with fragrance. Unfortunately they've added fragrance into this, so for sensitive skin types, people prone to sensitivities or reactions, that's a concern."

"If your skin is dry, you want to put a cream-based cleanser on, and the gold standard [...] is Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser. Cetaphil is in the name: cetyl alcohol, which is wonderful for the skin barrier, highly moisturizing, and it's also got some nice ceramides. [...] This is a cream-based cleanser I tend to use when I go to sunny countries, maybe my skin's a little [...] dry and hot and bothered, and maybe my skin barrier is impaired if I haven't been very good with my SPF. It's fragrance-free, it doesn't clog pores, and it can be more moisturizing for the skin. [...] In this product we've got glycerin, [...] panthenol, and niacinamide. Niacinamide is fantastic for the skin barrier, just to help boost it, and it's part of nearly every single skincare ingredient nowadays. The one caveat is you may not be able to clean all your makeup off with something like this, so you really need to think about double cleansing."

"If you have oily skin, a company like Cetaphil actually shows exactly what you need. You've got the Oily Skin Cleanser, which is essentially a foam cleanser. This is going to help minimize pores, reduce sebum production, but without stripping the skin. If you look at some of the ingredients, it's got exactly the things that you need in a cleanser. It's water-based, it's got glycerin that's going to help with your skin barrier. Too many cleansers don't include things like glycerin, so look for glycerin, look for like coconut extract as well, which just helps build that skin barrier and not strip the skin. If you strip the skin with too aggressive of a cleanser, then you could lead into problems. So if you got oily skin, foam cleanser is going to be the right thing."

"One of my favorite products [...] is Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA. When you look at the ingredient list, it's water-based with caprylic triglycerides in there, so derived from coconuts, fantastic for helping the skin barrier. Cetyl alcohol, which is one of the main ingredients of Cetaphil, so it's a really calming, really soothing formulation that's also got hyaluronic acid in there that's going to help retain the moisture. The reason why we're using NMF as opposed to anything like active or acidic for acne is because most of the time when you have acne you've got an impaired skin barrier. If you've got an impaired skin barrier that basically means you're losing a lot more moisture than you should be, and as a result of that loss of moisture you're overproducing sebum, i.e. oils within the skin. If you produce too much oil you get too much bacteria. If you get too much bacteria you get inflammation. If you get inflammation you get red spots. So if you repair that barrier you stop that chain of events."

"CeraVe are also fantastic just to help with the barrier. Set of ones in particular quite nice because they got nice ingredients which helps with a barrier. [...] For example the CeraVe, so what would you use as a base layer if you're going to be doing this, a good base layer would be something like squalene, squalene maybe a squalene hyaluronic acid mix. The one from the ordinary is pretty cool. You can use a squalane cleanser which I think is really nice, you can make the cleanser maybe a little bit more gentle so you can use like this cream one from CeraVe."

"I use the LANEIGE Water Bank Blue Hyaluronic Acid Cream Moisturizer. I take it, rub it, and lather it all over. Literally the first time I used this, I woke up and I thought my skin was a baby's bottom, it was so soft. Because everyone's skin was so dry while we were filming, I ended up getting a bunch of their moisturizers and products for the rest of the cast, and in the trailer for hair and makeup, and everyone started using them and becoming addicted. The hyaluronic acid cream has fragrance in there and some cool things to help with the skin barrier, but it's also got silicones in there which can irritate the skin over a long period of time."

"We have the Urea Repair Plus which is 10% urea, the highest urea you can get on a non-prescription. I've had a few patients actually with keratosis, as we commonly see in clinic, and I've tried it over two to three months and the remarkable results that you can get because of the urea and because of the hydrating component as well and the barrier protection. This guarantees immediate relief within 48 hours. You do want to shake it because I find that the formulation separates a little bit, but it is actually really quite nice, very easy to spread and very well tolerated generally as well. I've used it on elbows and I've used it on knees and I found that quite, really does make a difference. But the key with this is consistency. I don't expect one or two applications to make a difference. You need to be consistent because urea is very slow acting. They've got some more ceramides in here which are great, you've got a specific formula with urea and natural moisturizing factors which are all great to help with the skin barrier. But the reason why it doesn't feel sticky is that it's in an oil emulsion, which is why you need to give it a shake beforehand."

