Dr. Vanita Rattan .

"Glycolic acid has the smallest molecular size of all AHAs. This means it doesn't just exfoliate, it rushes into the skin. In darker skin tones, this rapid penetration causes a shock response. The nerve endings detect a threat, inflammation spikes, and melanocytes drop pigment. I've seen countless patients darken their melasma because they were over exfoliating with glycolic acid. The fix is to switch to lactic acid or mandelic acid or even phytic acid. These are larger molecules, they exfoliate slowly and politely without waking up your pigment cells."

"The good news is it is skin safe: no denatured alcohol, no fragrance, no essential oils. It's got a bit of a funky smell, but that's fine, it is what the ingredient is. It's got 15% ascorbic acid, so that's pure vitamin C, and again, too strong for skin of color. It's not in an airless pump. And honestly, the price to make this product is about £2 and they're selling it for £165, so I don't really like that massive mismatch. It's not warranted. It's a hard no."

"It's got licorice root extract, a beautiful tyrosinase inhibitor. It's got ferment, which is a conditioner for our skin. It's in an airless pump. The only downside is that it's 15% L-ascorbic acid. Out of all of the vitamin C acids, the L-ascorbic acid is my favorite one by far. And if they'd literally picked any other form of vitamin C, I would love this product, but they've gone for the gold standard for Caucasian skin, L-ascorbic acid. It's just not the best for skin of color. So, unfortunately, it's a no for me if you have skin of color, but if you have Caucasian skin, this is the best by far."

"This product costs £45. This did not do very well. The negatives are that it's got 12% ascorbic acid. This is a worst for skin of color. The fourth ingredient in here is denatured alcohol. That's why you're getting very quick dry feel. This is a problem. Denatured alcohol leads to premature aging and because it generates free radicals in the skin, the exact opposite of what the vitamin C is trying to do. So, this is ridiculous. They also add in fragrance and that's what that beautiful smell is. If something's smelling lovely, it's a problem for our skin because don't forget 3 to 4% of the population gets contact dermatitis from fragrance. And for skin of color that can lead to hyperpigmentation. So for me, this product is a disaster."

"They've also gone for a stable glucoside, so that's working the epidermis more. It's naive safe, no denatured alcohol, no fragrance, no essential oils. And there are other antioxidants in this product, which is brilliant. It's an airless pump. Brilliant. And it's got glycerin in it, too. So, a humectant. So, it's done a lot right. I think the only downside for me probably is the high price point. So, it's £61 for 30 mls. But, if you can afford it, it's a wonderful, wonderful vitamin C. Definitely doctor approved."

"This is a really good place to start if you're thinking about starting vitamin C and you've never done it before. It's got 15% ascorbyl glucoside, which is a beautiful derivative vitamin C. It also has vitamin E. I really like this as a simple cheap vitamin C. You don't get additional benefits, but you are getting what you pay for, which is better than I can say for a lot of the products I'm looking at right now."

"They did one huge mistake and that is that they added fragrance which was completely unnecessary and if they hadn't I would have recommended this for people with sensitive oily acne prone skin. However, this is not going to work for someone with dry skin anyway and the fragrance in it means that you're not going to wear it if you have oily acne prone skin because you already have inflamed skin. So for me unfortunately this product is also a no."

"You get that glow as soon as you can see with the glow on the skin with the light on the skin. I would find this very suffocating actually to wear all day long. The positives are it's got niacinamide, which is a fantastic ingredient, it's great if you have oily skin, it's also great if you have dry skin. They also put glycerin in, which is good, it's hydrating, although this doesn't feel that hydrating. It sort of feels like it's sitting on the skin a little bit sticky. And it's expensive at £33 for 40 ml. I would argue there are dupes that probably penetrate better and easier into the skin, melt into the skin a bit better, glide on easier, and aren't so sticky to the skin."

"The mandelic acid from The Ordinary is one of the products that I like on the market. For skin of color, mandelic acid is great because the trick is to remove enough dead skin cells to see young juicy glowing skin. You want to make sure you're getting hydration into the top layer, so you want humectants in the actual chemical exfoliator. It's a gentle exfoliant that can help to calm down the melanocytes, the cells producing the pigment melanin, and you want all this to happen in a very anti-inflammatory way."

"I don't like obviously 10%, we want to be going with a 5% and they do have a 5% version so purchase that one. What I love is they've got aloe vera juice as a first ingredient, that's a very different formulation and that means they've gone for a very anti-inflammatory formula, so it's going to be good for sensitive skin. They put in niacinamide of course, it's an emollient humectant, and then their preservatives. It's a very simple formula but it's an anti-inflammatory formula and I really like it."

"The fourth ingredient is tranexamic acid, this seems to be a very popular combination. The 13th ingredient is Alpha arbutin, so very very low at maybe 0.5%. The downside of this product is they put in cactus oil and cocoa butter oils, that's four out of five on the comedogenic scale. If you're using this to try and treat your oily acne prone hyperpigmentation, it might make it worse. I do like it as a first or second line treatment if you don't have oily acne prone skin, but if you do then this might be one that you would sidestep."

