The Guru Index›Gurus›Cassandra Bankson
Cassandra Bankson
Medical Esthetician

Cassandra Bankson.

Cassandra Bankson built her channel around acne-focused skincare, reviewing cleansers, serums, sunscreens, and tools through the lens of someone who has spent 15-plus years managing acne herself. Her format leans on scrutinizing ingredient labels and marketing claims to help her audience make more informed product choices.

Why Is She A Guru?
She holds a medical esthetics license and brings over ten years of professional experience in skincare to her reviews.
711Products
508 yay85% approval rate
87 nayDoesn't pull punches
64 hot takesWhere she breaks from the pack

Cassandra Bankson's top picks.

The products Cassandra Bankson has crowned best in their category, and brings up again and again.

★ Best sunscreen
Unseen Sunscreen SPF 40
Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen SPF 40
Brought up 13 times
Using my sunscreen, my Supergoop, as a primer for a little bit of concealer.
★ Best budget retinol serum
Retinol 0.2% in Squalane
The Ordinary Retinol 0.2% in Squalane
Brought up 10 times
You know I love The Ordinary. They have retinol and squalane, which is fantastic.
★ Best sunscreen for dry skin
Moisturizing Sunscreen Lotion SPF 30
Black Girl Sunscreen Moisturizing Sunscreen Lotion SPF 30
Brought up 9 times
I'm also using black girl sunscreen for my sunscreen today I absolutely love this as the SPF 30 gives me a little bit of a glow
★ Best holy grail products
Magic Cream
Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream
Brought up 7 times
This is one of my holy grail products. My skin drinks this up. I was going to say I'm so glad that you've tried this because this is one of these products that I would like love to hate on but that works so well that I have to love it. It's $100, it's from Charlotte Tilbury. She's a makeup artist, but if you want something that is hydrating, beautiful like silk ribbons, but that works under makeup, this is it.
★ Best acne treatment for dry skin
Salicylic Acid 2% Anhydrous Solution
The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Anhydrous Solution
Brought up 6 times
The Ordinary has a really good Salicylic Acid 2% Solution. If you have acne you'll love that. However, if you have sensitive skin and acne, the Aloe and Niacinamide solution is so good.
★ Best scalp exfoliating treatment
Salicylic Acid Exfoliating Scalp Treatment
The INKEY List Salicylic Acid Exfoliating Scalp Treatment
Brought up 6 times
This right here is from The INKEY List, it's a Salicylic Acid Exfoliating Scalp Treatment. I don't feel like this made much of a difference so I'm probably not going to continue using this.

Cassandra Bankson, in short.

What does Cassandra Bankson recommend?

Cassandra Bankson has reviewed 711 products. Of the ones she gives a clear yes or no to,she approves 85%. The products she rates highest and brings up most are Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen SPF 40, The Ordinary Retinol 0.2% in Squalane and Black Girl Sunscreen Moisturizing Sunscreen Lotion SPF 30.

Which serums does Cassandra Bankson recommend?

She has reviewed 127 serums and approved 93 of them. The ones she rates highest are Face Reality 8% L-Mandelic Acid Serum, The INKEY List Mandelic Acid + Hyaluronic Acid and The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5. The full picture is in Cassandra Bankson on Serums.

Which moisturizers does Cassandra Bankson recommend?

She has reviewed 92 moisturizers and approved 63 of them. The ones she rates highest are Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream, Haruharu Wonder Centella Asiatica Vital Miracle Healing Multi Balm and Biossance Squalane Omega Repair Cream.

Which sunscreens does Cassandra Bankson recommend?

She has reviewed 90 sunscreens and approved 72 of them. The ones she rates highest are Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen SPF 40, Black Girl Sunscreen Moisturizing Sunscreen Lotion SPF 30 and Supergoop Glow Screen Sunscreen SPF 40.

Which cleansers does Cassandra Bankson recommend?

She has reviewed 71 cleansers and approved 47 of them. The ones she rates highest are The INKEY List Hyaluronic Acid Cleanser, The Ordinary Glucoside Foaming Cleanser and SkinFix Azelaic AHA BHA Cleanser. The full picture is in Cassandra Bankson on Cleansers.

What does Cassandra Bankson say no to?

She has skipped 87 of the 711 products she has reviewed. The ones she is clearest about are The Ordinary Multi-Peptide Serum for Hair Density, Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask, SK-II Facial Treatment Essence, The INKEY List Salicylic Acid Exfoliating Scalp Treatment and La Mer Crème de la Mer Moisturizing Cream.

What does Cassandra Bankson recommend for each skin type?

There is a guide to her picks for each skin type she covers most: Cassandra Bankson on sensitive skin, Cassandra Bankson on dry skin, Cassandra Bankson on mature skin and Cassandra Bankson on acne-prone skin.

What they review most.

Cassandra Bankson's hot takes.

Products where their take diverges from the rest of the gurus.

Cassandra Bankson: Nay vs gurus 70% Yay
This is just such a bad representation for so many reasons that we need to talk about it because this is that visual click baity thing that gets people to watch and like gets you to think wow I must buy this product
Cassandra Bankson: Nay vs gurus 77% Yay
They can actually cause fungal acne. This caused a pittosporum [folliculitis] outbreak in a bunch of people, which is a fungus that looks like acne but it's not. And it's not cruelty-free, so it doesn't get the cast pass for me. I like the vegan serum from V Green, but you're right on the price. It's normally thirty, what, twenty-five, thirty? It's on sale for eleven, which is actually really good.
Cassandra Bankson: Nay vs gurus 67% Yay
This does not get the cast pass but the original does is cheaper
Cassandra Bankson: Nay vs gurus 68% Yay
I also tried this from The Ordinary the Multi-Peptide Serum for Hair Density I just didn't see big results with this. A lot of people have said this is amazing for them maybe I didn't use it for enough months I just didn't see the biggest results so I might retry outing this or I might just say screw it.

Every review.

All 711 products Cassandra Bankson has reviewed, grouped by product type. Click a product to see the full guru consensus.

