The Guru Index›Gurus›James Welsh
James Welsh
Skincare expert

James Welsh.

James Welsh covers serums, toners, moisturizers, and the full Korean skincare spectrum, breaking down ingredients and calling out photo manipulation in beauty advertising with a photography graduate's eye for what brands actually do to those campaign images. His commentary-style videos trace brand histories and scandals alongside the product science, so viewers get the full picture rather than just a routine recommendation.

Why Is He A Guru?
A decade-plus YouTube educator with a degree in Editorial and Advertising Photography, grounding his ingredient science and beauty marketing analysis in formal visual-media training.
656Products
471 yay80% approval rate
120 nayDoesn't pull punches
92 hot takesWhere he breaks from the pack

James Welsh's top picks.

The products James Welsh has crowned best in their category, and brings up again and again.

★ Best barrier therapy cream
Barrier Therapy Skin Protectant Cream
Prequel Barrier Therapy Skin Protectant Cream
Brought up 7 times
Prequel's Barrier Therapy Skin Protectant Cream is huge, it's massive and it takes me forever to get through, but we have 1% colloidal oatmeal, allantoin, multi ceramides and adenine, super soothing, healing, calming, out of all the barrier repair moisturizers I've used this has to be the most soothing and calming when it comes to itching and irritation.
★ Best sunscreen
RNR Sun Serum SPF 50
Undefined Beauty RNR Sun Serum SPF 50
Brought up 5 times
The Undefined R.R Sun Serum is possibly one of my favorite sunscreens of not just this year but of all time so far. I've been wearing it for two and a half weeks now with absolutely no issue.
★ Best cleanser
Non-Drying Glycerin Cleanser
Prequel Non-Drying Glycerin Cleanser
Brought up 4 times
I can't explain it. It's so hard to describe. It's a moisturizing cleanser. I've used this as a hand wash by accident and absolutely loved it. It's just such a nice cleanser. I didn't think I could be so excited about what is potentially the most boring step in your skincare routine, which is the cleanser. Not since Naturium's Gelais Crave Beauty's matcha hemp Hydrating Cleanser and Selfless by Hiram's Cleanser have I loved a cleanser. I love this. I love this.
★ Best hydrating toner
Rice Toner
I'm From Rice Toner
Brought up 3 times
The I'm From Rice Toner is an amazing toner that sits somewhere between moisturizing and hydrating. It really brightens your skin, hydrates, and smooths out your skin as well. It's such an amazing all-around hydrating product. Honestly, probably one of the best toners I've ever used. I think it's like Laneige Cream Skin Refiner but less moisturizing and more hydrating.
★ Best cleansing oil
Softymo Speedy Cleansing Oil
Kose Softymo Speedy Cleansing Oil
Brought up 3 times
I hate cleansing oils, but the Softymo Speedy Cleansing Oil is one of my favorite cleansers of all time. It feels like a slightly thicker water that effortlessly removes sunscreen and makeup with the gentlest massage, then you emulsify with a bit of warm water, rinse away, and it leaves no residue.
★ Best pore minimizing serum
Green Tomato Pore Lifting Ampoule
Sungboon Editor Green Tomato Pore Lifting Ampoule
Brought up 3 times
I had to get a top up of my favorite pore minimizing serum, the Sungboon Editor Green Tomato Pore Lifting Ampoule. It comes with a mini and a refill as well.

James Welsh, in short.

What does James Welsh recommend?

James Welsh has reviewed 656 products. Of the ones he gives a clear yes or no to,he approves 80%. The products he rates highest and brings up most are Prequel Barrier Therapy Skin Protectant Cream, Undefined Beauty RNR Sun Serum SPF 50 and Prequel Non-Drying Glycerin Cleanser.

Which serums does James Welsh recommend?

He has reviewed 109 serums and approved 79 of them. The ones he rates highest are Educated Mess Golden Hour Gold Stabilized Vitamin C Serum, Bloom Effects Black Tulip Eye Treatment and Vichy Mineral 89 Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Serum.

Which moisturizers does James Welsh recommend?

He has reviewed 87 moisturizers and approved 58 of them. The ones he rates highest are Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, Purito Deep Sea Pure Water Cream and Glow Recipe Plum Plump Hyaluronic Cream. The full picture is in James Welsh on Moisturizers.

Which cleansers does James Welsh recommend?

He has reviewed 80 cleansers and approved 57 of them. The ones he rates highest are Prequel Non-Drying Glycerin Cleanser, Kose Softymo Speedy Cleansing Oil and Glossier Milky Jelly Cleanser. The full picture is in James Welsh on Cleansers.

Which sunscreens does James Welsh recommend?

He has reviewed 69 sunscreens and approved 47 of them. The ones he rates highest are Undefined Beauty RNR Sun Serum SPF 50, Ultra Violette Supreme Screen Hydrating Facial Sunscreen SPF 50 and Krave Beauty Beat the Sun SPF 40. The full picture is in James Welsh on Sunscreen.

What does James Welsh say no to?

He has skipped 120 of the 656 products he has reviewed. The ones he is clearest about are The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%, The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution, Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm, Caudalie Beauty Elixir and Tatcha Water Cream Oil-Free Pore Minimizing Moisturizer.

What does James Welsh recommend for each skin type?

There is a guide to his picks for each skin type he covers most: James Welsh on dry skin, James Welsh on sensitive skin, James Welsh on mature skin and James Welsh on oily skin.

What they review most.

James Welsh's hot takes.