"DH alcohol plus their patented Tyro inhibitor and that's how they're sort of selling it by selling it as has a patented ingredient but actually it's not going to be any more effective than the other tyro inhibitors we have over the counter and they've only using one of them. I mean I'm happy for you to try it but actually it is probably going to lead to drying of the skin and premature aging so I personally wouldn't."

"I would say this is a very hydrating serum it's not doing a huge amount for wrinkles or for hyperpigmentation or any sort of skin condition it's more of a sort of a conditioner of the skin if you like. The downside is they put in Oli 3 as one of their emulsifying agents and that's five out of five on the comedogenic scale so if you have oily acne prone skin avoid this product. Although to be honest I think they're going more for the mature market anyway, however if you're going through menopause you might find yourself breaking out in which case also avoid this product."

"My least favorite AHA is glycolic acid just because of the small molecular weight it can lead to hot spots on the skin. I actually did a video on this to show how you shouldn't be using this under the armpit because it can lead to chemical burns for us. For me the cost benefit analysis does not add up for my skin and color family. This was made really more for Caucasian skin, not really for us. So unless you want to put this on your feet, I'm okay for you to put on your feet, your elbows, maybe your knees, thick areas, but we just have better options. Stick with your lactic acid and your mandelic acid rather than this."

"I can actually feel this tingling on my hand which is not good and you should not go outside if your face is tingling. So I'd say this is a good price point and the packaging is beautiful and they've got it right, and I would say if Timeless if you created the same product but with a different form of vitamin C, maybe mix two vitamin C's together, I would 100% do a full video just for you because it meant that you made it for my skin and color family. But as it stands this product is a No."

"Coconut oil contains lauric acid making it good for reducing infection for cuts especially in humid countries and humid climates. It's also a heavy emollient making it useful for moisturizing very dry skin and dry hair. The downside with coconut oil is that it's highly comedogenic and if oil from the scalp touches your face it can lead to a breakout which can mean hyperpigmentation which can take years to get rid of. The second issue with how heavy coconut oil is is that the extra washing needed to remove oil from hair is also quite damaging. So for eczema it's okay to use coconut oil but for acne prone skin lightweight gels and water-based serums for example are better for you."

"Looking into The Ordinary Soothing and Barrier Support Serum, this is very expensive for The Ordinary range, they're almost breaking three of the five and ten single actives with this particular product. It is expensive for The Ordinary but it does actually make sense if you do a deep dive into the ingredients. Fifth ingredient here is niacinamide which is good because it means it's in that 2 to 5% range which is what we're looking for. They've got imoan and humant in this, so the soothers in this product are babassu which I love, it's got galactaric glucoside, it's got zingiber root extract too, so three different soothers, plus they've added phospholipids which is a skin identical ingredient, especially if you strip the skin of fats it's good to reload with fats. I like that this product is NPA safe as well, meaning no denatured alcohol which dries the skin, no fragrance which can lead to contact dermatitis and no essential oils which can sensitize the skin."

"You're getting the quick brightening which you would get with lactic acid or mandelic acid, it's not because of vitamin C effect. Plus this product has fragrance, so it's a bad idea to make an exfoliator with an irritant together. The skin will brighten because of exfoliation, but if you use this daily it may lead to skin barrier damage and the fragrance can lead to contact dermatitis. So for me, this is a no."

"Paula's Choice I really like the antioxidant serum. It's one of my favorite products with vitamin A and vitamin C combinations. The key thing is that antioxidants oxidize in oxygen, so when you see a vitamin C in a pipette bottle there's oxygen around the vitamin C and the vitamin A and you don't know how effective that product is. To make sure that you're getting maximum efficacy, only spend your money on an airless pump when it comes to an antioxidant serum."

"The third ingredient here is tranexamic acid, which is a very effective tyrosinase inhibitor. Alpha arbutin is one of the most expensive actives, so I don't even know how they were charging such a cheap price for so long to be honest. It jumped up in price, it used to be much cheaper a couple of years ago, but honestly they have the right to increase the price because Alpha arbutin is very, very expensive."

"In the morning, use a CeraVe Moisturizing Cream on the inner thighs and bikini line after showering. It's under $12, available at Target and CVS. The ceramides rebuild the skin barrier. This directly reduces how much friction inflammation reaches your melanocytes. This step is not optional. In the evening... seal it all in with your CeraVe Moisturizing Cream, so it allows actives to absorb into the skin."

"The positive here is they actually have a lot of good emollients. They've got glycerin, they've got hydrogenated poly isobutene, they've got pacia oil, they've got dimethicone, panthenol. They've used water as the solvent, which is good. So no alcohol, there's no fragrance. They're doing very well. Very gentle, non-comedogenic. I would say buy this for the body. They've got the basics right. After all the brands that I've reviewed who've got the basics wrong, when I see someone who actually gets the basics right, I'm like, 'Yay, go buy it.' Definitely this one is fine. This is going to suit your skin. You're going to have no issues."

"Just any time you see alcohol as a solvent in the top sort of 10 ingredients in a product list, I would run away in the opposite direction. The damage actually continues even after you've worn it, even after you've washed it off. The damage doesn't end when you put alcohol on the skin. It really does damage your skin barrier. So it's a shame. I would avoid it. They could have very easily sidestepped it and used glycol instead."