"The Clinique Moisture Surge is an interesting product. [...] It's got a lot of silicone in there, [...] so if you're acne prone layering too many silicone products is probably not going to be a good thing. It has some green tea extract just to calm down the skin, some aloe vera, as well as a few acids such as citric acid just to make the skin feel a little bit more [...] moisturized. It may reduce [...] the cases of sensitivity secondary to retinoid."

"On their website it's designed for people with very dry sensitive skin. [...] If we look at the ingredients of this clarifying lotion, it does have witch hazel in it, which [...] I'm not a big fan of because of the tannins involved and how it can actually make sensitive skin like this a little bit more sensitive over time. It does have coloring in there with yellow coloring and blue coloring, which is a little bit disappointing. It's got some salicylic acid, which is always a benefit, and some glycerin to help the skin barrier, but again it's a very simple formulation. These are things that you probably would find in a very good cleanser."

"It feels nice and smooth, you've got all those glycerins and things like that in there, but it's got a little bit of oil based so we know that it's mainly olive oil and a skin conditioning agent. Now if you put olive oil in your skin it's going to feel like this, it'll feel good. But hey, you are overpaying for this product. You know it's marketed as a polypeptide cream, but the peptides are so low down on the ingredients list that it may as well not be a peptides cream. It's basically an olive oil cream."

"It's nothing special. Doesn't leave any residue, quickly absorbed within the skin, but I think that's because you got a good formulator here. It feels nice as a product but there's nothing in these ingredients that are going to do anything for your skin. The ingredients are probably not going to change your skin. It's all about the price you're paying. If you're going to be paying like kind of High Street prices, these are great formulations but these are the same prices as some of the things that I stock in my clinics and my patients would kill me because they'd say look, my skin hasn't done anything."

"It's a great emollient and you've got that nice thermal water to help kind of almost release sensitive skin. It's got some prebiotics in there which is great. I love products with prebiotics, helps with your natural skin to make sure that it works correctly. It says that it's got the seal of approval by allergy specialists and dermatologists. In studies over 4 weeks, most people said there was 55% less dryness, 98% reduction in tightness, 77% reduction in stinging. So if you've got really sensitive compromised skin, this looks like something that will be really good for you."

"They've got the niacinamide in there for the skin barrier as well, and cereal alcohol as well, nice fatty acids within there. It's all good formulations, there's nothing wrong with this. It's just a nice standard moisturizer with no nasties. I think this is not going to damage your skin. It's a solid product but it won't change your skin. Nevertheless, I'll give it an eight out of 10 because it does what it says on the tin."

"It goes on quite smoothly, it's not drying, it's not sticky, it's not tacky, it's a neutral smell, smells very silky. [...] There's [...] silicone in there, which is not bad for the skin. You've got some nice sheer butter in there, glycerin, [...] a little bit of cocoa peptide which is a trending ingredient, sweet almond oil, oat brown extract, all of these things are pretty good. [...] You've got some citrus and orange peel extract in there which helps balance out the smells. Overall it's not a terrible product, it's full of kind of nice moisture-boosting ingredients, but what I noticed is that after about 5 to 10 minutes it doesn't feel moisturized. I feel like I need more. So I think that there's some great ingredients in here but they're probably not, there's a lot of ingredients in here but [...] I don't think it's [...] enough for the skin barrier."

"The Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion is great to almost lock in that moisture. It's [...] a lower version of slugging in that you're just layering lightweight stuff and the thickest thing you're going to put on is probably a moisturizing cream. [...] If you're seriously breakout prone and you've got compromised skin, this is not a bad option and it's better and safer than slugging if you're worried about breakouts."