All takes Yay takes Nay takes Against the gurus
Serums127 reviews
"They essentially have this Mela B3 serum and it's kind of like this light purple color and it's a vitamin B serum that is niacinamide and it's not very special it has fragrance it's gone viral on the internet but it's like 44 to 50 bucks. And they also test on animals which is why I don't use them. If you buy it here it's like 40, 50, 60 bucks like what the La Roche-Posay can be a no no."
✕Nay
67%Guru Score
"Well there's another option that we got to talk about that rivals some of the clinical stuff. [...] This right here is from COSRX, this is the 23% Ascorbic Acid Pure Vitamin C Serum. Let me tell you, this is like the budget version of Skin Suitical. This is so good as a dupe for the Skin Suitical."
✓Yay
66%Guru Score
"It's got killic triglycerides which are found in moisturizers and then some fragrancing rose ingredients and it's pink and it smells really good. They call it like a firming and glowy face oil and it is. But it's also 78 bucks. It's really good and Biossance as a brand I love them because they are eco-friendly, they have these really nice packages, but sometimes it's just a little expensive."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"It's a 133% vitamin C I use that in clinic it is so potent it is so good it's better than this"
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"Haruharu Wonder has another really good one that I find are better for dissolving the oil in this area. [...] I would recommend using like your knuckles as opposed to your nails just because we don't want to cause any damage here, and you're just kind of massaging these things out."
✓Yay
65%Guru Score
"Drunk Elephant's marula oil is $68 to $78. Is it any cheaper in quality? Is it worse? No, it's the exact same stuff, just without the fancy packaging and fancy marketing."
✕Nay
60%Guru Score
"The Ordinary Virgin Marula Oil, these are really basic really gentle and people can mix and match these into a routine really well."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"Drunk Elephant also has a B-Hydra hydration serum and this is a vitamin B hydration serum. Again, ingredients are not bad. It's just for $48 it's a little much. And if you don't want to spend that you don't have to, but for kids or twins if they want to use it, go for it. And when you see vitamin B, remember that niacinamide is a B vitamin and panthenol are B vitamins. These are great for the skin and this is a really solid choice if you wanted to spend the money."
~Mixed
61%Guru Score
"First Aid Beauty has a repair hydrating serum that is literally $38. Not the cheapest of the cheap, but you're saving yourself $10, and it's not an exact dupe, but the formula is very, very similar. It has some of the same vitamins, it has some of the same ingredients, and it works well. If you wanted to save $10 or just from a line that is kind of geared towards more breakout-prone skin, First Aid Beauty really considers skin health."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"This is so good if you have fine lines or wrinkles, if you need wrinkle support, if you need hydration, this is amazing for the skin. Copper peptides can be really hard to come by, but they're phenomenal at plumping up the skin. If you want plumped up skin but you're not going in for fillers, or even if you are going in for fillers and you just want more, this can really plump and rehydrate the surface layers of the skin and actually support layers deep down."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
"This soothing barrier serum is one that I've liked but I've really started to love it, especially as I use it on others who have different skin. When I use it on people with dry skin I have to use it with a moisturizer, but when I use this on people with oily skin they can just kind of use it and go. For $16, $17, this is really good. It's also really fun to apply, and if you can have fun with your skin routine in the morning or in the evening it's just better off overall."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"The Ordinary actually has some great peptides. This has got both peptides and hyaluronic acid and this is so good. This is kind of a tried and true and I love this for mature skin, I love this for dry skin, and you can use this on oily skin as well. You can use this day or night. This is hydrating, this is soothing, and this is their rebranded Buffet serum essentially. The hyaluronic acid in here, it's not overly sticky like it doesn't irritate the face and it doesn't dry the skin out more."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"This is one of the Ordinary's best sellers. [...] For hydration it's one of the best that they make and one of the most hydrating. It does get a little bit goopy so just be aware of that. Again, if you're more oily you might not love this as much, but for those who are dry or for those who are dehydrated this is amazing."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"If you want K Beauty there's a beauty of Joan or beauty of joen they actually have a very good Alpha arbutin serum I've seen amazing reviews on it online"
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"This K Beauty option has panthenol, which is that vitamin B, as well as hyaluronic acid, but it's also got a little bit of jasmine in here. Look at how thick and creamy this is. This ends up kind of feeling like melted butter on the skin, but if you're in cold temperatures it does tent up a little bit more. These are some of the best if you are looking for K Beauty that layers well but also actually feels thick on the skin instead of feeling thin on the skin."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"Torriden is a brand that has [...] hyaluronic acid products. This is the Dive-In Low Molecular Hyaluronic Acid Serum. When it comes to hyaluronic acid weights, you can think of them like cookies - sometimes big, sometimes tiny like mini chocolate chips. Hyaluronic acid comes in different sizes. It sounds like an acid, but it doesn't exfoliate and it's not dangerous. Some people are afraid of it, but it's actually made naturally by our bodies - it's in our synovial fluid and cartilage."
~Mixed
68%Guru Score
"The Ordinary Power of Peptide Set is phenomenal if you want to spend $40. I would say that it is better for someone with more mature skin or who's worried about fine lines and wrinkles. It has the multipeptide eye serum, though I tried it for 30 days and I don't feel like I saw a huge difference, but some people looked in the video and the commenters said I saw a difference. The Lash and Brow Serum is always sold out, this set has it, and they've also got their face serum."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"Neutrogena released this water gel formula but then it broke me out because it had tons of chemicals and fragrance."
✕Nay
83%Guru Score
"This is the Dose of Wisdom Bouncy Skin Serum from Philosophy. I didn't use them for almost 6 to 8 years because they weren't cruelty-free, but they're now cruelty-free. They have a leaf extract in here, they have multiple hydrators, and they plump up the skin like nobody's business. And the great thing is that this doesn't peel up under the skin either. This is a luxury option, it's like $60, $70 now."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"There is a little bit of a Hyaluronic Acid Plump Cream. I consider this like a gel moisturizer version of the dose of wisdom. It smells a little better too. This is also refillable and eco-friendly. Once you're done you can literally take this little pod out and you can just purchase the pod refills and you can put it back so it's sustainable."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"BHA is also known as your salicylic acid beta hydroxy acid, it's oil soluble so it dives deep into pores using your skin's natural oil. What's great about BHA is that it's an exfoliant but it's great for acne. If you have blackheads and whiteheads, this can actually kill acne bacteria, but the exfoliation can also help renew the skin. If you're oily, your skin will love this. You can mix it in with other moisturizers, you can use it alone as a serum. I love this."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"The medic Cube does have their usera shot that one is fantastic"
✓Yay
67%Guru Score
"Some of the best ceramide products I've ever used is Cocokind serum, it's a ceramide serum. It's so good."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"You're supposed to use it every other day basically, but it takes time to see results. You're not going to see results overnight. This is something it takes 3 to 6 months. I've been using it for years, but except for the past couple months and I'm just trying my hardest to get back into it."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"Even though I don't like Johnson's Baby Oil because it's not cruelty-free, that's what she uses and it's cheap, drugstore cheap, inexpensive, cheap, even quality cheap. [...] That's how she actually gets her real gorgeous body glow."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"One that's also pretty good is the mandelic acid serum from Face Reality. This one's lightweight but it still gives you a good hold as a base for makeup. Face Reality is one brand that I use as an aesthetician and a lot of other aestheticians do as well. Basically if you're looking for an aesthetician acne brand this would be the one."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"For benefits it's just so good for pigment and redness and you know keeping my skin calm"
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"I get why this is the best seller. For my oily prone skin it is a hit, it's not like a slam dunk though, but if you are looking for something to add to your routine to hydrate this winter, especially if you use this mixed in with a moisturizer or under a moisturizer, this is it. And again, it's already like seven dollars so I think it's worth it either way. I'm at the point where I don't think you should be spending tons of money on hyaluronic acid."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"Steer clear from this, this is gross. Again, niacinamide is a wonderful ingredient, we absolutely love it, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. [...] This one missed the mark. [...] This product goes on smooth but then it almost gets pasty, it gums up and it peels up underneath my other products. It doesn't play well with any other product in the routine and it leaves like this white niacinamide paste."
✕Nay
71%Guru Score
"The mandelic acid treatment which is so good and inexpensive and beginner friendly if you want something that actually helps to hydrate the skin and if you have dry skin and acne this mandelic acid's treatment is so phenomenal for dry skin. This actually has glycerin in it as well so it's a more hydrating formula and because it's an AHA it actually doesn't dry out the skin."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
"It claims that it's a hyper potent three in one serum that floods skin with 12 actives [...] to soften fine lines boost firmness and deeply hydrate [...] for 150 dollars, but looking at the ingredients, it's basically water and glycerin, which are some of the cheapest things you can find in drugstore moisturizers. [...] For a hundred and fifty dollars you can literally get these exact same ingredients in something so much cheaper. I'm not impressed."
✕Nay
62%Guru Score
"It's fragrance free, really simple ingredients, and it has this active but stable form of vitamin C. Yes, this can help with brightening, it can help with pigmentation, it works really great under the eyes if you tend to have [...] pigmentary issues, but this can also help with fine lines and wrinkles if it can get into the skin and help you stimulate that collagen over time. [...] This vitamin C being oil soluble is a great way to do so."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"There is one from a brand called Mixsoon that I came across, I've been using and I love so much I actually bought another one. The first one of these is all used up, so this is my second one. This right here is literally a bean ferment and this is the closest that I have been able to find to the actual texture of snail mucin. [...] When I pump this out, do you see how it's like stringy, it's connecting still? It literally looks like slime in my hands."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"This is from the Ordinary. [...] I first started using it on my face, then I started using it on my armpits, and now I've been trying it on my scalp. As long as you don't have any open wounds, this doesn't burn or anything like that, but it actually helps to break down desmosomes, basically break down the little proteins and the little bonds that hold our dead skin cells together and help them to exfoliate off and actually stimulate some circulation in this area."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"The INKEY List actually has a Super Solutions, this is really inexpensive and this is fantastic again for teenagers acne, for people with oily skin who just don't want to fuss with a routine. This is great, just rinse in the shower once a day. And you can also get the chest and the back. Now if you can handle a little bit more or if you are more oily, leave-on treatments are fantastic."
✓Yay
92%Guru Score
"But another option is phenicia gel phenicia gel is literally prescription [azelaic] acid it usually comes at higher percents"
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"The Ordinary's Resveratrol and Ferulic Acid, this little serum is about ten dollars, it might have gone up to like twelve, and this is a wonderful antioxidant serum for people who want to add it in for dark spot care, for redness, for wrinkle care, or just an antioxidant boost over sunscreen."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"Although it's a decent serum, I don't think it's worth it for the price, and there's other mandelic acids that work way better. This is [...] over a hundred bucks and I just couldn't justify the price. This has mandelic acid but it also has rose hip, salicylic acid, and niacinamide, and I found that they were just throwing so much stuff in here that the mandelic acid wasn't really able to shine or do its job properly."
~Mixed
84%Guru Score
"This is their mandelic acid five percent skin prep water, and this is a very gentle five percent mandelic acid that's so easy to use that you can put it on and then go out during the day if you put sunscreen over the top. And this is just refreshing in a way that's not overwhelming or irritating to skin. You can put it on like a little cotton pad and then swipe it on your face. I like to put it on my hands and just press it on so I get the most of it."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This is from The Ordinary and this is an absolute must. [...] The Marine Hyaluronics are fantastic. This is a wonderful serum for hydration and to help repair a damaged skin barrier. [...] This also has an algae extract which is extraordinarily supportive to skin and again very hydrating. [...] This is a water-soluble form of hyaluronic acid and a water-soluble algae extract in this little bottle."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"This is the 35% Vitamin C Perfecting Serum [...] and what's amazing about this is that it's an oil-soluble form of vitamin C. [...] This can actually absorb into the skin because our skin is [...] made up of oil and most vitamin C is water soluble, meaning it has a hard time getting in. [...] Using an oil soluble vitamin C it can actually penetrate into the skin and get into the nucleus of the cell where it needs to work on things like hyperpigmentation fine lines and wrinkles."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"This right here is the Glow Baby Booster Serum with vitamin C. It's so phenomenal. It smells like an orange creamsicle and exfoliates like nobody's business. Love this."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"I tested out the Biossance hyaluronic acid serum and this was fantastic, but I feel like this is really good as a spray for when you're on the go. If you have humid weather or you're traveling, this is fantastic. [...] For everyday use, this wasn't perfect for me."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"If you want something that's great for combo skin, the Good Molecules Niacinamide Serum is excellent. It's formulated with 10% niacinamide and really helps reduce the look of pores. This is beautiful."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I love this, I just don't know how I feel about the price. It's 225 dollars for this oil. If it has a basic first ingredient like some cheap oil, I'm going to be so pissed. Let me see what's in here. Grapeseed oil and jojoba, both wonderful oils, but cheapest get yourself a six-dollar grapeseed oil from Trader Joe's. [...] Licorice root extract is good, but [...] we also have some peptides, [...] but again for the price of this I would do this entirely differently."
~Mixed
66%Guru Score
"I do not understand the Clarins Eye Serum. Clarins does have a vegan line, some of their products are nice and really good, but they're very expensive, they're very fragrant, and this eye serum, why why are we spending so much money to rub this around our eye area? A lot of these products don't even say what they're good for. If it's a wrinkle that's very different than a color versus an under eye bag. A lot of these products don't even distinguish as to what benefit they're going to give you."
✕Nay
73%Guru Score
"If you're more prone to pigmentation or actual discoloration in the skin, I really like lactic acid. This comes from fermented bacteria and there are some great options. This one from Biossance is super, super potent."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"This serum is seventy-nine, almost eighty bucks for just one ounce, not even one point seven. I like that it's not five hundred dollars, that's good, but I would not buy this serum. While it does not look absolutely terrible, it [...] looks like an oily glittery potentially skin barrier disruptive mess."
✕Nay
65%Guru Score
"They have a vitamin C and niacinamide that are formulated together and stabilized, which is truly wonderful."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"Out of the drunk elephant products, the baby Sakura facial it's half decent. It is expensive for what it is. If she uses it and doesn't mind that the founder of drunk elephant literally said that rosacea, the skin condition that Lucy openly has told us that she has, is the patient's thoughts because they didn't use 100 drunk elephant products, if that doesn't get on your nerves the way it does mine, continue to use it."
~Mixed
71%Guru Score
"For her hyperpigmentation and dark spots, I'm getting her on the Minimalist inexpensive really good alpha arbutin 2 percent face serum. This also has ferulic acid and hyaluronic acid. This is great, it is moisturizing. I think she's gonna love this. [...] It's much less expensive than this Lancôme one and [...] I think this is going to be a lot better."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"There's also the Dr Sam Bunting neutralizing gel which is so freaking good, the neutralizing gel which is good for acne and rosacea is probably what I would recommend. This is phenomenal for both acne and rosacea."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"The one product that is worth it even when it's not on sale, but it just happens to be on sale, is the Murad dark spot correcting serum. This is so good. It has vitamin C, it has tranexamic acid. It actually works to support the skin. Excellent. Again, worth it even when it's full price."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"Their hyaluronic acid serum, which I actually stopped using, but is amazing. One of the best hyaluronic acid serums I've ever used. It has eight different forms of hyaluronic acid."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"The question is is it 62 dollars good? I don't know about that. This is probably the most impressive product in the line thus far, this looks good, but at that price point, I'm not sure it's worth it."
~Mixed
78%Guru Score
"It smells good in like an extract way, not like an artificial added scent way that would literally make me break out. I really like this stuff. It doesn't feel greasy but it definitely feels hydrating, and it makes me feel like I know what I'm doing even though I don't."
✓Yay
64%Guru Score
"If you want to go with something like the Biosense squalane oil because it helps the sharks and they donate to reef conservation, with adorable packaging, that's a nice option."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"You can also get Differin for five to ten dollars as a spot treatment option."
✓Yay
64%Guru Score
"I absolutely love this Peptide Glazing Fluid. You can see it leaves such a dewy glowy look on the skin and has peptides and marula oil and hyaluronic acid so it has all these really beautiful amazing ingredients that are great for hydration."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"The EltaMD Skin Recovery Serum is literally made to help a damaged skin barrier. They did a study showing massive amounts of reduction in hyperpigmentation and reduction of oxidative stress in the skin. This is a very lightweight product that goes on very nice. It has Centella Asiatica, [...] glycerin, which is a humectant, and sodium hyaluronate related to hyaluronic acid, which is amazing for wound healing. It also has amino acids like glycine, which are super supportive to the skin."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"Some Collagen Peptide Serum could save the day. The Collagen Peptide Serum from the Inkey List does not label itself as a hyaluronic acid serum but it does have hyaluronic acid in it and when you actually look at it, it is extremely plumping, helps to support the skin barrier, helps to nourish the skin, grabs hydration and pulls it into the skin because of the peptides and collagen in here. [...] Collagen and peptide sides are humectants and they can draw moisture into the skin for 72 hours."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"Kim Kardashian has a vitamin C specifically a C8 serum that is supposed to smooth and firm the skin, supposed to give a radiant glowing complexion with thioethyl ascorbic acid, and it actually looks pretty decent. However, it costs $90."
~Mixed
68%Guru Score
"Kim Kardashian launched this Hyaluronic Acid Serum for $90 and they boast molecular hyaluronic acid and a bunch of things about how this is like super super hydrating, well I have thoughts about that and my face has thoughts about that."
~Mixed
66%Guru Score
"This is the last step in Kim K's routine. [...] For $95 this has jojoba oil, apricot, grape seed oil, and sweet almond oil. Sweet almond oil is one of the most inexpensive oils that you can use. [...] This oil blend is great, it's just not worth that kind of money. It also has sunflower seed oil and triglycerides."
✕Nay
52%Guru Score
"The Kardashians have [...] oil drops called Vita C Glow. [...] It is very nice to see a vitamin C oil because this is actually a very interesting product. However, it's not worth the price for a blend of oils."
~Mixed
62%Guru Score
"The Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Capsules are very innovative. They are these encapsulated skincare little micro doses put into these little drops of gorgeousness, but they cost eighty to like a hundred dollars."
~Mixed
78%Guru Score
"I really highly recommend the lactic acid and hyaluronic acid from the ordinary because hyaluronic acid is hydrating and lactic acid being an aha holds on to water. If you're really struggling with dryness an aha is going to be a better option for you than a bha even though a bha is more targeted towards acne."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"This hyaluronic serum is a whopping $300 on Saks Fifth Avenue. It is ridiculous. Are the ingredients good? Absolutely. But are they worth $300? No. The ingredients are water, butylene glycol, lactobacillus ferment extract, phenoxyethanol, sodium hyaluronate, ethylhexylglycerin. These are simple ingredients and I understand that sourcing and formulation matters, but overall her products are just extremely overpriced, including this one."
~Mixed
66%Guru Score
"The Ordinary has a lactic acid. Both of these are under $10. These are gorgeous on the skin, and they can still give you a wonderful hydrated glow that makes you look like you just worked out and did yoga."
✓Yay
95%Guru Score
"This is the serum that doctors and derms have used after medical microneedling. [...] This is one of the best serums to use for a good skin barrier or post micro needling. It's just very expensive. Now I don't currently use it [...] because it does have beeswax and that's not something I put on my face, but we use this all the time in clinic post microneedling treatments. This would fly off the shelves. Everyone literally loves this. And PCA Skin is a really good brand."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"Summer Fridays also came out with a new product called Dream Oasis Deep Hydration Serum and this is kind of like what I wanted the omega water cream to be. I'm still going to be testing this out, but this beautiful little bottle reminds me of the Malibu coastline. The entire Summer Fridays line is pretty fantastic. [...] This serum is almost like the result that you ask for from a moisturizer but in serum form. You can really easily layer this under a sunscreen."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"This is one of my favorites if you're looking for skin support and hyaluronic acid hydration. This almost feels like a cactus serum that I've used before but this easily absorbs into the skin and it really helps with fine lines and wrinkles and hydration and it makes the skin glow. The fact that this is fragrance free, [...] we normally don't see a lot of luxury priced products being fragrance free nor do we see them being made in California and made ethically and sustainably."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"I love that it's in glass packaging, I love that it's made in San Francisco, it's good, but it's not great. This one is very basic, fragrance free, and the price is right. This is like almost what you wanted this to be, but then it wasn't. It's basic, but I don't think it's revolutionary. This is one of those that if you got it, you could still use it and finish the bottle, whereas those other ones you can't even finish. But at the same time, this is nothing really special."
~Mixed
74%Guru Score
"The Maracuja Oil from Tarte is really exciting. [...] It has these little gold flecks in it and it's a beautiful oil. While the gold flecks don't do anything miraculous for skin, they do kind of dissolve inside of this oil and leave you with this really nice dewy glow. [...] If you have sensitive skin or god forbid a gold allergy, which is rare but possible, you want to steer clear of this."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"BeautyStat has the Universal Vitamin C serum. This feels like a primer on the skin."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I also tried these products—the C.E.O. oil and the C.E.O. cream—and both of them broke me out horribly. I'm a little bit more sensitive to citrus and maybe that's why this broke me out. I just don't recommend this and it's really expensive for what it is. If you are looking for a tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate that's really good and not like $85, The Ordinary has one that's like 10 bucks and I would highly recommend this."
✕Nay
64%Guru Score
"It locks in a moisturizer, especially for someone like her who has dry skin. Putting an oil over that moisturizer is going to lock in that hydration and it's also going to be really great because it gives her that glow that dry skin is normally missing. The Juno Oil is not one of my favorites. [...] It's $72. [...] There is one facial oil that I love that's comparable from Youth to the People, and I would definitely recommend the Youth to the People over this one."
~Mixed
75%Guru Score
"They also added regular green tea. [...] And when [Paula's Choice] actually tested this with people, they're saying that 95% of people saw that pores looked smaller, they had more elasticity in the skin. 90% said that the wrinkles looked smoother, and their skin looks younger. And with Paula's Choice, I actually believe those claims. The [...] [Paula's Choice] Nyinomide one is $50, so it's a little more expensive than something like these, but it is worth every every scent."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"This is an eighty-five dollar intense serum. [...] I do like to see niacinamide in this one, but similar to all the other Dior products, it's a bunch of fragrance and basic ingredients. If you want a really good niacinamide-based product, use any of these alternatives, they'll arguably be more potent and better for you, less fragrance, and way less expensive than this. The answer is absolutely not."
✕Nay
55%Guru Score
"This is phenomenal because it also combines that tranexamic acid which is fantastic when it comes to dark spots and hyperpigmentation. So if you're someone who struggles with those little blemishes that leave behind marks, if you are more prone to hyperpigmentation in your skin, then if you want something that isn't a retinoid because maybe it was too irritating for you, this is a great combination that actually works and actually has the levels of bakuchiol to back it up."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"The Boots Vitamin C and the hyaluronic acid line, the sleep mask, the hydrator, and the serum have been amazing. Specifically, the little serums from Boots. I like to mix them and I can apply them in layers. That has worked really well for my skin this year, especially since I've been trying out the vitamin C recently and I really really like it on my skin. [...] Boots is making skincare accessible and affordable and inexpensive and at Target. Like everything is under 10."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"We have the Glow Recipe Niacinamide Dew Drops. It's amazing how many people like that product."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"COSRX has an oil-free moisturizing lotion that looks good."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"I got the Sunday Riley UFO, and someone knows that I have acne, but they just don't know my beef with Sunday Riley. Also, I'm vegan, so that's pretty funny about the product."
~Mixed
60%Guru Score
"I use this so sparingly because I cherish it. [...] This serum is amazing, and [...] the ingredient is actually legit saffron. It's by a female founded business who actually cares about the cosmetic manufacturing and support of her products. The saffron in here actually has antioxidant benefits, it made my skin look and feel brighter, it made my skin feel plumper. [...] Overall, the answer to this is yes."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"This L'Oréal Revitalift is a ten percent glycolic acid, it is a good exfoliant and this is what I would have loved to see outside of the washcloth, [...] but do I love this one not a ton. The ingredients have some moisturizing components like aloe and sodium hyaluronate, [...] but overall it's not my favorite and it's not cruelty free and I find that for thirty dollars you can get other things that work very well if not extraordinarily comparably."
✕Nay
80%Guru Score
"The copper peptides from NIOD are so fun. You get to mix them and activate them together. You should use them within 30 to 60 days, so if I'm buying this, if I'm mixing it end of November, I'm probably going to use it during December."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"The modulating glucosides—I love these. Oh my god, if you want some nice hydration, if you want something luxurious on the skin, this is it. Beauty Within made me buy this, and you know that for 23 percent off I am buying this again."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"The Multi-Molecular Hyaluronic Complex is the only thing in here that I really, really, really like. What I would say is, instead of spending 50 dollars on the set, just get the 23 percent off of the Multi-Molecular Hyaluronic Complex."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"There is the Benton line, they actually have a green tea serum that is really good. Again, fragrance free, this has green tea, it has vitamin E and hyaluronic acid. This is a really good one."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"The ingredients in here are not bad, it's just for me there's nothing that is really stand out, and I'm glad that it's on sale, but for the price knowing that they test on animals it's a no for me, especially when things like this exist that are so much less expensive. [...] Why am I going to spend three hundred dollars for the glass bottle? I think not."
✕Nay
80%Guru Score
"I have the Vino Perfect Brightening Essence and I am loving this. Glass bottle really beautiful. Ingredients has some glycolic acid in here to help smooth things out and to help brighten hyperpigmentation. This is a really great essence if you're into essences. I love this."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"The Ordinary and even Trilogy have some rose hip and argan oils which I like."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This is called the Concentrate Serum and it's 400 bucks, 400 dollars for one ounce, for 30 milliliters. [...] We have cyclopentasiloxane, [...] algae extract, [...] glycerin, [...] dimethicone, all of the basics that you would find in a good moisturizer, sesame seed oil, sweet almond oil, sunflower oil, all of this is lovely but none of this is worth 400 dollars."
✕Nay
54%Guru Score
"The Dear Klairs vitamin C that I'm using in my routine that I love, that's not in a dark container either."
✓Yay
59%Guru Score
"I absolutely love this brand Phyla. I think that the technology that they have, I think that their formulas, I think it's the story behind the brand and just everything about it is amazing. However, I understand that if you buy the entire set as like a three-step set, it's a little bit expensive, and I get that. So I have been trying just the Fortify Serum. I feel like this is my favorite product from the line and I have been trying it in isolation."
~Mixed
64%Guru Score
"It's white truffle from Italy and this is actually a mixture of white truffle as well as avocado but this is an absolute bestseller and a lot of people from Italy to Korea to those who are now discovering it in the states are spraying it on for this glowy fresh skin look. Now that's amazing because it gives the skin this nice radiance all over and that's the main thing when it comes to looking greasy versus looking glowy."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"This is the most recent product I've tried from d'Alba and look at [...] this, this is like a two-in-one. This has got to be one of the coolest moisturizers I've ever used and it's because you can specifically mix how much hydration, basically this water formula versus moisturization and oil that kind of locks everything in that you want. So this has two different compartments essentially. One of them is this gorgeous torous tinted glow."
✓Yay
Notverified
"The Ordinaries niacinamide and zinc, that is literally like one of the bestselling serums in the entirety of America and it's like $8, so that is another great option."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"This has cell extracts in it for firmer, more elastic skin. When you use this with one of the devices, the low-level or the high-level ones, oh you feel it, you feel it like it actually works. You can see how this gel actually has form, it kind of tents up on the skin, it allows you to do the treatment but you can wipe it off or you can leave it on and it literally has such amazing benefits. [...] Because it's from Korea it's less expensive, the price of this is fantastic."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"The one that is the guava vitamin C, that one has no fragrance added, it's like a natural fragrance. That one can be a little intense though."
~Mixed
69%Guru Score
"This azelaic acid suspension is so good for the price it's under $10 and for anyone who has rosacea that is diagnosed by a doctor or a Derm, anyone who has redness in the skin, anyone who wants a pregnancy safe acne option, this is so good. It kind of feels like a moisturizer on the skin, so this is one that's not a serum but you can layer this with other serums or you could put this on first as a serum step and then use a really thick moisturizer over the top."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"This one I barely hear anyone talking about, this is like a little secret weapon, it's my pycnogenol 5%. This is fantastic, it's a super potent antioxidant serum that I feel really rivals vitamin C and can often be better than vitamin C because some people have issues with like the stinging and the burning of the L-ascorbic acid, which is what's in a lot of vitamin C serums. This pycnogenol is super tiny but super mighty, and I love this especially for morning time."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"This is the alpha arbutin 2% plus hyaluronic acid from the ordinary. This is a really good one, it's inexpensive and effective. It's a really nice one. It's fantastic for pigmentation and acne scars, and you can use this alongside other products to layer well and get such good benefits out of this for the hyperpigmentation, that acne scar response, and that inflammation while also supporting the skin."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"The INKEY List has squalane for under 10 dollars. Oh my God, you could buy 11 of these from The INKEY List for the price of one Dior."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"This is from Good Molecules, they're made here in San Francisco. It's so inexpensive, just $15. This is actually a new active for you to try in your routine: tranexamic acid, or TXA, which is actually used in emergency medicine if someone comes in with a gunshot wound or major hemorrhaging, they get tranexamic acid, but it actually works as a discoloration corrector as well. The packaging is really nice, so pretty. It's inexpensive but so effective."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"This is one that I absolutely love, this is from April Skin, they're a Korean brand, and this is the Carotene Clarifying Serum. I love this because it's made for acne prone skin like mine that tends to be more oily and breakout prone, and this not only has beta carotene but it also has niacinamide. And because it's a K Beauty formula it's really gentle. There are some niacinamide formulas that if they're too potent can actually irritate some people's skin, this one does not do that."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"If you're going on a hike, if you're going to the beach, if you live in a polluted city, this is an amazing antioxidant that's really easy to use. And [...] coenzyme Q10 is something that almost everyone's skin can benefit from, especially since we naturally lose it as we get older and we can use a little bit of replenishing. And do you see how lightweight and beautiful that is on my skin? It soaks in so wonderfully."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic is really good. This is $160. It does have fragrance and I don't recommend this for a lot of people because their skin can't handle fragrance, but you mentioned that you love it. It has a slightly different texture - it's a little bit more like a cream, very silky, very fresh, and it's very lightweight on the skin."