"I actually really like this product. The positives are it's got squalane and glycerin in it, which are fantastic emollients. It's got three different ceramides in it: NP, EOP, and AP. So it's a very hydrating product. The only one thing, little tiny thing I'd say, it's got an ingredient called Chondrus crispus in it, which is about five out of ten on the comedogenic scale. So maybe I might avoid this if you've got oily, acne-prone skin. The other thing to note is it has a lot of root extracts. Now, majority of root extracts are very good, but there's actually not much clinical data when it comes to root extracts. So that's why I'm always a little bit cautious. The reason being, we don't really know how you're going to react. And if you have quite sensitive skin and you don't know what you're allergic to, it might be something that you would want to avoid. So always patch test it behind your ear."

"Tatcha Dewy Skin Cream contains essential oils. Now, I know they smell like a five-star spa, but essential oils in leave on products are sneaky triggers for PIH, post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Essential oils are an irritant. They're allergens. And when that happens, inflammation takes place. And when inflammation takes place, hyperpigmentation can take place. Why would you even risk it?"

"This is a basic moisturizer with emollients and ferment which I love. But they added irritants. They added bergamot fruit oil and they added lavender oil. These are both irritants. They're essential oils. Essential oils smell great. They might make you feel good. They even reduce your cortisol levels because now you're calm. But essential oils are fragrant. And when that happens it removes water with it. And skin of color we have less water in our skin. We have less ceramides in our skin. Our skin is drier and duller. It's the opposite of what we should be doing. This is the same reason I do not want you wearing denatured alcohol in your skincare. On top of that is a skin sensitizer. So please, I know the very expensive, the luxury 100, 200, 300 dollar creams contain those ingredients. They are bad for skin of color. Please avoid."

"The ingredients, the irritants they put into here is your eucalyptus, your lemon, your janol linol hydroxy citronellol and citrol, those are all different types of fragrance. The problem is with these sort of long words that you might not be familiar with, you might not know it's fragrance that you're putting on your skin. You might just think these are good ingredients but actually if you ever see these words in any of your ingredients list, avoid using that product. And to be honest, when you open it, the second you smell it, you'll know that they've put in the irritants into the product. On top of this, they put in denatured alcohol. Why would you do that? Denatured alcohol is drying. It has a low boiling point, that means the second you put it on your skin it evaporates, but what it's also doing is taking away water from the top layer of skin with it. And if you have mature skin, your skin is already drier, it's already duller. The worst thing you want to do now is to make it even drier. Our moisturizer should be safe meaning no denatured alcohol, no fragrance, and no essential oils. It should also have a high ceramide ratio because we have less ceramides in our skin, that's what holds water in the top layer of skin."

"It's quite a light moisturizer and doesn't have much actives. The seventh ingredient in here is niacinamide, so that's where the strength barrier effect is coming from. It's a naif safe product, meaning no denat alcohol, no fragrance, and no essential oils. This is very important for skin of color because we can't afford any irritation to our skin. I'd say this is a hydrating moisturizer, it's naif safe, it's very light. I don't like the packaging; it would be better if it was an airless pump from a hygiene perspective. But I would give this a nice eight out of ten because it does what it says. They haven't given you outrageous claims which they haven't matched; they've matched quite reasonable claims."

"It doesn't have any tyrosine inhibitors in this for dark circles, and it also has no collagen stimulators for fine lines. I'm only giving it three out of ten because it's got ceramides in it, because it's got niacinamide in it, and because it's fragrance-safe, meaning it's got no alcohol, no fragrance, and no essential oils, so it's not going to make the skin worse around the eye areas. But it's really going to do nothing for your dark circles or your fine lines. I just don't like it when brands make claims but don't put the ingredients in to back up those claims."

"They added in myel alcohol which is irritating plus ketogenic, so I would avoid this if you have acne-prone skin or sensitive skin which can occur pre or post menopause. Plus a retinol percent is quite low at 0.6%, and this is meant to be the hero ingredient that you assume you're buying enough of at this price point. I mean it feels lovely on the skin and there is no irritation, which is what you'd expect at 0.6% retinol."

"The second ingredient has glycerin which I love because it's a humectant, holds water on the top of her skin, plus it's got ceramides which is excellent. It's a good hydrator but you should know there are no other actives in this product, so it is a hydrating moisturizer and that's it. There's nothing in it to stimulate collagen or help with anything else, so just to know this is a nice basic moisturizer."

"Ceramides are so important for skin of color because we have less ceramides in our skin anyway, and those are the fats that retain water, so we actually do need ceramides in our moisturizer daily to get the maximum glow and to create the maximum healing environment for the skin. I routinely cycle this, and if I don't use it I could really feel a difference on myself. I really love how it's lightweight. I'm actually got a bit of oily skin too, but this really is beautiful because I also use retinol and prescription strength, so I find that I need something that really keeps me hydrated and gives me the glow at the same time. You can sometimes peel with the retinol, and this is beautiful. It's really lightweight and just so nice."