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

James Welsh: Nay vs gurus 61% Yay
I've never liked their products. They're basic and they don't evolve with the times. [...] The brand isn't interested in evolving with new science within skincare. Nobody really uses their wipes.
James Welsh: Nay vs gurus 60% Yay
A very expensive mistake right here. I use this product exclusively for a week and my skin got much worse. [...] It has this really interesting dial at the side [...] where you can twist it depending on how much coverage you want, [...] but this makes no difference whatsoever. The same amount comes out every single time. [...] The finish is just the greasiest thing I've ever used. At first it goes on [...] nice but [...] literally less than an hour later, my dry cheeks were oily, looked greasy.
James Welsh: Nay vs gurus 81% Yay
They made Balm Dot Com vegan and everyone hated it, so they switched back.
James Welsh: Nay vs gurus 61% Yay
Paula's Choice released their Cellular Youth Longevity Serum, which claims to be an unparalleled longevity serum that visibly reverses the look of skin age, restoring firmness, smoothness, and radiance for a younger look longer, but the ingredients are pretty basic, and it just feels like they've chucked in the word longevity on a normal moisturizing serum.

Every review.

All 656 products James Welsh has reviewed, grouped by product type. Click a product to see the full guru consensus.

All takes Yay takes Nay takes Against the gurus
Serums109 reviews
"Ooh, the Numbuzin No.3 Skin Softening Serum. This is basically like a pore care serum designed to smooth uneven texture and refine the appearance of pores. We have a lot of fermented ingredients in here, kind of reminds you of like an old-style essence. Bifida ferment lysate and galactomyces ferment filtrate helps support the skin barrier, improve the texture, brightness. These kind of ingredients just make your skin look better overall."
~Mixed
66%Guru Score
"Niacinamide in here again, so basically that middle egg yolky bit that you see, which is a very nice gimmick, is the PDRN. Then that formula you see on the outside is more of like a skin evening type thing. Then you shake it up and it creates this slightly oily textured watery serum. It's not oily. If you have oily skin, your skin is going to love this so, so much, but it doesn't feel like an oil, but it helps trap everything in."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"Paula's Choice released their Cellular Youth Longevity Serum, which claims to be an unparalleled longevity serum that visibly reverses the look of skin age, restoring firmness, smoothness, and radiance for a younger look longer, but the ingredients are pretty basic, and it just feels like they've chucked in the word longevity on a normal moisturizing serum."
✕Nay
61%Guru Score
"This is like a maintenance serum. I have used this everyday for that very gentle exfoliation because I don't like to do high percentages three times a week for example. I like to do very very gentle every day if not every other day. It feels very watery on the skin. A little bit thicker than water but goes straight into the skin."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"It doesn't need that fakeness behind it, that lying. This basically sits somewhere between treatment and kind of a really nice moisturizer for me, going into summer. This is going to be really, really nice under a light sunscreen and I'm still going to feel hydrated and moisturized enough. We also have niacinamide in here quite high up again. Then ceramides, panthenol, squalene, shea butter. So this is doing a lot of barrier support really."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"The Ordinary's Niacinamide 10% plus Zinc 1%, one of the most popular products to come out of The Ordinary. But people still are like, you don't need 10% niacinamide. You just don't need it. There's no need for this."
✕Nay
69%Guru Score
"That serum is incredible."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"The Peptide Glazing Fluid was similar to the lip treatment, but for the rest of the face. It was also super hydrating. It's supposed to smooth out fine lines, plump skin over time, and of course, give that glaze look that Haley Bieber is known for."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"I'm probably gonna buy it for review reasons."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"But here's the thing, it never actually reversed aging. As we know, skincare can't do that. The adverts also kind of tip-toed around the term anti-aging. It was more talking about replenishing dry skin, making it more moisturized, therefore in turn more youthful looking. When you [...] look at the ingredients, it was basically a nicely formulated moisturizer. We're talking water, glycerin, mineral oil, petroleum, cetyl alcohol, dimethicone, all of those old school moisturizers."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"And it really is a staple for a lot of people. It's rich, it's thick, and it's nourishing. And that's why I don't like it because it's maybe a little bit too thick for my under eyes. [...] This is based around avocado oil and shea butter, which again, a little bit outdated, a little bit old, but they moisturize well enough. But the formula is fairly heavy. It doesn't do much beyond that, which is fine again because that's all you really need under your eyes for most people."
✕Nay
77%Guru Score
"I actually really enjoyed it. Not for hyperpigmentation though. I liked it as a general nicely hydrating skin brightening product. When I say brightening, it kind of just [...] made my skin look a bit fresher, not more even. It didn't get rid of hyperpigmentation, but my skin looked happy when I was using this. But I do not think it's a go-to for pigmentation in my personal experience."
~Mixed
72%Guru Score
"This definitely helped to soothe my skin when it was at its most peely and red and irritated. When my skin was destroyed and ruined, I decided to use this and see how much it actually calms my skin. And luckily for me, this really did help calm and repair. I use it alongside the Aestura ATO Barrier Cream, an amazing combination. I think they describe it as a lightweight serum and it kind of is, but it's got a thickness to it that makes it more feel like a gel cream."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"It makes it look like I've done a full 10-step skincare routine without the risk of irritating my skin or making my skin even worse. So in here we have rice brand water, honey extract, ceramides, hyaluronic acid, alpha butin. It really does have so many beneficial things in giving you brighter, glowier, bouncier skin and calm skin too. All those ingredients in making it look and feel like I've used five different products, toners, essences, serums, but I've just used one. I obviously love it."
✓Yay
65%Guru Score
"Or basically anything from Cerave or The Ordinary. All these had huge viral moments without any of the brands input. The brands did nothing. But they got so much from this. And that's great, you know, I think that is great, especially for smaller indie brands who might not be able to compete with the marketing budgets of well established skincare brands. [...] Brands whose products just worked tend to go viral so easily."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"Polyglutamic acid, hyaluronic acid, very basic panel, very basic, niacinamide in everything. The only interesting thing here is that super quench juice complex. Knowing Fenty, this probably does give you a really, really nice glow and is a decent product. Will I be buying it? No, I don't need it. I've got a lot of products that do this kind of thing without having to experiment with more. If it landed in my PR, I'd use it, but I'm not going out to get it."
