Mad About Skin has reviewed more than 30 moisturizers, approving most of them and giving only about one in four a mixed take or a skip. That puts his approval rate at 74%, which tells you he is not a soft touch. He has clear ideas about what a moisturizer needs to do, and he is happy to say when something falls short.
What does Mad About Skin recommend in moisturizers?
What he keeps coming back to is the barrier. He wants ceramides in meaningful amounts, not just listed on the label. He praises products that actually improve barrier health rather than just feeling nice. He also weighs ingredient honesty heavily. He flagged the VT Reedle Shot PDRN Capsule Cream for having a genuinely high concentration of PDRN, because his view is that trendy ingredients are often added at levels too low to do anything useful. Lightweight textures that still hydrate properly get a warm mention too. He singled out the Numbuzin Panthenol B5 Active Soothing Cream as his summer staple because it hydrates without weight. He praised the Stratia Liquid Gold Barrier Cream for combining 5% niacinamide with a full supporting cast of lipids and ceramides, calling it a moisturizer and barrier serum in one. His strongest endorsement, an outright top pick, went to The Ordinary Rice Lipids + Ectoin Micro Emulsion.
Mad About Skin's moisturizer picks, in his words
"Keep it in the fridge and it gives you the most beautiful cooling experience. It actually adds [...] hydration back into the skin to plump it, unlike most gel moisturizers which are useless, and the B5 helps calm and soothe. It's not expensive, and [...] it's never steered me wrong. I'm on my third summer with it and I always have multiples because I'm never going to be without it."
"I absolutely love the Stratia Liquid Gold. This has been a favorite of mine for years, it was one of the first products I spoke about here on the channel when I set it up 5 years ago, still going strong. I love this product. A lot of brands will say that niacinamide will boost the barrier function of the skin and help heal the skin, [...] but you need a lot of other ingredients to achieve that, and Stratia have done the work for us."
"This is the VT Reedle Shot PDRN Capsule Cream, and it's a relative newcomer to my skincare routine. I first used it maybe two weeks ago, fell in love, and it's one of my favorite products now that I use every morning because it just calms, soothes, and really gives like a burst of hydration and peptide action to the skin. PDRN is one of the biggest trends in skincare right now, and it's a great ingredient to boost collagen and elastin production and firm the skin."
"This is one of the best moisturizers I have ever ever used. Packed full of ceramides in meaningful concentrations that's actually going to deliver you improvements to barrier health, locking in all that hydration and genuinely delivers. This is a powerhouse. I absolutely love it."
"When you see people talk about this hack online most of them will recommend using the La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5. Whilst this works really well for this hack, I've been doing this consistently for a week and I've already seen some amazing results. After about 3 or 4 days I noticed the sebaceous filaments, they're the light colored like plugs of oil and debris in the skin, they..."
"Love it. They are phasing out the old Madagascar Centella version and replacing it with this, which has Cica in a hyper concentrated form. [...] It delivers the same as the old one, but with added calming and soothing because the Cica is a step up. It's fractionally more expensive, [...] they added about a pound 50 on, [...] but I'm not ridiculously mad because I think you are getting a little extra value from it. [...] It's a really nice moisturizer and it's great for summer."
How many moisturizers has Mad About Skin reviewed?
Mad About Skin has reviewed 38 moisturizers, for an approval rate of 79%. 30 approved, 3 mixed, and 5 skipped.
What has Mad About Skin skipped in moisturizers?
His clearest rejection is La Mer Crème de la Mer Moisturizing Cream, which he called overpriced with better alternatives available at almost every price point. He also noted that the US-manufactured version is noticeably weaker than the European one, so even people already committed to the brand may not be getting the better formula. The Mario Badescu Drying Lotion got a firm skip on different grounds. He said drying and stripping products like this raise the risk of scarring and hyperpigmentation, and that they simply do not work. The Heimish All Clean Balm Mandarin Orange Limited Edition was skipped mainly on scent. He found the smell more chemical than citrus, and his advice was to stick with the original formulation instead.