~Mixed
77%Guru Score
"This is my first and favorite one, this is ascorbic acid and alpha arbutin, and this is only $10 but it works like a $200 option. This one actually has fragrance and I don't recommend this for a lot of people because their skin can't handle fragrance, but you mentioned that you love it. This is also a slightly different texture. This one's a little bit more like a cream, very fresh, and very very lightweight on the skin."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"I love this serum. It has sodium ascorbyl phosphate, which is the best form of vitamin C for acne. Regular vitamin C can have magnesium ascorbyl phosphate or ascorbic acid, and those are great and very potent, but sodium ascorbyl phosphate is super stable and excellent for acne and oily-prone skin."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"This is a vegan version. All of the hydration, all of the same main ingredients that support the skin with zero cruelty. There are some K Beauty brands out there that say snail mucin isn't mean to the snails, [...] but I've kind of looked into it and seen some people electrocuting the snails to get their secretions and then other people putting them in washing machines. Until then, I am using yam-based snails. The green is such a great brand with a lot of great fragrance free options."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"Paula's Choice 10% Azelaic Acid Booster with salicylic acid would not be recommended if you're pregnant or breastfeeding just because it does have that salicylic acid which might not be good for baby, but for just about anyone else including people who have active breakouts and acne this is a great one. Azelaic acid is a pretty friendly ingredient if you wanted to layer it with other things or mix it with other things."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"The ingredients are not identical, but this is one of the best dupes that you can get if you're trying to get the SkinCeuticals CE ferulic but a less expensive price. It includes CE and ferulic as well as sodium hyaluronate, which is hyaluronic acid, and it even has grapefruit in it. [...] I find that this one works just as well and feels just as burny on the skin. If you've always wanted to try the SkinCeuticals but just never wanted to spend that much money, this is what I would recommend."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"I love this and this does not pill on the skin even though it does have HA and peptides. Yes, this is currently how I am getting hyaluronic acid in my routine because I stopped using a dedicated hyaluronic acid product. What I also love about this is that it is a serum so you can use it under moisturizers or sunscreens, but it also has a nice dry down texture that feels a little tacky so it doesn't gum up on the skin, it doesn't get pilly, but it actually adheres and holds on to foundation."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"Whereas this one from Peach & Lily helps to resurface, but isn't quite as intense."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"This niacinamide from TIAM is so good. It is lightweight, it is everything that we ask for in K Beauty. It is hydrating but it still helps to mitigate oil control. It's got not only vitamin B3 which is our niacinamide at 10 percent but it's also got arbutin and it's so wonderful if you are someone that deals with discoloration in the skin and dark spots. [...] This is going to be your friend."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"For dry skin this is wonderful. This Glass Skin Refining Serum has this peach extract and this peptide complex. It is super nourishing to skin and the peptides in here literally penetrate into the skin and plump up those layers. It also gives you this glass skin look. This was one of the products that I think really just knocked K Beauty out of the park and onto the internet."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"Another great option is from beauty pie. The beauty pie youth bomb is what's in my current routine. It also has a blend of ingredients that are fantastic."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"This is the glow recipe watermelon hyaluronic clay pore tight facial. [...] This is actually a clay mask that is really great. I wouldn't recommend this mask for oily skin that is hydrated deep down. I would recommend this for oily hydrated greasy skin through and through. [...] It has clays in it that are really good at wicking away hydration. [...] The AHAs in here and the watermelon have antioxidants and exfoliation benefits."
✓Yay
Notverified
"No. But it is hard to find algae in some products, specifically red algae. This product has it. [...] I would say it's more of an antioxidant boost, can have some anti-aging, some brightening properties, really great as an antioxidant. You know, is this going to clear your acne? No. It's probably good for acne prone skin because of the jojoba or it's safer for acne prone skin. You shouldn't be spending a paycheck on it. Like if you're struggling, there are many other oils that are great."
~Mixed
Notverified
"This isn't a horrible product. I just don't know if it's worth 90 dollars. The main ingredient is green tea, and we also have aloe, glycerin, echinacea, and [...] ginger. There's not any fragrance in here, which is good. However, I don't know how this is talking about immunity unless you're going with ayurvedic medicine and [...] how that plays into things."
~Mixed
Notverified
"This is tapioca starch, then you have your l-ascorbic acid and ferulic acid, which is very interesting. I like that they have ferulic because the ordinary and other brands don't always do that, so I could see that this is a little bit more expensive. I don't know if I'd pay 90 for it, but a ferulic powder plus a vitamin C powder that stabilizes it, and then it does have this little glass packaging, makes it somewhat justified."
~Mixed
79%Guru Score
"This one from dermalogica is expensive but I like it. It's not my favorite favorite but it is good. It was Caroline Hynes who originally made me try this years ago and it's still around today. [...] It was one of the first vitamin C that was supposed to be heavily penetrating and less irritating. It is really good and it does make you look luminous. If you do have dark spots or hyperpigmentation, this one should treat you well."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"This is the Triple Hyaluronic Acid Lipopeptide Serum. This is like a makeup magnet. If you are looking for something that pulls hydration into the skin but that also creates a barrier, like a little shield, and then just grabs onto makeup, this is it. It does leave the skin slightly tacky but it doesn't gum up or peel up, so it is perfect if you are applying a foundation or a base or something like that. [...] This has three forms of hyaluronic acid, sweet almond extract, and also peptides."
✓Yay
Notverified
"The B oil is also really good. The Ordinary's B oil is fantastic. I am stocking up on it. [...] If you're looking for a great oil that actually supports skin, that nourishes and really invigorates, as well as smoothing over those dead keratinocytes, the B oil is the babe. If you're doing the retinoid oil [...] at night and the B oil during the day, especially for winter for those of us who are getting little dry patches, if you're not extremely oily, this one's a winner."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"Holy guacamole, this stuff works well. This is a night treatment, but if you are looking for skin support or something that can help boost up scar treatments or hyperpigmentation, this is so good. It goes on to the skin flawlessly. [...] The texture reminds me of royal jelly from a beehive. [...] It works so freaking well. If you do have skin that is really struggling, this is definitely something amazing. It's a little bit thick so I wouldn't necessarily recommend it during the day."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
Moisturizers92 reviews
"What about Neutrogena's famous Hydro Boost moisturizer? Everyone loves that moisturizer, but first off it's so expensive. Number two, it's not revolutionary. Number three, it has fragrance in it. Like, the very first ingredients in the Neutrogena hyaluronic acid water boost product, it's water, dimethicone, and glycerin, which are fine, and that's why this product feels like a primer on your skin. Everyone loves it, but it's like 20 or 30 dollars now. Like, why?"
~Mixed
79%Guru Score
"The SkinFix Barrier+ Triple Lipid + Peptide Cream is so good. SkinFix is a Canadian brand, they're female founded. I love the pump tops because it gives you the perfect amount. It's literally like a butterball, so thick and dense, and it just hydrates and smooths onto the skin. It's fragrance-free and wonderful. It is a little bit more on the expensive side, but it's worth it."
✓Yay
91%Guru Score
"This right here is the Isntree Onion New Pair Gel Cream from Isntree. This is fantastic especially if you have oily prone and acne prone skin."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This iUNIK Centella Calming Gel Cream, I love love love this as well, and if you have oily skin that is prone to more redness, this really helps to bring that redness down."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"There's similar textural differences with the Biossance and I do love these although they are a little bit more pricey. This right here is the Squalane and Probiotic Gel Moisturizer and as you can see it's this really lightweight very water-based gel. It actually feels gorgeous on the skin and for me being oily it soaks right in."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"I use this at night as like a thick moisturizer for my oily prone skin. If I can get a little scraping of it you can see that it tents up way more, it almost stands up thick and has its own shape and form, and that just shows you how insanely hydrating and lipid dense this one is."
✓Yay
90%Guru Score
"Dermalogica is what we use in Aesthetics all the time. This is the Stabilizing Repair Cream. This actually has Pro-ceramides and shea. Look at how textured that is. [...] It's literally [...] like squeezable butter for your skin, and this is just so amazing. For me on a day-to-day basis this is way too thick, but I can use this at night on my oily-prone skin almost like a night mask and it works so well because I wake up with the most hydrated, supple skin."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"It's the electric complex conductive gel. For a lot of other people it doesn't really hit the mark. I think it's fine for those with acne. It's not nearly as goopy or disgusting as the other ones and the ingredients are better. [...] It actually absorbs into the skin and it actually conducts electricity really well. So if you have acne prone skin this is great, but if you don't have acne prone skin I didn't find it to be revolutionary."
~Mixed
75%Guru Score
"The gold one was for mature skin and the silver one was for young, acne-prone skin, and it made me feel like I had to buy extra stuff, which I didn't like. It wasn't versatile, and it was just goopy and gross. Even though one has silver and one has gold, they say the ingredients are slightly different, but they have a very similar base, and they just aren't revolutionary. I was not a fan."
✕Nay
71%Guru Score
"This is the ZIIP Crystal Gel. They say it's made with organic ingredients, but that's not what's exciting about this. This has both glutathione and copper, and what's amazing about the copper in here is that it's actually lifting and it's actually plumping. [...] This is not as gooey or as stringy, but it actually stays on the face."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This is the Natural Moisturizing Factors plus HA and this is a great moisturizer. It has ingredients that your skin naturally uses and produces like hyaluronic acid and it's inexpensive and lightweight. It has a nice fluffy texture but it's not the most moisturizing, so if you have combo skin you can use this, which also means if you're oily or if you're dry this is a great choice. It won't treat acne but it supports a healthy skin barrier."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"It's got panthenol which is vitamin B5. It's a medium moisturizer, not the thickest but not a gel. If you have redness in the skin, if you have adult acne, this is one of the best. [...] If you're looking for a moisturizer that just works well and doesn't clog the pores, doesn't break you out, doesn't make the white heads explode out of the cheeks, so good for adult acne. [...] One of the derms that I work with [...] is absolutely obsessed with [...] this and recommends it all the time."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"If there is a teenager who is oily, struggling with acne and needs a moisturizer that works with almost any other active, this is it. [...] When they launched this Cloud Surf, oh my God, it's squirting, this is the best. This is like a cream that feels just like a gel. Do you see how lightweight and hydrating that is? It soaks in like a dream. Again, it's artificial fragrance free. You can use this morning or evening. Such a beautiful formula. [...] I absolutely love this."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"This is a little bit thicker but this is the snail mucin cream, and this is the brand that basically creates the no snail snail mucin. This right here does not break out skin but it provides such good hydration. [...] For the person who wants snail mucin but it breaks them out and they're breakout prone already, this is one of the best solutions I know. [...] This is nice, it is lightweight and it is a K Beauty staple."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"The polypeptide moisturizer from Drunk Elephant is a $68 debacle and while it's not terrible you could use it on young skin because it has peptides which are naturally found in the human body, it's $68."
~Mixed
65%Guru Score
"This right here is a Moisturizing Gel Cream. It's a tri ceramide complex with niacinamide, remember it's that B vitamin our body naturally makes, as well as that green tea antioxidant, and this is just a nice fluffy lightweight moisturizer. With one pump you're getting the perfect amount. It's a great choice, you get a lot for your money, you can get it at Target, and this is very similar to Drunk Elephant at a fraction of the price."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"This is a moisturizer with ceramides, it's not bad, it's decent, it's just expensive for what it is. [...] Part of the lore of this is of course it's a brand name, it's been going around the internet, kids have been seeing it, they want what's in or what's trendy. But it's also this cool little pump top."
~Mixed
67%Guru Score
"This is the natural moisturizing factors plus phytoceramides and if you are looking for one of the richest most hydrating but inexpensive creams that The Ordinary has to offer this is going to be it. This is kind of the updated version of their NMF moisturizer which I personally love but this is the phytoceramides, phyto coming from plants and ceramides relating to those fatty acids that are so amazing in our skin and they actually make up half of the very outside layer of our skin."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"I have loved this for so many years. It's the ultra Moisturizing Cream and you get a lot of bang for a little buck with this. I get this off of Amazon and it's basically my version of the vegan cruelty-free Cetaphil cream."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This is from Aestura, and it's a 365 and I recently got this from Stylevana and it is so good. It is supremely hydrating on the skin. It's barrier supportive, this feels like butter in a creamy soup, and this is literally meant to both moisturize and to protect the skin. It does kind of leave a little bit of a film on the skin, so if you don't like that it might not be for you, but it's not an oily film. It's more of like a dry touch film that supremely hydrates."
✓Yay
90%Guru Score
"I have been loving this for over 2 years now. This is the Purito Dermide Zika Barrier Sleeping Pack, one of these night moisturizers with nourishing hydration with squalane and panthenol. The squalane oil is the same thing we spoke about in other products. This is a K Beauty option and it has that butter-like texture. This is great if you sleep with it overnight or if you just want to use it as a moisturizer during the day. This is a K Beauty favorite that I love."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I understand a lot of people are interested in snail mucin right now but some people have been having like legit reactions. If you are allergic to dust mites or crustaceans, don't put snails on your face. And a lot of people are putting this on hoping it'll clear blemishes, but there are no medical studies showing that snail mucin is good for eczema, blemishes, redness, dryness, all of the things that people mention."
✕Nay
74%Guru Score
"I've been a huge fan of the regular all clean balm, but apparently they have this mandarin orange limited edition one. I want to get my hands on this so bad. In Chinese culture mandarin orange is actually considered lucky."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"This is one of my holy grail products. My skin drinks this up. I was going to say I'm so glad that you've tried this because this is one of these products that I would like love to hate on but that works so well that I have to love it. It's $100, it's from Charlotte Tilbury. She's a makeup artist, but if you want something that is hydrating, beautiful like silk ribbons, but that works under makeup, this is it."
✓Yay
61%Guru Score
"This one from Haruharu Wonder is phenomenal and this is so nourishing with all of these different antioxidants and vitamins in them. This is just amazing and if you do have more mature skin, especially if you get a little bit crusty or a little bit breakout prone, this one is so freaking nice."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"Cocokind has an all over moisture stick that is really beautiful. This one's actually really fun it smells like a straight up wheat grass shot, smells like a walk around the perimeter of a Whole Foods, and this one actually has a green tint."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"This right here is from dear Claire's, this is the Rich Moist Soothing Cream and I would say that this is the closest thing that gets you to feeling like the way your skin feels after you slug. So when you slug you need to remove the goo before you go outside and that removal process is like the best part because the way your skin feels after is glorious. This gives you that feeling without having to go through this like you could literally just put this on and go."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"I just got one in the mail from Peach Slices and it's so good. It's a moisturizer that hydrates the skin but leaves you looking more mattified. Peach Slices is actually owned by Peach and Lily, so if you want less expensive Peach and Lily products, Peach Slices is basically your brand. They're like a little sister brand."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"It hydrates the skin well, it has amino acids, it actually supports the skin barrier. This is one of the best moisturizers from The Ordinary. The Ordinary has always had a top spot in my book for their serums, but this is a new launch that is phenomenal. I'm obsessed with it. After you microcurrent you can just leave this on, you can apply it underneath sunscreen and it works so well throughout the day. [...] Already inexpensive but even better when it's on sale."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"This is Skin1004 Centella Asiatica Hyalu Cream. I love this. I've gone through two of them now."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"Resveratrol Lift Cream, this is good. Caudalie is known for their use of grapes and things. I would say this is good but I don't know if it's hardworking enough for you. I could see something maybe a little bit more hydrating. Resveratrol is fantastic, it's what's found in red wine, it's found in grapes and it's a good antioxidant, but this is also an antioxidant so we're kind of doubling up."
~Mixed
73%Guru Score
"This right here is the AC Collection Ultimate Spot Cream, and out of Korean spot treatments, which there aren't many, this is definitely the best one. Is it my favorite spot treatment of all time? No, I wouldn't say so, but it is definitely one of the most gentle spot treatments of all time."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"The Omega Water Cream is an excellent moisturizer. I don't think it's one of the best moisturizers in the entire world, there are some other moisturizers that I do like better, but for the price it is a good one."
~Mixed
75%Guru Score
"This is the First Dew Point Moisturizing Gel Cream, and this is a fantastic gel moisturizer that is not only inexpensive and fragrance free, but it works really well with the pycnogenol because of the way it mixes in. You can actually get this pycnogenol to really disperse and now this helps to take away some of that orange color but still give you hydration on the skin. It's definitely more of a lightweight gel feel, so I would recommend this for those who are oily or combination skinned."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"This Biossance Squalane plus vitamin C Rose moisturizer is fantastic. It does have squalane and skin naturally creates squalene, and squalene is fantastic because it mimics that squalane so this is an oil that really supports the skin with antioxidant benefits. This also has vitamin C which works on hyperpigmentation works on sun spots works on fine lines and wrinkles. [...] This is absolutely mermaid approved."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"I would not put my money anywhere near this, especially for this price and with the perfume. La Mer is to a point where it is just ridiculous. They play music to their skincare and charge like four hundred dollars. They give all of their stuff to celebrities. [...] They're a legacy brand owned by Estee Lauder, and they just pay so much money into marketing and celebrity endorsements because they can, because they sell their products at such a high markup."
✕Nay
54%Guru Score
"It looks like it's sold on Amazon and it has everything from aloe vera to shea butter to soy proteins which are great. [...] It doesn't look bad. The price is right at 26 bucks. [...] This appears to be a very creamy thing with thick texture, so I'm assuming Salem probably has more dry skin naturally or she really loves a hydrated glow, but whatever she's doing like it is working for her skin."
✓Yay
92%Guru Score
"Dr Barbara Sturm may be an amazing person but just because you're an amazing person first off does not mean that you make amazing products, and number two doesn't mean that you [...] should be spending 360 dollars on their face cream. [...] The main ingredients in here are water, caprylic triglyceride, decal oleate, shea butter, glycerin, these are all wonderful ingredients but these are so basic you can get these in very very simple products for five, ten dollars."
✕Nay
59%Guru Score
"Mario Badescu's Drying Lotion is something I can actually get behind. [...] It's good, it's drying, and within a couple hours your spots are dried, which is amazing. It's [...] a good acne care routine that doesn't cost 420 dollars."
✓Yay
53%Guru Score
"Dior Prestige Creme is 420 dollars for 1.7 fluid ounces with just glycerin, jojoba esters, oat kernel, shea butter, urea, adenosine, and lactic acid. [...] You can get a Dermalogica moisturizer for 40 to 60 dollars or the Inky List urea moisturizer for 20 dollars and save yourself 380 bucks. It has some peptides like Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7 but The Ordinary charges only [...] 11 to 15 dollars for the same thing."
✕Nay
67%Guru Score
"The Beauty of Joseon Dynasty Cream is retinaldehyde and it is phenomenal because it's the most potent thing you can get over the counter without going to prescription. It is wonderful. It has antioxidants and ceramides. Yes, you can use it for fine lines and wrinkles around the eye, but use it all over the face. The fact that it's available on Amazon is the kind of thing that you want to restock on a monthly basis."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"This is the grape stem cell and squalane day cream. This actually reminds me a lot of Juice Beauty because a lot of Juice Beauty uses grape stem cells and really good oils. If you've got mature skin, if you are looking for a nice fluffy anti-aging, graceful aging moisturizer, this is it. If you're looking for a luxury holiday gift for yourself or for someone else, this looks and feels luxury but it doesn't cost luxury. I kind of feel like those are the best gifts."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"Aging is a privilege and being able to afford this product is a privilege because it's $21 and [...] if this works for Lucy's skin I'm happy. I know a lot of people have said this is a powerful moisturizer and it is good, but it's not cruelty free so you know it doesn't really get my coin, it doesn't get my money. But [...] if you want to keep using that, Lucy, go for it."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"La Mer is literally made with the same ingredients that you find in something like Nivea cream, yet costs significantly more, so it's not worth the premium price."
✕Nay
47%Guru Score
"I love what this product does for my face but I hate the way it smells. [...] It smells so bad. [...] It smells like rotting food that you left in old tupperware, like the tupperware that the rotting food soaked into with that plasticy little bit gross leftover tupperware smell. When I wear it it makes me smell wretched and therefore I feel like I can't wear it around. [...] I really want to love it and support this because it really does what it says it does, but the smell is atrocious."
~Mixed
77%Guru Score
"This is good, I think it's a great moisturizer, but I would almost call it like an antioxidant peptide moisturizer. I don't know if I'd call it a Barrier Restore Cream because it will restore the barrier but there are things that would do that better. It doesn't have ceramides, which I think are essential to our skin barrier. However, it does have glycerin, shea butter, squalene, hyaluronic acid, and various peptides that are hydrating and moisturizing."
~Mixed
72%Guru Score
"The Inkey List's Peptide Moisturizer has shea butter, peptides, glycerin, and is very hydrating. This moisturizer is also really lightweight, so it's not overly thick if you're someone who hates a thick under-eye cream. It's excellent as an eye cream or a face cream. The Peptide Moisturizer is raising the tide and the expectations of what we can get for inexpensively priced but quality skincare. You can absolutely use this right up here for some peptide plumping goodness."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"Kim Kardashian has this face cream and the packaging reminds me of the Beauty Pie Pokéball. However, the formula inside with little refillable packaging, my face has not totally been loving. They say that this has a retinol alternative and the title is the Face Cream Firming Moisturizer, but I don't feel that it firms or lifts. It has a lot of apricot in here, [...] coconut oil, carrot, alfalfa, and squalane, and they basically claim that it's like a retinol alternative."
✕Nay
62%Guru Score
"Another one that has a really good top like this is SkinFix. They have their barrier repair, it's blue. That is another excellent one to do this with and mix in acids."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I move on to my moisturizers, so first I use Lancôme's waterbank blue hyaluronic cream. [...] The first time I used this I woke up and I thought my skin was a baby's bottom, it was so soft. Everyone on set started using them and becoming addicted and got them all hooked."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"Oh my god this is one of the best fluffy cloud to watery gel squalane creams, this has my face scream we want squalane cream, I love this so much. It smells divine so do keep in mind that this product has a fragrance in it. [...] This plumping cream, I tried to like avoid this, I was like I'm not going to spend my money on it, I saw all the hype around it, but then they did better and they blew my mind and my wallet right open. This is so good, it is dewy, moisture and plump."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"The product that she's using is again this Tatcha Dewy Skin one. [...] I trash talk this one a lot because it's so expensive and based on the ingredients, I don't see a lot of what's in it. Now, I know that [...] people love it. If you love it, if it looks pretty on your countertop, you do you. Is it my favorite? Absolutely no. But am I going to be giving it another try? Yes, I am. [...] When it comes to this Dewy Skin Cream, I also don't love this for dry dry skin."
~Mixed
81%Guru Score
"This is one of the funnest moisturizers if you're looking if you have oily skin and you're looking for something lightweight but that actually hydrates, this is so good. [...] It has green tea, and it's basically water and glycerin. [...] Everyone loves hyaluronic acid and including me like I love hyaluronic acid, but glycerin is arguably a better humectant than hyaluronic acid. This is fresh, and do you feel how it's fresh on the skin?"
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"The rich cream has triceramides boccochiol and shea butter. [...] That's much thicker. It [...] feels just like CeraVe to me. [...] I kind of wish that I could have this gel formula with the boccochiol ingredient, but I will take what I can get. It feels a lot softer [...] than CeraVe on the skin."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"This one is 285 dollars for 0.5 fluid ounces. I'm sorry we don't all have Disney Channel kind of money, this is ridiculous. [...] One of the ingredients is love in a mist. Love in a mist, what the f is that kind of ingredient [...] and why does it cost 300? This is [...] marketing and 300 of I'm a celebrity and have rich money. [...] This is wiping the sunscreen off from the eye area, of which arguably the sunscreen would be doing more for the under eye area instead."
✕Nay
60%Guru Score
"This is the Elf Skin Hydrogel Moisturizer with hyaluronic acid and peptides, and this is fantastic, especially for the price. [...] This does have jojoba and peptides. Whenever you're mixing hyaluronic acid in with other products, you may be seeing the actual effect on your skin from those other products like those peptides. [...] Overall, this is a really good choice if you're looking to put hyaluronic acid into your routine."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This is the MLE Cream from Atopalm. [...] If you want something thick, this is something thick. This moisturizer is made for dry skin, but this repairs a skin barrier like nothing else. And because of the ingredients and because of how soothing and thick this is, it literally smooths over pores and imperfections. If you have dry skin, I would recommend this."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"Specifically, what I'm seeing are those ceramides. Ceramides are essential to our skin function. Our stratum corneum [...] is like 50 percent ceramides, and sometimes if you have dry skin, it's a little bit less, which is why putting them back in there is great. Red algae is phenomenal. Algae [...] is fantastic for skin care [...] and an antioxidant. [...] This actually looks like a bomb ass ingredients list. I love the melon."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"The Cetaphil Rich Hydrating Night Cream is super popular and it's a good price at $16. I've heard a lot of people use this for underneath makeup. This is basically a less expensive, better version of things like Vaseline or petroleum jelly, or even La Mer in a twisted way. [...] The main ingredient in here is water, then we have paraffinium liquidum which is what's in Nivea and La Mer. [...] We do have some shea butter and some hydrolized soy protein, which we do like."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"If there are two things that I think are the biggest scams of the entire industry it is La Mer and eye creams. La Mer was created by an astrophysicist that didn't understand skincare. He burned his own hand in a lab and then six years later he's like this seaweed magically saved it. [...] When he died Estée Lauder purchased it and they used like a psychic medical medium to summon him from the dead to [...] share their magical formula."
✕Nay
59%Guru Score
"They call it a velvety face cream with red camellia extract and red camellia oil. [...] But to pay one [...] hundred and ten [...] bucks for this, you're paying for the name. If you actually have a skin condition and you want skincare to care for your skin, not just to slap something that smells nice on your face, this isn't gonna be it. This isn't gonna fix any issues. This isn't going to revolutionize your skin biology based on the ingredients list."
✕Nay
68%Guru Score
"There's also the V Green Daily Moisture Cream, this is that brand that has the vegan snail essence, the snail mucin. This is amazing."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This is actually a really good gift. I appreciate it."
✓Yay
65%Guru Score
"I got the Kate Somerville Nourish Day Moisturizer and I love this gift because I love a good expensive day moisturizer, and I'm so grateful to receive it."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This is an Illuminating Moisturizer for 135 dollars. I'm just like, what is in this that makes it so expensive? Tata Harper does all of this clean marketing and remember clean doesn't mean better, doesn't mean safer. Most of the time it actually means less preserved, which is actually dangerous, and it means that it expires quicker so you have to spend more money. [...] If you're sensitive to plant extracts, you are going to want to avoid this."
✕Nay
67%Guru Score
"I do like it and it's really good for the price. I didn't even know the ELF had skincare. Although it wasn't bad for me, some people they know likey likey, like not at all. One reviewer said if you want to break out, buy it. [...] I used it and thought that it was so good but I couldn't quite pinpoint what was making me break out until I used it by itself. I ended up with so many pimples on my forehead and my cheeks and on my nose. On top of that, it made my chin itch like crazy."
~Mixed
81%Guru Score
"First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream [...] is loaded with ceramides and anti-inflammatory ingredients as a calming emulsion that relieves dry prickly skin, but I was not a huge fan of this. For my skin, which is oily and acne prone, it just was not it for me. I felt that it kind of balled up on the skin. I didn't feel like it was really moisturizing and hydrating. I do like that it has ceramides in it, but there are a lot of other products with ceramides that I like better."
✕Nay
74%Guru Score
"Everything that is problematic. I'm so glad that it works for Huda, I literally don't know how, but I just can't get with this. Clinique is like the old lady that screams at you from her front lawn for riding your bicycle past her house. Clinique is the old lady of skin care and the cranky and miserable neighbor is not our friend. She needs to innovate, she needs to try something new."
✕Nay
46%Guru Score
"This is our honey whip, it's a peptide moisturizer, but the reason why I love it so much is it's packed full of amazing ingredients. I struggle with moisturizer, almost all moisturizers break me out. I've never had a moisturizer I can use consistently without fail and it would make my skin be moisturized, I would feel moisturized but then I also wouldn't get the dryness throughout the day and then I would also not have breakouts. But this has been created just to do that."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
"The dry down is like not oily but it just gives this dewiness to the skin that is like no other. It is stunning. But I am not notoriously the biggest fan of [...] the Tatcha Water Cream. It's expensive so I cringe at giving them my money. Out of all of the creams out there it is a halfway decent one. [...] It is hydrating, but is it going to be anytime soon, absolutely not. But if you are like Tati and you want that experience, it's not a bad one."
~Mixed
78%Guru Score
"Rovectin's Lotus Water Cream is really good, that is an excellent humectant inside of actually a moisturizer, which is great."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"She uses the SkinCeuticals Phyto Corrector Gel to correct redness. For 67 dollars, that is not an arm and a leg. [...] I don't personally purchase SkinCeuticals because they are not cruelty-free and that matters to me, but looking at this, the price is much better than their other stuff. [...] This is basically a hydrating serum with water and glycerin as humectants, [...] sodium hyaluronate which is hyaluronic acid, so another humectant."
~Mixed
66%Guru Score