✕Nay
65%Guru Score
"Their standout products like their C-Firma vitamin C serum [...] really helped fuel this growth and kind of helped cement the brand's status as a staple of the skincare world."
~Mixed
71%Guru Score
"They're holy grails in people's skincare routines."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"The Vitamin C8 Serum at $90, featuring a powerful dose of vitamin C8 to help boost collagen synthesis. This was horrific to use. It shoots out at you when you first try to use it. It felt like the old fashioned vitamin Cs where they smelt like money and felt stingy, watery, smelled like hot dog water. There was no excuse to have a vitamin C serum like this in today's modern day and age."
✕Nay
68%Guru Score
"They also had a Hyaluronic Acid Serum at $90, which was a multi molecular weight Hyaluronic Acid Serum that they said delivers long lasting 72 hour moisture and helps reduce dehydration and the appearance of fine lines. Another ridiculously expensive serum. For what it is. It's... you can go to The Ordinary and get the same thing."
✕Nay
66%Guru Score
"The Night Oil at $95, nourishing recovery treatment developed to help re-energize the skin overnight for supple, smooth and glowing skin by morning that feels hydrated and plumped. I have never seen my pillowcase looking so disgusting in my whole life. This transferred like crazy."
✕Nay
52%Guru Score
"Oil drops at $95. Developed with a highly stable active form of vitamin C. Supposedly helps the appearance of pores and immediately promotes radiant glowing looking skin. This, this is just an oil."
✕Nay
62%Guru Score
"Whilst I feel like green tea used to be very popular and hyaluronic acid used to be very popular too, people are all about other things now when it comes to hydration. I think even in Korea the brand isn't as popular as it used to be, and that's the thing is I feel like whilst the industry had all their kind of core collections they didn't evolve much and it all became very outdated and kind of old."
✕Nay
71%Guru Score
"SkinCeuticals is one of the many brands owned by L'Oreal. [...] The patented technology they used in the SkinCeuticals serum was used to stabilize ascorbic acid in combination with ferulic acid and vitamin E to enhance its photoprotective and anti-aging properties. Whatever new technology they'd used, it seemed to be working as the CE Ferulic serum was widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best type of product of its type on the market."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"Not to be a slender of the Ordinary, but I tried their pink barrier serum. It ruined my face. It messed me up bad. [...] I have sensitive skin too, so maybe that was an L on my part. Several people in the comments said that they had the same issue."
✕Nay
76%Guru Score
"JLo Beauty serum, amazing, amazing."
✓Yay
65%Guru Score
"I barely use this tool, to be honest with you, and I've only used it on level one. With a beard it's not very comfortable, so I personally do not use this tool that often. It's also not great for my rosacea. But a lot of people love this product, a lot of people have seen great effects from it. Haley Bieber helped it go extra viral, it's a well-loved device and it has gone truly viral on TikTok."
~Mixed
67%Guru Score
"This is one that I feel like I haven't given enough attention to and this is the Golden Hour Gold Stabilized Vitamin C Serum by Educated Mess. It's an antioxidant serum designed to brighten and even out skin tone whilst providing really instant hydration, and that's what I love about this. A lot of vitamin C serums are just that, and I feel like I'm always removing one serum to bring in [...] a vitamin C serum."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"My favorite exfoliant of the year has to be the Skin Rocks Gentle Acid. [...] This is an exfoliating toner formulated to deliver all the benefits of exfoliation without the irritation, containing AHAs and PHAs and skin conditioning ingredients. I have struggled with exfoliating toners this year, [...] but this exfoliant has just been so nice to use, non-irritating whatsoever. I can happily use this twice a week, which just shows to me how gentle this really is."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"So yeah, really great for all skin types. A lot of dermatologists recommend this as probably the next brand after CeraVe if you're looking for something that is easily accessible and affordable. I personally don't like the feeling of a lot of their moisturizers. I find them to be very tacky. They leave a film. But if you're looking for good hydrating everyday use products at a really affordable price, then Neutrogena is an amazing brand to go for."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"Dear Klairs vitamin C, remember this one, that was really good."
✓Yay
59%Guru Score
"I bring out Krave Beauty Great Barrier Relief [...] when my skin is truly bad because it is guaranteed to heal my skin, and heal it fast. It contains tamanu oil which helps with redness, and ceramides which replenish and strengthen the skin barrier. If you have eczema you will love this product."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"I'm loving Numbuzin's rebranding and all their products at the moment, they've got really really good ones, a big selection without being too complicated. They have the pantothenic acid B5 soothing range, and I'm already using the cream, the moisturizer and the serum."
✓Yay
67%Guru Score
"I actually really like the Torriden Dive In low molecular weight hyaluronic acid soothing cream. [...] It's really nice, nothing revolutionary or to run out and get, but if you have dehydrated, dry, combination, oily or all skin types you can enjoy and benefit from it. [...] This particular cream feels a lot more quenching and hydrating compared to others, especially combined with the serum version."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"I fell in love with the Glow Recipe Pomegranate Peptide Firming Serum within a month's usage. It's a great peptide serum, plumping and firming, but also just a great daily use serum with some great antioxidants and hyaluronic acid. It just makes your skin look pretty great."
✓Yay
65%Guru Score
"I don't know how anyone with a single drop of oil on their skin is happily using Glossier's Futuredew oil serum hybrid. For me it just felt and looked like a shimmery oil. Glossier say it contains nourishing oils and powerful extracts for a moisturized dewy look that lasts, but on my skin it didn't last, it just turned into a greasy mess, and [...] the shimmer highlighted every bit of texture I had. It was not a good one for me."
✕Nay
56%Guru Score