"This retinol from ZO Skin Health is a Retinol Skin Brightener but it's a good quality retinol and if you're going to use your A, vitamin A, C and E, maybe you want to spend a little bit more money on it. [...] Having formulated my own skincare, there's different levels and grades of retinoids. So even retinols, there's so many different grades of it you can get, encapsulated retinol, etc. Sometimes the higher price point means that the actual complex of the retinol as well as the delivery mechanism is much better."

"Retinoids include retinol, tretinoin, isotretinoin and they're commonly found in anti-aging products and acne products. This includes things like retinol night serum such as Differin Gel. [...] While they're effective ingredients for various skin conditions, they're best avoided during pregnancy as high doses of vitamin A have been known to be associated with birth defects. [...] The amount of drug absorbed from the skin when you're using the product is actually very low, but there are four independent published case reports of birth defects in literature associated with topical tretinoin use. [...] If you're on 0.025 or 0.05 or 0.1% tretinoin and other things that are higher like tazarotene, then you really want to be a little bit careful."

"The Granactive Retinoid 2% Emulsion was previously another product that has both the granactive retinoid in it and retinols in it, so it's more for patients with oily skin. It's creamier in texture and it's better for beginners, that's what I would start as a beginner. If you're a fan of squalane and you've had squalane before and you know you like the benefits that squalane gives and you've got an impaired skin barrier, then I would start up with Granactive 2% in squalene, and that doesn't have any retinol in it, it just has a granactive retinoid in it. [...] Because the granactive retinoids are more close to retinoic acid, it's much more likely that you will get a better result with the granactive range than you would with the retinol range."

"It's the strongest one out there in the whole ordinary range. [...] It's got squalane in it which is going to help with the skin barrier, but you have to [...] exercise caution when using this retinol, especially if you're going to be using other chemical exfoliants within the range as well. [...] You can start at 0.2, 0.5, and then slowly go up to 1%. That might take you a year to do, that might take you about three months to do, but it all depends on your skin type. The oilier your skin type, the more higher up the ladder you can start. You get some really good results from it, especially for anti-aging."

"There's actually niacinamide in there and niacinamide is great for all sorts of things: reducing redness, reducing pigmentation, reducing acne, well absolutely everything. So if you're going to put it in a product, fantastic. They've got their encapsulated ceramide MVE technology which they always talk about and it's kind of behind most of their success, which is fantastic. Using this retinol when I've tested it on the back of my hand, I think it's fantastic. It's something that can really help. They talk about dimethicone and the use of it, and it's a silicone that helps with skin softness and coverage without making things heavy, which is what makes a product feel quite nice. They really justify their use of it. I will always say it's not bad for the skin and it's definitely in so many other skin products, but if you're going to be building it up, limiting the amount of dimethicone in your layered skincare is going to be important. Also there's the impact on your environment. So the dimethicone is definitely not bad, but if you care about the world maybe don't use it so much, and if you're layering a lot of products you just have to limit the amount that you're using because you're going to gather debris, especially if you're acne prone."

"If I were to have dry skin what retinol would I pick, I would actually pick this one. It's the Kiehl's Retinol Skin-Renewing Daily Micro-Dose Serum with a precise daily strength concentration of pure retinol, peptides and ceramides. I'm actually pretty impressed with this to be quite honest looking at the ingredients list. You've got glycerin in there, niacinamide, a few peptides sitting in there, and crucially you've also got some ceramides. So this is something for someone with dry skin that wants to use a retinol because you're going to be supplementing your skin barrier with ceramides. It's got a lot more ingredients in there and you can see that it flows quite nicely. It has a good flow, good feel to the skin, and a very neutral, almost candle-like scent, probably from the sunflower seed oil and soybean oil in there, which is quite nice. You've got a nice retinol concentration. I mean it's a nice all-rounder and it's great for people wanting to work things up."