"All three of these together make a really nice ceramide blend. This formula actually has a bit of jojoba oil in it, which is maybe why I love it so much. [...] It doesn't leave the skin overly greasy and it's really nice and lightweight. If you tried CeraVe and you were like I don't understand the hype behind this, [...] you might love this. [...] James Welsh is the reason I started trying and using this, and for my skin type which is oily prone and acne prone, I freaking love this."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"Bubble is really affordable and fun and donates to Teen Mental Health. I love the application of the Slam Dunk Hydrating Moisturizer [...] because it gives you the perfect amount every time. [...] The gel is almost more clear, it's very stringy and it has high water content."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This right here is literally one of my best purchases I've ever made, and I have purchased multiple bottles of this at this point. It reminds me of a snail mucin cream but there's no snail in it, and it's actually just a probiotic moisturizer. For me I am more oily prone but I can get away with using this especially on some of the drier areas like around my lips, and also I love to use this during the evenings or at night, especially when it's a little bit drier outside or when I'm traveling."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"The strength trainer from Ole Henriksel, I love this so much. It smells divine, if you're sensitive to fragrance you're going to want to avoid this, but this was the best seller at Sephora because it is literally one of the most beautiful textures. I actually made a skincare routine for someone who used to work at YouTube and I recommended that she use this moisturizer and she's told me that she fell in love with this so much that she's repurchased this almost five times at this point."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"This is probably my favorite NuFACE conduction gel and I'm like how is this so good. [...] This is something that I loved on first impression and as I continued to use it I was like holy this is amazing. [...] It's called the Hydrating Aqua Gel, it has hyaluronic acid and glacial water, but this works if you're dry, if you're oily, if you're mature, if you're young, you name it."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"This is one of the most amazing body moisturizers I've ever used. [...] Because it has this texture and because it's so inexpensive I can actually afford to put this all over my body. If you need a lightweight body moisturizer and you love K Beauty, this is one of the best priced and the most fun to use right after the shower. It makes my skin look and feel amazing. It actually absorbs but it keeps my skin soft and it doesn't leave me feeling sticky. This has revolutionized my everything shower."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This is The INKEY List Symbi Moisturizer. When I first tried it, I kind of wanted to love it, but I ended up just kind of disappointed. This is a brightening moisturizer, and it's got this patented ingredient, and then they've put glitter in it. I'm like, bruh, if I wanted my face to be glittery, I would just put on makeup. I would just put on a glitter primer. Why do I need to put glitter and mica in my moisturizer? I find that it also doesn't moisturize the skin a ton."
✕Nay
70%Guru Score
"There is a medication called Epiduo. Epiduo is literally adapalene, which is a form of retinoid, plus benzoyl peroxide, and it works really great for acne. It's a prescription. [...] A doctor or provider might say, hey, we're going to blend a retinoid in with benzoyl peroxide to help you get the most out of your skin care. If prescribed by your doctor, go for it."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"This is great if your skin is sensitive or if you're price sensitive. This is the Comfort Ceramide Cream and it is what it says—it's basically ceramides. They do have other ingredients like centella and some other oils like sunflower and palm oil, which are fine for the skin, but this is a very basic yet very very hydrating and skin supporting ceramide cream."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"This is fantastic if you're super dry. I would say that this probably isn't going to stay in my routine because while it's really good, it's just too hydrating for me. It is like a thick basically like a ceramide Bean Cream with minimal ingredients built on K Beauty staples. It has capric triglyceride, metofoam, turmeric for brightening and the main ingredients do make this like a very hydrating moisturizer."
~Mixed
73%Guru Score
"Topicals does have their Faded serum, which was a bestseller for so long and it does work so well. This actually includes a lot of those ingredients that are non-prescription that can help with pigmentation. Specifically, it has azelaic acid, licorice root, niacinamide, and tranexamic acid."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"This combination of vitamin B5 and zinc is phenomenal. Vitamin B5, also known as panthenol, specifically helps to reduce the sebum production in skin. It's a wonderful antioxidant but it's literally helping to make less of the oily greasy stuff that the acne bacteria likes to consume, and remember when the acne bacteria consumes that oil it farts and poops and lets out these waste products and those waste products are what end up creating this kind of irritation and inflammation in the skin."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"This cream from Goodal, from K-beauty, is a fraction of the price. It is literally a youth-firming cream. When I look at these ingredients, they might not be an exact dupe, but they look so similar, they feel so similar, and I would say this one does what it has got to do better than the one from Kim Kardashian. [...] If you want Kim Kardashian without the Kim Kardashian price, there you go."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"It is hydration, it is glow. It has a very special form of vitamin C, [...] BVOSC, otherwise known as tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, and [...] based on studies that have been done on this form of vitamin C, it appears that it helps with collagen synthesis up to 50% better than just regular vitamin C alone. It also has arctic cloudberry oil, which [...] my face actually likes. All of the squeezes that I have done thus far have been phenomenal."
✓Yay
Notverified
"The Watermelon Plump Moisturizer from Glow Recipe has a refillable container and this serum goes so well with that."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"If you have acne-prone or oily skin, [...] the Level Up Balancing Moisturizer is a lightweight gel texture, and this works really, really well for oily skin."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"If you are someone who's super sensitive to skin care and you're using a retinoid but you're prone to having a damaged skin barrier, the Pacifica vegan ceramide one is one of my favorites. [...] It's such a nice, beautiful, fluffy formula and it has ceramides and things that are nourishing to your skin and skin barrier. This is a really great one if you are prone to irritation if you're trying to take it gentle."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"The ISNTREE sunscreen is so good that I really don't need a moisturizer underneath it, but for the sake of playing with things today and having a relaxing morning, I am going to use this."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"One of our editors is also obsessed with it and her skin just drinks it up. This to me is kind of like a K-beauty version of the Neutrogena water hydrogel cream. It is a bit more of a cream but when you actually rub it in the texture is very similar. I would say this is slightly more hydrating but it kind of blends down into this water and it seals everything onto the skin. It's lightweight which is what I love from K-beauty."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"Three hundred dollars for this? For literally one point seven fluid ounces, two hundred sixty-five dollars? Let me pull up the ingredients because maybe I'm missing something. [...] The base of this is a whole bunch of oils, and we do have some peptides and some zinc PCA which is really good for acne and [...] inflammation. [...] But I don't understand why it needs to cost close to three hundred."
✕Nay
62%Guru Score
Sunscreen90 reviews
"This is just such a bad representation for so many reasons that we need to talk about it because this is that visual click baity thing that gets people to watch and like gets you to think wow I must buy this product"
✕Nay
70%Guru Score
"This does not get the cast pass but the original does is cheaper"
✕Nay
67%Guru Score
"These don't have any organic or chemical filters in them, they only have the physical or mineral ones at zinc oxide 17.42% and titanium dioxide at 1.33%. They do say that it helps with the sunburn, it's an SPF 40 as we expect and it does feel pretty nice on my skin. It's $40 [...] for the packet. [...] This does not get the cast pass but the original does, is cheaper, the original is on sale more and the original doesn't give that whiteness."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"It even says on the front non-greasy velvet finish it is so good. [...] This one's way better and if you are in your wonder last world explorer miss nomad adventurer era this is like the one thing that you're going to pack along with your laptop on your trip. This is so good."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"If you thought that you loved the rice and probiotic from Beauty of Joseon, you are going to love this, this is so much better. It does come out kind of this cream color but it is extraordinarily lightweight. If you want something that works under makeup you can literally just pat this in and it absorbs so beautifully into the skin. Because this is a chemical, organic sunscreen it works on all skin tones so it doesn't leave any white cast."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"I am an oily [...] babe, look at how this cuts down the grease on my cheeks, [...] look at how this literally cuts down the grease on my nose. Now if you're dry you're going to hate this but if you loved the purple protector you are going to love this. If you're oily this is like a dream come true, forget blotting sheets, like you don't need blotting sheets anymore, you just swipe this on. It has mugwort and chamelia, both of those are great antioxidants."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"If you are someone who hates blending in your sunscreen or hates the feel of sunscreen, this SPF 50 is so good. And it's PA++++ meaning it prevents from the UVA and the UVB rays, one of the best, so much better than the other ones that people are talking about. And I feel like people are sleeping on this but this absolutely gets an award for the best lightweight gel texture."
✓Yay
66%Guru Score
"If you're looking for a sunstick, the Hua is one of the best, not the best which we're going to talk about, but one of the best. It gives you a glow while giving you hydration and sun protection. Unfortunately it's not water resistant or waterproof which is unfortunate, but it does have hydrating ingredients."
✓Yay
66%Guru Score
"They also have this Abib stick, this is the Quick Sunstick Protection Bar. This one is just an SPF 50, it's not the waterproof one. I feel like this one is more of like a Vaseline if you want Vaseline in a stick with sun protection go with this. Again, it has the really cool half moon shape and it is absolutely invisible too. This is still really good."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
"It goes on like a dream. It's this half moon shape so it's really easy to apply, especially to the contours of your face. It feels like mango butter on the skin. This is one of probably the best sunsticks I've ever used. It's great for combo skin, it's great for all skin types. [...] This one is great for something right in the middle. You can layer it well over or under makeup, over or under other sunscreen. This is absolutely one of the best Korean beauty sunscreens I have ever used."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I need the sunscreen in my life and it's small enough that I can actually carry it onto the plane with me. If you want facial protection in a lightweight sun cream that you can use every single day, the K-Secret sunscreen is literally one of the best. I don't know where this was years ago. I get it off of Amazon nowadays, but it is absolutely one of my favorites. And hands down, the only thing that could make this better is if it were waterproof."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"If you want glass glowy skin and if you want something that smells like a Jolly Rancher, this is it. [...] This is [...] probably one of the best products that Glow Recipe even sells. [...] I actually like to apply this over makeup on my highlight areas because you see how it gives you that sheen. It will give you that K Beauty glow. This really smells like candy and if you just want to have fun with your sunscreen, this is the one."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"Neutrogena, are you trying to play with K Beauty right now? [...] It's good that it's an SPF 60, and it's good that it's fragrance-free. It's actually a decent product, it's just not cruelty-free or vegan, and it's expensive. Their whole claim is that it has green tea and it's amazing, but it's literally a basic sunscreen with a little bit of camellia sinensis leaf extract, which is green tea leaf extract. Boring."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"These literally feel like they are not even on the skin, this breathable protection is only $16, I've seen it as low as $12.99 on Style Vanana, and this is so so good. [...] If you are looking for one of the lightest weight softest touch sunscreens, why spend more on an American beauty when you could spend it on K Beauty from Purito? Don't waste your money on some expensive American sunscreens unless you're looking to splurge on yourself."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"This is the ISDIN Eryfotona Actinica SPF 50 and this is so good, it is phenomenal, especially if you have actinic keratosis. ISDIN specifically designs these products for actinic damage and this is a mineral formula. You got to shake, shake, shake it because of how lightweight and liquidy this is."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"Alastin is a very fancy dermatologist recommended sunscreen and skincare brand. [...] This is a broadspectrum SPF 36 that is supposed to be a super hydrator. It's $65, but it is a slightly larger size which we normally don't see from luxury beauty, this is actually 2.6 ounces. It is a tinted formula, and their whole thing is that it's supposed to be super hydrating, absorbent into the skin, and beautiful."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"I wore this at the beach, I rubbed it in, I went in the water and splashed it off and then I rubbed it in again. It is so beautiful and it protected me so well. [...] It's just as hydrating and just as nice as higher-priced options. The biggest difference is that this one does have a scent to it, so if you have super sensitive skin you might want to stick with a fragrance-free option. But this is so good, and at $11.99, [...] it's a no-brainer for me."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This is from EltaMD, which doctors and derms always recommend. It has this airless pump and this is basically a UV lotion broad spectrum 30 full body sunscreen. And does it sunscreen? Yes it does, and it does the sunscreening very very well. Now this is great, and for the size of 7 ounces, it is definitely a winner, even at like the 43 to 45 bucks that this entire tub is. Again, you can get it on sale for like 40 something, and I think that regularly it's like 45 or 50."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"It's like a makeup compact, they call it a sun cushion from Mary&May. [...] It's a nice dewy glow you can definitely layer it with other things, [...] which I love to do, and it just gives you this hydrated aura that's also the perfect base if you want to add more or if you want to add nothing else. And that's also what's important, for sunscreen you want to make sure that you can reapply it throughout the day especially if you're in the sun. This makes it super easy to do."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"This is the Bubble Solar Mate Daily Mineral Sunscreen with Broadspectrum SPF 40 and it is so good. This will actually get kids and teens to want to use their sunscreen and it's in a cute bottle, and again adults love this too. [...] This has also been used on so many different skin tones and it works for all skin tones, and I've never found a mineral sunscreen like this. It is phenomenal."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"Someone said it's their desert island product"
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"So I mean I like this one too but I actually think this is fraud. [...] This one's [...] only 9% zinc oxide and I heard it's they can claim it as SPF 30 because they have an ingredient called... [...] which is chemical at that point, it's just a hybrid. [...] We tested it and under UV it came back closer to 49 and 50 but we didn't want to overstate it because it wasn't 100% at 50 all the time, we're like it's definitely 40 something, but a lot of brands do that."
~Mixed
84%Guru Score
"That one's turning purple oh no I'm getting triggered"
✕Nay
74%Guru Score
"This is the mineral sunscreen I use this is amazing"
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I use the sunbum one. [...] My issue is again I have sensitive skin but so I prefer looking for reapplication mists that don't have alcohol in it but it's really difficult to find one without alcohol that's also not greasy and has a high SPF. Unfortunately this does have alcohol in it. It's slightly annoying but like it is SPF 45."
~Mixed
62%Guru Score
"I ended up reaching out and we ended up working together to formulate this and it is the Purple Protector Sunscreen, which yes has red onion extract. When this finally came out there were a lot of questions about it because it is a very weird, strange product. It is a purple onion sunscreen and it did sell out multiple times. [...] One of the main questions is why onions and does it smell like onions. I'm so happy that this is fragrance-free."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"I wanted to give you this because it is made by another amazing female entrepreneur who actually used to work in the finance sector. She decided she wanted to create a brand that had transparent ingredients, was made by a badass female entrepreneur, had recyclable packaging, and had ingredients she felt good using on her skin. So she created this entire line called Cocokind. It's about being kind to yourself in the earth. This is great for your body specifically."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"I'm also using black girl sunscreen for my sunscreen today I absolutely love this as the SPF 30 gives me a little bit of a glow"
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"I use this like every day. [...] The bottle has the label rubbed off on it because I use it that much. It's a sunscreen with zinc and avobenzene, SPF 50, and it layers beautifully over my vitamin C serum."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"There's also the ZitSticka Mega Shade sunscreen, that one's really nice and lightweight if you want something super super sheer on the skin."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"This is an SPF 32, it's only 25 bucks, it has a microalgae extract and rice in it, it's very hydrating, I would say it's better for combo to dry skin but it is a mineral formula. This Coco kind sunscreen is so good."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I didn't feel like this protected me as well and I don't know if it's the formula, if it's an SPF 30 or if it's the fact that it's aerated so I couldn't figure out how much to apply to my skin. This would be one of my absolute favorite sunscreens if it didn't break anything out, but if you're sensitive to coconut this has coconut in it and if you're acne prone, fragrance sensitive, stay away."
~Mixed
66%Guru Score
"I like to look glossy and hydrated and it protects me from the water. Love that. But for some people they do not want to look oily. [...] I love the vitamin C in here, which is why this is a real hit for me. But it is expensive. Some people say it's way too oily. You know, it might not be right for everyone. This is expensive, but I feel like this is worth it. Overall really good, really lightweight, non-sticky, great use case, and it makes me look the way I want to."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"This right here is the EltaMD UV Aero Broad Spectrum SPF 45, and even though it says it's an SPF 45, I feel like this protects me like an SPF 50 or even 50 plus. This is a continuous spray transparent zinc oxide with UVA and UVB protection, and this is so easy to apply. With spray sunscreens you still have to rub them in, but watch this, do you see how nice that goes on? And then when you do rub it in, boom boom boom, it's easy peasy."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"It is a clear Vaseline texture fluid that just soaks into skin. It feels like a makeup primer and it is totally invisible on literally every single skin tone. It's not like white and it blends out as you can see, it's literally clear and it stays clear. It gives you kind of a dewy sheen, it's absolutely gorgeous. [...] It's an amazing formula and yes it's worth the money but it's expensive at 38 to 48 dollars depending on where you get it."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"The super goop glow screen is very similar to the Unseen sunscreen, it has a very similar texture. The difference is that this has glowy pigments in it and it's a little bit less heavy on the skin, feels more like a light weight foundation rather than a primer. Now it is gorgeous, it is glowy, but it is also a little expensive. [...] The super goop comes off a slightly darker color and it actually blends in a little bit better. There are multiple shades depending on what skin tone you have."
✓Yay
66%Guru Score
"This is an absolute dupe almost down to every last detail, except [...] the Trader Joe's one broke me out and the super goop one did not. It's [...] an absolute dupe from texture to the way it wears to the way it feels. The problem is it broke me out and it's always sold out. In-store it's eight dollars if you can find it; I found it on Amazon for sixteen. It's waterproof, SPF 40, vegan and cruelty free, oil free."
~Mixed
85%Guru Score
"I would say that for the majority of people who are trying to save money, especially if you're using this for like a glowy look under foundation, the elf Woglow is an absolute dupe. When I first tried this I had gotten it wrong, so now I am standing corrected."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"This is one of my favorites from Dr Sam, the Dr Sam Bunting Daily Sunscreen. It's so thick that the two finger rule is going to be more than enough."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
"An Everyday Sunscreen with dimethica, argon oil, co-polymer, shea butter. This is fine for acne but I don't think it's great for acne. I would expect them to put something great for acne in here. If this is an acne line this kind of makes me think it's like not private label but like low-key maybe color label."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"This zero Rom and I know this is good for mature skin based on what I'm seeing here I didn't see a lot of spread of oils in this so this kind of makes me point to this. You know but this zero Rom, and I know this is good for mature skin based on what I'm seeing here, I didn't see a lot of spread of oils in this."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
"Granted this is only good enough for like a day or two, like this is gonna last Shu like not even a week, but if you're looking to try a new sunscreen for yourself or get a little something for somebody else or there's that one person in your life that won't wear sunscreen because they say it's greasy and nasty and they don't like it, you can get them these little minis so they can try them out and actually find something that works for them."
~Mixed
77%Guru Score
"By far the most common sunscreens that I reach for are from Elta MD and it's because there's like an endless supply. Many dermatologists and doctor's office sell Elta MD and so it's like available and on hand. But the great thing about Elta MD is that they have so many different sunscreens for so many different skin types and then they have the tinted and the untinted."
✓Yay
91%Guru Score
"They also have the UV restore, which is going on sale. This is amazing for anti-aging."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"They have the glow sunscreen, which again normally $45, $50. They're on sale for 30. EltaMD is amazing for anti-aging if you're looking for really good cruelty-free sunscreens that doctors and derms recommend."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"Pacifica Beauty has a great ten-dollar moisturizer with little purple butterflies on it in a glass package, which shows you can get good moisturizers at inexpensive prices."
✓Yay
63%Guru Score
"I don't care if it's a hundred dollars from Skin Better Sun Science. What matters is that you use a sunscreen that you actually like and will apply properly and reapply."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"I personally do not use La Roche-Posay because they are not cruelty-free however I always look objectively at different products and how they work and while I don't recommend them and I don't use them myself I know that they work very well for other people. [...] I love that this is an SPF 50. The ingredients do look good and although I prefer cruelty-free sunscreens I do want to give credit where credit is due. Dermatologists and doctors love it."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"This is the Versed Guards Up Daily Mineral Sunscreen, and [...] when I first got this, I was like, oh my god, this is just such a terrible tinted sunscreen. Like this looks and feels disgusting. I can't put this on my face. [...] The grit in this is so disgusting when you do it. It feels like you're exfoliating your skin. It feels like sandpaper."
✕Nay
60%Guru Score
"No. Is it like four or five out of ten? Yes. But if you are trying to find something inexpensive for your face, for your body, for whatever it is you need, this is a good one to go to. [...] If you're looking for an inexpensive mineral filter that's under 10 bucks, this is an SPF 30, and it has antioxidants in it. This is one of the best basics. It also is great for more sensitive skin. It doesn't have fragrance, it doesn't have dyes or colorants."
~Mixed
56%Guru Score
"This is one of the best things I have ever used. [...] This is like a thick, beautiful, luxurious foundation sunscreen. If you are looking for something that covers texture, if you're looking for something that covers color, if you have even like liver spots or melasma or rosacea, this is going to cover it. [...] This sunscreen is expensive, but it's an SPF 75, so you can really leave it on like all day. [...] It really is a leveled up version of what the Australian Gold offers at the drugstore."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"As far as mineral sunscreens go, [...] Australian Gold is great if you have a little bit more money to spend."
✓Yay
67%Guru Score
"This is made for acne prone and sensitive skin. Although again there's nothing in here that's actually going to fight breakouts, it contains zinc oxide which is [...] the best sunscreen ingredient for preventing hyperpigmentation. The bottle says that this sunscreen is so moisturizing it perfectly complements acne treatments which can also sometimes be drying."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"It's almost like a bomb, it's an SPF 50, it is definitely the thickest of the bunch but if you are someone who deals with redness, boom, this covers it up like nothing else. It is tinted, it is fragrance free and it's actually made for rosacea so the sunscreen in it helps to stop the sun's rays from irritating the skin but then that color just goes on and it's literally like a foundation with SPF that is made for the most sensitive of skin types."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I had purchased like eight of the Purito sunscreens because everyone was like, listen, tell a green level unscented SPF 50 PA+ is the best, and then we all found out that because of the manufacturer being a shady shady liar liar pants on fire, this wasn't actually the SPF 50 that they claimed."
✕Nay
51%Guru Score
"It's a treatment plus a sunscreen that keeps you safe and protected. I really love this. I really do recommend using this in singularity and if you're looking for a product that just does it and you don't have like a lot of super sensitive reactions to getting sunscreen in your eyes or having something sting an open blemish or a little wound, Glow Recipe really did it with this one. And not to mention, it smells amazing."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"It's an SPF 30 and it does have a little bit of rosemary or lavender in it. [...] It comes out with a tint but it's kind of a light coverage, it's not like a full coverage thing, so when you actually blend this in, it kind of comes out with this glow similar to that self tanner but it isn't overbearing and it doesn't look like foundation, it's more like a tinted BB cream. [...] This kind of gives that skin some luminosity as well as protection."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"Another really good one that helps you fake a makeup look with no makeup is from Colorescience. That one's a really thick one. If you have rosacea or redness, oh my god, that is basically foundation in a sunscreen. It covers everything."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"It smells like a marshmallow candy land, and it actually looks very, very unsuspicious. But as you can see, it is this white texture that kind of has a slight shimmer, a little bit of pink tint to it. And if you are someone who has dark under eye circles, or if you just want to use this all over the face and you want something luminous, it's technically labeled as a sunscreen. It's not labeled as a brightening luminizer or a highlighter, but it's a [...] highlighter. This is phenomenal."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"This one right here is the SkinBetter [...] Tone Smart. And this is like a straight-up foundation. That is a straight-up foundation. It covers redness. It covers texture. It covers pores, and yes, it's an SPF 75, so it protects me from the sun."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"What is this? Is this a lipstick? No. Is this a blush? No. Is this an eyeshadow? No. What is it then? Oh, it's an SPF 50 Total Protection Color Balm Sunscreen. This is technically a sunscreen, but do you see how I have just applied a literal blush, literal eyeshadow, and literal lipstick? [...] You know what? [...] I have pretty much applied a somewhat full face of makeup by using none."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"At the time that this was happening, I was using the Make P:rem sunscreen as well as another one. The [...] Make P:rem is a Korean one and both have these chemical or organic ingredients, and those can cause redness and stinging in some people."
~Mixed
66%Guru Score
"The Bliss has a little bit of lavender in it. It's also tinted. We used this in a Trader Joe's haul which was super fun, but this SPF 30 is great."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"The Dr. Dennis Gross, this is also fantastic. The lightweight wrinkle defense SPF 30, especially if you're a little bit more mature skinned, if you're looking for something that glides on nicely."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"The Elta MD UV Daily Tinted Moisturizer is on the wishlist."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"Paula's Choice has this one which our beautiful butterfly Paula actually loves. [...] This is the Super Light Daily Wrinkle Defense Broad Spectrum SPF 30. And it also has antioxidants and resveratrol. This one is again fragrance free and this one is hyaluronic acid free as well. So really, really good for rosacea prone skin. I would say this is phenomenal if you want a regular sunscreen, this is excellent."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"When I first got this I put it on my skin and I rubbed it in completely. This [...] is literally invisible. This is potentially one of the best invisible drugstore sunscreens that I have ever picked up and it is an SPF 30. [...] This formula has niacinamide, it has different peptides and yes hyaluronic acid. This does have a fragrance so keep that in mind if you are sensitive, but I think it's like 12 bucks and I love this so far."
✓Yay
90%Guru Score
"I've tried Colorescience and it's excellent, but it has some of the same problems with getting the powder out of the brush or the brush not being smooth enough."
~Mixed
67%Guru Score
"I've tried Super Goop and it's excellent, but is it just me or are they all very similar and some of them have the same problems with getting the powder out of the brush or the brush not being smooth enough. [...] I do still recommend these and I do still absolutely love these, but when they work you see my point."
~Mixed
62%Guru Score
"This is the Centella Hyalu-Cica Water-Fit Sun Serum, hands down one of the best K Beauty sunscreens I've ever tried. This has been a top seller for years and it's been on my favorites list. While I still think it is a favorite, [...] this came to my rescue and I have to say it's PA+++, so it did protect me from the UVA rays that come through the windows."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"If you have oily acne-prone skin and you need a sunscreen that feels good on your skin and gives you a nice satin finish, this is absolutely one of my favorites, one of the best."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"It is such an amazing sunscreen. It is so lightweight, it is tinted, and it's completely mineral. It's an SPF 50 with UVA and UVB protection. It has a very slight tint to it, and it depends on your skin tone, but oh my goodness, this is so good, and it is so much less expensive. It's 1.69 fluid ounces, so there's even a little bit more product in the bottle, and it's $19. I have purchased many of these, literally multiple times. I love this."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"This is more of like a reapplication sunscreen but you can apply this over makeup, under makeup. It feels so lightweight on skin and literally whatever the texture of the moisturizer or the thing you have on underneath it just maintains that throughout the day. This is one of the top selling sunscreens that I've heard of from Korea and it's so good. It works for dry, for oily, for basically any skin. It almost feels like a deodorant, kind of feels like that in a nice way."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"EltaMD has the UV Clear, it's like $50 with niacinamide. It's expensive, but it's really really good."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"This is the Iris and Romeo Weekend Skin, but it's not just an SPF 50. It's also a vitamin C and it's also basically a dewy glowy foundation. I've used this in San Francisco, I've used this in the hot hot heat of Arizona, I've used this in the pool, I've used this in a river. This is so good. [...] She wanted to create a sunscreen that made her look fantastic and could replace her foundation but also protected her and literally had vitamin C and skin care benefits."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"This is the zinc screen 100% mineral ocean SPF 40. This is so good, only problem is that it's like $40. [...] Dr. Andrea, Dr. Dre on YouTube, [...] she recommended the Supergoop zinc sunscreen and she got me hooked on this. She specifically spoke about how great this is as not only a tinted sunscreen but to be used around the under eyes. When it comes to putting sunscreen around the under eye area, you do not want it to sting your eyeballs, you do not want it to hurt."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This is so good and it's made for rosacea. If you have rosacea or redness, look at how this covers, this is thick. [...] It's not like concealer thick, but it's thick. Like if you want to build layers, it's thick and it has the consistency of skin. [...] Look at how this covers up redness, literally beautiful. If you're someone who struggles with rosacea and you have such a hard time getting that redness under control, and rosacea is flared by the sun, this is a two in one."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"If you want to go Beauty of Joseon instead of Isntree, this is not a bad choice. This Rice and Probiotic sunscreen is a little bit thicker than the Isntree, but it has those same effects of hydrating, leaving the skin silky smooth, being perfect for reapplication, perfect for use under makeup, or literally it smooths out the pores just the way that this one does, so that I don't feel the need to wear makeup at all. I love this so so much. The prices are very comparable."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"Black Girl Sunscreen Make It Matte is much more affordable and it is a mattifying sunscreen. So on these other areas where I'm still oily but my pores aren't as large, I can use these to keep things mattified. I absolutely love this. It's only one fluid ounce. If I could afford to do the two finger rule three times a day with this on my face, I absolutely would, but for the price, I just need to be cognizant of how I'm using this in my routine. Absolutely worth every single penny."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"But this poor screen, I would give a 9 out of 10. The best part is that it's an SPF 40 and it literally has niacinamide, microalgae, and vitamin E that help to blur pores, help to reduce the sebum and the oil that my nose creates naturally, hydrate it with that algae, and then also help with any scarring and irritation with that vitamin E. This is fantastic. I can use this all over my face, but my biggest issue with this sunscreen is how tiny it is."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"Supergoop actually sells a gallon version of sunscreen. It's legit like a gallon that you pump out. Especially if you are prone to polymorphous light eruptions, aka sun allergies, you should get that. But honestly, if you love sunscreen and you love Supergoop, like everyone should get that. Amazing. Can more brands make gallon jugs of sunscreen? This is like the twenty-first century version of the milk cartons that people used to get delivered to their doors with, like, the milk boy."
