No BS Beauty has tested more than 60 products for combination skin, approving most of them, giving a handful a mixed take, and skipping a few more. That is a strong record. She gravitates toward lightweight textures that hydrate without leaving a film, and she is not shy about calling out when something fell flat.
What does No BS Beauty recommend for combination skin?
The theme running through her approvals is lightness you can actually feel. She praised the SkinFix Barrier Balancing Water Cream Moisturizer with Hyaluronic Acid for disappearing into skin even in hot, humid weather, which matters a lot when combination skin goes sticky fast. She also has a long loyalty to the Neogen Real Ferment Micro Serum, which she says she has repurchased four times for its plumping, smoothing effect. Sunscreen is a big deal to her. She calls out the Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Watery Sun Gel SPF 50+ PA++++ for holding up through a period when many K-beauty SPFs were found to underperform their claims. Brightening ingredients come up often too. The Beauty of Joseon Glow Deep Serum: Propolis + Niacinamide won her over for stacking niacinamide, tranexamic acid, and glutathione in one lightweight formula she says works morning or evening.
No BS Beauty's combination skin picks, in her words
"The Neogen Real Ferment Micro Serum, it's 30 bucks. It contains Bifida, Saccharomyces, rice ferment, and Aspergillus ferment. No scent in it. I've repurchased. I think this is my fourth bottle of it. It's really nice. Serummy texture to it, really good for plumping up skin and lots of good ingredients in it. So I really love this one from Neogen and I've been repurchasing this one for a long time, so years."
"My main pick from Tatcha is their Luminous Dewy Skin Mist. I love it and it's 30 off. It's a steal in my opinion."
"A jar like this will last a long time because a little bit of it goes a very long way. [...] It's nice. [...] It's felt really nice during this humid weather. There's some moisturizer you put on and you go out when it's really humid out and you can feel it on your skin. This stuff doesn't do that, so it's really nice for the hot and humid weather we've had recently. I love it for that."
"This sunscreen is wonderful. I really enjoy it. I like seeing five different filters, I like seeing the combination of UVB and UVA filters, and I like seeing the L'Oreal patented one that's nice to see being used in some K Beauty brands. The manufacturer of this one is Colmar Korea, which I think makes a lot of innisfree sunscreens as well, and in my past testing some of the Colmar Korean ones I've had pretty good luck with them. I haven't really had any issues."
"But it soaks in really nicely. This one plays really nicely under sunscreen. It's great morning or evening. This one I typically use a lot like on my neck and chest sometimes. I just find it really works there at night nicely. It's got a minimalist formula. So it doesn't have a ton of beneficial ingredients, but it's got niacinamide, panthenol, and then glycolipids, which are hydrating barrier repairing ingredients. It's really nice. No fragrance, short ingredient list."
"It's nice and thick. There's no fragrance, and it's got a rather short ingredient list with just a bunch of different ferments in it. So, the bean that they refer to as soybean, which is a lactobacillus soybean ferment. Then we've also got another good one, saccharomyces barley seed ferment, which is also really nice. So, no scent in it. Really nice. And a little bit of it goes a long way."
How many products has No BS Beauty reviewed for combination skin?
No BS Beauty has reviewed 52 products for combination skin, for an approval rate of 73%. 38 approved, 5 mixed, and 9 skipped.
What has No BS Beauty skipped for combination skin?
She skipped products when the ingredient list did not back up what the label promised. The AXIS-Y Dark Spot Correcting Glow Serum is a good example. She said it leaned almost entirely on niacinamide and delivered very little brightening benefit for her, calling it a disappointment and a loser despite its popularity. On sunscreen, she skipped the Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen SPF 40 over concerns about the accuracy of its SPF testing, which she linked to a broader story about a research lab's integrity. Texture got products skipped too. She simply said she hated the Beauty of Joseon Matte Sun Stick SPF 50, though she noted it worked for plenty of others.
"First Aid Beauty Coconut Water Cream, this was in my travel bag [...] and it's pretty much empty and I opened it and there's like it was just dried up so there's nothing left of that."
"I'm not messing around with sunscreen that's even a couple months old, it's not worth the risk of it for me anyway. With my hyperpigmentation, melasma, it's just not worth the risk. This one uses zinc, and I have a feeling mineral sunscreens when they go bad, they're bad. Chemical ones may not be so true, but I've heard from zinc when it's done, it's done. You're not getting a benefit from it. So there's no point in messing around with that."
"This one I was disappointed. I didn't find the ingredient list to be super loaded with brightening ingredients. I think the main ingredient might have been niacinamide, and that was really about it. I didn't find much benefit from it at all, so it was a disappointment. A lot of people love it, but if you have newer hyperpigmentation that's not stubborn, it might do the trick. For me, no, [...] that was a loser."
"Tangerine C line ton of stuff everything else is scented"
What should you take from No BS Beauty's picks?
No BS Beauty is a useful guide for combination skin because she rewards formulas that actually feel weightless and skips anything where the marketing outpaces the ingredients. Her Top Picks are the Purito Deep Sea Pure Water Cream and the Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist. Her approval rate for this category sits at 75%, a generally confident record with a handful of clear misses she is happy to name out loud.
Watch No BS Beauty say it
Every verdict here comes from a video. These are the moments themselves, each one jumping straight to the bit about that product.
- Purito Deep Sea Pure Water CreamNamed a winnerWatch at 10:36
- Allies of Skin Mandelic Pigmentation Corrector Night SerumNamed a winnerWatch at 12:17
- Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin MistNamed a winnerWatch at 1:26
- First Aid Beauty Coconut Water CreamSkipped itWatch at 6:16
- ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 40Skipped itWatch at 9:00
- AXIS-Y Dark Spot Correcting Glow SerumSkipped itWatch at 6:09
- Goodal Green Tangerine Vitamin C Dark Spot Care SerumSkipped itWatch at 7:05
- Glow Recipe Strawberry Smooth BHA and AHA Salicylic SerumSkipped itWatch at 10:05
- BYOMA Moisturizing Gel Sunscreen SPF 30Skipped itWatch at 9:28
- Sunday Riley Tidal Brightening Enzyme Water CreamSkipped itWatch at 10:48
- The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toning SolutionSkipped itWatch at 12:39
- Drunk Elephant Beste No. 9 Jelly CleanserSkipped itWatch at 3:45
- Neogen Real Ferment Micro SerumRated itWatch at 11:11
- SkinFix Barrier Balancing Water Cream Moisturizer with Hyaluronic AcidRated itWatch at 7:20
- Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Moisture Airy Fit Daily Sunscreen SPF 50Rated itWatch at 4:51
- The INKEY List Omega Water CreamRated itWatch at 9:05
- Mixsoon Bean EssenceRated itWatch at 3:22
- Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel (reformulated)Rated itWatch at 10:07
- Jumiso All Day Airy Fit Sunscreen SPF 50Rated itWatch at 6:31
- Summer Fridays Cloud Dew Gel Cream MoisturizerRated itWatch at 7:44
- Anua Retinol 0.3% Niacinamide Renewing SerumRated itWatch at 8:24
- April Skin Artemisia Squalene Hydra Gel CreamRated itWatch at 6:11
- Tatcha Deep Cleanse Balancing Exfoliating CleanserRated itWatch at 2:16
- Clinique Dramatically Different Hydrating JellyRated itWatch at 8:53
About this expert
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This guide reflects what No BS Beauty said across her videos about 52 products for combination 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.