"This is one of my favorite eye creams. It's a lightweight eye gel almost like serum that's designed specifically for that delicate skin under the eyes. It helps with puffiness, dark circles, and fine lines, and it does deliver really nice instant cooling kind of like snatched kind of look to under your eyes. What I love about this is the black tulip complex."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"Such as the lunar sleeping oil and tidal brightening enzyme water cream these products complemented their already hugely now popular lineup"
✓Yay
66%Guru Score
"Juno is a nourishing facial oil that features a blend of cold-pressed seed oils rich in antioxidants and essential fatty acids."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"Critics were unhappy with Sunday Riley as they felt the brand had misled customers regarding the effectiveness of the product, saying that its properties as an effective treatment for acne were vastly exaggerated. Many who used it said it had little to no effect on their acne."
✕Nay
60%Guru Score
"Drunk Elephant's first six products, which included a cleansing bar, a hydrating marula oil and a vitamin C serum, were all fairly popular from the start."
~Mixed
60%Guru Score
"Their glow deep Serum with rice and Alpha rtin is another favorite of mine"
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"I don't need a hypoc chloris acid serum it also doesn't make a lot of sense to my routine"
✕Nay
69%Guru Score
"Their Violet SE Brighton serum was runner up in the skin tech Wonder category for Vogue Beauty Awards"
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"Peach Slices, the sister brand of Peach and Lily, do an anti-redness azelaic acid serum which has 10% azelaic acid alongside algae extract, centella, and panthenol, so I'm getting those soothing hydrating healing benefits alongside azelaic acid. The Peach Slices serum also feels a lot more hydrating compared to the Paula's Choice one and it's also half the price for the same amount of product."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"Whilst these products are horrifically overpriced, [...] I do believe if you're going to make something super expensive it at least needs to feel good on the skin, this brand is a perfect example of a brand that uses somebody's doctor title and fancy sciency sounding words to justify their extortionate prices. Their Hyaluronic Acid Serum is a perfect example, [...] hyaluronic acid does not need to be expensive [...] to work, [...] yet this is what they hold onto to say why theirs is over £300."
✕Nay
66%Guru Score
"[Torriden] Balance Balanceful SEA Calming Serum is an amazing calming, soothing, anti-inflammatory serum. I always say it's a calming, soothing, anti-inflammatory serum that you can use alongside all your actives, so just keep that in mind. There's a saying called inflammaging that I heard dermatologists say, and it refers to the premature aging of your skin from inflammation, which causes things like enlarged-looking pores, wrinkles, fine lines, etc."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"Oat is great for that and vitamin F is great for barrier support. [...] It's not a color corrector. [...] It's kind of like a thick gel cream, very [...] hydrating and really soothing. [...] Over the last [...] 4 months, my redness that I get from rosacea when I flush, the breakouts that I do get, I don't get that itchiness, I don't get that need to pick at my skin. [...] I don't get that anymore. I feel soothed, my skin feels calm."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"I actually really enjoy it as a soothing serum. I do reach for the Prequel one more, but when I feel a little bit bougie in the evening when I'm taking my time to get ready, or if I'm going out early and I look like I've just woke up, I will use that roll-on in particular."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"The Inkey List niacinamide serum combines two basic actives, niacinamide and hyaluronic acid, that fit into everybody's routine, since everyone can benefit from both and it is usually fine alongside other treatment serums. A lot of people will say The Ordinary, but The Inkey List has a bit more complete formulations."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"The Anua Peach 70 Niacinamide Serum is an amazing, very nice niacinamide serum that unfortunately is just a little bit too fragranced for me. I am a fan of fragrance, but I do not think it belongs in a niacinamide serum, and this scent is very unique and niche, the kind that not everyone will enjoy, so it is a bit of a gamble. I can look past that though because it works so well."
✓Yay
58%Guru Score
"Hypochlorous acid has been a game changer for my rosacea. This product in particular has been a game changer for me. According to Prequal, hypochlorous acid is good for reducing redness and irritation, a powerful oxidizing agent that can help reduce bacterial bioburden on the skin to address topical systems of congestion and rosacea, also helps improve the overall health and appearance of the skin by soothing and calming irritated or damaged skin."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I use my Drunk Elephant B-Hydra Intensive Hydration Serum."
~Mixed
61%Guru Score
"It's nice to see a celebrity not dripping product all over their face with a pipette and putting it in their hand and then applying it to the face. I think that's nice to see. That bottle was huge. I bet it's expensive, but it's huge."
~Mixed
67%Guru Score
"And this is anything but. This just feels like a really nice moisturizing, hydrating serum with the Vitamin C benefits. Usually I would recommend other things if you're looking to even out your skin tone, but if you are looking to even out your skin tone and get the antioxidant power of Vitamin C, this with the Tranexamic Acid in, I think you'll absolutely love. This is one I really love too."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"I really enjoy this serum, but this is the serum I wish was a moisturizer. If this was just a little bit thicker, this would be the ideal evening moisturizer. As the weather gets colder and my skin sometimes needs this recovery stage, I love that bit of extra attention and healing ability that I can sleep on overnight with a thicker layer on my face. But it's a perfectly nice ceramide serum stage."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"I don't think any of us knew what Hyaluronic Acid was before The Ordinary launched their serum. [...] Thanks to The Ordinary, consumers are more clued up on ingredients in their skincare, but also the price points of skincare. The Ordinary really has changed the way the beauty industry and consumers see and consume skincare in so many different ways."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"Bio-Oil, in my opinion, the biggest scam ever, probably the biggest blatant lie in the skincare industry that we all fell for. [...] Bio-Oil has always advertised themselves [...] as a blend of oils that helps remove stretch marks, which it kind of is potentially maybe. [...] When you look at the ingredients, it's essentially just a cocktail of oils and 14 different fragrances. [...] This is really overboard and really potentially irritating for those with easily irritated skin."
✕Nay
45%Guru Score