✓Yay
63%Guru Score
"This is one that I love. It's twelve dollars from Good Molecules. It's the Sheer Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30, and this is one of the only mineral sunscreens that is completely sheer on all skin tones. This is amazing."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"This goes on so sheer, this is so beautiful. It's an SPF 50, it is lightweight, and Paula's Choice just knocked it out of the park with this one. I've recommended this to so many people, who all say that not only do they love it, but they go back and buy like five more. It's a really good price, especially if you apply enough of it every single day. Sunscreen can get expensive because we're reapplying and we're making sure that we put it on all areas that are exposed to the skin."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"This is phenomenal. This is from Rovectin. It's the Skin Essentials Aqua Soothing UV Protector, SPF 50, PA plus plus plus. If you're looking for a K-beauty sunscreen that does the job, we have an editor named Doris who has really, really, really, really sensitive eyes and sensitive everything, and she has literally rubbed this in her eyes and it works. It's a base of zinc, so it is a mineral sunscreen, but it actually blends in quite well. This is so beautiful, it's so wonderful."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This is acne-prone skin safe. EltaMD is super professional. This is a wonderful formula and it blends in beautifully. EltaMD is one of those lines that all of the dermatologists sell and use because it works really really well. Yes, their non-medical products are cruelty-free and beautiful on the skin. This is brilliant. I love that it's on sale."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"If you want something that does cover up a little bit more, this one is expensive but this is so good. This is the Sun Better Tone Smart, a water-resistant mineral sunscreen at SPF 75. This is very similar to almost sunscreen foundation in a way, whereas the Super Goop is much more lightweight."
~Mixed
79%Guru Score
"I like this one too, but I don't find this one to be as sheer as the other sunscreen options, so these are what I'm going to be using today."
~Mixed
78%Guru Score
"What's amazing about this is that it doesn't pill. You could use this over a moisturizer and under a foundation, or you could use this in place of a moisturizer, but this one does not gum up. I had to try a lot of sunscreens to find ones that work under foundation. [...] This one is a dream. It doesn't flash back. It works well under the thickest of foundations or the thinnest. And on top of that, it actually has ingredients that support the skin. It has glycerin, silica, and sulfonic acid."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I don't even think of this as a sunscreen. I basically think of this as a moisturizer that has the benefits of an SPF 50. This has soothing ingredients such as Centella but it's also got mistletoe extract that's really nice. We have multiple types of oil including sunflower oil and soybean lipids. And if you are someone whose skin is constantly dry, this helps to give moisture and soothing ingredients to the skin. But then it also kind of locks them in as a moisturizer with these oils."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"This one right here is the UV Defense Me Calming Stick and this is so fun for on the go. [...] This is like a non-gluey sunscreen stick and as you can see it is completely sheer even on the darkest of skin tones. This is also the SPF 50 PA+++++++. [...] If you're looking for [...] something that is [...] super sheer, travel-friendly, really good for under makeup, it almost feels like a primer. This is great for on the go. I absolutely adore this."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
Cleansers71 reviews
"Such a good cleansing oil when it's cold it actually uses a little more chunky so just keep that in mind if you live in a cold environment. It's normally $20 to $21, it's on sale for $15 to $10. For Prime day you can actually bundle it for additional discounts so it comes out to like $11 to $12 if you use coupons."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"I lived for this and I don't know what I would do without this honestly, it's amazing. [...] You should not just rely on this unless you're traveling or in an emergency or you're heavily depressed like I was. Like always use a double cleanse. I like the cleansing oils better, but in a pinch this works."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"I do think it kind of worked. It was salicylic acid, it was fine, but when my acne was at its worst, it was severe, it was chronic, it was cystic and it took over my face, chest and back, and the Neutrogena cleanser just didn't cut it. It has 2% salicylic acid and fragrance, but it's honestly super basic. I still don't know why they raised the price."
~Mixed
62%Guru Score
"The Squalane Cleanser is especially good for dry skin and it's super super gentle."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"Pan oxal was still inexpensive that was like $10"
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"This right here is the Milky Jelly Cleanser. This has a tri ceramide complex so it doesn't strip the skin, and remember, cleansers are an absolute essential for all skincare routines. This also has licorice root extract, that is not the same as vitamin C but it can brighten the skin and have a similar benefit to vitamin C but without the stinging and the irritation. There's also green tea, which really helps to nourish a skin barrier and has antioxidant support."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"If you are looking for a simple effective and affordable cleanser, this is one of the best. When I use this on myself it's nice, it's gentle, it's foaming, it's still hydrating but it breaks down dirt and gunk and sunscreen really well. The glucoside foam in here is also very very gentle and it's really only got like five ingredients and no fragrance. I can actually use this as a body cleanser as well. This has very quickly replaced many of my other cleansers as a favorite."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"I never thought I would love micellar water from Garnier but I actually fell in love with this. You can find some really inexpensive but effective skincare."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"The Face Shop has a really nice Rice Water Bright Cleansing Oil and that just breaks down my makeup wonderfully. I'm traveling with that so that's superb as well."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I love the Clinique Take the Day Off Melting Makeup Remover, it is so good for my skin. They have an oil version of the same as well which I love."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"These have literally given me exfoliation and vitamin C at a time that I needed them"
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"They have blueberry, raspberry, cucumber, and apple fruit extracts, and what I liked about this is that they didn't have any orange, bergamot, or citrus. My skin is a little bit more sensitive to that. I can usually get away with it in a cleanser, but I liked that this was a superfruit antioxidant booster that didn't have that citrus in it. It's more of the blues and the berries, so I'm actually really excited to try this and rub it on my skin and hopefully get back into cleansing my skin."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"Something new that is an absolute hit is the Hyaluronic Acid Cleanser. It's amazing if you have oily, combo, or acne prone skin. If you're looking for an excellent, inexpensive cleanser that gets the job done but actually helps to hydrate the skin, or works for combo to dry skin, this is it, oh my God."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"Tula I hear everyone speaking about and I haven't tried a lot of their products but they have this product called the breakout star that's supposed to have sulfur in it seems really really good and I constantly hear people talking about Tula but sometimes I've looked at it and I'm like um too expensive or just like it's not calling my name today"
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"If you look at the [...] CeraVe salicylic acid cleanser and you know that this salicylic acid, also known as BHA, is medically proven to kill the acne bacteria that actually causes acne to exist in the first place, then you can say yes, this is something that is worth my money that I should try for my acne and for my skin condition."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"This is a benzoyl peroxide wash for 15. It's a good option if you have really oily skin. The ingredients check out on this, but if you want something even stronger, Panoxyl is ten dollars for five percent or ten percent, so you're gonna get way more. If you want to go hard you want to go gentle, this is an option."
~Mixed
77%Guru Score
"I actually purchased this as part of a Sephora shop with me. [...] These cellulose products gum up on the skin but they gum up in your hand even with a glove regardless of whether or not they touch your skin. These can be amazing if you are someone who likes physical exfoliation but doesn't want to scratch off your face."
✓Yay
64%Guru Score
"I use Cetaphil daily facial cleanser, it's a pretty basic drugstore brand and I love it because if it's not broken don't fix it. I'm really happy to see a celebrity using something that is affordable and accessible for people. [...] The problem is Cetaphil is not cruelty free, and I really care about cruelty free skincare."
~Mixed
81%Guru Score
"It's 75 dollars which is a ton of money, but for Dr. Barbara Sturm that's actually not bad. [...] I would still spend my 75 dollars on Dermalogica instead though. The ingredients look basic, we [...] have some enzymes like lipase and ascorbic acid which is vitamin C, basically corn gummy plant carbs, basically cellulose and talc. [...] I mean it doesn't actually look bad like I would legit put this on my face, I just wouldn't want to pay 75 dollars."
~Mixed
61%Guru Score
"For my breakout days, this Skin Fix cleanser does not disappoint. If you have acne, if you have rosacea, if you have redness in your skin, this is so good."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"No, they're so bad. The whole thing about makeup wipes is that they're not eco-friendly, they're really just pushing makeup and dirt deeper into your pores or across your face unless you're doing something like a legit double cleanse where you're using some sort of an oil cleanser or micellar cleanser and then removing that with some sort of a treatment cleanser."
✕Nay
61%Guru Score
"The Panoxyl 10 wash is really really really potent. This is not for everyone, this is going to be drying. [...] I would recommend this for like the body or something, whereas the cushion cleanser is what can actually be used both morning and evening in a double cleansing routine."
~Mixed
77%Guru Score
"I got the Glow Baby Pacifica cleanser for my friend."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"It is gentle and it is dermatologist approved and doesn't have fragrances so a lot of people like it. But for me it is not cruelty free which matters, and I've also found that it's not bad, it's just not revolutionary. [...] If your derm recommends it and it's what you want to spend money on and you can afford two to five dollars, go for it, but there are some other options that I absolutely love."
~Mixed
78%Guru Score
"I just got out the shower and I normally wash my face in the shower just with this therapy. That's what I'm going to do in the morning."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This is a green tea pure cleansing balm that I've never heard of but it looks like it has cactus in it and it won the Beauty Shortlist Awards of 2020. It has green tea powder and jojoba seed oil which is one of my favorites, and it has antioxidant-rich citrus extracts. Overall this product looks fantastic. If this works for her, continue using it."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"This right here is the AHA/BHA Exfoliating Cleanser. This is so good. I've used this professionally on others."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
"The clarifying oil-free water gel, the acne cleanser from Murad is on sale. It is so good. The cleansers, I think are excellent."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This is a cleansing water that is oil free and it's wonderful because it cleanses off sunscreen, waterproof eyeliner, even those eyeshadows that kind of stick to your face. You [...] don't have to tug at the eye, which is very important [...] when washing your eyelashes."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"It doesn't separate in the bottle or in your hands. It [...] has sunflower oil and grape seed oil and some lactobacillus ferment. [...] This is hydrating and best for really dry skin, or if you're oily like me you can use this as a double cleanse. I find that this really breaks down oil and makeup extraordinarily well. [...] The formula is amazing and very comparable if not a level up from the Inkey List."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"This Cleansing Emulsion is actually a decent cleanser with antioxidants, but it's not worth €70. [...] You can get something like this for $10. The main ingredients are just grapefruit water, regular water, glycerin, and various plant extracts that cost pennies. I don't understand why they're charging this kind of money for ingredients that are this inexpensive."
✕Nay
62%Guru Score
"This cleanser is not terrible, but it's literally rice bran oil. [...] The second ingredient is rice bran oil, and you can go to Target and get rice bran oil for three dollars, or if you want to be bougie you can go to Thrive Market and get it for eight. I love that she can afford this and loves it for her skin, but this is basically very cheap inexpensive rice bran oil with a couple of other ingredients and some fragrance in it, and people are paying fifty dollars for it."
✕Nay
70%Guru Score
"This is a phenomenal cleanser, [...] a gel-to-cream cleanser with ingredients that help to brighten and even skin tone such as licorice and fulvic acid. Fulvic acid is wonderful and can actually help with inflammation in the skin for people who deal with eczema or psoriasis. It's not going to cure that because there is no cure for psoriasis and eczema, but it is something that would be a good option to include in a routine."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"This cleanser boasts 17% glycerin and aloe vera and is supposed to be super hydrating to the skin with turmeric for brightening and helping with uneven and dull skin, but what's inside of it is not revolutionary in my personal opinion. It's hydrating and soothing, but it costs $45 when you could get a cleanser with comparable or better ingredients for a quarter of that price."
✕Nay
63%Guru Score
"Yes, this will annihilate breakouts, but it could also really dry and irritate the face of someone who is dry. [...] I would actually recommend this for the chest and back of people who have dry skin, this is excellent for the body, but I would say that this can be a lot for the face. They have a four percent and a ten percent, if you have dry skin I would only recommend the four percent."
~Mixed
87%Guru Score
"We want to build that barrier back. [...] Even though this doesn't have an acne active inside of it, this is excellent for dry skin, it's not going to irritate acne and it helps to replenish some of those ceramides, some of that moisture. It's sensitive skin type approved, fragrance free, dermatologist tested. [...] This is one of my favorite Pacifica products hands down, but especially if you're struggling with dry skin, this is going to be a lifesaver."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
"I started to be so gentle to my skin. [...] I did use Cetaphil Gentle Cleanser and that one works for me."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"I finally found a facial cleanser that is incredible for me, it is the Lancôme cream skin milk oil cleanser. [...] I take it off all my makeup with it. I put it on my face dry and I don't put water on my face first, and then I just do like one or two pumps [...] all over my face."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"CeraVe is often used because it is very basic, but there are some other ones that I would personally recommend instead because these are cruelty free and I find them to be a little bit more gentle."
~Mixed
85%Guru Score
"They launched this cleanser that literally works for acne, rosacea and fungal acne, and this is the Acne Plus 2% BHA Cleanser but this also has azelaic acid in it. This has azelaic acid, niacinamide, green tea, salicylic acid and basically if you're struggling with one of these conditions or multiple this is so good. It is this milky kind of pinkish color and it goes onto the skin so well and actually helps to deal with these conditions in an over-the-counter way."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"This is probably my favorite azelaic acid product, and this is from Skin Fix. This is a cleanser, and yes, this works for rosacea. This works for fungal acne, which doesn't actually exist. It's called pityriasis folliculitis or malassezia yeast that causes this fungal infection. This product was literally created to help with all three. This is a really beautiful pink wash. I've been using this non-stop. I actually, this is my second bottle."
✓Yay
90%Guru Score
"Paula's Choice has a few good ones that are fragrance-free."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"This one is better for more dry to combo skin. This is the Squalane Cleanser that I personally don't love on my oily prone skin."
~Mixed
75%Guru Score
"I would [...] not spend 45 on this. I'm glad that it works for her, it's not terrible, but if you have sensitive skin you're going to want to stay away. If anything, they're trying to say that these oils have vitamin C, which they do, but that is not the same as ascorbic acid. I would recommend the Jumiso Vitamin C Cleanser or Juice Beauty's Vitamin C Cleanser. Even Oolea Hendrickson's Truth Juice would be a better Vitamin C Cleanser than this one."
✕Nay
70%Guru Score
"I am obsessed with this, it's the Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm and it smells like freaking heaven. [...] Based on the ingredients, I kind of feel like this is overpriced for $64 - this is not what I would spend my money on if I were to buy an Elemis product. But it's nice that she's using it."
~Mixed
75%Guru Score
"Because I only wear waterproof mascara, [...] this is like the only thing that gets the waterproof mascara off - it's the oil-free Neutrogena eye makeup remover."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"The ingredients are not bad, I just don't think that they are phenomenal. There is some fragrance in it, some silk, a lot of basic things, some nice cleansers, some glycerin so a little bit more hydrating to the skin. We also have [...] camellia sinensis which is similar to what Chanel has been throwing into their skincare products. [...] It's got some rice fermented filtrate. I just don't think it is fantastic."
~Mixed
65%Guru Score
"These can be fun, there is a safe way to use them, but are they ideal? Absolutely not. This is Biore and bad and something I would not recommend. You're using exfoliating acids, you say that you have exfoliants, why the pore strips? Why the pore strips? Poor strips can actually damage your skin and cause broken capillaries."
✕Nay
56%Guru Score
"It does have gentle surfactants and some proprietary extract. [...] The marketing says it's for oily skin, which leads me to think she may have oily skin. [...] This also has fragrance in it which for sensitive skin depends on what you're sensitive to, but I don't love this. It isn't horrible and the price is right, but there's not really anything in here that's amazing that's really blowing my mind."
~Mixed
64%Guru Score
"The ingredients look good but this is just testament that you can't always judge a product solely by the ingredients because you don't know the formulation or how it works. [...] Based on her beautiful face it looked a little bit raccoonish and I don't believe that the cleansing balm really got rid of all that makeup, and then a little tug with the washcloth, not good for the delicate eye area. But [...] not my favorite, though I have hope in her actual cleanser."
~Mixed
66%Guru Score
"There's the IsNtree Cleansing Oil with Green Tea on the wishlist."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"I have a favorite cleanser right now which is the Soap and Glory, and this is really good for me because I have seriously dry skin and this is really gentle, and I have really sensitive skin too."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I know a lot of people love this, the ingredients are not bad, this is one that I feel like I need to try. It's the Cleansing Complex and I do think that it's expensive as compared to other things on the market."
~Mixed
79%Guru Score
"Their cleanser is amazing. It's like a non-stripping benzoyl peroxide."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"This is a micellar water that I have mentioned time and time again and I am still hooked, I am still loving it. It's 28 dollars. It is a clean product if you go on Sephora they will do that clean stamp where you know that it is formulated without a lot of the nasties that can potentially be irritating to the skin. [...] I really like it, I feel good about it. [...] This is really great for all skin types, it's very gentle on the skin."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"Inky list has some fantastic ones that are under $10"
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This is the oil to foam cleanser from Dermalogica, it's an esthetician best friend. This is literally an oil that ends up foaming up on your hands and your face. The way you use it is just by mixing it with water. I absolutely love this. As an aesthetician, I want to make sure that I'm cleaning someone's skin so that their other products can really soak in, and you usually do that through foaming, which can also make the skin barrier stripped. But this one cleans without that stripping feeling."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"I'm stocking up on the COSRX cleanser, one of my favorites, the Good Morning pH cleanser."
✓Yay
61%Guru Score
"This formula is fantastic, it melts sunscreen and makeup off my face, it literally feels like a memory foam cushion and I love this little container. It's one of the funnest skincare design things that I've come across in quite a while [...] and it feels so good on my skin. This is one of the most effective K Beauty cleansing balms that I've ever tried."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"They have a Balancing Glycerin Gel Cleanser, which if you have acne and you're using like a prescription strength retinoid for your acne, this is such a good cleanser because it's non-irritating, it's non-stripping, it's fragrance-free, it's supportive to skin."
✓Yay
Notverified
"Or instead of having oily skin, if you have super dry skin and you need something even more hydrating, they have this Caring Squalane Cream Cleanser, which is amazing for like mature or more dry skin, and I love that they call it caring like it cares about my skin."
✓Yay
Notverified
"The Dr Sam's Flawless Cleanser is super wonderful and great for acne prone skin. I absolutely love this and it was immediately what I repurchased."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"This is from Shawnee Darden who's an esthetician. This is at Sephora as well. If you get it on sale, that is even better. I would highly recommend getting this on sale. This is the Cleansing Serum. It is literally like a serum texture but in a cleanser. It is silky, it is smooth. This removes makeup and sunscreen really well. You could of course pair this with a cleansing balm, [...] but I feel like this is fantastic and it's made by an esthetician who really understands and cares about skin."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"This right here is the Inky List Oat Cleansing Balm. This is really good for dry skin. I'm oily, so I use it as the first step in a double cleanse."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"I'm so mad. [...] Even though this is a come to mama product I started using this powder exfoliator and I actually love this, and I kind of did love the scrubby-dubby feeling. [...] This has sake and the enzyme part is from papain from papayas, and it's at almost 2,000 parts per million in this product. [...] But it's also got fragrance which was kind of a disappointment since most of the other products didn't have it."
✕Nay
70%Guru Score
"This is a nice oil cleanser for 48 dollars. I would normally say get a cheaper oil cleanser for the same amount of money, but this does have lactic and azelaic which you couldn't really get in a lot of others, so I do feel like this is unique. It does have a base of sunflower seed oil and vegetable oil, avocado, jojoba. However, I would be worried for people who are super sensitive because ginger can be irritating to the skin. I would personally just stick with the turmeric."
~Mixed
75%Guru Score
"I got the Japan Fusion Cleanser and I still stand behind this. It's like the inside of a grape that you get to rub on your face. I love this."
✓Yay
Notverified
"If you have acne, if you struggle with breakouts, and you want K-beauty, this might be a favorite. This is a really nice foaming cleansing foam. [...] This pump top actually aerates the product, so you get that foamy look without actually having to use sulfates. [...] This is super foamy and super wonderful, especially for acne-prone skin. Because of the centella in here, it's a really wonderful antioxidant and it's extraordinarily soothing to skin."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"This cleansing balm is explosive to dirt, oil, and makeup. If you are looking for a fragrance-free version of like the Heimish All Clean Balm, this is it. This is such a lovely melty and milky formula that just makes your face look and feel amazing. This removes sunscreen, this removes makeup, this removes the dirt, the oil, and the impurities."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"It's extremely gentle, it's very moisturizing, it doesn't strip the skin and the skin doesn't feel dry or tight after using it and your skin will feel clean. Overall it's not a horrible one but again it's not my favorite and for someone who is prone to having acne prone skin I would recommend a cleanser that has benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, maybe something like sulfur or those active ingredients that can actually do some help."
~Mixed
Notverified
"There's nothing in here that I'm super concerned about. It does have natural fragrances in it that could sensitize some people. Overall I don't hate this but I don't love it either. I'm happy that it works for her and I'm happy that she's double cleansing. But sadly Belief is not a cruelty-free brand and I believe in putting my money where my morals are so they are not getting my coin."
~Mixed
72%Guru Score
Masks & Peels53 reviews
"Sulfur is great because it works on acne and it can help with sebaceous filaments as well. Sulfur specifically, if it helps to exfoliate the skin, can be a great option as a mask. Murad has one of my favorite masks, but the only thing is that it's kind of like a clay mask too, so if that clay gets stuck in your nose, you're getting rid of sebaceous filaments but then you have clay pieces and you don't want to have to dig those out. So just be aware of that."
~Mixed
75%Guru Score
"One pump and it's so gooby and hydrating. It doesn't tent up the same way that other ones do, but this one is so good and so luxurious on the skin. I would say that this is the best luxury option that doesn't cost a luxury price. They also recommend that you use this over damp skin, so if you do have a toner in your routine or a serum or some other form of moisturizer, this is fantastic to layer with. This is an absolute slam dunk."
✓Yay
65%Guru Score
"Holy Hydration! Sleep Mask. This has hyaluronic acid and peptides which are great and hydrating, but that's not what makes this feel like butter on the skin. It's the shea butter in here that literally gives it this toothpaste-like appearance. This stuff is thick. It's pretty budget-friendly and it's really good. Some people don't like hyaluronic acid because they find that it can dry them out a little bit more, so if that's you, you might want to avoid this one."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This formula also has a little bit of hyaluronic acid in it, it has some glucose, so some sugar, so this is actually a really great hydrating AHA Serum. It really helps to resurface the skin. It has glycolic acid which penetrates deep, and when this gets in your pores it can help exfoliate but also provide a glow. [...] The INKEY List really does these basic AHA/BHA serums pretty much better than anyone else."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"For the experience, 10 out of 10, like 9 out of 10, but for the actual ingredients and the results, they were temporary, like 6 out of 10. Maybe if I used it more regularly and used all of the packs I would see something different, but I think I'm going to investigate the ingredients of another one and see if I can use that one even though it's like 100 bucks instead. But this was a good price, it was a good time, if you want to have a skincare sleepover, this was exciting."
✕Nay
62%Guru Score
"I don't like these face masks. These are the SK-II face masks, they're a Japanese skincare brand that's supposed to have Pitera, which is supposed to be this magical ingredient. SK-II is made by L'Oreal. Like, I'm gonna call it as I see it, it's marketing and they use this marketing to get you to spend money. You can literally find these beneficial bacterial ingredients and peptides in other products for so much less money. [...] This one is a no from me."
✕Nay
59%Guru Score
"It has [...] bamboo beads and [...] bursting spheres with a nice hydrating formula, and it's so good if you have dry skin and need exfoliation because a lot of [...] exfoliating products are more dehydrating to the skin and can actually make dry skin worse. This exfoliates while it hydrates, [...] and it has [...] these little bubbles that pop with bamboo particles that gently exfoliate the skin."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"The Yo Glow is one of those gomage products that balls up on the skin—it's not your dead skin cells coming off, it's just a very, very, very gentle physical exfoliant. It was stolen along with my jojoba oil, but the timing is perfect because now I can replenish with 50 to 80 percent off."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This has to be probably my favorite Three Ships product of all time, specifically the soothe one is a little bit better than the detox one [...] for me. The soothe one is rosehip and vitamin C and it's this beautiful clay mask that when you put it on your skin it sucks out the oil in a visible way. [...] I love this so much and [...] I've purchased so many of these and I will continue to do so. [...] These are excellent alternatives to some of the much more expensive counterparts."
✓Yay
90%Guru Score
"One of my favorite products of all time from Three Ships is the Detox Mask and the soothe mask. Both of these are amazing from the eco-friendliness because it's literally a powder that you mix together with water, but this formula is so good, it is so non-irritating, it works so well, and it literally rivals some of the viral products out there. [...] The detox one has green tea and antioxidants, which is a great choice."
✓Yay
90%Guru Score
"The Biossance glycolic is amazing. Their ingredients are top-notch, they're actually made in Berkeley California, they came from a chemistry lab and the biochem lab was like hey we found a way to make squalane from sugarcane, we need to make a skincare line that is based on this as a wonderful hydrating, nourishing, antioxidant and rebuild it for the skin."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"Some of my other favorites are things like this centella from Skin1004. Holy, this is so so good."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"One of my favorite face masks ever and this one doesn't slip off the face. [...] This one actually has graphene so it like grips to your skin and it's like a biocellulose mask that like grips on it, annihilates acne. It's the first mask that I found that does not slide off my face. You can get these on sale at Target, you can get them on sale at Ulta, I've gotten them on sale at Amazon but this is wonderful and worth every penny."
✓Yay
90%Guru Score
"This is from Medicube and boy is this strong. I don't usually use it on my face. I use it on my neck. You never want to use it over your thyroid. [...] It is like a high dose of microcurrent or literal electrical current, and it literally makes my skin jump and it feels so good."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"This is apparently the India version of the Ordinary. I'm brand new to trying this from the Minimalist. It's the AHA PHA BHA, so it's like an AHA BHI peel but it's also got PHA. It is like a less expensive version with a whole ton of glycolic acid compared to the Ordinary's. I'm testing it out. [...] So far I'm having a good time."
~Mixed
78%Guru Score
"This zinc mask is 59, which is not bad. [...] It's basically bentonite clay, titanium dioxide, [...] glycerin, zinc oxide, witch hazel, eucalyptus oil, and some sulfur. I don't know if I would spend my money on this. You could definitely get like a clay mask or a sulfur mask, [...] but with the eucalyptus oil I wouldn't do it. I would do the Face Reality plus The Ordinary and I would still be saving my money."
~Mixed
67%Guru Score
"This exfoliator is more than questionable. It [...] has granules and grape seed oil, pumpkin enzymes, pomegranate, which actually looks kind of good, but I'm kind of worried about that physical exfoliation. Not to mention it has fragrance in it. [...] Fragrance in an exfoliator is a little bit more suspicious, especially when [...] Kim Kardashian [...] has very openly shared her struggle with psoriasis and the other items in the line are fragrance-free. So why did we have to fragrance this one?"
✕Nay
49%Guru Score
"One of my favorite ones is the Summer Fridays Jet Lag Mask. This is like the little travel size one. [...] It's so good. It's really really hydrating. My skin's been a little bit dry on the drier side lately so I've been using this one a lot more."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"This tea tree sheet mask from I Dew Care [...] is great. There's so much extra serum in the packet that you can use on your face, chest, shoulders, or anywhere you get breakouts."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"At first I saw the St. Ives Scrub, and I still remember that as the first product that I thought was going to cure my acne. [...] I thought when I have acne I need to scrub my face until it goes away, but actually it becomes so much worse on my skin. My acne kept getting worse and worse, so of course I was panicked back then because I didn't know how [...] to treat my acne. I kept scrubbing [...] every single day until my skin barrier was damaged."
✕Nay
41%Guru Score
"When you blend it in, it starts to [...] melt away and it turns into like a gray cookies and cream mask. This is such a fun mask to use. It feels amazing on my face. It makes me look amazing when I take it off. It has salicylic acid for acne. [...] This is literally one of my favorite masks of all time, and from the texture to the fragrance freeness of it, I am obsessed. [...] This is literally one of the best face masks I have used and it is so much fun."
✓Yay
92%Guru Score
"If you are interested in Glow Recipe and if you really wanted to buy this for the brand—I love the brand, I love what they stand for, it's amazing, and it's going to look super cute on my counter— [...] then go for it. This is a fantastic product and I would still recommend it. One thing is like a liquid Jolly Rancher, this definitely looks more aesthetic on your bathroom countertop, and it smells a little bit better."
✓Yay
66%Guru Score
"I honestly feel like these are so similar and this is an excellent dupe for Glow Recipe. [...] When it first goes on, it kind of feels a little bit more liquidy, but it leaves my skin just as soft. Neither of them peel up, both leave my skin just as glowy. The ingredients are almost the same except for that seaweed. This really is a fantastic dupe, especially if you're looking at the logistics of it. [...] If you can get your hands on this, this is an absolute dupe for the Glow Recipe."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"Good Genes is a lactic acid treatment that I tried on a live stream. They redid the packaging which is great, but I still think it's ridiculously expensive for a lactic acid serum. It's 122 dollars for some alpha hydroxy acids. [...] The ingredients are basically alpha hydroxy acids, we also have some yeast, we have some lemongrass oil which could be irritating for some, we have some agave. These are not bad ingredients, they're just not worth 122 or even 80 dollars."
~Mixed
65%Guru Score