"This is one that I like, it's Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream. It's literally the only product I like from this entire brand. I mean, I was looking at Kiehl's the other day, it's the only one. It's fragrance free, it doesn't have all the alcohol and all the rest of it. This is one I like, and you can see it's fatty, so that's the kind of thing that you want to look for. You want to go for one with a consistency like this or more."

"So they do use gentle surfactants, which I like. They've got sodium cocoyl iso isethionate, which is rare actually, but it's a very good gentle surfactant. And it's also got sodium methyl cocoyl taurate as well. Both are derived from coconut and I'm happy with both. They've even got good humectants in it. So they've got glycerin, urea, sodium hyaluronate. All excellent, great for skin of color. But they pack it with fragrance. They then put in limonene, linalool, and they've also put in irritating pigment CI 15985. Fragrance is the number one cause of contact dermatitis. There's a delayed reaction that happens years into the future. You could be wearing the same product for years and have no issue and then suddenly you're irritated by that particular product. And then on top of that, it's a co-sensitizer to all the other ingredients in that product. So in my opinion, there is no place for fragrance in skin care."

"As this is a wash-off product, it's fine that it's a second ingredient. The third ingredient here is cocamidopropyl and it's a mild surfactant as well. So, I like the fact that both are quite gentle for the skin. There's also lots of moisturizers and emollients in this product. So, here we've got glycerin, ceramides, we've got hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid. So, I love this product. There's nothing in it that's going to irritate your skin. It's great for acne skin. It's got no fragrance, no essential oils, no alcohol. It's got no irritants, nothing that's going to sensitize your skin. It's a fantastic product for acne-prone skin. And actually it's very good for teen acne. So, when you're at about 13, 14, 15 years old and you're still quite young and you don't want to be applying some of the harsher products, this would be a very good cleanser for that age group as well."

"It's really got a very short ingredients list. It's literally got water. It's got hexylene glycol, which is a surfactant. It's got poloxamer 184, which is also a surfactant. And it's got glycerin in it, which is a humectant. So that just basically holds water in the top layer of skin. So it's a very basic ingredients list, which I love. There's no alcohol, no essential oils, and no fragrance. So this for me is a definite yes. Definitely worth buying. And nothing in this is going to irritate your skin. It's a very gentle way for me to remove my makeup. So I definitely recommend the micellar cleansing water."

"It doesn't have any humectants in it. So it's probably not going to be that hydrating. It's just not going to be that harsh. I'd like to retract that statement because they were a hydrating cleanser. I would say it's a gentle cleanser, not a gentle hydrating cleanser. It doesn't have fragrance in it though, and I would personally buy this product. There probably are better products out there that have got humectants in them, but it's okay. If you have dry skin, it's better to go with the micellar gel wash than this."

"I just assumed that this would be a good product for oily acne-prone skin, but again it had fragrance in it, had menthol in it, had glycolic acid in it. So menthol is a sensitizer to the skin, fragrance is your number one cause of contact dermatitis and it's a co-sensitizer. This is a thing that there are 4,000 different fragrances and you don't know how your skin is going to react and you get delayed reaction. What's going to happen after years? I mean, menthol is just it just should not be in skin care either. Especially, imagine your acne oily-prone skin which is already inflamed, it's got free fatty acids that are going berserk in your skin, irritating your skin, leading to pigmentation and red marks and then you go and put menthol on it which is a sensitizer. It's just not a good idea."

"They went and added seven fragrances. Fragrance is the number one cause of contact dermatitis. It is a co-sensitizer. So, after years of wearing it, you can start getting reactions. And then reactions also to the other ingredients in that particular product. I know it's a wash-off cuz it's a cleanser, but it's just unnecessary. It's got amyl cinnamal in it. It's got benzyl benzoate in it. It's got citronellol. It's got geraniol. It's got linalool. It's got parfum. Like they literally it's like a whole puff perfume shop in this one product. The product's not going to smell bad with all the ingredients that they've actually chosen. It's just actually just pandering to consumers."

"K Beauty is iconic for the double cleanse. Number one cleansing oil in K Beauty is the Anua cleansing oil. This is the cleansing oil that draws all the sebum out. I love it. It helps to break up makeup and sunscreen. You have to use it for about 60 seconds. Then you wash it off completely and go in with a water-based cleanser. This is the best one for pores, a deep cleanser. I love this, it gets into all of it, it helps to remove any extra grime and dirt on the skin. Heartleaf powder creates really dense, dense bubbles like the ones you see on my face right now. Dense bubbles are able to foam into your pores. This makes my skin feel really clean. You want to feel hydrated, not too strict or dry. Your cleanser is perfect for those with sensitive skin. The main ingredient is heartleaf. I love that."

"It's used sodium laurel oat amino acids as the surfactant, an anti-inflammatory surfactant, which I really like, and it's very mild. I'd say this is really good for dry skin, but this is not going to remove your makeup. The surfactants are too gentle. It's probably not going to remove layers of sunscreen either. So this is really more if you have a damaged skin barrier, sensitive skin, rosacea, then you would pick up this cleanser."