"I do not like the L'Oreal Revitalift ones. I mean a lot of people love this and you've got B3 which is fantastic and you've got retinol in there and it's a slow release retinol so it should be good for someone starting, everything about it is supposed to be there for a beginner's retinol but I would exercise caution. Yes it's got that retinol, it's got the B3 in there and it's got gradual slow release retinol, good concentration of retinol that's slowly released over time, it's a good thing where you get a higher concentration and it's not so irritant because it slowly releases and slowly converts to retinoic acid. But when you start looking at the ingredient list you can start seeing some problems. We've got denatured alcohol quite high up which is not good for people with sensitive skin when you're going to be using retinols on the skin you may get some sensitivity and you could get into a cycle of sensitivity which is not great."

"In the clinic, a great treatment for getting that deeper pigmentation out is the Cosmelan treatment, which is a natural blend of things like vitamin C, azelaic acid, as well as retinol. It's a treatment that you can do within clinic, it's a mask that's applied over the face. It's literally like magic. In terms of cosmetic appearance it gets rid of probably like 80 to 90% of even stubborn melasma, which is really, really good."

"It's the savior for dry skin on faces, elbows, hands. [...] When I was using it for a good couple of weeks, I noticed that my elbows and knuckles, which normally get a lot drier, were a lot more moisturized and the skin barrier was a lot better. It's got a thick base of pure plant oils and beeswax, and beeswax is fantastic for [...] an impaired skin barrier. In terms of the ingredients, it's a water-based formulation with sunflower seed oil, which is great, sweet almond oil, which is one of my favorites, as well as the beeswax. Unfortunately, to dissolve all of these ingredients, they've included alcohol in here, and for individuals with a lot of sensitivity, putting such a thick cream on like this it may irritate it. So if you've got acne-prone skin or you've got very sensitive skin, I probably wouldn't use this. [...] You've also got glycerin, some natural essential oils like linden oil and lemon as well as geranium oil, which give that [...] characteristic lemony, citrusy fragrance. Calendula officinalis flower extract is fantastic too, [...] and there's some rosemary leaf extract as well, so great plant-based extracts."

"I recommend The Ordinary's Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate, which from what I see is 20%. A lot of patients like that because it's something that can sit on the shelf for a long period of time. If you don't quite need Vitamin C but you just need that little bit of boost every now and again, it can be added into your regime really easily. I like this product. It can be mixed with some of the hyaluronic acid serums for added effect as well."

"Softwave releases energy parallel so you don't get any damage to the fat layer, which is a worry. [...] If you look at some of the before and afters, you can really lift the eyebrows. Even our ocular plastic surgeon at the clinic sometimes combines blepharoplasty with a Softwave brow lift because he knows it's going to be fantastic. Brow lifts sometimes are not so successful, they involve quite a big scar in that area, and Softwave is a great alternative to a brow lift and a blepharoplasty. If you have somebody with very loose skin around the eyes and a drop, you can do a couple of Softwave treatments to lift the brow and maybe even do some CO2 around the eyes and get a really good result. [...] You can see results straight away with gradual improvement as new collagen gets remodeled. Because of the initial coagulation of proteins and skin contraction, you can often see results straight away. In fact, sometimes we do one side of the face so you can compare and see the lift that's been achieved, knowing that you will get more of a lift as months go on as the collagen is rebuilt."

"If you're putting perfume in it, even if it's a non-allergenic perfume, with repeated use over time, especially if you're acne prone, then you can be stimulating that inflammatory cast and you'll get more sensitivity. So I think that's the one negative take on this. For the ingredients, [...] the salicylic acid is quite low down, so I actually don't think it's that effective. I think you can get a nice niacinamide serum from The Ordinary or The Inky List and it'll pretty much do the same thing without irritating the skin. It's quite expensive at about £20, and you're paying £20 just for some niacinamide and some silicone really, with very small amounts of salicylic acid. It's [...] a very small amount, like 40ml as well. I mean, it's a nice idea, but I think [...] you can't say that niacinamide is going to stop you having pigmentation. It's not a true pigmentation product."