"Sheet masks are basically serums in mask form. [...] The price of this is also not terrible. It's 29 bucks, but you can get it on sale for like 20, and it's for 30 sheet masks. When you think about that, it's like a dollar per mask. [...] This is a fantastic formula, vegan and cruelty-free, it's K beauty, it's really, really good and it actually works and it's budget friendly. I freaking love this stuff."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"It's really hard to find a product that delivers moisture into the skin but exfoliates too, and I will say this is probably one of the most gentle exfoliants you could ever get. It [...] gently removes dead skin cells, dirt and debris from the top of the skin. [...] If you're looking for one of the most mild physical exfoliants that you literally could use every single day, this as a mask works so well to hydrate and also to exfoliate."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"I do like this as an AHA tonic, but it has azelaic acid in it as well. This is really the only liquid azelaic acid product that I could find. Unfortunately, it doesn't hold up to a lot of those claims. [...] It smells very orange citrusy, and I tend to have more irritation to citrus, so maybe that was another reason that this didn't work for me, but this was just kind of a disappointment from the azelaic acid perspective. [...] For the azelaic acid, I just didn't find this to have the benefits."
✕Nay
71%Guru Score
"This one is from the Haruharu Wonderline. This has a bunch of antioxidants and black rice. I love a lot of the products from this line although these peeling gels are not my favorite ones."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"The reason why is because of those other ingredients in there. This is actually built into a formula that contains water and glycerin, and I find it to be much more soothing on the skin. It has two different forms of sodium hyaluronate, [...] and because of the other ingredients in here, it's a much more silky application. It's not sticky. It actually hydrates the skin. [...] For the price, it's inexpensive, it's good, and if you want an inexpensive sleeping mask, I like this one."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"I actually really like these kind of rice powders or these very fine powders for physical exfoliation. The [...] monocrystalline cellulose rice powder is actually very gentle. Rice is a carbohydrate, basically a very sugary molecule, so it absorbs water well and it's more gentle on the skin. It's rounded instead of jagged like a walnut shell or an apricot pit. We have some [...] camellia sinensis again, green tea leaf, some ferment filtrate, some rice bran extract."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"I vividly remember the Mask of Magnaminty, [...] like a mint mask, and I would use it on my face and my chest and my back and I was like this is gonna get rid of my back acne. Is it a fine mask sure but does it really have acne fighting properties that are amazing no. Get yourself some PanOxyl wash, use that in your armpits on your back area, that is going to do way more and it's going to cost less."
✕Nay
61%Guru Score
"There's the Acne Free Clearing Sulfur Face Mask on the wishlist."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"The Bliss Overnight Clear Genius Clarifying Peel is on the list. I love that product."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"It's by a female founded business who actually cares about the cosmetic manufacturing and support of her products, and they actually do a really really good job. Ranavat's story is actually amazing—they're made in Los Angeles. The saffron mask is definitely a luxury product, but it does have a ton of antioxidant benefits. I tried to get this for like 70 or 80 bucks because I didn't want to spend the whole 130, but I think I'm gonna go back because this serum was amazing."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"I prefer the Flavonoid Mud over the cleansing ester."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"My absolute favorite sleeping mask with hyaluronic acid for oily acne-prone skin has to be the one from Isntree. I love it so much that [...] I used it all up and I'm waiting for my next shipment. [...] The Isntree Hyaluronic Acid Water Sleeping Mask is amazing for skin that is acne-prone, whether you are dry and acne-prone or oily and acne-prone. This formula doesn't over-saturate the skin or make you feel overly greasy, but it actually supports the skin with really wonderful ingredients."
✓Yay
90%Guru Score
"This is 147 dollars for a face mask. I use it sparingly but it does work. It's really, really gorgeous. If you have drier skin that also tends to break out from anything way too heavy and hydrating, you don't like that greasy feeling on your skin, this actually dries down not quite like a clay mask. [...] The ingredients are beautiful, the formula is beautiful, everything about it is gorgeous, stunning. It just makes me feel like I'm having an A-plus facial kind of a skin day."
~Mixed
73%Guru Score
"This does have niacinamide which we love. [...] We do have some different oils in here, we also have panthenol. Niacinamide is our vitamin B3, panthenol is our vitamin B5, love to see it. We've got eggplant, we've got turmeric, we've got ivy, we have a couple of different acids again all fine things. But this isn't going to be getting my money for the morals and the ethics. Now is it fine? Yeah, it actually doesn't look bad as long as you're not sensitive to a lot of these plant things."
~Mixed
74%Guru Score
"Twenty years ago, she created products because there weren't others out there that actually met her needs. Most people don't know this about Paula's Choice. The author, Paula Bergen, is a beauty author. She actually started her career as a writer, making books about places you can make out. [...] She's like an OG influencer. She's the OG influencer. This gets a full pass, even if you pay full price for it. It is so worth it."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"They have a chestnut BHA liquid that's really nice and lightweight."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
"This actually gives you results, skin looks clearer, more fresh, glowy, hydrated. It helps with blackheads and acne because of that BHA, and especially if you do this regularly over time it can really help with skin resurfacing. I struggled with bad acne for so many years, and I do think it's because of treatments I've done including chemical peels including this one for the past 3 years almost non-stop that my acne scars do not look as indented or as obvious as they could be."
✓Yay
58%Guru Score
"If you're afraid of the ordinary peel or don't think it'll work, Paula's Choice has a galactic unicorn one that's also a good alternative."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"We have some Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant. This actually has 6,000 reviews. I already know that this is good. This is fantastic. I've used it before. Enzyme salicylic acid, amazing. It's a little expensive. I already have it. I would rather get it when it's on sale."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"I personally loved the centella masks better. These bifida masks also have allantoin, so if you're super sensitive and not worried about redness, if you just want brightness in the skin, this will be your best friend. But for me, the centella was a little bit better for my redness."
~Mixed
79%Guru Score
"But I did find that I could make my own face masks with some of these actives. For example, if I wanted to use the face mask that has glycerin, I found that I could put this in the fridge, it was really calming. But I can literally use these little cotton pads and I can soak that toner onto them, and this helped me make my own little face mask at home. Whereas the face mask, I would put it on and I would extract the goo with the essence or the toner. I felt like I could mix and match way easier."
~Mixed
79%Guru Score
"This from SkinFix is absolutely wonderful. It's made for acne prone skin, it's from the acne plus line, and I absolutely love this. I can literally just spot this on where I need it and it helps to drive a pimple, but it's not as drying as the Terminator 10."
✓Yay
Notverified
"Almost everything from Dr. Dennis Gross's Alpha Beta peel line is so good, but the peel pads are great because they have an advanced peel pad, they have like a light peel pad, and if you want something that is intense, you can get it, or if you want something that's even gentle enough to use almost every other day, Dr. Dennis Gross has you covered. [...] If you've always wanted to try Dr. Dennis Gross and it's been just out of budget, I would highly recommend starting with the peel pads."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"This is actually brand new from Bubble and this has been phenomenal. This is a Deep Dive AHA PHA Exfoliating Mask, so this one doesn't make you look like you committed a crime, but this is a very very nice slightly hydrating AHA, otherwise known as alpha hydroxy acid, pore mask and this does many of the same things because again it has those active ingredients. This is also much better for dry skin."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I have been testing and trying the Dr. Dennis Gross face mask but even this is like five hundred dollars when you add the tax in and that's a lot of money. [...] It ended up really impressing me though. This is one of the LED products that I have seen huge benefit from, literally on my burn. [...] This red light at that 650 to 700 nanometer helps with wound healing. This has been phenomenal, this is the size of a pen and it actually has the potency that is needed."
~Mixed
63%Guru Score
"After testing this for more than a month and a half, [...] this strawberry smooth BHA AHA salicylic serum blew my mind and the pores right off of my face. [...] This serum feels like an excellent starter pack to basically all of your acne rosacea needs. [...] It goes on very smooth, it plays so well with other Glow Recipe products, and it [...] does make my skin look very glowy. The peeling is minimal, like a two or three out of ten."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"There's also a peeling gel from Beauty of Joseon which is really good. It's a very gentle form of exfoliation and we don't always see a gentle form of apricot exfoliation. Back to Saint Ives apricot scrub, we don't really see that being as gentle. I am absolutely obsessed with this."
✓Yay
67%Guru Score
"This mask is the Real Mugwort Clay Mask from ISNTREE, and they are one of my favorite K Beauty brands. Mugwort is actually a plant that's antibacterial and antifungal, and this one specifically is amazing for sebum care, so if you do have an oily area such as I do in my T-zone, it's really really helpful. It does mildly exfoliate."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This is the over exfoliating night treatment and it's actually really good and gentle."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
Other46 reviews
"It's not the best thing in the world but it works. I used to use the seal patches, I still do, they're great, those are like reusable eco-friendly silicone ones. These you have to dispose of, but Frownies get the cast pass. They're kind of weird, they're kind of funky, they're kind of fun too, and especially if you work from home or if you're like practicing your scripts."
✓Yay
62%Guru Score
"One of them broke completely. When I actually take it off, I do see results literally from 3 minutes before to when I stopped using it. The problem is I don't think it's worth that kind of money. [...] I used this for 9 months and [...] I would have expected to see better results for $150. At this point, I'm [...] going to use LED face masks that cover the lip area instead."
~Mixed
68%Guru Score
"Latisse is the brand name and Allergan is the parent company. This happens to be bimatoprost, which is the active ingredient inside of this, and this is actually the prostaglandin analog that is doing the work. [...] Even though when they were using these eye drops and testing them and finally got them for over-the-counter use, people also started noticing other side effects, and that's why you always hear Latisse being advertised like on TV and it's like might cause darkening of the eye."
~Mixed
56%Guru Score
"If you have sensitive skin and acne the aloe and nag solution is so good and that's what I'm going to be restocking as a medical SD"
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"The Skin Food has some really great ingredients. [...] This is the $15 moisturizer from the drugstore that Gwyneth Paltrow has openly stated that she uses multiple times. [...] It's got things like sunflower seed oil. This is a thicker formula so this is better for dry skin. I personally won't be buying it because it does have both fragrance and Beeswax, but this is honestly quite comparable and quite good."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"If it doesn't work, push comes to shove, you hydrated your face for 10 or 15 bucks, and if it does work, maybe you have a serum that's going to be a staple in your routine and helps you prevent wrinkles and fine lines in the long run. It's not Botox in a bottle, even though people claim it is. It's not the same as getting injections, but it is a really good option, especially if you're on a budget, and it's one of my top picks for fine lines and wrinkles specifically prevention."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"I love the Versed ones. This is really lightweight, it's hollow on the inside. These blades are more eco-friendly because you can just buy the new ones and kind of recycle them, really really good, and you can use these multiple times."
✓Yay
90%Guru Score
"When I first tried this I really hated it because I was expecting skincare and I got a pasty primer, but then when I look at this as a blend between skincare and makeup I'm like oh my gosh this is the pasty primer with skincare benefits that I've been looking for. It's basically a newer and better version of that discontinued Smashbox primer because it has skincare ingredients."
✓Yay
65%Guru Score
"I love these Emergency Spot Patches."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"Curology gives me that acne control and that texture improvement, so this is what I've been using in my routine."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I don't recommend the gel, the golden gel. If you're dry you'll love it, but for me and my oily prone skin, this did not absorb. It was just super super oily. [...] The zip itself was actually really good. When it comes to charging, it's one of the more universal chargers so you can kind of plug and go. It does come with like a little carrying case. I actually really like this and I like the way that the probes are spaced. Everyone has a different face shape and a different face size."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"This is absolutely wonderful. It's not as intense as EMS, obviously. [...] Even at the highest setting, I use this on 350 and I cannot get this to like overly shock my face. It doesn't taste overly metallic. [...] This is advanced. This is absolutely the best for me. It's the best price and it's wonderful. I absolutely love this. As I think about my usage case where I am an intellectual, I want to target, tone, and lift my face. I do use this on others. This is absolutely the best for me."
✓Yay
90%Guru Score
"The milk foliant [...] is amazing if you have more sensitive skin or if you want something a little bit more calming. It has vegan coconut milk in it."
✓Yay
93%Guru Score
"I've been using Zitsticka Killer Patches for years. [...] Yes, they can be pricey, but I get them on sale at Target, [...] Ulta, and [...] Amazon. [...] They also have little mini eight-packs that I found at Target. These are the Zitsticka Killer Patches and they are literal killers for your pimples. These are really easy for on the go too if you're someone who has emergency breakouts."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"The lash serum is really good. If you want to grow your lashes, if you want to try it, DermAngelo has spoken a lot about it. He really likes it. I was not into it and he was the one that was like convincing me. It worked. It was good."
✓Yay
49%Guru Score
"Now, this is one of those products that you don't absolutely need. It's basically a fancy skin brush. The good thing is that it is antimicrobial and antibacterial, so it doesn't hold on to like bacteria and gunk. If you have always wanted to try the Foreo facial scrubber, but you're like it's too expensive, use this instead. Is it an essential? Absolutely not. I would only buy it if it's on sale."
~Mixed
71%Guru Score
"I think I'm going to put the little notification on for the Olaplex. I think it's going to be like 10 or 15 dollars off. I am very excited to try this on my hair and to try this new scalp massager on my scalp. I have some residual damage from styling my hair."
~Mixed
78%Guru Score
"Nivea Cream is an inexpensive option with good basic moisturizing ingredients."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"Makeup Wipes are for emergencies, for fannies, and for festivals. They're not an alternative to washing your face. They literally are wiping things across your face, they're not removing them. [...] Think about the fragrances, the irritants, the things inside that wipe that are being deposited on the skin."
✕Nay
56%Guru Score
"This is a 95 dollar essence. It is nice and it does have excellent ingredients such as some ferments, some yeast extracts and some green tea. It is fantastic but I don't think this is worth 95 so I always roll my eyes at Tatcha. They're cruelty free, yes. Do they have vegan options, yes. Are the formulas decent, yes. But to me they're nothing revolutionary."
~Mixed
56%Guru Score
"I love their glass packaging and I love this formula. This right here is the Yerba Mate Resurfacing Energy Facial. It's an instant facial and this has lactic acid. This facial, it is potent and it is fun. This [...] is a scratchy little mask that you can put on your face as an instant facial at home. When you wipe it off, it really helps with those large pores and texture. This has passion fruit, it has turmeric, and for exfoliation it also has papaya."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"If I have a pimple or anything that I feel like coming, I have this. It's prescribed to me and I've had it for a really long time, but it's the Epiduo Forte and I do not put it all over my face. My dermatologist told me to put it all over my face in high school and my face reacted terribly and then I just started doing spot treatment and that changed the game for me. I just put it where it needs it."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This sounds more like a cash grab than a necessity to me. [...] The ingredients don't look bad on first impressions, but the question is are they worth 60 to 90 dollars that people are [...] going to be charged for them. I don't understand why all of these steps are necessary. Even if one product is phenomenal, some of the other ones kind of look like cash grabs. I don't understand why we need two different night oils or why we need an eye cream."
✕Nay
61%Guru Score
"Three Ships has these Dew Drops. Oh my god, these are phenomenal. If you want a skin glow, you can wear this under sunscreen or under makeup, but you can also just wear this as like a second skin. It's all made in glass packaging with actual paper packaging as well. It's from Canada. Love this brand, and it's at Target. It's inexpensive. The whole thing behind the Three Ships brand is literally, we believe in luxury at affordable prices. And that's what they do."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"I don't think this is going to send someone to the ER even if you use the version that has the steroids in it, [...] but at this point it's not something that I would do, and based on my understanding of it having not tried it personally, it doesn't look like it's that effective. If you've got hemorrhoid cream and you are itching to put it under your eyes, I would say please call a doctor even just get on like a teledoc thing and speak to a doctor first before doing it."
✕Nay
60%Guru Score
"This is straight up just a fragrance balm. If you use it because you like fragrance and it makes you feel fancy [...] and empowered then go for it, but this is not something that is conducive to skin health in my personal opinion and professional opinion. [...] For the sensitive skin, no no no. Even for general skin I do not love. [...] If you're struggling with acne, 0 out of 10 do not recommend."
✕Nay
64%Guru Score
"I also know of the Droplet, both are good. I think I had a personal issue with a Droplet because I think that I was using it improperly. I need to revisit that."
~Mixed
64%Guru Score
"We have clean it Sephora, which also has some great products."
✓Yay
66%Guru Score
"Pacifica launched an entire vegan ceramide fragrance-free line. They have a cleanser. They even have an ice cream. They have these little face moisturizers. They have masks. Literally, Pacifica pulling through fragrance-free, vegan, filled with ceramides, hydrating, supple, nourishing, little purple butterflies and packaging. This was one of my favorite launches. [...] It is beautiful. It is effective. It is hydrating. It is everything that my face loves."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"The Alpha-H Liquid Gold is [...] a glycolic acid product. Some people say it works and they love it, but others say it's disappointing. One review mentioned it was cheaper before at 59 dollars and now costs 72, which is expensive, and they didn't see a difference after finishing the first bottle."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"I love Bare Minerals Bare Pro because I have such sensitive skin and their stuff is just so clean and doesn't make me break out."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"The EUK from The Ordinary is one that I used to use in the past, not much anymore. It's a little bit finicky because it's hard to use. But she's like a little secret agent—she's got some tricks up her sleeves. The EUK can't be used with a lot of acidic products. You do have to be careful when adding it to a routine. I always need to like look at every single product and make sure that I know what I'm combining."
~Mixed
81%Guru Score
"Sanskrit Saponins are so nice. It takes these principles from Ayurvedic medicine and they have these plant-based surfactants that help to cleanse the skin. [...] I loved this in the past. I think that I have a little bit of a bias, which as humans we always do. Punjabi and Hindi are Sanskrit-derived languages, and so I just see those as so beautiful, so I have an affinity towards them."
~Mixed
78%Guru Score
"The Photography Fluid—to me is basically like a serum makeup. Photography Fluid—like what does it do? Does it take pictures of me? No, okay, please explain. This is an absolute no from me."
✕Nay
56%Guru Score
"The bottle on this radiance boosting serum from Lancôme is giving me the same silvery vibes. She is radiant, she's boosting up my personal life quality by serving the beautiful looks that she is. [...] The Lancôme is doing it for me."
✓Yay
57%Guru Score
"If you want to use that then fine, but this is not something that I would get behind. For me it's more irritating. This is a more sensorial product and for Ricky this is probably perfect because he loves skincare being self-care, [...] but for me who is acne prone or wants to work on acne blemishes, scars, fine lines, wrinkles, or hyperpigmentation, this is not going to be for my skincare tastes. [...] Why are you paying fifty-two dollars for a bottle of essential oils?"
~Mixed
59%Guru Score
"To have niacinamide and vitamin C in a patch and to get 60 of them for like under 20 bucks, really good. I was really impressed with these and I purchased this but I think I will purchase them again once I run out. There's a lot of them in here for the price. The efficacy, if you have period breakouts or specifically if you're more prone to pigmentation and you get like the red purple marks, this might be your pimple best friend."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"This one from the INKEY List is so good, so potent, I absolutely love it. [...] Alpha arbutin is such a little hero ingredient that so many people don't pay attention to. Alpha arbutin is fantastic for pigmentation because of how it transforms itself into hydroquinone. Hydroquinone is what's prescribed by doctors and dermatologists."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"One of the best things that I've ever used for pigmentation is a blended serum that has basically all of the actives that help with hyperpigmentation in one and this one specifically doesn't have a lot of major exfoliants and this is perfect for any hormonal pigmentation that my skin personally has. This is from Agency, it's the Agency Custom Dark Spot Formula and this is custom blended to my skin so what's in mine might not be the same as someone else's but I love this."
✓Yay
Notverified
"Hydroquinone is a powerful little ingredient that is wonderful. [...] It's actually related to alpha arbutin and [...] it works against tyrosinase enzyme. Hydroquinone is potent, yes it works for the dark marks the acne leaves behind, but some doctors and dermatologists also prescribe hydroquinone for things like sun spots, for melasma, for uneven pigmentation. [...] Hydroquinone is one of those ingredients that was literally the gold standard and it still is if you can get your hands on it."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This is the Usera Shot from Medicube. This is supposed to be like skin tightening. I've been playing around with this, and when it comes to the way things feel and the results I see, nothing comes close to this."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"Unless you have a literal personal masseuse who can come to you and massage out the cricks in your neck, [...] this has got to be the second best thing, and this is hands down one of my favorite at-home devices literally ever. The main thing is here on the neck, [...] I do this all over my neck, I do this on my shoulders, on my back. It is intense and I love it. For me, I absolutely love this, and other than what happens in clinic, this is the best that I have gotten over the counter."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"I actually don't like this as much as I like the NuFace. I have just seen better results with the NuFace. I don't really understand what is different about the technology, but I actually like this one. I don't like it as much as the NuFace, but the NuFace is more expensive. Now they are both on sale for Prime Day, so that is great. [...] If you're trying to target smaller areas or if you're traveling, the mini is better."
~Mixed
Notverified
"You can kind of feel that there's like a large spray, whereas this is an extraordinarily fine mist. This does have fragrance in it, so just be aware of that, but this also has radish and pomegranate for antioxidants and vitamin C. It has algae to nourish the skin. This is beautiful. [...] These are both wonderful options, but this is definitely the more elevated one if you want to do this over makeup, looking for something a little bit more luxury."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"They come every single month, so every 28 days, and they are 25 a month, but [...] they do [...] have a discount where you get the first month completely free, the second month is 19.99, and then it goes up to 25. I've been using this for my acne but it does work for rosacea, and yours is not going to be the same as mine because everyone's is different because it is custom blended."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This first one is from The Ordinary. This is a really great budget one. This is the Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate Solution 20% in Vitamin F, and this is great because this is a stabilized form of vitamin C. This is really lightweight on the skin, so if you're trying to apply this right before you go out each day, it's a really good option and it also pairs very well underneath a sunscreen."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
Toners34 reviews
"A product that does contain all three is the Bliss Clear Genius Toner. I absolutely love this and I use this not only on myself but I put it in routines for others, specifically when I shop for people on a budget it's always a go-to. The Clear Genius Toner, like the fat water thingy, is amazing if you just want to control oil and sebaceous filaments."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"Layers so well with acne treatment products that are really drying if you're using like a retinoid gel or a benzoyl peroxide wash this is so good"
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"This is the Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution, a toner that you can use on the face or even on the scalp. This is amazing and it is 7% so it is intense; you shouldn't necessarily use this every day, but from the application to the formula to the price this is just great. Glycolic acid is an alpha hydroxy acid and it's one of the smallest ones so it can actually penetrate pretty deep, helps to exfoliate but doesn't dehydrate the skin the way that something like a BHA might."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"I was hesitant because it has citrus and my skin doesn't always do well with citrus, specifically bergamot and grapefruit. But I kept seeing people talk about this online, so I decided to try it. This is very different from their watermelon toner. I like their watermelon toner, but it's more of a niacinamide active for me, whereas this actually has CoQ10 as well as some vitamin C ingredients, and they say it's safe for sensitive skin. I tried this and I have fallen in love."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"This kind of all started with Riri and her fat water a few years ago and when she launched this it was not my favorite product. Fat waters as a category however have kind of taken off and I feel like so many people don't speak about these and what they can do for the skin. It's [...] a unique texture that is a gel but also a liquid. I mean [...] it's not a toner but it's not a serum, it's kind of an essence but it's a little bit more gelatinous and it does a bit more glow."
~Mixed
62%Guru Score
"This is the Rice Toner from I'm From. I love this."
✓Yay
94%Guru Score
"I've heard that it's great, there are over 5,300 sold, the price on this is really good. [...] I am very interested in trying this especially because it has sugarcane and grape, both of those can actually hold on to moisture and pull that moisture deeper into the skin, and as we approach winter, that's what I'm looking for."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"This has papaya fruit extract which we know papaya enzymes can help to basically exfoliate the skin and remove gunk and buildup which can be beneficial for breakouts. This has witch hazel extract which can be kind of an astringent to the skin. This has lentil seed extract that's fantastic, lactobionic acid, peppermint and tea tree. Those could be irritating for some but peppermint is actually an analgesic in medicine meaning it helps to kill pain since sometimes when I be picking it be painful."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"I love NuFace but $250 for this you're getting the mini, I guess you're kind of getting two creams and then this stupid little brush. The brush is just a throwaway. Skip this, get the NuFace device on its own. The NuFace device on its own is so much better. This gift set is just a no, it's just not a good deal. Get the NuFace on its own, that's all."
✕Nay
69%Guru Score
"The Multiactive Toner from Dermalogica is amazing, and if you're an athlete or someone who is active this one is phenomenal. It really refreshes the skin."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"The INKEY List does toners phenomenally, and I don't know why they don't get a lot of attention for that. This is the PHA, polyhydroxy acid, toner. [...] If the Ordinary's toning solution is too much for you, this is a godsend, it's your guardian angel. [...] It is non-irritating compared to the Ordinary's, and yet it's a little bit hydrating and nourishing to the skin. It has a really low molecular weight, [...] I think it's 73 or 74 grams per mole, but it's absolutely wonderful."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"I love this serum. You can use this under sunscreens especially if you're irritant prone, you can use this under moisturizers at night if you want that moisturizer to actually push this into the skin and help to repair a Skin Barrier. But if you're looking for something a little bit more lightweight, this has been phenomenal. It's kind of like this light essence-like jelly fluid and this is a traditional K Beauty Essence. [...] I love that it is fragrance free."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I absolutely love this from Saturday Skin. It is intense—a 10% glycolic acid pore concentrate toner with peptides in it. [...] I don't recommend using this every day, [...] but every now and again when I need a little exfoliation boost, I'm using this and also on my chest and my back. This stuff works so good."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"This Peach Slices acne exfoliating toner has two percent salicylic acid with BHA and AHA to exfoliate skin and unclog pores. The ingredients look and appear to be very similar to the Paula's Choice BHA toner, and [...] they smell so similar as well. I love that they're both fragrance free. [...] Dr Dre is absolutely right if you're looking to spend 11 instead of like 30 something, Peach Slices is doing my wallet nice things. I'm very pleased with my purchase."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"The Ordinary has some great toner options at budget prices."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"I really really love this toner. It keeps my skin glowy and soft and very hydrated."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"This is the lactic toner for 38 and I love that she's applying it nicely. [...] This Glycolic Lactic Toner has glycolic and lactic acids, two AHAs that are wonderful. Glycolic specifically is a little bit smaller so it can penetrate into the skin, be a little bit more irritating, but it's great."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"This toner is pretty darn good as well. I lied, this isn't just a toner, this is an exfoliant with mandelic acid which we love, as well as a superfood unity blend. [...] I don't know if she's using this every day, but you definitely shouldn't be exfoliating every day. But if she's doing this on like a night out once, twice, maybe even three times a week, then this would actually be perfect."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"If you're looking for something really lightweight that really just adds a boost to your skincare routine morning or evening that just goes on so nicely. It supports your sunscreen. It soaks in nice. It just feels so lovely on skin and it gives you that bounce and that boost. Like literally sit there and drink your green tea and put this on your face at the same time. Not to mention green tea has caffeine which can vasoconstrict and help with redness."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"This looks like a calming, hydrating toner [...] made by a doctor and the reviews are five stars. I'm going to get this for her and also [...] for me because this sounds awesome."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"Another K-beauty favorite is from Purito. They have a toner that they actually took all of the fragrance out of it, the Purito Cintella Unscented Toner. This one is fantastic, again no fragrance, very nice hydrating and soothing to the skin. And if you're sensitive or if you have irritation or if you're just looking for a rosacea buffer with more moisturization, this one can really help."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"The exfoliating toner is absolutely one of my favorites. This is literally a holy grail for me and my acne-prone skin."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"This is from Glow Recipe. This has citrus in it, my skin has been loving this. They did make this for sensitive skin, but the cloudberry, my skin is fine, but bergamot does tend to screw me over, so I'm definitely patch testing this first."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"This is phenomenal and it is still one of my favorites. It's made in Korea with some of the most hydrating hyaluronic acid and black rice for antioxidants. I would say it's fantastic for combo skin and you can use it if you're dry with a moisturizer or if you're oily on its own. The best part is that they now have a sensitive skin option. In the past they only had the fragranced one which is with lavender, but now they have a fragrance-free sensitive skin safe one."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"If the ordinary's toning solution is too much for you, baby, this is a godsend. This is your guardian angel. This is [...] so nice, it is non-irritating as compared to the ordinary's, and yet it's a little bit hydrating and nourishing to the skin. This has a really low molecular weight, so it's very, very tiny, I think it's 73 or 74 grams per mole, but it is absolutely wonderful."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"This is so good, it has niacinamide in it which will help minimize pores and gently renew and hydrate the skin."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"This is the Centella Hyaluronic Water Fit Sun Cream SPF 50 PA plus plus. If you are looking for a splish splash for your face, this is it. Such a lightweight, airy, watery sunscreen that provides hydration and nourishment and leaves your skin just feeling beautiful. I would say that both of these two leave my skin a little bit more dewy than this one. If you do want to look a little bit more normal skinned, I wouldn't say matified but closer to the matte side, go with this."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This is definitely a much more calming moisturizer, so if you're struggling with redness or with irritation, this is going to be the best bet for you. They also state the pH—the power of hydrogen, which is 5.5. Our skin usually hangs out at around 5.5, so this is perfect because it matches and mimics what our skin likes to hang out at naturally. [...] Look at how it's like globular—I love this so much."
✓Yay
67%Guru Score
"I found that this would evaporate off my skin pretty quickly. I felt that it wasn't thick or hydrating enough for my skin. [...] I'm normally oily, so for my oily days I am going to revisit this, especially in the summer, but overall this did not even come close to the essence."
✕Nay
66%Guru Score