"It's got myristic acid, which is three out of five on the comedogenic scale. You want to avoid this if you have oily, acne prone skin. And the problem is this whole range has been made for teens and tweens who, guess what, tend to have more oily acne prone skin. So this isn't making much sense. The positives of this product is it's got niacinamide and ceramides. So what I would say is I actually really love this product if you have very dry skin or if you have eczema. But if you have oily, acne prone skin and you're a teenager, then this is one to avoid."

"It is highly comedogenic, it is something that you do not want to use if you have oily acne prone skin, avoid this product. The seventh ingredient in here is fragrance. That's really high up. That means that there's really nothing beneficial more than 1% and fragrance is not good for us. With this there's no benefits and it's all downside. So even though it's super viral and it looks cool and it's very affordable, it's something I would tell you to stay clear of."

"It is very hydrating and beautiful for the skin, your skin is actually going to love it, but if you're like me and you wear dark eyeliner, this is not going to work because you can't keep tugging at the skin to remove the eyeliner. It doesn't have enough emollient in it to be honest in order to basically grab the dirt and make it easy to wash away. I had to go wash my hands just about got it off, but it just won't touch my makeup."

"This is a mild soap free cleanser, it's really good for sensitive skin. It's an anionic surfactant, which is interesting because it basically means it's a negative charge ionic factant. They're able to lift dirt and suspend dirt and debris better. Plus it's got glycerin in it which makes it very hydrating to the skin. I would say this is a lovely hydrating cleanser for sensitive skin and I give it a lovely seven out of 10."

"The ingredients are actually really simple: it's water, glycerin, cetyl alcohol, phenoxyethanol, and ceramides. A very simple, gentle hydrating formula. It's actually feeling very soothing to the skin. I'm under a lot of lights right now and I feel like it's calming my skin. I like it. I would use this. I actually really love that. My water content has gone up to 92%, which I'm very happy about. I love this hydrating cleanser. It's actually better than the cream to foam."

"The ingredients here are water, glycerin which is a hydrating ingredient, plus surfactants. Interestingly enough, the ninth ingredient on here actually is the first oil in this entire formula, i.e., it's at about 1 to 2% of this oil cleanser. This is a reason they're able to turn an oil into foam, so you're not going to find much hydration with this. And actually I would even say that the foaming is drying the skin out a little bit. Considering that the hydrating foaming cleanser literally says for normal to very dry skin, I would actually recommend the hydrating cleanser for dry, eczema prone skin instead."

"Hydrafacials use physical friction and suction to clean the pores with the intention to unclog the skin, but physical scrubs and microdermabrasion create micro tears in the skin. Because skin of color has a more compact epidermis but fewer fatty ceramides, the barrier is easily disrupted. That suction and friction causes a trauma response. In skin of color, this heat and trauma wakes up the melanocyte, the cell that produces pigment melanin, and makes it angry."

"Obagi uses hydroquinone and was revolutionary the first time, one of the first professional protocols for hyperpigmentation. However, it was done mainly on Caucasian skin and then exported to the rest of the world. For decades, this was the gold standard for pigmentation. Yet, hydroquinone is cytotoxic. It kills the cell, the melanocyte. While it works fast, it can cause a halo hyperpigmentation effect, white rings around the spots. And if used long term, it causes rebound effect where the pigmentation comes back aggressively once you stop. Not only does it come back, it tends to come back worse and tends to sprout on other parts of the face. It forces a cell into submission rather than regulating it."

"Go to the medical aisle, I'm in Super, but it literally could be anywhere, and you want to look for these silicone scar sheets. Fly these before bed and they smooth out wrinkles, they boost collagen, they heal the skin, and they keep hydration in overnight, which basically makes your skin look juicy and youthful. Under a tenner, they're reusable, and they're stopping me from booking into Botox."

"The one thing I like about this product is that it's Navy safe. The first ingredient here is water, then butylene glycol. These are basically solvents. The third ingredient here is niacinamide. So it's a healthy dose of niacinamide which is good. Sixth ingredient here is tranexamic acid. And then the ninth ingredient, so very very low percentage is kojic acid. I would just say these are very low percentage actives for skin of color. It's basically niacinamide plus tranexamic acid. But for $98, I expect a lot more than that. Honestly, there are many products out there, discoloration serums with niacinamide plus tranexamic acid at less than half that price. So $98 is honestly marketing, branding, and paying people to do ads about this particular product. If you understand formulas, you just would never purchase this product."

"As a fourth ingredient here, lactic acid is going to be at a high percentage. So that means you're exfoliating your skin daily with an AHA. That's a mistake. Then the fifth ingredient in here is ethanol. That's alcohol. So now you're exfoliating the skin and you're adding in alcohol, which dries the skin, by the way. Doesn't moisturize the skin. This is a really terrible product. And I feel like because of the alcohol, you get a sensation of tightening happening as water evaporates from the skin. And that's what makes you think it's tightening your pores. So, it's a bit of a con to be honest. It's not tightening the pores. There's no salicylic acid in this, which is what helps with pore tightening. There's no collagen boosters in here, which is what would help with pore tightening. So, this one is a bit of a con, and it's one that I would tell you to avoid."