"It's another hybrid very fragrant hybrid serum cream. My feeling is that if you're going to do it, it does have a very summery citrusy feel, which is very nice in terms of its fragrance and appearance, but in my opinion you're either a serum or you're a cream. We understand the principle behind having hybrids, you get that spread, but you again cancel out the benefits. Sometimes you want to wear a vitamin C and then put a moisturizer on top, and you're denying people that option. It's very silicone to me. You've got ascorbic acid as a very high concentration, glycerin which is great, then you've got denat alcohol which is a big no-no nowadays. There's no excuse for that to be so high up. Silicone, like I said, I think it's a lot of silicone in these products, and if you layer them up, silicone can be comedogenic. I know it's not listed as a comedogenic agent, but it is. It's also terrible for the environment. You've got the salicylic acid, which combination of salicylic acid and vitamin C is nice because exfoliating allows the vitamin C to penetrate nicely. There's some good peptides in there. These are the type of ingredients I expected with their retinol serums. So it's got a lot of good active ingredients, I think that's pretty cool. But overall it's disappointing."

"It's at lower concentration so you're very unlikely to damage your barrier unless you're using this not according to the instructions that are written on the pack and you're overusing it. You can use this product according to the pack daily and [...] it's very difficult to ruin your skin with this. Stuff in the High Street is at lower concentration and that might be better for you if you've got sensitive skin types because medical grade products might be too strong."

"I've compared both of these, and if I'm going to use one and I've got the budget, then I'd probably use Paula's Choice one over the ordinary one. When you're doing the exfoliation with the AHA and BHA, you're degreasing skin, you're softening skin by removing that keratinized layer, which allows more ingredients to penetrate through with other products. You're also improving skin cell turnover by encouraging those cells to turn over and promoting new cell growth. This is absolutely fine and you don't want to overuse this, so this is the reason why you just use this essentially once within a four day cycle."

"You've got the REN Ready Steady Glow Daily which is an AHA tonic, it's got AHAs and BHAs such as salicylic acid in there. You've also got lactic acid which is a great AHA to include for people with sensitive skin, and it's also got salicin in there as well which is great for acne prone skin. Unfortunately, although this toner is good, it's good for most skin types, if you've got sensitivity or if you've got problems with things like rosacea, it's got fragrance and perfume in there."

"The Water Sleeping Mask is mainly made of silicon, glycerin, and a few extracts. Glycerin is an amazing ingredient for skincare that helps with the skin barrier and makes things feel nice. However, fragrance is quite high up in the formulation, and it also has essential oils such as linoleic acid oil, which can sensitize the skin if left on. Since this is a leave-on product that you're using overnight in a thick layer, if you have skin sensitivity, this could be the reason why you're experiencing sensitivity. You might want to look for something that's fragrance-free and allergen-free instead."

"The Ordinary 7% glycolic acid toner is really popular on social media. It claims that it doesn't have any fragrances in there or anything that harms the skin. It's good for patients that maybe are lighter skin types that want that little bit more of a cleanse. [...] I know that skincare by hm has really discounted this product mainly because of the Rosa damasa within there, which is a fragrant essential oil. [...] It's a little bit higher up on the ingredients list but not many patients would report a lot of sensitivity with it. But again, if you do have rosacea and you do have sensitive skin, you don't want to be using glycolic acid anyway."

"A lot of toners [...] contain perfume as well as alcohol, even at small levels, and if you're using this every day as a leave on then you're really increasing your chances of sensitivity. So while this smells nice, feels nice, a significant proportion of people have got problems with this. When you look at some of the posts I did on Instagram and TikTok, I've got so many comments of people saying oh my God this is the reason why my skin has suddenly gone bad. It's even got [...] color in there which I don't think is good for the skin. You can use a glycolic acid serum instead of this, without all the nasties."