"Ever since really concentrating on adding that hydration and locking it in, which I've always done, but using this in particular to do that, it does appear as though I'm a lot less dehydrated looking. My skin never feels tight. My pores here for some reason, they obviously look so much less visible. I'm gonna love this, such an amazing product. If you like slugging, it's going to be around forever now. It's a good thing to do, so it's nice to see this brand kind of evolve on that."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"I'm going to go in with a Bioderma Sensibio Defensive Serum. This is just a really nice moisturizing serum. In hotter weather, we're having a bit of a heat wave again here in the UK. I like to concentrate on hydrating and moisturizing ingredients before my moisturizer, then just use a really lightweight moisturizer and sunscreen over the top because I don't like my skin to feel too bogged down with occlusive ingredients."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"It feels like a thick layer on your skin but also feels light at the same time, it's like you got this aura, this thick water protecting your skin."
✓Yay
64%Guru Score
"It's a water-based formula targeting hydration below the skin's surface for a softer, plumper complexion. [...] You don't get the satisfaction of using a thick serum - it's very lightweight and watery - but it does really make you feel very deeply hydrated. With consistent use over [...] a month, you do see plumpness and a revived quality to your skin. [...] Your skin never really feels dry or parched."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"I'm pretty new to using the Dear Lucy Marine Antioxidant Serum, [...] but I've been enjoying it so far. As someone with easily sensitized skin and rosacea, antioxidant serums can kind of break me out a little bit and irritate me a little bit, but this has been very nice to use and very gentle."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"One of the best hyaluronic acid serums I've ever used, I absolutely loved this product. This is an award winner, [...] approved by the British Skin Foundation. [...] They've got the highest concentration of Vichy volcanic mineralized water rich in 15 essential minerals, suitable for sensitive skin. This is such a lightweight, almost water-weight kind of feel on the skin."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"The serum gives a very nice natural dewy glow without being thick or greasy, but my skin doesn't feel the way it looks. It feels a little bit tight even though it looks very nice and hydrated. So [...] the serum is a little bit of a letdown."
~Mixed
74%Guru Score
"It's a good all-rounder for me. [...] It's fragrance free [...] and it's really nice and soothing, pairing high percentage actives alongside nice soothing and calming ingredients. It also has salicylic acid, which is great for breakouts. However, the Paula's [...] Choice one gives me a tingling sensation that I can feel, especially around the eye area. Because I'm using it mainly for the redness on my cheeks, the product does slightly travel up and that's where I get a really tingling sensation."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"It literally felt like the products did nothing. [...] The Rice Serum felt like a thicker version of the toner, and [...] I felt like I could have just used one of those products. They felt very generic. I felt like I'd used these products a thousand times before from other brands, and they were nothing compared to the toner. The brightening, smoothing, and hydrating benefits I got from the toner did not translate into a serum at all."
✕Nay
69%Guru Score
"It really is the difference in your rosacea that you just see without the flushing. But this is a product that you have to religiously use for such a long time before you see a difference and then continue to use morning and night. It can be a little pricey and sometimes it's hard to find, but I really do love this. I do feel like it's one of the only targeted rosacea products that I genuinely see a difference with. I absolutely love it."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"If you can't really afford to get both, you can just buy the inky list and you get a two in one. It's a really nice formulation, very lightweight, watery kind of texture to it, and plays super nicely with other products. [...] Depending where you're looking, this can be five pounds up to seven, so hunt around for this one. A lot of people are like you don't get as much on the inky list as you do the ordinary, but they are [...] both 30 ml, so it's just deceptive packaging."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"Like, that will work. Why has no one done this before? [...] I love the look of this antioxidant serum that isn't just a run-of-the-mill vitamin C serum, but has all the impact and benefits of a vitamin C serum. And I also like the fact that this has Q10, peptide Q10, in something other than Nivea Q10 plus. [...] The ginger root interests me as well as a brightening evening ingredient. When this becomes available in Cult Beauty, I'm definitely going to buy it."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"Alpha Arbutin from The Ordinary is an amazing product that can help even out skin tone and lighten dark spots."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"This is from Make. This is their serum balm. Um, again, my lips have been a little bit drier than usual. And this is kind of like a odd kind of like makeup skincare hybrid where it's a little bit tinted and it's kind of got this weird feeling of like an oily balm but also a gloss. It's a little bit shiny for me. [...] But I'm really enjoying Make as a whole brand. Um, I love their products."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"Then we have ectoin that reduces inflammation and barrier support. Over time with this, you're going to notice your skin needs less hydration, but it's still important to hydrate. My skin became less reactive especially. It felt stronger and [...] very plump. I love this so much."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"It's got everything in it. This is a crazy serum in my mind. [...] It's your one and done serum. It kind of targets so many different skin care concerns, ones that you wouldn't usually put together like irritated skin with brightening. [...] It's lightweight. It's silky. It's very refreshing and layers so nice without peeling. [...] After two to like three layers, your skin feels juicy. But five layers gives you that full on dewy like glass skin finish if that's what you're into."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"This is one of the most famous hydrating serums in Korea, and honestly I do think for a good reason. I put off using this for the longest time because I was like, oh great, another hyaluronic acid serum. And it is another hyaluronic acid serum, but this was probably one of the first serums I remember to use five different molecular weights of hyaluronic acid, which means it can hydrate multiple levels of the skin, not just the surface."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"There's something about the combination of all the ingredients in this one serum that I really, really loved for evening out skin tone. They kind of hit pigmentation from multiple different angles instead of just relying on that one hero ingredient. [...] The Vita drop serum is watery. It's very, very watery. All those active ingredients are suspended in these little capsules which kind of just pop, not pop, but rub on the skin. And it's super fast absorbing."