"Rogaine is the brand name and this helps to stimulate hair growth. Clinical studies show that 5% topical minoxidil is very effective with approximately 40% of women experiencing significant hair regrowth. Minoxidil is applied directly to the scalp usually twice a day. It's important to be patient as it can take about four months or more to see changes. Minoxidil is supposed to increase blood flow to the hair follicle promoting hair growth and keeping it in its natural growth phase. The side effects are quite common: you can get scalp irritation, and if that happens when you're itching your scalp you're likely to get more hair loss. It can also lead to a dry scalp, which is annoying because the more irritated scalp the less strong the hair strands are. Often the side effects are just mild and tend to resolve themselves with continued use. Start slow and low and work your way up is the best way."

"I actually really love this brand and I talk about it all the time. I love Paula's Choice and a lot of their products come up. I wouldn't say I love every single one of their products, so do watch the Paula's Choice video if you want to know which ones I would say to avoid. I would say Paula's Choice doesn't really specialize in pigmentation and so they don't have that many products that have been designed."

"It's recommended by a lot of dermatologists and it's 36 pounds for 300 ml so it's actually a really good price, but the sixth ingredient here is denatured alcohol and so it is drying to the skin. Plus the chemical sunscreen, which is fine, it's just not my favorite. I tend to recommend mineral over chemical because it doesn't enter the bloodstream like chemical does. Chemical sunscreens do go into your urine, into your breast milk, which is why we recommend if you're pregnant make sure you're wearing mineral sunscreens. And also my children, I make sure I'm putting mineral on them. But actually if you had to pick between chemical and mineral, I would probably go for mineral if wearing an SPF 50 is the most important thing. So if all you can get your hands on is chemical, then wear it because that's more important than anything else. You want to make sure you're minimizing chances of skin cancer, premature aging, wrinkles, and hyperpigmentation."

"They put in laurith 4 which is five out of five on the comedogenic scale and five out of five on the irritency scale which is again very odd because why would you do that with retinol. They also put in DMDM hydroin which is a formaldehyde releasing preservative which I really don't like for anyone. Actually I have no idea why they chose this one. So overall, I'm not loving this formula."

"They've put in retinol at 0.3%, which is like the maximum we would be allowed in the UK and EU now, and then they've put in co-enzyme Q10, which I love as well. It's a beautiful formula. It is paraben safe, no D alcohol, no fragrance, no essential oils. The only downside for this is even though they've put it in an opaque bottle to prevent UV light from hitting it, it's not in an Airless pump. If they put this 0.3% into an Airless pump, I would give it an eight out of 10 because it's a nice simple formula. It doesn't have many other actives in it, and that's what I kind of love. I like the formula, so the packaging for me is not great, but they did well with the formula."

"The positives of this product is they've got peptides which are skin soothers and they've also put in Copper gluconate as well which has slight anti-inflammatory benefits but there's actually nothing in here to firm and lift other than the peptides which you find in your moisturizers nowadays. There's no retinaldehyde, no retinol, nothing in here to get into the dermis to stimulate collagen and nothing to firm and lift. I would rather that you bought the Retinal 0.2% from The Ordinary is going to do a better job than this."

"The ingredients here are water, squalene, glycerin, and a combination of retinol plus retinaldehyde at 0.1%. They don't tell you the exact split, but some sources say it's 0.5% and 0.5%, so half and half. This one I'd say is more for intermediate users. To be honest, I just don't think it's worth the price tag. It's a thinner formula than we've seen today, and retinol works better in a fattier formula just because it can be very irritating and the oil can help to mitigate that."

"With the first ingredient water and then silicones, so it's going to have a silky finish. The third ingredient is isopropyl tape, which is comedogenic, plus they put in Alpha isomethyl ion and citronellol, which are fragrances that are very irritating. And already with acne you have a damaged skin barrier, so why would you put irritance into this particular product? My impression is this price tag is very unfair and it's just not worth your money."

"Number two I love retinols in airless pumps. Don't forget retinol is an antioxidant, it oxidizes in oxygen and becomes ineffective. Whereas if it's in an airless pump, it's protected, there's no oxygen around it. Right now The Ordinary doesn't use airless pumps, everything is in pipets, and so that would be one negative mark I would put against their retinol. The Ordinary Retinol 0.2% in Squalane is £7.40 versus Paula's Choice which is £59, so quite a bit more expensive. With Paula's Choice they put in 0.3% retinol which I love, they put in bakuchiol which is actually a very effective ingredient, it doesn't work the same way as Vitamin A but quite similar, and it's in an airless pump. So if I had to pick between The Ordinary and Paula's Choice, if you can afford it, I'd go with Paula's Choice."

"It's going to help with the puffiness but it's not going to help with your dark circles or wrinkles because there aren't any tyrosine inhibitors in here at all and the only thing that's going to help with fine lines are the peptides and generally peptides work best in conjunction with other collagen stimulators. I'm only going to give this product a three out of 10 because it only helps with the puffiness, a third of the claims. It does penetrate nicely and quickly into the skin but you're not getting much for this one."

