Mixed Makeup has reviewed more than 50 dry skin products and come away approving of most of them. Her approval rate of 86% reflects that warmth. The few products she skipped are just as worth knowing about, because she explains her reasoning clearly.
What does Mixed Makeup recommend for dry skin?
What she keeps coming back to are ingredients that do the structural work for dry skin. Ceramides, lipids, fatty acids, and soothing actives like centella all get her praise. They help skin hold onto moisture and stay strong. She has been recommending the Dr.G R.E.D Blemish Kombucha Tea Essence for years. She points to its fermented probiotics as especially useful for dry skin. She also rates essences higher than hydrating serums. An essence goes straight onto dry skin, but a hydrating serum needs a damp face first.
Mixed Makeup's dry skin picks, in her words
"First up is one of my holy grails. I've been using this for years and recommending it for years, it's the Dr.G R.E.D Blemish Kombucha Tea Essence. This has really nice antioxidants in it, it has that kombucha tea extract, it also has green tea in it, but because it has this fermentation it also has probiotics for your skin."
"I have been a stan of this La Roche-Posay cream for so long. This also travels with me. The reason why I love this so much, especially when I travel, is because it doesn't have any preservatives in it. [...] There are times when my skin is so super sensitive I want the most basic, basic, basic, and sometimes preservatives can be a little bit irritating to the skin. [...] When you're traveling [...] and your skin is just so dry or something, this ends up being the perfect moisturizer to put on."
"If you have sensitive skin, if you have dry skin, all of the products in that collection are really great. They're very basic but they really do their job well and they help to nourish your skin. This one's really nice because it has niacinamide in it. We know niacinamide is an ingredient that helps to balance oil production, but that's in higher percentages. It's also a really great ingredient to help soothe and nourish and kind of balance your skin barrier."
"I have been really liking this Tatcha moisturizer. It's the lighter version. [...] It feels nice, super nice. I like the texture of it."
"I'm going to go in with this from The Ordinary, it is the Soothing and Barrier Support Serum. I bought this probably like a month and a half ago and I just started using it. You can see it has B12 in it that gives it this really beautiful pink tone to it, which I also just think is really fun, but it has other really nice soothing ingredients like Centella asiatica. So again, I'm trying to just make sure that my skin barrier feels really nice and strong and supported."
"This one from Clinique is a great one. Lots of people use this cleansing balm, it's a really good one. Warm that up, don't put it directly onto your eyelashes and onto your eye makeup. Warm it up, turn it into an oil and you're going to get so much more out of that. I [...] like products that don't dry me out while they're removing whatever makeup I had on during the day, and I find that this cleansing balm really does the job there."
How many products has Mixed Makeup reviewed for dry skin?
Mixed Makeup has reviewed 50 products for dry skin, for an approval rate of 86%. 43 approved, 5 mixed, and 2 skipped.
What has Mixed Makeup skipped for dry skin?
Her skips are rare, and each one has a practical reason. She skipped the Biodance Bio-Collagen Real Deep Mask because it felt thinner than the mask she prefers, and it did not leave her skin looking any brighter after a night's wear. She had expected more from it and was simply not as into it. She skipped the L'Oreal True Match Nude Hyaluronic Tinted Serum Foundation for its packaging rather than its formula, which she likes. The dropper has no wiper, so product collects on the pipette and spills around the neck of the bottle.
"It's a little bit thinner. It almost feels like you have to wear a lot of product underneath it whereas the Sun Boon one is already really juicy when you put it on and then it stays kind of juicy as you wear it versus the BioDance one that just kind of, I don't know. I thought I was going to like it more because it has like the galactomyces in it and everything that brightens your skin. I just didn't. I didn't have that same effect after I wore it overnight. Not as into this."
"This is the L'Oreal skin tint. I do love this formula, I do too, but unfortunately L'Oreal didn't invest in a wiper. Usually when you have a dropper like this you will have a wiper, and the wiper's purpose is to actually wipe down the excess formula from around the pipette so you don't get this mess. L'Oreal did not invest in a wiper, and as such you can see there's a huge amount of product collecting on the pipette itself and therefore spilling out around the bottle neck."
What should you take from Mixed Makeup's picks?
Mixed Makeup's record on dry skin reflects real enthusiasm for the category. She rates products across a wide range of price points. What she consistently weighs is the formula. She looks for barrier-supporting ingredients, real hydration, and a texture that suits the skin it is meant for. Her skips show she judges the whole experience, from how a mask feels overnight to whether a bottle makes a mess.
Watch Mixed Makeup say it
Every verdict here comes from a video. These are the moments themselves, each one jumping straight to the bit about that product.
- Biodance Bio-Collagen Real Deep MaskSkipped itWatch at 1:23
- L'Oreal True Match Nude Hyaluronic Tinted Serum FoundationSkipped itWatch at 18:57
- Dr.G R.E.D Blemish Kombucha Tea EssenceRated itWatch at 6:55
- La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5Rated itWatch at 15:24
- La Roche-Posay Toleriane Hydrating Gentle CleanserRated itWatch at 4:23
- Tatcha Dewy Skin CreamRated itWatch at 1:02
- The Ordinary Soothing & Barrier Support SerumRated itWatch at 9:12
- Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing BalmRated itWatch at 2:35
- First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair CreamRated itWatch at 15:39
- The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HARated itWatch at 14:47
- iNNBEAUTY PROJECT Extreme Cream Anti-Aging, Firming & Lifting MoisturizerRated itWatch at 6:50
- Anua PDRN Hyaluronic Acid Capsule 100 SerumRated itWatch at 9:44
- L'Oreal Revitalift Filler Hyaluronic Acid SerumRated itWatch at 15:56
- Tower 28 Swipe Allover Hydrating Serum ConcealerRated itWatch at 4:58
- The Ordinary Retinol 1% in SqualaneRated itWatch at 11:38
- SkinFix Barrier+ Foaming Oil CleanserRated itWatch at 2:48
- Prequel Advanced Relief 10% Urea Moisturizing MilkRated itWatch at 17:00
- Prequel Gentle CleanserRated itWatch at 2:50
- SkinFix Eczema Plus Hand Repair CreamRated itWatch at 14:57
- EltaMD UV Restore Tinted SunscreenRated itWatch at 3:37
- Bondi Sands Daily Moisturizing Face SPF 50+Rated itWatch at 1:59
- Cocokind Daily SPF 32 Mineral Facial SunscreenRated itWatch at 9:43
- Biossance Squalane + Lactic Acid Resurfacing Night SerumRated itWatch at 22:16
- Skin Rocks Rich Moisturizer Face CreamRated itWatch at 15:13
About this expert
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This guide reflects what Mixed Makeup said across her videos about 50 products for dry skin, aggregated by The Guru Index. Sponsored takes are excluded. The approval rate is the share of these products she approved. It is general information, not medical advice.