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"If you want a multitasking serum that calms the skin, heals the skin, treats dullness, uneven texture, plumps up the skin, soothes and hydrates that you could use every day alongside your usual skincare routine, then go for the Purito serum. Both are great, just totally different strategies for what you want for your skin. One is kind of like more traditional medicinal, the other one is a multifunctional allrounder."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"All I know is that this is one of my favorite hydrating products. I've been using this purely after a toner before a treatment serum just to give my skin that extra hydration and I love it. It's got that stringiness and it feels thick but light at the same time, and I feel like this gives me the satisfaction of that quench that I'm always looking for."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"VT's Reedle Shot 100 uses those micro spicules to help ingredients penetrate deeper into the skin, while also gently exfoliating, with centella asiatica and hyaluronic acid to calm and hydrate. I've been talking about it non-stop."
✓Yay
59%Guru Score
"Going back to when I first got into Korean skincare, I always used to use Innisfree's Green Tea Seed Serum, which I think is called something different now. I love it. It's great for redness, breakouts, easily sensitized skin and slow aging, and it helps with oil control without stripping your skin of its natural sebum and oils. [...] I've repurchased this serum a total of nine times and I still have no idea how it works."
✓Yay
61%Guru Score
"Beekman 1802's Milk Drop Ceramide Serum is a lightweight ceramide product I love [...] for when the weather gets [...] warmer and I don't want to layer thicker ceramide creams. It's designed to hydrate and strengthen your skin barrier with goat milk, ceramide, squalane and hyaluronic acid. It's not too greasy but not too lightweight either, so you get the nourishment you want from a ceramide product."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"TirTir's SOS Serum is a really hydrating, well-aging serum that calms and soothes the skin and, in my experience, helps reduce redness, with polyglutamic acid, niacinamide, centella asiatica, chamomile, allantoin and tea tree oil."
✓Yay
62%Guru Score
"I [...] did a sponsorship for the red version of this one. My skin has been drinking this up. I'm nearly out of it. [...] What first caught my attention was the texture of this. [...] I didn't get it at first. Why would I want to use a serum in that form? It's like a mask. It feels time-consuming and messy. But I love the consistency when I finally got around to using it. It felt extra hydrating from the moment you apply it. I think it's because it's thicker than your typical watery serum."
✓Yay
Notverified
"If you are looking for more of a slow aging version that's going to help target fine lines, give you a more like radiant looking glow, and you want soft, smoother looking skin, this is where the Red Booster Reedle Shot comes in. It's packed with dragon's blood, but it's a plant-based extract with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant properties. Dragon's blood can also help soothe inflammation, so you're soothing your skin while still getting that Reedle Shot technology for better absorption."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"It's perfect for sealing everything in without making you greasy. [...] I've used this throughout winter and warmer weather now, and I actually love this more with the warmer weather. [...] It has an instant cooling effect without being minty. [...] It just sits so nicely under sunscreen without making you feel greasy. [...] I love the [...] natural glow it gives your skin rather than this excessive dewy glow."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"I really really really like this. [...] I put it [...] off for about a year, I just wasn't interested in it, and then I used it on a really aggressive spot and it was great. It's a hydrating, fragrance-free, vegan, cruelty-free gel direct spot treatment. [...] It has azelaic acid in it to help with that redness and congestion, and salicylic acid [...] to unclog pores and help with congestion. [...] You apply this onto dry skin and then apply stuff over the top of it."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"For me that's a daily occurrence, so this is a daily serum for me. The first thing that attracted me to this serum is because it has these little capsules with potent ingredients that are encapsulated in an oil, so there's no kind of shell that you have to pop on your skin, which means you have better preserved active ingredients that work at their full potential once it goes on your skin."
✓Yay
Notverified
"If you need that extra dose of hydration, you need to try the Experiment Super Saturated serum. It's one of their best selling barrier essentials."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"You would think the La Roche-Posay Cicaplast B5 Face Serum [...] would be amazing, and it's not amazing but it's also not bad. It's nothing compared to the Cicaplast cream. It's nice but it's just fine, it could work, [...] maybe, I enjoyed it. The one thing putting this in the middle is the packaging: you end up losing a lot of product and it gets really messy, so you lose more than you actually use."
~Mixed
79%Guru Score
"It has centella asiatica leaf extract, Asiatic acid, the whole plant, and it adds this calming sensation to the serum. They triple collagen in here, you have hydrolyzed collagen, soluble collagen, so this is a really good firming, aging, skin tone reviving and brightening serum that just adds this radiance to your skin. I'm not usually into such high percentage serums, but with its calming action, I'm tempted. I have two of them."
~Mixed
73%Guru Score
"Because of the two different textures and two different kinds of weights of moisturizer and creams, I use it throughout the year, throughout different seasons, and no matter what my skin is going through. This is their white truffle double moisture cream in a tube, so it's that dual formula in one tube, perfect for travel. I will be taking this with me. While you can't customize this one as much, you still have that aqua serum and that intense cream to really get that best water-oil balance."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"Niacinamide has been proven and all the studies have been done on the effectiveness of niacinamide at around two to 5% and it works perfectly consistently. [...] Is using three times the amount of niacinamide you usually use gonna make your serum more effective? Not necessarily, no. Can it cause more irritation? Quite possibly, yes, it did. With mine, I thought I'd give 20% a go. Never again. [...] A 20% higher percentage doesn't mean you're going to see better, quicker results."
~Mixed
68%Guru Score
"Had I taken a moment to really look at how this technology works, I do think I would not have touched this product at all. The brand says the booster creates temporary passageways on the skin to help rapidly penetrate active ingredients. Why does that not sound like a nightmare for somebody with rosacea? Another way of saying this is that it temporarily disrupts your skin barrier."
✕Nay
64%Guru Score