"Face Facts Eye Cream has ceramides in it which I love because with skin of color we have less ceramides in our skin, so they've done well with this. Plus they put in oat extract which is anti-inflammatory and I love this specifically for eczema. I would say this product is good if you have very dry skin around the eye area. It's not going to do much for dark circles, there's no tyrosine inhibitors in this particular product. There's nothing in it for puffiness either. I would give this product a 6 out of 10. It's very cheap, it's good for eczema or dry skin around the eye areas, but it has no tyrosine inhibitors, nothing for puffiness."

"It doesn't do much for dark circles, especially for skin of color as ours are very stubborn. There aren't any other actives in this product. It does contain lath 4, which is an irritating emulsifier. I'm not sure why they did that. Plus it's got DMDM hydantoin as a preservative, this is a synthetic preservative and it releases formaldehyde, which is an irritant, making this actually a disaster product. This is something I actually really wouldn't recommend for any of you. It's a shame because actually the retinol is very good, and so far we really haven't seen vitamin A in the eye creams that are meant to help with fine lines and dark circles when surely this is meant to be the first ingredient we should be looking for. I think you just need to reformulate this. And while you're at it, if you're going to put retinol in a product, don't put it in a jar. Put it in an airless pump because it's an antioxidant and oxidizes in oxygen."

"Alpha arbutin to help with the dark circles, 0.1% retinol, peptides, stem cells, enzymes. I put in a lot on top of the caffeine, but caffeine on its own isn't going to do much. This is expensive. This is the upgrade when all the drugstore products don't work. This has been formulated for skin of color, and it has tyrosine inhibitors in it. This is really the upgrade if you have dark circle, puffy eyes, fine lines, and have skin of color and the cheaper products don't work, you have an option. But this is expensive. This is around $34 for 10 ml, so not something that you would go for first."

"It will help with minimizing pores and also help with oil absorption, so if you have very oily skin or combination skin, you're going to like this. It's also got honey in it, and that's what's allowing it to stick to the skin so well, which is a very soothing ingredient. Plus it has glycerin, so that's holding water in the top layer of skin. I actually really like this product and highly recommend it. I would give this a 7.5 out of 10, especially if you have oily, acne-prone skin and you just want to treat yourself once a week. I think this is something that would benefit you, but also if you have mature skin with large pores, I think you'll also benefit from this."

"It has glycerin so it is going to be hydrating, but I can feel actual physical beads, which is not a good idea with an enzyme peel. You never mix the two together. The fourth ingredient in here is denatured alcohol, which is not an ingredient that should ever be on our skin, plus it added fragrance, which is an absolute disaster. This product is one of the worst we've seen today. It gets zero out of 10."

"The CurrentBody is £299 with 132 bulbs. I'd say it's actually quite comfortable to wear and it gives you a 10-minute timer. I bought the device and used it 4 days a week as directed, and every time I took it off my skin felt rejuvenated. The problem is that my melasma looked worse every time. There's a reason that if you're cooking in the kitchen your melasma is going to look worse, any form of heat or energy hitting the skin can activate the melanocytes, especially if you're already prone to it and you already have it. However, if you want to use your red light mask but you don't want to make your melasma worse, I would recommend applying something opaque just on the melasma area and then applying the mask on top."

"The second ingredient is denatured alcohol, so it's drying the hair. They have got conditioning agents, it has got hydrolyzed wheat which does help to repair protein, but you have to look at preventing first. You don't want to make the situation worse and then try and cover it up with other good ingredients. This formula just doesn't make any sense to me. I think what they were trying to do is almost give that quick dry feeling to the hair to make you feel like the ingredients have penetrated into the shaft, but it's a mistake."

"I don't mind this as a wash off product. Maybe one to two times at night a week, but I certainly wouldn't leave it on all night every night. Definitely not for skin of color. You get instant results when you use glycolic acid because you take away the top layer of skin, any pigmented cells come off and you think this product is fantastic. But that's a temporary solution. Exfoliating the top layer of skin gives you temporary results. You actually need to treat the melanocytes in the skin. The second thing is you need to think about the long-term consequences of wearing alcohol on the skin, which comes from the witch hazel. So that can lead to premature aging, which you can't see it taking place. It's just happening under your skin. And with the glycolic acid, you may be fine 99 times and it's that 100th time that you burn with it. That's why I'm not a fan of glycolic acid. I feel like there should be 0% burns when skin of color applies any product to their face. There should never be a risk of burns or a risk of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation."

"The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% is basically the exfoliation that quickly takes off the top layer of skin. However, 7% is quite high for skin of color and for glycolic acid specifically, I would recommend 5% or less. I just wouldn't recommend this particular product for pigmentation. Even 1% reactions is too high when you're talking about hundreds of thousands of people. I would say no to this particular product. If you find a glycolic acid at 5% or less, I'm more likely to say yes. But there honestly are better exfoliators for skin of color than glycolic acid."

"If you want a drug store product I love the ordinary milky toner. With this you are going to get a brightening effect but the problem is that it may irritate the skin over a period of time. I don't think it'll happen straight away it may well happen a year or two later. So I'm just throwing that out there because if you do want to purchase it I actually fully understand but just be aware that if you start to notice any irritation stop buying the product."