"I absolutely love this toner. It keeps my skin glowy and soft and very hydrated. [...] You've got some great floral extracts here with sage leaf extract, rosemary leaf extract, a lot of different extracts within this so it's something that's just going to kind of heal the skin. It's nice and botanical, it's not going to harm the skin at all. [...] There's a lot of active ingredients that are just plant-based, some great niacinamide in there as well. [...] It's certainly not a bad product to be using, and it's designed for someone with sensitive skin to give a little bit more moisture back to the skin."

"The Inkey List PHA is different from AHAs and BHAs and they're a lot milder. It contains a product called gluconolactone, which is a mild exfoliant that's a little bit more gentle in terms of its exfoliation, so it doesn't damage the skin and it can be used by all skin types. [...] What's really nice within the ingredients is they've included niacinamide, which is a skincare favorite, [...] and also it's got glycerin in there as well. So if you look at this formulation, it's a far cry from the old astringent toners which had alcohol in there. It's a clean formulation that can be used as a nice toner. If you want to include a toner, this is something that I really do recommend."

"I don't normally use toners because most of the ingredients in products that I use are pH balanced so there's no need for a toner in there, toner is just a marketing ploy, you should be able to balance your pH with cleanser. But it smells of coconut so it's quite nice. It feels very soft and it doesn't actually get absorbed into the skin for me. Even when you wash it off it feels quite moisturizing. The problem here is that there's perfume in this, which is really sad actually, because there's a lot of nice things here with avocado extract, apple fruit extract, castor oil, jojoba seed oil, and one of my favorite ingredients, centella asiatica extract, which is great for the skin barrier and great for collagen building as well, but then it's just ruined by the addition of the fragrance, which really I don't feel like they need it. Some people want that sort of milky texture and it feels very nice. You either get gel texture or cream, so not everyone wants the milky stuff, but I think it's a decent product and it certainly feels very nice on."

"Vaseline is not going to help take off your makeup; it might help keep it in because it's a barrier. There's no evidence to show that putting Vaseline on eyelashes and eyebrows helps grow it. It just gives you a little bit of coverage on the hair follicles and hair shaft, giving you the illusion that it's a little bit thicker, but it's not actually going to thicken the hair. That said, it can make things feel quite nice, and especially if you've got dry sensitive skin around the eyes and you suffer from perioral dermatitis, then applying Vaseline over that area can help the skin barrier repair. On the other hand, you have to be careful with putting Vaseline around the eye area because where it blocks and forms a protective film that blocks the skin, you can be at risk of getting things like milia, which are little milk spots around that area."

"Personally I use it for dry chapped lips, particularly in the winter, but after treatments in clinic particularly I use it after lasers and certain radio frequency treatments when the skin barrier has been broken and the skin is very inflamed. It's the perfect thing, literally when someone's bleeding post a bout of laser, you put it on as a barrier layer. It's protective and also seals in the moisture so you don't continue to lose moisture, particularly when you do lasers you lose that protective barrier. The purpose of laser is to abrade the top layer of the skin, and when I do use that, I like that ointment. It's very well tolerated and it calms the skin down as well. Obviously on the pack it says do not use on open bleeding or wet wounds, so obviously you have to be guided by a clinician to do this, this is part of medical protocols that we have. Remember the bleeding from lasers and from microneedling treatments are small and pinpoint, as opposed to open wounds, and they seal up very very quickly, and part of the reason we use it is to help that seal. You want to be really using this in many different ways, so you can definitely use this post treatment, or if you've got very dry skin or chapped, or knuckles that happens to."

"The CeraVe Healing Ointment is like an inclusive dressing that you can apply to the skin when you want that little bit of repair. It can be put on dry, cracked areas, so if you've got dry, cracked skin, especially if you're someone like me that washes your hands like 50, 60 times a day, it's really really useful for those rough kind of areas. It's formulated with petrolatum, which is basically very similar to petroleum jelly or Vaseline. There's also the addition of hyaluronic acid as well as ceramides, so a true CeraVe formulation. There's nothing in the ingredient list that I can see that is comedogenic, so it's good for all skin types. It's fragrance free and lanolin free, so it's not going to irritate anyone. If you've got minor cuts or grazes, all those sort of things, you can actually use this quite nicely on there."