"I personally don't like it as a moisturizer. I think it's overpriced and there's better options out there. [...] If you're looking for an affordable moisturizer and you're currently using La Mer, I'd say switch to any other product out there because the La Mer one, it's not that great to begin with in my humble opinion. There are actually two different versions of this product."
"Stripping and drying lotions such as the Mario Badescu drying lotion which I had on screen earlier actually do more harm than good. Increase the risk of scarring and just hyperpigmentation central. Take it from someone that's been using these for years. They don't work. There are better options."
"Yeah, the smell is pretty grim. And it's the same great texture and it works just as well as the original, but I think why would you get this if the smell isn't particularly nice? There's no added benefit to that mandarin. I think go for the original, give this a pass. The original is where it's at. They need to work on the scent of this. I think I expected a really nice, rich sort of mandarin orangey scent to it. I just got chemicals. Not great."
"It's a basic moisturizer. There's a few potentially irritating ingredients in there and ingredients that if you're not careful could break you out. I'm not a big fan of the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream. I honestly think it's overrated. I think it's overhyped and it's certainly overpriced."
What should you take from Mad About Skin's picks?
Mad About Skin's record on moisturizers comes down to one question: does it actually fix the barrier, or does it just feel like it does? He approves products that put ceramides, lipids, and well-dosed actives to work. He skips anything that leans on hype over formulation. His 74% approval rate means he finds plenty worth recommending, but his skips are pointed and worth reading before you spend.
Watch Mad About Skin say it
Every verdict here comes from a video. These are the moments themselves, each one jumping straight to the bit about that product.
- The Ordinary Rice Lipids + Ectoin Micro EmulsionNamed a winnerWatch at 9:42
- La Mer Crème de la Mer Moisturizing CreamSkipped itWatch at 6:58
- Mario Badescu Drying LotionSkipped itWatch at 6:11
- Heimish All Clean Balm Mandarin Orange Limited EditionSkipped itWatch at 9:49
- Charlotte Tilbury Magic CreamSkipped itWatch at 5:49
- The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HASkipped itWatch at 2:50
- Numbuzin Panthenol B5 Active Soothing CreamRated itWatch at 13:53
- Stratia Liquid Gold Barrier CreamRated itWatch at 11:24
- VT Reedle Shot PDRN Capsule CreamRated itWatch at 5:12
- Remedy Barrier Repairing Rich Cream MoisturizerRated itWatch at 8:49
- La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5Rated itWatch at 1:11
- Skin1004 Probio-Cica Rich CreamRated itWatch at 16:41
- The INKEY List Bio-Active Ceramide Repairing & Plumping Moisturizer + Barrier StrengtheningRated itWatch at 5:16
- Geek & Gorgeous Happy Barrier CreamRated itWatch at 4:34
- The Ordinary Niacinamide 5% Face and Body EmulsionRated itWatch at 15:15
- Krave Beauty Oat So Simple Water CreamRated itWatch at 5:46
- Jordan Samuel Skin Performance CreamRated itWatch at 9:11
- Facetheory Super Gel Oil-Free MoisturizerRated itWatch at 12:29
- Torriden Cellmazing Firming CreamRated itWatch at 2:29
- Naturium Plant Ceramide Rich Moisture CreamRated itWatch at 5:25
- Skin1004 Madagascar Centella Cica CreamRated itWatch at 17:54
- Prequel Reactive Skin Solutions 5% Ectoin CreamRated itWatch at 12:53
- Numbuzin No.1 Purple Complex Soothing Moisture CreamRated itWatch at 4:05
- Mary&May Spicule Collagen PDRN CreamRated itWatch at 21:42
About this expert
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This guide reflects what Mad About Skin said across his videos about 38 products in moisturizers, aggregated by The Guru Index. Sponsored takes are excluded. The approval rate is the share of these products he approved. It is general information, not medical advice.