"It's got glycerin as a humectant, then rice extract which I love because of the ferulic acid in it, plus coptis japonica root extract which is a soother and an antioxidant, and kaolin which is a naturally occurring oil absorbing clay mineral, but I'd say it's only a fraction of a percent so you're going to get a little bit of benefit without it feeling too drying. So it's not really going to control oil as much as it claims, but it is going to soothe the skin and is anti-inflammatory because it's got green tea extract and panthenol. I would give this product a five out of 10 as ingredients don't really match up to the claims, but it is nav safe and it will soothe inflamed skin."

"I love the ingredients list on it it has titanium dioxide at 9% zinc oxide at 7% plus water and glycerin it has a very low percentage niacinamide which is fine looks at about less than 1% and ceramides the downside is it's incredibly white on skin of color so even though on the ingredients side I would give this a healthy seven or eight out of 10 for the white cast alone it would drop significantly because I didn't really make it with skin of color in mind it's okay but very white and hard to rub in."

"La Roche-Posay Anthelios, the second ingredient here is denatured alcohol, the second ingredient, which means it's at a very high percentage. There are no other actives in this product that are going to give you any additional benefits to the skin. It is a chemical sunscreen, which is fine if that was the only thing worth it. The only plus point of this product is that it is fragrance free. For me, this is another note, especially for the price point."

"Super Goop Play is a chemical sunscreen which is fine but it does contain irritants in it so it's got orange peel oil, lemon peel oil, plus fragrance. So this again is a no, and I have no idea why they've added these ingredients in it. If you're coming from the perspective of trying to create a sunscreen with minimal irritation, maximum hydration, this doesn't make sense to do this. I really don't know what the thinking is here."

"I love benzoyl peroxide. The way benzoyl peroxide works is it kills P. acnes bacteria with oxygen. If you give it a minute to work, then put on your AM or PM gel, it's perfectly fine. Just leave it maybe a minute, let it work, then put on whatever you're going to put on top, and it's not going to get counteracted. But if you do them immediately one after the other, then that's a problem."

"The Ordinary does a very good one. This is a 2% salicylic acid. Remember I told you before salicylic acid can be very drying to the skin, so it sprays onto the skin like this and we put in a high percentage glycerin to ensure that your skin doesn't feel dry, plus we put in green tea extract which is your gentle tyrosine inhibitor that will help with any underlying hyperpigmentation as well."

"I like this because it's got multiple different sizes. It's not as thick as the Mighty Patch, and it doesn't give you that splitting of the plastic, so it's forcing you to have to bend the plastic and almost try and peel it off. This means it's going to be slightly trickier, you might get a little bit more creasing of the actual patch itself, and you might have to touch a bit more of it. It's definitely thinner and slightly more discrete, I'd say still obvious. You only get 24 patches with Cosrx compared to 36 with Mighty Patch."

"Let me start off with the snail secretion filtrate which is the first ingredient. Don't forget the first ingredient means that it has the highest percentage. So what is this snail secretion mucus that everyone's raving about and is all over Korean skin care? It actually comes from our garden snail. It's the secretion that it releases when it's stressed. Snail secretion has got proteoglycans in it, glycoproteins in it, enzymes, glucose aminoglycans, hyaluronic acid and copper peptides. This is all fantastic because this is what your skin needs. This is food for your skin. I went and purchased it myself as soon as I finished researching CosRX and doing my in-depth investigation."

"This is the vegan melting lip balm. We've got propylene glycol dicaprylate which is basically a synthetic ingredient that's used like a silicone replacement. It gives you that sort of smooth luxury feeling. It's also got a high reflective quality which I think would even work as your highlighter on your cheekbones as well as on your lips. So you get that shine and it's full of emollients which are basically your skin conditioners. And it's fragrance safe, no alcohol, no fragrance, no essential oils. You can pop this on at night time as a sleep mask, especially if you're getting chapped lips or angular cheilitis. Put it on your lips and around the lips as well, especially if you're getting darkening around the lip area. Pop this on when you wash your face, put your moisturizer on, then put this on as a last step on your lips and around the lip area. It's going to help brighten around the lip area because saliva has amulets in it that eat carbohydrates including skin cells, which can lead to irritation around the lip area."

"I think initially you're going to love this product when you put it on but actually it's going to be shortlived. Your lips are going to feel really dry and you're just not going to get the benefits. It just sits on the lips, it's not penetrating into the lips. That's what you want: humectants that are going to pull the hydration into the lips, which you're not really getting with this product. This is probably one of the worst products I've tried today."

"The Omnilux Contour Face has 132 bulbs and costs £350. Every time I took it off my skin felt rejuvenated, but the problem is that my melasma looked worse every time. There's a reason we tell you that if you're cooking in the kitchen your melasma is going to look worse, any form of heat or energy hitting the skin can activate the melanocytes, especially if you're already prone to it and you already have it. However, if you want to use red light masks but you don't want to make your melasma worse, I would recommend applying a black plaque, something that's opaque, just on the melasma area, then apply the mask on top to prevent the red light from hitting that specific area. I did actually really enjoy using it, but I would stop using it."