"The centella face mask [...] texture is so cool, it's almost a mix of like a hydrogel and one of the cotton sheet masks. This is so brilliant and the ingredients just soak into skin and calm them down so much. I absolutely love this. [...] What I absolutely love about SKIN1004 is that this brand does centella like nobody else. This product alone has 50 percent centella, most products have like five to ten percent. They load it up with this and it is amazing."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"The Pyunkang Yul Essence Toner is like grape jelly. If you have a damaged skin barrier, if your skin is irritated, if you want an extra layer of hydration under your makeup during the day when you're out in the cold or even at night when you're going to bed, this is the answer. I have been swooned, I've been simping, I have been head over heels for this and my pores have been sipping this. The results speak for themselves."
✓Yay
67%Guru Score
"This is from Papa Recipe. This is the Noble Rot Lifting Essence and if you have mature skin, if you want something that gives you an antioxidant boost that absorbs beautifully and that is safe for damaged skin barriers, this was literally made by a papa for his daughter who had eczema. So it's not going to cure eczema, but this is great for a damaged skin barrier. And noble rot is specifically the rot that grows on specific grapes."
✓Yay
Notverified
"The green tea toner is one of the best antioxidant toners I've ever used. On days that you're not exfoliating, I would definitely recommend this."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"Overall the glycerin in here is probably pretty helpful. [...] We have a lot of these plant extracts. [...] I'd be worried about the orange peel oil and the lime oil especially for day use if you are going outside with this. But is it a bad product absolutely not. For the price it's 28 bucks, again if only it were cruelty free I would probably add this to my cart. It seems like a pretty good toner, it seems actually kind of more like an essence because it has that glycerin."
~Mixed
Notverified
Eye Care32 reviews
"Eye patches actually have ingredients that can infuse into the skin but you're literally using mechanical or physical pressure to push the eye bag away which is great. I love eye patches. I really hate most eye creams. The Patchology eye patches, I remember that one day I actually got 10 hours of sleep and I looked like I had gotten one, yeah. [...] They're actually really good."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"I tried some of The INKEY List's eye creams, like the Caffeine [...] Eye Cream, because I thought if it's inexpensive enough and actually works, maybe this is an eye cream I can get behind, and I can say that about the caffeine one, yes. [...] With all of The INKEY List's eye creams, I like that they're inexpensive, but I wouldn't say that any of them are hits for me."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"I tried the INKEY List Retinol Eye Cream because I thought if it's inexpensive enough and it actually works, maybe this is an eye cream I can get behind, and I can say that about the caffeine one and the retinol one, yes."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"It's not a bad eye cream per se and the applicator is actually phenomenal, it's just not one of the best. Most eye creams are just literal facial moisturizers in a tinier tube that they can charge you more for. [...] If you're not a crying emotional person, skip this and just use your facial moisturizer right up here and save yourself the money."
✕Nay
66%Guru Score
"These patches actually work really well while you're crying. They're kind of jelly so they actually stick to your face. I literally cried for way too long and then I took a nap and they didn't even come off of my face when I was napping. And when I woke back up and kind of peeled them off my under eyes weren't as puffy as they normally are after I cry. Patchology is a great brand for face masks but seeing as these are buy one get one I'm into it."
✓Yay
62%Guru Score
"These are my bougie favorites. These patches have water, glycerin, dipropylene glycol, and basically a lot of hydrating ingredients. We have some caffeine, some centella. Acetyl hexapeptide 8 is hydrating, and the centella in here could be soothing. I don't think these are going to be fantastic, but they're being sold as eight for 25, which is really not bad from a price point perspective."
~Mixed
74%Guru Score
"This Squalane Plus Marine Algae eye cream is phenomenal. It does have a potent form of red algae as well as squalane. A little bit does go a long way. [...] This is what I would use especially when she gets wounds because it helps to heal a damaged skin barrier. I would recommend putting this either on the chest or all over the entire face. This could be used as a full-fledged moisturizer if she doesn't want to use the rose moisturizer."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"The product is stickier than the original eye serum, and it leaves my under eye feeling tacky even after moisturizer. For the price—it's basically forty dollars per ounce when you do the math on the half-ounce bottle—this is just an overpriced moisturizer. I really wanted to love this, but my experience has been lackluster, and I'm not sure I want to repurchase."
✕Nay
71%Guru Score
"All of these are moisturizing ingredients. [...] This is literally what's in foundation primers, moisturizers, and you're paying a ton of money for retinol and niacinamide inside of this dimethicone base. You can get such less expensive eye creams that have [...] retinol. [...] For forty dollars I would say no, no, Olay is not okay for this price."
✕Nay
66%Guru Score
"These Peter Thomas Roth eye gel patches are another favorite of mine that I also learned on set. [...] Anything that has cucumber or hydra in the name, that's like a buzzword for me to buy it. Something about it just sounds like it's going to refresh me and change my life. It's the little spa treat, you know."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"This is the Dior Capture Total Eye Serum. It has this little thing at the top and it's just genius. The applicator is 10 out of 10, excellent. I could see this being very cooling if you want to buy this for the applicator, [...] but eye creams, [...] at least it's eighty dollars and not a hundred and eighty. Look at the ingredients: it still has niacinamide, lilium cadmium bulb extract. Tell me that you just repackaged your moisturizer in a tinier tube without telling me."
✕Nay
55%Guru Score
"This product will actually do that. For me, my biggest beef with it is that it's not cruelty free because yes as a vegan I have beef with many of these cosmeceutical manufacturing companies. And yes, I believe that eye creams are overpriced moisturizers. If she wanted to, she could absolutely use her moisturizer in the eye area, but if she wants an excellent eye cream that's going to rebuild collagen, she can continue using this."
~Mixed
71%Guru Score
"But as you know, eye creams are basically overpriced moisturizers and there are many facial moisturizers that you can literally use right here, or if you have an eye cream that you like, use it for benefits all over your face. Why would I pay $75 when I could literally pay $10?"
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"Ceramides are fantastic in eye creams and I've been loving those. There's an algae one that's very expensive from Bioscience, but like that's it that you're going to get me to admit to."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"That girl has also come to use the $140 Dr. Barbara Sturm eye creams. [...] Her products are extraordinarily overpriced. I just take a doctor's name, put it on a luxury product, and charge a ridiculous amount of money for it. [...] The Dr. Barbara Sturm Eye Cream has macadamia oil and yeast. And while these are good, they're not necessarily amazing or proven in the under eye area to do miraculous things."
✕Nay
60%Guru Score
"The SPF 35, I wouldn't do with a mask, I would just use that kind of almost as makeup."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"Oh my god, I never thought I would say this, but Pacifica has come through with an eye product I really really like. [...] These right here are from Pacifica and these are the Ceramide Hydration Full Under Eye and Smile Line Jelly Patches. They actually come with multiple in here and these are so fun to use. [...] Oh my god, these are some of the most hydrating, the most fulfilling, the most jelly chilling eye masks you can use. If you have sensitive skin, they are phenomenal."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"This is the Yerba Mate Wake Up Eye Gel from Good Molecules. This one is great."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"We have some jojoba esters, which I love. We [...] have some polysilicone, caffeine, [...] glycolic acid, but then we have mica and more beeswax. [...] When you put this on, you're like, 'Oh my god, my under eyes are so bright.' And it's like, yeah, you just applied makeup that's put in a tube of eye cream. [...] There's fragrance in here, which is concerning up by the eye area. [...] This eye cream does not get the Cass pass."
✕Nay
66%Guru Score
"If you're looking for a really good vasoconstrictor, something like caffeine is great. Caffeine does not wake up your eyes the way Kylie's skin tries to tell us, but it constricts those blood vessels. [...] I actually tested The Ordinary's Caffeine Eye Cream if you wanted to see how that actually worked out on my face."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"She's using her ring fingers which is great, and I would argue that this right here is de-puffing her eyes more than this eye cream. Now she did mention she is using this eye cream for under-eye wrinkles. [...] You cannot change anatomy with an eye cream. Eye creams are overpriced moisturizers. [...] This does have some caffeine and some turmeric which is not bad, but overall the answer is no. [...] I'm glad she likes it, but this is not something that would be on my recommended list."
✕Nay
62%Guru Score
"These eye patches contain water, glycerin, carrageenan, and sodium hyaluronate, which are hydrating. There's also colloidal gold, caffeine as a vasoconstrictor, and niacinamide, which can help with darkness underneath the eyes. [...] These aren't horrible, but I just wouldn't spend seventy-five dollars on them. There are many other eye patches that I like a lot better."
~Mixed
62%Guru Score
"It's called the Forever Eye Mask, it is amazing and [...] it allows you to use your moisturizer as an eye cream. It allows you to use your eye cream as intended. It turns them all into eye masks and it actually makes these products work for you. [...] One of the best beauty purchases that I've made personally."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"Murad has a new retinol eye cream that is half better than others."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"The Fractionated Eye Concentrate—no again. Video on that coming soon."
✕Nay
77%Guru Score
"When I look at the ingredients I'm like you are a little overpriced moisturizer, that is literally what you are. You are a moisturizer in a tiny little tube that they want to mark up the price on. But you know what, [...] for the price you can actually afford to put this all over your face if you wanted to. When I compare the texture of this to the sunscreen or to their other moisturizer it does have a slightly different texture and I feel like it peels up a little bit less."
~Mixed
75%Guru Score
"And even my before and afters, they're good, but it took me a little bit longer than 2 months, but it has quickly risen in the ranks of where I feel about LED devices. And for that mid-level range, it is one of the best that you can buy. The fact that it has this cryotherapy, this cooling technology, I have never seen an LED face mask like this. They call this the undereye revive technology. And you have these built-in ones or you can add these little extras for comfort and fit."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"Instead of layering your retinoid, this is basically the level up version. Because this is so small, I've still used a lot of it but this has lasted me quite a long time because a little goes such a long way because it kind of warms up on your skin you literally need the lightest touch. This allows you to get the benefit of a retinoid, specifically the anti-acne, the anti-wrinkle, anti-hyperpigmentation, anti-scarring benefits, without having to actually use the grease ball goo."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"This is their Revive Eye Serum, it's a ginseng and retinal, again not a retinol with an O, retinal with an A. This is one of the most potent K beauty products that I've ever used, but the good news is that it goes on sale and it works. [...] The color of this is super bright, that's the vitamin A, aka the retinoid in here, it's really doing the work."
✓Yay
93%Guru Score
"Because this has caffeine, caffeine is also an antioxidant. [...] This is one of the best serums. [...] If you're looking to de-puff the under eye area and you want something that feels a little bit more thick and hydrating, this is when I would use this. I use it on my smile lines, I get really puffy in my cheeks, I use this all over my face and it is absolutely brilliant. It's wonderful whether you use it on its own or if you pair it with Pycnogenol."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"This is 78 dollars and you get such a tiny amount for [...] that price. It does say dark circles and puffiness, but I'm still not spending money on it. I still don't think it's worth it. However, the ingredients do check out and they're not claiming it's going to help with wrinkles. I wouldn't spend my money on this; I would get the caffeine eye cream from the ordinary and just put it all over my face."
~Mixed
78%Guru Score
"This right here is the fragrance-free vegan ceramide eye cream, and yes it has vegan ceramides. It is beautiful, it is wonderful. The ceramides in here are fantastic. [...] This is actually worth the price at fourteen or fifteen dollars. I do love this, I will use it all over my face. This is an eye cream that I do recommend, especially if you have sensitive skin or you're always prone to irritation."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
Retinoids27 reviews
"For $15 this is unreal, it's fantastic for sensitive skin. I think it's fantastic for beginners who kind of want to go advanced or for people who have a retinoid in their routine and they want to go next level but don't want prescription. It can make you a little bit yellow, a little bit goes a long way, just use a little bit. [...] You can use this morning or night, night is better because it won't break down in the sun. [...] I like the pump applicator."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This first one is from Paula's Choice. This is the Resist Barrier Repair Moisturizer with Retinol. It is super, super creamy, but it does have a retinoid in it. Can you see how it's kind of like toothpaste? It really holds its shape. It has licorice for brightening the skin, but it also has that jojoba oil we just talked about, so it has more of a melted butter consistency. It does feel a little slicker on the skin, and it has that retinoid, which is notorious for drying people out."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"It's in a retinoid family, it used to be prescription but now it's over the counter. This has retinol and Novaretin and it's a scar, mark and wrinkle solution, but it uses ingredients that are medically proven to help with acne."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"This is the Retinol Reform, it's soothing for fine lines and wrinkles but it's made by Shani Darden, she's an esthetician, a woman of color, and she literally has pioneered the skincare industry to make this brand happen. I love her story, I love her hard work, I love her dedication to the industry and her products are just as good."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"Everyone needs a retinoid in their routine as long as their skin can handle it. [...] If you're just starting, get one that's called retinol, which is over the counter. This one from The Ordinary is under 10 bucks. This is great, and this one's actually an oily solution, so if you feel like you have dry skin and acne, this can help lock in moisture from your other products and it can help prevent your skin from drying out while still treating the acne. So this is fantastic."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"This is another great one, the 1% Retinol Serum from The INKEY List. [...] The reason that I love The INKEY List and The Ordinary is that these are both like under 10, 15 bucks so they're affordable. [...] If you're going to spend your money on something, spend your money on a potent active ingredient, get it at an inexpensive price, and try it long enough like a month or two to see if it works for you."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"Dermatica is great especially if you're in the UK. Those are also smaller and they send them monthly. [...] They also have dark spot formulas so if you have like dark spots and scars they're fantastic."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I would rather spend that money on a different retinol or even get a prescription one. [...] I actually tested this on my chest where I get some sebaceous filaments, these amber-looking goobers that jump out of my skin. [...] This did wonders for my chest and my sebaceous filaments, but I wouldn't say it was as gentle as they say it is. Like, this is some potent stuff. Even look at the color, do you see how it is this bright yellow?"
~Mixed
64%Guru Score
"This Rescue Retinol Nighttime Renewing Cream has 0.75 encapsulated retinol blend with a bomb complex. [...] We have squalane, shea butter, and we have magnesium retinol, resveratrol which comes from wine and grapes, tripeptide, gluconalactone, ubaquinone, and allantoin which is hydrating and healing. This actually looks really good."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"This is basically a slightly tweaked version of the exact same thing. Literally, if she likes the texture of this, just apply it all over the face and right here in the under eyes. Or if she likes the serum better because it's more lightweight, ditch the moisturizer, ditch the eye cream, and just put the serum all over. This is point in case I rest my case that [...] this moisturizer is basically the same thing as their eye cream that they were trying to sell you for much more money."
✕Nay
76%Guru Score
"This one has more glittery ingredients like Mica in it and actually has the added benefit of a peptide, specifically Palmetto pentapeptide four. This is probably good for anti-wrinkle benefits, this is probably good for firmness and elasticity in the skin. But for forty dollars, much better retinol anti-wrinkle products out there. You could do, you can even get prescriptions with actual tretinoin like the prescription strength. [...] There are so many other options out there."
✕Nay
70%Guru Score
"For a beginner who's trying to use retinol who maybe is intimidated on how to mix it with niacinamide or hyaluronic acid and it all feels confusing, this is a gentle barrier supportive retinol that you can use alongside a moisturizer or an oil at night and actually get the benefits of retinol without the redness or the irritation that often comes with [...] it."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"The most potent thing that you can get over the counter that is not prescription is something like retinaldehyde. This is one from Medik8, the Crystal Retinal 3. If you have fine lines and wrinkles, this is one of the best."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"Some of my favorite oils are from The Ordinary. They are inexpensive and fun. [...] If you're just looking for a basic skincare oil, The Ordinary has some great ones."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"Not only is she applying eye cream but she is applying an overpriced eye cream from a makeup brand. There are a few products that I like and they have amazing makeup and some skincare products are okay but their eye cream definitely no. Eye creams in general are just not great products. Carly, we did great with the cleanses, why are we going south with this? [...] If you feel you need to buy an eye cream there are maybe five that I know of that I would actually spend my money on."
✕Nay
57%Guru Score
"This Squalane Phytoretinol serum is absolute trash. This is one of my least favorite products from Biossance. The product itself smells, it doesn't work well, it burns my freaking face. I absolutely hate this."
✕Nay
68%Guru Score
"You could spot this on or you could just use this in a very small amount all over. You can put this on before or after your moisturizer. [...] This is available over the counter, it's one of my favorite products, it's literally like seven bucks. This works so well and if you have sensitive skin and acne or dry skin and acne, this is phenomenal because it's that main ingredient that literally helps with all of the reasons that acne exists but it doesn't destroy dry skin even further."
✓Yay
94%Guru Score
"This is a kind of dryer oil as well because it has that little dry touch that it leaves behind but it's also fragrance free so it doesn't irritate the skin and it actually has the benefit of a retinoid like this do what it said it would do. Also when you just compare The Ordinary to a lot of these other products, the price is a no-brainer, this is under ten bucks. [...] Holy do I love this so much, simple, effective, targeted and makes my skin feel good."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"If you're trying to buy this for a friend or a family member or as a gift, if you know someone who's like all about natural beauty, bakuchiol is a natural beauty friendly ingredient. [...] I love this if you do have hyperpigmentation or just discoloration in the skin or if you get those little leftover marks that stick behind after that pimple goes away, this is one of the best."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I do think that for $15 this is amazing, one of the best things you can get for under $15. I'm loving it. However, are there better retinoids out there? Yes. Like the Medik8 Crystal Retinal 6, that's better. This is actually better, I think, than the Youth to the People retinal."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"One of my favorites is from AcneFree, it's under like $15. This is great for acne, great for wrinkles, it's even good for pigmentation and it also helps with that skin cell turnover for the sebaceous filaments."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"This is the Granactive Retinoid 2% Emulsion and with retinoids you can usually find them in creams or as these yellow formulas or in oil but it's hard to find a retinoid that really works for oily skin that absorbs well but is still creamy. This Is The Answer especially for the price. The Ordinary does retinoids really really well and they also give you options on the percentages. This has Granactive Retinoid as well as retinol and look at this creamy texture."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"Agency the future formula is fantastic. [...] If you have acne they're probably going to put things in like tretinoin which is this retinoid, they're probably going to put in niacinamide, they're probably going to put in some of these ingredients or even azelaic acid that can help with acne and redness. [...] Agency gives you a bigger bottle and they also have dark spot formulas so if you have like dark spots and scars they're fantastic."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"This future formula from Curology is custom blended to me. Mine has tretinoin, which is retinoic acid, otherwise known as all trans retinoic acid. It's the potent stuff, it's the prescription stuff. In the future your skin is going to be plumper in those deeper layers and it's going to speed up that skin cell turnover. This takes 30 or 60 days to work depending on the potency."
✓Yay
Notverified
"If you don't want to spend a ton of money, the Ordinary also has a 0.5% retinol in squalane which is a wonderful oil. There are so many great oil products out there."
✓Yay
61%Guru Score
"This is my Dermatica prescription and it works great for me. It has tretinoin but mine also has antibiotics for the little pimples that I get around my nose and on my forehead and on my chin and my jaw and my chest and my back. When you leave the combining or what's called the prescription compounding to the experts, it really takes out the guesswork, and it allows you to have access to other ingredients that you can't get over the counter."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This is one of my favorite products from Beauty Pie. [...] This is such a good lazy skin care or multitasking beauty if you're looking for a retinoid as well as a vitamin C. I actually love to apply this during the day under my sunscreen. It doesn't tend to ball up or to pill up unless you use it with a Glow Recipe sunscreen, but [...] for most sunscreens, this is such a lovely pair and it brings together two ingredients that we hardly ever see together."
✓Yay
Notverified
Mists & Essences21 reviews
"Can I tell you how many of these I have gone through again I love the dispenser"
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"This one is from Tower 28, the SOS Save Our Skin spray. As you can see I've absolutely gone through so much of this. I absolutely love this. Really lightweight, really refreshing, and really just prepares your skin for the other ingredients to help penetrate and really nourish the skin cells underneath."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I just sprayed this in my eye, this is the superoxide dismutase from NIOD. I call it like the big sister to the Ordinary, it's like the grown-up older PhD sister because of how much tech goes into these skincare products. I absolutely just sprayed this antioxidant spray right into my eyeball."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"The Mario Badescu facial spray with aloe herbs and rose water, I hate this. They did a fragrance-free alcohol-free version of this but I feel like I have to compare the two. [...] I like that it's only $7 and it does say that it's Amazon's choice."
✕Nay
58%Guru Score
"They have yogurt which can be great for probiotics, [...] they have zinc PCA which can help control oil production, [...] and they got all the peptides in here. [...] If I weren't a vegan I would absolutely be buying this product but because I don't want to purchase things that exploit animals I don't use them nor do I recommend them which is rough."
~Mixed
84%Guru Score
"It is vegan and cruelty free, and a lot of Tatcha products are super overpriced, especially when I look at this it's like why are we spending so much money on this. So many people love them and I don't know if it's because they look like a fairy tale book [...] or if there is something amazing about the formulation. [...] This spray has glycerin, squalane, licorice, and rice, which are good hydrating ingredients but not gonna cure anything."
~Mixed
80%Guru Score
"This is called Faded and if you're struggling with body acne that leaves behind redness or dark marks of hyperpigmentation this is the absolute best choice. It's 32 dollars and it's a brightening and clearing mist that specifically has additional ingredients such as Alpha arbutin and tranexamic acid that can stop pigmentation in its tracks. It also has niacinamide and licorice root which [...] are great for pigmentation as well as glycolic acid to actually help exfoliate the skin."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"Peach and Lily has some essences that are phenomenal. They cost a little bit more money, but if you're looking for one or two pieces of your routine to be a bit more luxurious and something to show off on your countertop, [...] essences are definitely one of those places."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"This is the Resetting Refreshing Mist from Supergoop and this is something that I believe is brand new. This is phenomenal, highly recommend. This one has a spray so spray spray and that actually makes it very very very easy to apply."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"I keep coming back to it. It is an ultra light mist. It just refreshes the face, especially since it's getting hotter in the bay area. It gets like overwhelming, it's like really really really hot and overwhelming. I just spray this on and I love it. I also sometimes just spray it over here, really wherever I need a little refresh or a little boost. Unlike Addison Ray's that claims to protect against blue light, this doesn't promise any of that."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"This is probably one of the best things, especially because you are getting that algae. Now it's probably got a lot of water content in there. It's probably less of the active, so it's not going to be as potent, but this actually looks really good. If you got twenty-four and you want to try this brand, I don't agree with a lot of the claims that she's saying, but I think that this is a good brand. I think they have some good products, and I actually really like this mist. It looks really nice."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"I'm From Mugwort Essence is on the list."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"I think that's how you pronounce it. [...] This is an essence that is soothing. I actually find it to be more soothing and more hydrating than this. It gives you skin support and it is non-irritating. And if we're just looking at it from a point of aesthetics, they actually look very, very similar. The difference is that this one is a much more liquidy texture, whereas this one is almost like thick, gloopy, globule. This one is definitely more like an essence and less like a toner."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"They can actually cause fungal acne. This caused a pittosporum [folliculitis] outbreak in a bunch of people, which is a fungus that looks like acne but it's not. And it's not cruelty-free, so it doesn't get the cast pass for me. I like the vegan serum from V Green, but you're right on the price. It's normally thirty, what, twenty-five, thirty? It's on sale for eleven, which is actually really good."
✕Nay
77%Guru Score
"The packaging is literally like National Geographic—look at it, on the opposite side of the label they have these beautiful nature images. [...] This ampule is 100 percent centella asiatica extracted. [...] If you want the pure stuff, this is it. [...] Holy, if you just want centella for the antioxidant, for the skin healing, for the anti-redness and soothing properties, this is probably one of your best bets and it looks like National Geographic on your countertop."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"They can hold on to moisture, they can be anti-inflammatory, they can be hydrating. This Bean Essence is literally a skin reparative barrier supporting vegan version of snail mucin that doesn't harm the snails. This was probably one of the fastest things that helped to clear up and soothe my skin. I do have oily skin and this was one of my favorites. Now this leaves you with that K Beauty glow."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"This is fantastic because it actually sits on and it soaks into the skin. [...] A little goes a long way and I would say that this is a more liquidy essence than many other. [...] You see how it hydrates and gives this K Beauty glass skin glow. Normally when I want glass skin I need to layer four or five products, this is just one. [...] For the price this can't be beat. What I love about this is that it can be layered so easily."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"This was sent to me and SK-II's Facial Treatment Essence is basically a two-hundred-dollar glass bottle. They say that it's worth the money because it has Pitera from sake in it, which is basically fermented Japanese rice wine, and while I have no doubt that that's wonderful, I don't want to be spending two hundred on this and it's not cruelty free."
✕Nay
81%Guru Score
"This is such a moisturizing, hydrating, and lifting ampule. I'm actually surprised it goes onto the skin so smooth without any of those silicons. [...] This is also extremely hydrating and yet it's safe for acne skin, and as someone who has acne-prone skin, this is doing double duty beauty for me. [...] It hydrates the outer layers of my epidermis, and [...] because it also has this BHA, the salicylic acid which is oil-soluble, it actually helps if you are blemish-prone."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This was one of the first ones that I ever tried from K-beauty, [...] and I thought this was the best thing since sliced bread, [...] not knowing that there's like four or five others that are even better. This is inexpensive, it is absorbable, it doesn't peel up, it is lightweight. This is the Hyaluronic Acid Water Essence. This has eight types of hyaluronic acid."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"This is probably one of the most luxurious products I've ever used from ISNTREE. It doesn't cost a luxury price, especially when it's on sale. [...] This just feels luxurious. It's this beautiful little white bottle and the entire formula is this clear liquid that just smooths on the skin so well. This is vegan and cruelty-free, but it has hydrolyzed collagen in it, so it's actually quite moisturizing and nourishing to the skin."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
Body & Tan19 reviews
"This Dove one is the Vitare and this actually has vitamin B3 otherwise known as niacinamide and what's great about that is that [...] niacinamide can balance out our oil production which yes can also help in the armpits and anywhere else that you apply this. This also has hydrators like glycerin which are pretty nice. [...] I do like that this is baking soda free because I've actually found that my skin can be a little bit irritated by baking soda."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"The Old Spice is my favorite. I'm a cinnamon and spice girl and I love this. It doesn't make me smell like a man either, like it just smells delicious. [...] It smells like a vanilla cookie. I know it's marketed towards men but I love this. This is specifically a nitro spray, and reviews online have said horrible things about this because some people got burns in their special areas, but for me I just shake it up and I do have sensitive skin and even I'm okay with this."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"It actually works really well [...] and stops me from stinking. It doesn't completely stop the sweat but it prevents the sweat better than the other ones. The problem is I find that it's a little bit chalky. [...] If you put it on and you rub it together it actually feels like sand. This is the roughest, the least smooth, and that was so disappointing to me because as an inky brand who's completely recyclable, this is what I wanted to support."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"What's great about the spray as well is that I can reach the back, and I can even spray this onto my feet if my feet are stinky without having to touch anything. [...] Now when it comes to the Native versus the Secret Whole Body Deodorant Spray, I found that the Secret lasted longer, and there's no white streaks."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"Sol de Janeiro has a bum bum set and they're not full size, but this is decent. This is $32 for 1.7 fluid ounces of the bum bum cream and some extras. This is good if you're not allergic. I tried their pink spray and I broke out in a rash, and I looked at Amazon reviews and I'm not the only one. So I don't love it, but if you know someone who loves their butt, loves a good bum bum cream, or loves the smell of this, at $30 it's a pretty good deal."
~Mixed
63%Guru Score
"From Paula's Choice this is the acne body spray if you do get acne and ingrown or if you have pseudofolliculitis on your butt like I did this summer this can be fantastic and you can use what's already in your cabinet or something that didn't work for your face and just put it on your legs or on your butt."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This is a fantastic get even rose oil that has a ton of antioxidants in it. [...] I find that this one has a nice antioxidant boost and it plays well over many things. But it is fragranced, so just note that in case that's something you're worried about."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"I use the Versed Retinol Body Cream, I use retinoids, I use caffeine creams, and that's what I do for any stretch marks or cellulite, and I really don't let it get to me the way it used to."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"I did use this one, the Necessaire Body Wash, because it's what's in my shower and I know my skin likes this. Now, this does have a little bit of lemon, a little bit of apple. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that. I would recommend the most basic cleanser and again, antibacterial. But this is what I had on hand."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"The salicylic acid is at two percent and it also has some tea tree, which is great for acne, and then there's also some licorice for a little bit of dark spot protection too. [...] This is so good. I've had multiple of these and [...] this is coming with me because I am going to spray my body, get this body acne back under control, and cool off while I do it."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"This is a very interesting product with great ingredients and is wonderful to actually get hydration into the skin."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"This looks really good and as long as you're not sensitive to some of those fragrances this works really well. I love necessary as a brand; they care about the environment and the people who use their products."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"I like that he's using it. I like necessary as a brand. Follow whatever protocol you prefer."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"This formula also has aloe, it has shea butter, this has sunflower, this has rice, sweet almond. It's super luxurious, it is super nourishing and it kind of melts into your skin and just protects it without leaving you sticky. I get a lot of hangnails, I wash my hands like fifty times a day on some occasions, and so I tend to get really dry cuticles and really dry nails. This is so hydrating and moisturizing, and I absolutely love this and it doesn't leave me oily."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"This has been phenomenal. Why did brands not put retinoids in body lotions sooner? I've worked with dermatologists who have sat there and told patients to mix just a pea-sized drop of their prescription strength retinoid in with some CeraVe and spread it on their body because it can help with anti-aging and it can help with a lot of skin conditions. This is a [...] creamy emollient retinol body moisturizer and it's actually a decent amount for what you get and the price is not horrible."