"My alternative would be Glow Recipe's watermelon clay mask, because if you are looking for a clay mask to clear all the gunk out of your pores, this has BHA and PHA in alongside hyaluronic acid infused clay, so not only do you get instant satisfaction of clearer, smaller looking pores, but the more you use this as your exfoliating step the clearer your pores are actually going to be."
✓Yay
Notverified
"I have fallen in love with the L'Oreal Revitalift Filler range. [...] Discovering this hyaluronic acid serum has been absolutely game changing for me. This serum replumps my skin in 1 hour and just gives me the most rejuvenated, refreshed look to my skin."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"They gifted me the toner and serum which I absolutely love so I just bought a ton more. [...] This is KRX the six peptide skin booster with hyaluronic acid and amino acids. There's six types of peptides in here so we know that this is going to help plump out our skin and it's going to help reduce those fine lines."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
"I'm using both at the moment [...] and the dark spots is probably the one that actually stood out to me because of the sheer amount of ingredients. [...] I was a little bit nervous because I really want to support this brand, Dr. Shah is one of a handful of dermatologists who I really, really trust online, and I was like what if my skin just can't handle this? However, my skin is absolutely fine with this. In fact, it's really been enjoying it so far."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"This is the AXIS-Y Dark Spot Correcting Glow Serum. [...] It's basically a Niacinamide serum in this kind of more moisturizing, Squalane-based kind of serum. I usually find Niacinamide serums are either just very watery or a little bit sticky, but this one has that more kind of thicker gel cream kind of feeling to it. I [...] love this one so, so much."
✓Yay
64%Guru Score
"The White Truffle First Spray Serum I've used before, absolutely love it. This is one I'm going to take everywhere with me because of the actual glow that it gives me, the instant glow that it gives me, whilst all those ingredients are working to actually hydrate, soothe, moisturize my skin. This is still fairly new for me, first impressions still, but first impressions are very very good. I absolutely love it so far."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"The serum is $47. [...] Peach and Lily are kind of a little bit up there in price range, but I will always want to try their products because of that vitamin C serum they did, which helped with a huge irritated scar and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation so quickly that I will always pay a bit more money for Peach and Lily because I know their products work for me."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"Beauty of Joseon does a good range of serums like if you don't really know where to start with your serums, just by what they have to offer you have a good bit like beginner's collections worth of serums that easily slot into your routine. This of course has propolis and niacinamide. For me propolis is super moisturizing, it gives you glowy skin. The niacinamide can add to that glow and that evenness of skin tone if that's something you're after, breakouts, the healing of your skin as well."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"And my breakouts have calmed down so much. Like I said, we had another kind of heat spike recently and we're going back into colder weather again and I kind of thought I was going to break out and I haven't been. And my oils seem to be a lot more chilled. So I feel like this is going to become a bit of a staple as far as like when I know times I break out, times I know my T-zone gets a little bit excessively oily. I'll crack this out and use it alongside, if not as part of my morning routine."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"There are amazing Vitamin C serums around nowadays. Naturium is one of them. I cannot deny their antioxidant effects. If I dedicate myself to these things a few times a week, I'm going to be fine. I'm going to age gracefully."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"There are amazing Vitamin C serums around nowadays. Whether I like it or not, simply applying a Vitamin C serum in the same routine as my sunscreen is going to do my skin so many favors. My mind is stuck in the days of old, stingy Vitamin C serums that smelled like hot dog water and metal. I used to get really stingy skin and little red bumps. But those days are gone."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"I absolutely loved the Innisfree Green Tea Seed Facial Cream when I used it years ago. I remember using it all the time back then and it was one of my favorites. I love their serum too, so I'm repurchasing the cream to use it all the time again."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"Their Green Machine serum, they're just really nice products to use that do the job they're supposed to and I kind of love this kind of mix of skincare with a final finished look to it without it being makeup."
✓Yay
67%Guru Score
"I'm falling slowly back in love with vitamin C serum because they don't make them smell like hot dog water anymore and they don't sting. [...] This one has 23 percent pure ascorbic acid, which [...] is a high percentage, but [...] as someone with very easily sensitized skin and rosacea, this doesn't sting, tingle, or burn. They have a hypoallergenic stabilized formula."
✓Yay
66%Guru Score
"Their lactic acid resurfacing night serum is so good, so good. If it came through my post I would still use it and I would use it all up happily."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"This is just a nicely moisturizing, soothing, hydrating serum. I used to use this quite often and then I stopped using it, and then I did a sponsored job with Style Korean. I got to pick the serums and I saw this again and it kind of reintroduced me to an old favorite of mine that everyone seems to love. This is something I use when my skin is feeling a little bit like it's going to go south or when it is feeling dry or it just needs a bit of a pick-me-up."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
Moisturizers87 reviews
"It's a simple looking balm that heals, soothes, and protects the skin, according to countless customers over the decades since its launch. It works. It does. It's good. It's still the brand's bestselling product to this day, and it's earned an endless list of celebrity fans."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"You can use it around your eyes, [...] all over your lips, or wherever you tend to get dry throughout the day, even at night as a lighter alternative to slugging. Because it's a soft emollient it can reduce the appearance of dehydration lines and make the skin look smoother and glowier. [...] The marketing around it is ridiculous, but all the lying doesn't make the product itself bad, if anything the over the top marketing does the brand a disservice."
✓Yay
64%Guru Score