"You've got the Clinique mineral SPF 50 which is actually quite nice because it's a lightweight formulation. It's something that can be easily reapplied, and that's my main theme that I always talk about with sunscreens, because the effectiveness of sunscreens isn't about whether it's mineral or chemical or what ingredients it has. It's about how many times you apply it and whether you're consistent with it. There's no point having a nice sunscreen that you only wear once a week because you're not going to get any benefit from it."

"The caffeine solution 5% plus EGCG, which is normally used for pigmentation and puffy around the eyes, can be used in these little cheek areas over here where you can get redness and it's quite a good tip to use. [...] Because it's a water-based product, you can either use this after your hyaluronic acid or you can actually use it just before your azelaic acid in nighttime, so you can either use it a.m. or p.m. and if it works really well for you, you can basically do both a.m. and p.m. and it's a great upgrade and a top tip that you can use for your rosacea."

"I really like using this product because I suffer with a lot of dehydration so it's very hydrating and very hydrophilic. I find that it just plumps out my little fine lines and wrinkles, it's great for anti-aging. It's also good for dark circles because you've got that lymphatic cooling tip on it. It's really nice because you can just do some little lymphatic drainage as you're applying it as well. The neuropeptide in there is going to give you a mild botox effect so it's going to relax the wrinkles, and patients that have botox use that and it just enhances the results. [...] It's got [...] sodium hyaluronate in there which fills those creases and [...] plumps it up. It's got to be one of the most sophisticated formulas out there. [...] You've got the silicone in there which helps with smoothness, and [...] you've got a glycerin base so that really helps with the barrier."

"I was trying this for 7 days, my scalp is seriously sensitive, and I used it in conjunction with Minoxidil so I did Minoxidil in the morning and this at night. My scalp flared up, and I looked at the ingredients and there's two things in there that would cause that: Polysorbate 20 as well as castor oil. So people use castor oil a lot for hair loss but it actually irritates the scalp a lot as well. So [...] if you've got a sensitive scalp I would actually stay away from this product. But if you've just got hair that maybe you've heat treated too much, you've got split ends, it could look a little bit healthier, fuller, and you don't have male and female pattern hair loss, then this product is good. If you've got male and female pattern hair loss, like Yours Truly, then stick to what you're using that's FDA approved for hair loss and you can use it as an add-on just to improve the health of your hair. That's how you should be using this product. [...] I think it's got some decent ingredients in there, nothing really too strong. I would probably not use this myself because for me, Minoxidil and my one tablet a day have stopped my hair from going further back."

"It's applied to lips as a sheer lip balm but maybe used under or around the delicate eye area to hydrate and smooth crow's feet. I actually agree this would be a great product to use around the eyes especially for the thinner skin and to give you that bit of hydration particularly when ladies complain of like little makeup lines in this area. This is a great product that you can put underneath your makeup. The only problem with this product if you want to put it around your eyes is you got to put it on your lips and then you got to put it on your eyes and then you put on your lips so that might be like a little thing because your mouth is not the cleanest area so I wouldn't really use it. I'd probably buy two if you had to."

"The Silicon primer, the Ordinary, it spreads like nothing you've ever spread before. Silicon in terms of FDA and research they say it really is not noncomedogenic but it does sometimes block pores. I'm not a fan of silicone. I know it spreads things really nicely and it makes products feel amazing but A it's bad for the environment, so it's not bad it's terrible for the environment. B it can block pores for people that are acne prone so I'd avoid using it for that, and C sometimes there are some case reports of some sensitivities which you have to be careful of. This is a great short-term thing like after you've done your exfoliation, if you put the silicone primer on it's actually quite good. After you've done the exfoliation and then you put the hydration then you put the primer on, this will look amazing if you're going to be doing something on like TikTok or Instagram and you want to look incredible. You will achieve this short-term glass look when you're putting the silicone on."