✓Yay
92%Guru Score
"The ingredients are almost identical—water, glycerin, isopropyl palmitate, petrolatum, dimethicone, cell alcohol, phenoxyethanol—but the body cream doesn't have the fragrance or the blue number one, which you [...] wouldn't want in fissures on your hands anyway. At [...] 72 cents per ounce versus 2.33 per ounce for the hand cream, the body cream is the much better value and performs the same function."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"Topicals also has this body serum, which is also wonderful if you are struggling with pigmentation elsewhere on the body. This is really great, especially for dry elbows, legs, and knees."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"Good Molecules also has a wonderful body discoloration serum. They have one for the face and for the body, and this has tranexamic acid."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"This is a physical exfoliant that also has chemical exfoliants in it, but it's gentle. It's creamy. I don't just use it on my eczema or my KP, but I also use it when I need to shave my legs and I've used it on those rough patches. It is a body thing. I haven't used it on my face yet, but I have fallen in love with this. [...] This microderm scrub, it sold out within like 24 hours. And when I actually got my hands on it and started using it, I can see why. It is great for chicken skin."
✓Yay
Notverified
Haircare18 reviews
"I went back to my Living Proof dry shampoo."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"This right here is from The INKEY List, it's a Salicylic Acid Exfoliating Scalp Treatment. I don't feel like this made much of a difference so I'm probably not going to continue using this."
✕Nay
83%Guru Score
"I'm doing the Nutrafol supplements and I'm about 45 a little bit more than 45 days in and that's one of the big differences as well is that Nutrafol does not regrow your hair. It's just for longer stronger healthier hair. But again with my hair loss issues I'm trying to do as much as I can as quickly as I can to prevent losing my hair and then grow it back to what it used to be."
✕Nay
65%Guru Score
"I'm in love with it. This is also an Indian brand which is great for multiple reasons but it's also inexpensive. It's so inexpensive, it's so good. [...] This is the malic acid Bond Repair Complex and this is a hair mask that goes on my strands. [...] This hair mask is so good, it's creamy, it's inexpensive, it's lightweight and it works for my hair when it's curled or when it's styled like this. [...] You put it on and you rinse it off."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"This one is grow from vegamore"
~Mixed
70%Guru Score
"Minoxidil, which is known as Rogaine, is that hair growth solution that you see over the counter or you can get as a prescription from your doctor."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"I at first was using this on my legs and then I even started using it on my armpit. It's like a roller ball and what's special about this is that it has gentle exfoliating acids as well as niacinamide and zinc so it doesn't just help with the ingrown hairs but also helps with the discoloration that the ingrown hairs leave behind. This from Topicals is probably one of the least expensive most effective ingrown hair products that I could ever recommend."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"I think it's basically like a vacuum for your hair but it like curls it. She was telling me that it's the most amazing thing, apparently she used it to blow out her hair that morning and her hair looks great. The issue is that it's like 600. I do not want to pay full price for that. I am not going to get it unless it's on sale. I'm going to see if it actually works on my curly hair. I want to see if it actually works on my styled hair or on my hair naturally."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"I was so excited about these when I first tried them and I've actually been through multiple bottles, but I feel like all they've done is run down my scalp and make it greasy. [...] I just found that while this is great to moisturize the scalp if you have dry patches, I didn't see a big difference when it actually came to my hair's thickness or density or my actual hair roots."
✕Nay
73%Guru Score
"Even the Caffeine Stimulating Scalp Treatment I was using it on like a legit portion of my scalp, I didn't see much of a difference, that was disappointing."
✕Nay
75%Guru Score
"Function of Beauty was nice for my hair, but I don't feel like it did anything for my hair loss."
✕Nay
69%Guru Score
"I don't use a shaving cream, I use The Ordinary shampoo or conditioner depending on how my hair feels. [...] I've actually been doing this for quite a while, not with The Ordinary but with other brands. [...] I've tried so many different shaving creams and I haven't found any that I absolutely love. [...] The shampoo is really great because you can see what you're doing, so if you're trying to see if you got all of the spots this is a great option."
✓Yay
62%Guru Score
"The conditioner I actually find to be wonderful. It really softens the hair and lets the razor glide smoothly. [...] I use it more in my hair, I feel that it softens my armpits more. [...] Either way, this is kind of my little shaving routine where I make sure that I go in the direction of the hair growth."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"This is the only dry shampoo that I like that doesn't get all gunky and crusty up in my scalp. [...] It is living proof of a perfect hair day. It doesn't make my hair nasty, helps it stay oil-free, helps give it volume and it makes me look and feel my best. I am a super oily scalp lady but my hair being dark, it like shows up if there's any white powdery crusty stuff. No white powdery crusties."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"Seen hair care is fantastic. They have a Shampoo and Conditioner Set that not only helps the scalp but doesn't cause breakouts, and it's non-comedogenic. [...] Even if you get it on your skin or your body it doesn't cause breakouts."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"This is basically the simplest shampoo that you could ask for, and it's basic af. It has sodium laureth sulfate, which [...] they claim is a more gentle type of sulfate that doesn't overly strip the way other sulfates do, but this is honestly the exact same sulfate marketing that we've heard from so many other companies for so long. At eight dollars [...] it's not horrible, and I do appreciate that it's fragrance free."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"I'm stocking up on Nutrafol Women's Vegan. I take these supplements, I love them, they've replaced a lot of my other supplements, but they're expensive."
✓Yay
Notverified
"I also tried this from The Ordinary the Multi-Peptide Serum for Hair Density I just didn't see big results with this. A lot of people have said this is amazing for them maybe I didn't use it for enough months I just didn't see the biggest results so I might retry outing this or I might just say screw it."
✕Nay
68%Guru Score
Tech18 reviews
"This is like an under-eye version for puffiness and [...] you can put them on different areas depending on where you get puffy. You can even use them on smile lines or 11 lines on the face if you do have deep set wrinkles there. The biggest thing for me is just seeing when I take them off, my eyes are literally brighter and I absolutely love that about these. They specifically have caffeine and copper tripeptide 1 as well as niacinamide, which are all ingredients that are fantastic for the skin."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I've seen these from like five different brands, this is the one from CurrentBody Skin. This one was not terrible but it wasn't great. I like that this one actually melds to the contours of your face so you can put it on, but the ear straps don't really work so you have to have like a jock strap in the back that secures it to your face. [...] Look at how few diodes it has, like it doesn't even have that many diodes, and again they're not the bubbled type, they don't have that round dome on them."
~Mixed
90%Guru Score
"The Celluma is like $900, [...] and what I love about it is that yes you can use it on the face but you can use it on the body too. [...] LED is also fantastic for muscles if you put this around muscles because you're an athlete or if you got an injury on the body, red LED can really help."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"The original IPL device I used was a white Kenzzi and you had to refill the cartridge, but it would actually get warm on the skin. It never hurt me, it just kind of felt like a little rubber band pinch, but it was something that I could not use on my face or in my armpit or on my bikini line because those areas are a little bit more sensitive for me. When I did try the Air3, that's what I was so happy about, it has this Sapphire cooling technology that's also UV protective."
~Mixed
77%Guru Score
"ZIIP is a brand that I love, but this Golden Gel just did not work for me or for the people that I put it on. ZIIP sells different gels that you can buy to conduct electricity, and this Golden Gel was terrible. This broke a lot of people out, and they say that this Golden Gel is made for more mature skin, but when I tried this on more mature skinned people, they weren't a fan of it either. It's honestly really goopy, and it can honestly cause an allergic reaction for some people."
✕Nay
75%Guru Score
"I was using the professional which I love."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I've tried the Kenzie that was not painful but it did kind of leave the skin warm."
~Mixed
78%Guru Score
"I use my Medicube device and I use my NuFace device, and I use a lot of these at-home devices for microcurrent, and I can do those at home and use them every day or once or twice a week and get lasting results."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"This gets the cast pass, get it on sale. [...] Don't pay full price, get it on sale. The 10 [...] has more lights so it's more effective. It is cold in sensitive areas, it's really cold. It's twice as powerful. They have an SHR mode, [...] super hair removal, it's actually so good. This one, the 10, is worth it, but if you have the three or if you just don't want to spend the money, the three is like $100 less, just use a three, it works fine, but this one is more powerful."
✓Yay
Notverified
"It has 56 infrared red LED lights. [...] LED has been medically proven to stimulate collagen to help with fine lines and wrinkles, and depending on the wavelength, basically the color of the light, they can be helpful in treating acne. Dr. Dennis Gross has done their research on skincare and their LED face mask is one of the best that you can get on the market. It's expensive, but that is pretty much as close as you can get to professional that's available at Sephora."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"Forget the cryotherapy, the LED on this thing is a joke. It's a small little strip of LED that they try to claim has benefits to the skin. This thing is barely powerful enough to get light into the skin. Not to mention when I actually tried to sign up for it, it had me sign up in Russian, that it wouldn't connect to my app, it was just a disaster. Foreo does have some good products, they do have like a couple facial cleansing devices that are nice, but the UFO was a disaster."
✕Nay
54%Guru Score
"For hair and specifically for hair regrowth it's been studied time and time again and used medically in clinic. This little device is my Saving Grace. I've spoken about this so many times. [...] This is the elite which is absolutely fantastic. The main difference is that this has 500 diodes and it has different wavelengths. For me it's easier to stick to something if I make it a habit every day like this 12 minutes a day rather than doing the white one three times a week."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"Don't get something if it's not FDA cleared, otherwise you're just wasting your money. And laser, as you know, can be really intense. We can use laser in the skin clinic to [...] basically damage the skin so it regrows. The laser here is much more gentle, but it literally stimulates circulation, helps follicles grow faster, gives them the nutrients that they need because of that blood flow, as well as helping keep the hairs on the head, which for me has personally been fantastic."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"There are certain ones that are really good to do at home and even in professional aesthetics I've used the NuFACE Trinity."
✓Yay
62%Guru Score
"I did use the regular one [...] before. I had to use this a couple times a week for almost half an hour and I find that if I don't do something on a regular basis it's harder to build a habit."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This is one of the best things I've ever used for my scalp but you have to use it in order for it to work. The biggest thing if you're going to do anything when it comes to LED in hair, make sure it covers the back. So many people have issues at the crown. I literally didn't know that I had bald patches until I saw myself in a video and I was like, why are patches of my hair missing? And if I had gotten one of the regular caps it wouldn't have covered the back of the head."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I like the mini because it's more lightweight and I feel like it works just as well."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"The Zip is amazing they have a new Halo it's lightweight you can use it as long as you want it works for the face and around the eyes lymphatic drainage it is so good"
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
Lip16 reviews
"If you just put this on in the morning or even the night before, you have hydrated smooth lips for the entire day. And this doesn't leave you in that cycle of drying out the lips and like having to reapply this even more because you put the lip product on but then you feel like it's just making the issue worse. I love love love love love this. It's so inexpensive, I usually get it from Amazon, from Style Vana, or from Style Korean."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"When I first put this on I didn't see any lip plumping. [...] I used this for about a month non-stop and I don't really know if it plumped my lips. It has the weirdest taste, like an oily Vaseline that kind of leaves a taste in the back of my throat. [...] It definitely makes my lips look good, it is non-irritating, it's really easy to use, easy to carry and travel with, and easy to buy and find at Sephora and Ulta. But I can't really say it plumped my lips, definitely not immediately."
~Mixed
60%Guru Score
"The formula wise this is an excellent excellent product, it's just the actual applicator is not really my favorite and is it easy to use, eh, okay. But the price, the price babe. I could feel it plumping but it definitely didn't burn. I like that it's clear but I did notice that if I went outside the lines of my lips it would get a little bit red, not massively irritated."
~Mixed
72%Guru Score
"The lipsticks that are patchy yet we pay hundreds of dollars for them"
✕Nay
71%Guru Score
"If it's more important that you're taking out a YSL lipsstick and it's beautiful bulleted artistic bottle doesn't really matter what the formula is"
✕Nay
56%Guru Score
"I don't know if I want to pay $24 for that, and I'm also not going to because it's not cruelty-free. If you're someone who puts this on and you're [...] getting breakouts around your lips, or if you wake up with drier lips than when you started, that's something to consider. There's nothing toxic or dangerous in here, but there's nothing revolutionary either, and with the coconut oil I could see that causing breakouts for some people."
✕Nay
73%Guru Score
"It's lightweight, it's hydrating and it's pretty. It's just a little bit more expensive but this is a solid choice. If other people online have gotten breakouts around your lips or the Lage leaves your lips drier, this generally does not do that."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"It's [...] a little bit more translucent but it's also a little bit more sticky and this actually hydrates better in my opinion. When I put this on at night and I wake up in the morning my lips actually feel hydrated. It smells divine and [...] it's light, it's not overbearing. [...] This is clear, it's a little bit more sticky but this works so well and it actually keeps the lips hydrated. It has hyaluronic acid in here which is phenomenal for the lips."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"It's literally a fraction of what I was paying for the Bite Beauty one, it tastes better than the Bite Beauty one, it makes me look better than the Bite Beauty one. The granules are much finer than those big chunky ones. It smells like Hubba Bubba watermelon Bubble Gum as opposed to like watermelon cough syrup. The exfoliation is helping heal my lips [...] in a way. It literally [...] took one day to get rid of the crusties and [...] then about four days to get rid of all the split lip."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"This is the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Lip Oil. Yes, it's expensive, yes. [...] It's one of the lip products that actually has a ball on it, a roller, instead of just like one of those squeezy tubes. There are lip products like from Biosons that I like more, but when it comes to the hit and miss of Charlotte Tilbury, this one is a hit. [...] Fun fact, this also has potato pulp extract."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"I think I would recommend the Elta MD lip balm for daytime use. That's a really good one because it has SPF in it."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"Her lips look amazing. This looks like it works for her. I like that they have an unscented one so for people who struggle with angular cheilitis or perioral dermatitis you don't want fragrance or irritants in your lip products."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"I really really love the Bite lip products. [...] Bite Beauty is fantastic. They have some amazing and innovating products and I love them so much. This is a great lip cream. Overall, if you have dry lips, especially post-Accutane, this is what I recommend if people are looking for a cruelty-free, a little bit more luxury option of a post-Accutane lip treatment. If you have super dry lips and skin, this stuff is amazing."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"There's an MD Solar Sciences SPF 30 Lip Balm on the wishlist."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I don't use Dior anymore because I think they're an overpriced makeup brand. They're a designer that slapped their name on some really crappy makeup. Their eyeshadows are horribly pigmented. I used to [...] have this lip gloss, an orange one, and I spent a ridiculous amount of money on it. [...] It wasn't that great—it was really sticky. But you know what, it looks great on her and the color is very pretty, so it wasn't as bad as the eyeshadows."
✕Nay
61%Guru Score
"That's the best way I could describe this is like a stick lip oil. It [...] goes on like a stick so it's really easy to control, really easy to apply, but when you have it on it melts down into like this butter consistency and it's not a greasy butter, it's not an overwhelming butter."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
Acne15 reviews
"Hero Cosmetics is very very close to being one of the best pimple patches I've ever used. Hero Cosmetics is made for sensitive skin, they are efficacious, they are good at what they do. You can get them at Target, they're inexpensive, and I really love them. [...] If you have a variety of pimples, this is the variety pack for you. [...] All of these are really good, they're efficacious, and some of these do have active ingredients that actually help with the acne."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"These are fantastic and they really do set themselves apart from everyone else. They [...] have hydrocolloid polymer technology with salicylic acid, and this also has a retinoid in it. The [...] retinal acetate is a great addition to have in a pimple patch that [...] actually works. [...] I love these for adult acne if you get whiteheads, [...] blackheads that turn into whiteheads, or breakouts. The aloe vera in here is also hydrating so these don't dry out the skin."
✓Yay
92%Guru Score
"I really really like these though. These have salicylic acid in them, salicylic acid is an ingredient that actually kills acne bacteria and it works for oily prone skin. It goes into the pimple basically, helps dissolve the oil, and it really kills acne bacteria and helps exfoliate. These are not super powerful players. If you have a cystic pimple this is not going to help. If you have a gnarly zit this is not it."
~Mixed
60%Guru Score
"These little micro darts are basically a delivery system. They pop into the skin, it doesn't hurt, but you can definitely feel it, and it goes into the skin and it dissolves and it gets rid of my pimples. [...] If you get the big deep zits, this is going to be your best bet. They're expensive, but they're more worth it. They have all of the beneficial ingredients that all of these other patches try to do."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"Salicylic acid, remember that's a BHA, that's oil soluble. The Ordinary has some fantastic ones that are really good."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"Well, The Ordinary has an anhydrous salicylic acid, this is basically BHA in oil and I'm so happy they launched this because this is so good. It has no water in it, so it's anhydrous. If you're someone who loves a good oil serum but you have acne and you're like I'm so dry, I love an oil and it breaks me out every time, this is going to be a best friend."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
"COSRX has some of the best spot treatments. They actually have pimple patches that I use on my shoulder, and that's one I'd recommend if you are a picker. Don't pick it, patch it and baby it. The COSRX ones are good, though Korea doesn't actually make my favorite pimple patches. I have other pimple patches from American brands like Zit Sticka that I like a lot better, but if you wanted to keep it K Beauty, I would say COSRX has some of the better ones, even though they're not my favorite."
~Mixed
77%Guru Score
"We love a real and honest celebrity who's okay to talk about their pimples and then being okay covering them up with a sticker that kind of draws attention to them. [...] Justin Bieber uses Starface Pimple Patches and it's affordable, find him at Target. I love this."
✓Yay
58%Guru Score
"Some of the best benzo peroxides for literally under 10 15 the inky list super Solutions the panoxyl benzyl peroxide it's a little bit more hydrating"
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"The INKEY List actually creates two of my favorite spot treatments, one is the succinic acid spot treatment which is basically a little green leprechaun to kill blemishes on your face."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"I absolutely love these not only because they literally get rid of my pimples and the redness in record time faster than any other patch I've seen on the market but they come with two steps, one that's an actual little swipe that helps to clean the area and get any gunk off so that this can actually stick, and then this has the micro darts that literally put the ingredients into the skin."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"Another favorite is this one from Peach Slices. These are just the plain acne hydrocolloid dots. You can get these at like Ulta, you can get them at Target. I did find them at CVS for like five dollars. [...] All of these fit so well into a little stocking and these are absolutely so much fun."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"I've even heard that starface has salicylic acid ones which I haven't tried. As long as it's a salicylic acid pimple patch and it stays on your face, then you're good to go."
✓Yay
66%Guru Score
"The oligopeptide 10 is actually considered an anti-acne ingredient and peptides are strings of amino acids that are strung together into a polypeptide chain, and this one specifically is antibacterial so it actually kills the acne bacteria. You can layer this under a moisturizer or you can mix this in with your moisturizer which is personally what I do. I absolutely love this serum."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"This is a great serum, yes, but do I consider this a blemish buster? Shockingly no. Although I did use this and although I think this is safe for acne-prone skin, there aren't any ingredients in here that I really feel fight breakouts. I don't feel like this is for someone who is struggling with acne and looking to get into K Beauty. This is for somebody who wants hydration, maybe you get a couple of pimples around your cycle or maybe if you get stressed out."
~Mixed
Notverified
Tools7 reviews
"I use a very fun LED wand, kind of overpriced but it's good for travel, the SolaWave. I used it on my burn and you can't even see my burn anymore. [...] LED has some promises but can I not just like move a face mask around and just use it there instead? Do I need to spend $150 on this?"
✓Yay
52%Guru Score
"I've been on these for like two years. It's supposed to be like the female version of the Dollar Shave Club. I [...] like that they ship me new ones every now and then so that my razors don't get old. They still get nasty though, and I just have very coarse hair so my hair just grows and destroys razors. [...] But if you are using a manual razor or one where you switch out the blades you just want to make sure that they are sharp and that you do have good shaving hygiene."
~Mixed
79%Guru Score
"The Solawave is something I didn't think was going to work, but it's about the size of a pen and it charges very conveniently. I was able to take it with me and I shoved it on my burn to make my burn heal faster, and damn does this thing work. When testing it out, it's the right wavelength. It actually penetrates into the skin, whereas the FOREO absolutely does not."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"I used to use [...] the Dermaflash, but that was like 150 bucks and like the replacement blades bothered me."
✕Nay
74%Guru Score
"Here we have ascorbic acid so our vitamin C, we have tranexamic acid, niacinamide, licorice, willow bark, turmeric. Basically like anything that could possibly help with dark spots right in there, put it in there. That's a cool color too. [...] The formula [...] is bomb. I really think this is a cool product. [...] Everything that you can think of to treat hyperpigmentation it's pretty much in here."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"I tried and I bought and I loved the Nurse Jamie roller. It is really, really good and it's way better than the Jade ones."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"Microneedling at home is a big no. You do not want to give yourself a skin infection, you do not want to damage your skin like this, especially in an uncontrolled unsanitary environment. Also she did not clean her skin before doing this. She then goes on to mention, oh I put it under hot water to clean it, but hot water does not clean it unless you are throwing it into a boiling thing of water. You do not want to do microneedling at home. Any microneedling at home is not safe."
✕Nay
52%Guru Score
Powder & Setting5 reviews
"This is fantastic but again it can be a little bit stingy so just keep that in mind. It's kind of a hidden gem that has grown on me over the years. When I first started using it I wasn't enamored by it, but this has grown on me and it's very versatile if you know how to use it well. The price of this is phenomenal. Prices are still expensive but the fact that this is still affordable is pretty shocking."
✓Yay
65%Guru Score
"I used to use MAC Fix+ and I spent way too much money on it."
✕Nay
68%Guru Score
"Selena Gomez put on the Rare Beauty spray which is a makeup setting spray which makes sense for post concealer."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"I thought it was amazing and I used it for months and then almost a year. It made my skin irritated, it made my skin burn. We've got an entire video of that debacle, and it was so difficult for me because I expected better from The Ordinary. I was excited about the brand, and I realized I was a victim of consumer marketing. [...] Just the way your best friend can disappoint you, there can be products from a favorite brand that do not do your skin justice."
✕Nay
50%Guru Score
"It's one of your makeup setting sprays but just as Shea shows, you can use this before or after your makeup—after to set it or before to kind of prep it. There's nothing super glittery in here which I appreciate. I also feel like if this is what Rihanna uses and this is what gets her skin the glow then I probably should also drink it. I'm kidding, I'm not gonna drink it. You know I just always thank Brianna."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
Blush & Bronzer4 reviews
"I love that because [...] it gives a little bit of glow without looking overly greasy and it actually layers really well. [...] If you were to do this all over the face, [...] you're going to start looking greasy, but the difference is whether you have grease in the T-zone where it normally happens or if it's strategically in these other areas that are not the T-zone that make you look a little bit glowy. [...] I absolutely love this."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I love this Wishful Eye Contour. I'm genuinely excited about it. It's refillable and recyclable. I replaced my old eye cream [...] with two eye serums."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"I absolutely see these selling off shelves just the way the champagne pop did. I actually like this better than the champagne pop because while it is gorgeous it doesn't have that overly pinky tone to it, so if you wanted to add a blush to this and layer them you totally could or if you just want to use this on its own like as a pop for your eyeshadow or a little bit above your Cupid's bow to give your lips more of a pout you absolutely can."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"I have not yet personally tried this one. This is another one of those that I just purchased and I will be trying out. But I have done this technique with other tanning waters or tanning lotions. If you take a makeup brush and you put it inside of the self-tanner, you gradually apply this where you would normally apply your contour. This actually gives you like a semi-permanent contour and you don't have to apply makeup during the day."
~Mixed
80%Guru Score
Foundation4 reviews
"This is a gorgeous, good product. However, I believe this is being used as a sunscreen. The Laura Mercier product is an SPF 20, which is great if you're putting it on top of a regular sunscreen, but look at the small amount used. While that's a perfect amount for makeup, it's not giving us the SPF 20 that we need, and unless we're reapplying this throughout the day, we need a good SPF [...] 30 underneath this. [...] A makeup product with sunscreen in it is not enough."
~Mixed
64%Guru Score
"It started out drying down beautifully with a velvet finish, but [...] it creased really badly. After just a few hours, my greasy skin came through in my T-Zone and I was flaking and dry and patchy. On textured skin, I [...] can still see my texture, [...] my little blemishes are still popping up, and it's not covering very well. I cannot recommend this to anybody. This is not something that I will do again."
✕Nay
64%Guru Score
"When I tried to mix this foundation with water in the frother, it gummed up on the frother and didn't even mix. The foundation and water separated because oil and water don't mix together, so this didn't work at all with the frothing trend."
✕Nay
54%Guru Score
"Is it good? Absolutely. Is it an absolute cult must-have? No. I do like the packaging because it's very minimal. I love that it's vegan and cruelty free. The ingredients in here are not bad. [...] But you know, is it my go-to foundation? Honestly, I like stuff with sunscreen now, so no. A little bit goes a long way with this, but I don't feel like a little bit actually goes a long way. I feel like this is a lightweight foundation."
~Mixed
73%Guru Score
Balms & Ointments3 reviews
"Plain Vaseline or a silicone based gel and a patch that are much better for scar revision and scar healing for wounds"
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"Neosporin is actually not great for wounds. Number one, it slows down wound healing, and number two, it can actually cause bacterial resistance, which makes treating wounds harder overall. Doctors and derms that I've worked with literally say do not use Neosporin on open wounds. There are other antibacterial cleansers that are way better, and wound dressings or even just plain Vaseline or a silicone-based gel and a patch that are much better for scar revision and scar healing for wounds."
✕Nay
31%Guru Score
"Good old salimo jelly aka vegan vaseline or petrolatum jelly is excellent and as an occlusive barrier it can actually prevent your skin from losing more moisture which often happens with a damaged skin barrier, so stopping the irritation and then preventing that from worsening is excellent."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
Concealer3 reviews
"There's a serum concealer from Live Tinted that I've been obsessed with. [...] I can use it strategically and not feel like I have to cover up everything, even if I am having a blemish or if I've scratched myself. I can use strategic concealer to brighten the areas that I need to, and not have to cover up blemishes."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"Deepa has a brand called Live Tinted and they launched a concealer that I've been testing out. At first when I tried it I was like is it a little too lightweight, like is it really going to cover my blemishes? It's actually been working out really well. I like it on my little pimples that pop up but also for my under eyes because it has ingredients that yes can help with acne prone skin but also help with darkness from pigmentation."
✓Yay
90%Guru Score
"I have that concealer and I've tried it a few times. It's actually a really good concealer if you use it right, and it goes flawlessly over the Murad sunscreen."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
Eye Makeup3 reviews
"The Lash and Brow Serum is constantly selling out and I've heard amazing things about it. The thing is, the Lash and Brow Serum is not a prostaglandin the way that Latisse is, so for some people who have been having concerns about their eye serums, if you don't know the concerns about lash growth serums and how it's like making people's faces have under eye bags, the Ordinary's doesn't do that because it's not a prostaglandin science."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"I know that this is a new mascara and I think I might have to get my hands on this. I love that they actually tested it on different lashes because mascara works very differently for those different people. Hearing that it's like an all-in-one kind of scares me, but I do think that we should have different mascaras for people with straight lashes versus curly lashes versus people who just want color versus people who want volume versus people who want length."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"Their liner is just so good and affordable. I was in the mall and I had my mask on and I went to Sephora. These two girls were walking past me and they were like, you know, Rare Beauty's liner is just so good and affordable, and [...] I got so excited to hear them talk about the brand even though they had no idea I was there."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
Nails1 review
"They don't chip, they don't get scraggly or like there's no polish that can kind of get dented or chip. These are my absolute favorites. They have like a limited edition floral set that I've really been loving. I honestly don't know if I'm ever going to go back to regular manicures. They're already really inexpensive, like eight to ten dollars for a little pack, and you get 30 instead of just ten. If you are the right size you can do them literally three times. So good and so inexpensive."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
Primer1 review
"It's not sticky, it's almost dry touch, but it almost feels like Vaseline as it goes onto the skin. I wouldn't say that it covers scars or texture very well, which is why I like the CeraVe one better for my blemished and scarred skin, but this is actually a decent one and the price is not horrible. Now for me, is this primer good? Sure. But is it absolutely wonderful, magnificent? No, not for me. I would prefer a sunscreen that kind of doubles up as a primer."
~Mixed
80%Guru Score
Supplements1 review
"If you are dry and dehydrated, Pacifica's Vegan Collagen lime is amazing. The Vegan Collagen is basically peptides so they're actually more effective than animal collagen because they actually absorb into the skin. This stuff is great."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score

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Cassandra Bankson is not affiliated with, and does not endorse, The Guru Index. Every quote on this page comes from her public YouTube videos, linked at the timestamp. Verdicts and approval stats are our editorial read of what she said. "Guru" is a title we award, not a sign of any affiliation.