"But I'm on my second bottle of the new version now and honestly it's basically the same, which is very good news. The original was more about hydration, skin barrier support, that healthy plump glowy dewy finish as well as helping pores look more refined with a gentle daily exfoliation using PHA. And that hasn't changed. The texture is still the same. It's still that greeny color. It smells and feels the same on the skin. Super lightweight. Doesn't peel. Sits nicely in a routine."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"It does a good job at moisturizing. Some relief when my skin was irritated, but the texture has always been a bit of a letdown for me. Either I find myself getting too dry too quickly or too oily too quick. And obviously, that's on my skin. But there's other creams that I feel like do a very similar job, but do it better."
~Mixed
69%Guru Score
"I don't care what anyone says or what your opinion is on Hailey Bieber as a person. This is good. This is a proper occlusive style balm moisturizer, kind of their version of the La Roche-Posay Cica Plast, but [...] in a much more cosmetically elegant way. It has a hyaluronic acid complex and polyglutamic acid which is [...] so nicely hydrating, murumuru butter, and ceramides for barrier support. It's designed to seal everything in overnight and it's really not that heavy as it sounds."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"Ectoin is a perfectly nice ingredient. It's very nice. This is used for barrier support and hydration, but it's also one of those ingredients that has suddenly become very trendy. And it's a great ingredient to become trendy. Again, been around for a long time. Not a new groundbreaking ingredient that's going to revolutionize your routine, but it's nice. [...] Then there's volufalene."
~Mixed
82%Guru Score
"And it's true, adding that even if the hyaluronic acid were able to absorb water, it would draw water from the skin. Not true. Not from the atmosphere, therefore having the opposite effect the brand advertises."
~Mixed
73%Guru Score
"The Barrier Restore Cream, a moisturizer that focuses on hydration and strengthening the skin barrier. It has niacinamide, shea butter, and of course peptides. It wasn't anything groundbreaking, but it was a really decent moisturizer."
~Mixed
72%Guru Score
"It seems pretty intentional and does seem well thought out in my opinion, especially compared to the endless celebrity lines that we've seen recently."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"I like it. I do like it. My issue with this cream in particular is that it's just not moisturizing enough. When it initially goes on, it does feel nice and moisturizing. Ooh, my skin really enjoys this. It feels moisturized and hydrated. But an hour later, your skin's feeling tight again. No matter how many of those collagen capsules you've used, it just feels very tight."
~Mixed
65%Guru Score
"It's a very old school emollient cream. Rich and occlusive, but not particularly innovative when it comes to skin barrier support like all the new hydration technology we have or long-term skin health. For the price and the hype, you're mostly paying for its reputation as a backstage favorite at fashion shows. [...] It's going to do the job very, very well. But there's just so much more innovation to skincare now."
✕Nay
68%Guru Score
"The clarifying lotion, which is basically an astringent, has gone from revolutionary to kind of infamous to be honest with you."
✕Nay
46%Guru Score
"I love this kind of stuff when the weather is hotter. It helps reduce excess sebum. It's formulated for oily and acne prone skin. I don't have acne, but I'm very breakout prone in my oily T-zone. Obviously with the salicylic acid and glycolic acid helping smooth out skin texture, helps with breakouts, congested pores, but I also have zinc and copper sulfates, I believe, as well and vitamin E as well, which help soothe a little bit."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"La Roche-Posay Cicaplast [...] had a huge viral moment without any of the brand's input. The brand did nothing, but they got so much from this. [...] Brands whose products just worked tend to go viral so easily."
✓Yay
92%Guru Score
"A face cream at $85. A luxuriously indulgent firming moisturizer that works to nourish and revive the skin. Formulated with postbiotics and enriched with a natural alternative to retinol, Bakuchiol. Claiming to visibly improve firmness, fine lines and elasticity and overall radiance. This was not great either. It provided very surface level moisture. It didn't feel like it was hydrating your skin at all. And kind of made your skin look very crepey and oily."
✕Nay
62%Guru Score
"Clinique's Moisture Surge moisturizer has been a bestseller for them for years, but they have competition now and so many better products. There are plenty of brands offering more effective formulas at a lower price."
✕Nay
74%Guru Score
"Their Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion became an instant hero product of theirs, loved for its lightweight, non-irritating formula. Today it's still one of Clinique's bestselling products worldwide."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"Experiment is one of those brands that do put their ingredients on the lab samples so you can kind of get a good idea of the benefits of the product. [...] I trust experiment that much. They to this day, including this release, they have not had a bad launch or a bad product."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"The lotion was a lightweight lotion aimed at daily moisturizing. [...] With all three products being formulated with ceramides, as well as one other unique aspect of their product design, their patented multivesicular emulsion technology. Now this technology allowed for the gradual release of moisturizing ingredients over 24 hours, providing long lasting hydration and enhanced skin barrier restoration."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"I think their new campaign for their Pro-Collagen Peptide Plumping Moisturizer is a good example of how the brand is changing. I actually really enjoy this campaign with Olympian Iona Mars. I think she's iconic, and I love the content that she herself has been creating for the campaign. But [...] this isn't Paula's Choice. [...] They're obviously trying very, very hard to make one of their products [...] go viral, and it's a little painful to watch."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"It just seems to disappear too quick on the skin, especially on my dry parts. I find gold in skincare tacky, to be honest with you. Tatcha does feel a bit more geared towards those seeking pore refinement and oil control and anti-aging benefits with a touch of luxury. But what that says to me is that people don't want what Tatcha are often claiming their product does, if that makes sense. What they want is a nice lightweight watery cream, a deeply hydrating watery cream."
✕Nay
78%Guru Score
"Rovectin does a nice lightweight watery cream, a deeply hydrating watery cream which I think considerably better than Tatcha. What people want is that deeply hydrating watery cream, and Rovectin does that in my opinion considerably better."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"While some batches of the [...] Protini Polypeptide Cream lack a preservative system, tests actually revealed the presence of yeast, such as Candida parapacillosis and bacteria related to the bacteria it was found. [...] They were actually all microorganisms that are commonly found on the human skin and in the environment, but they can cause infections, particularly in immunocompromised individuals or those with compromised skin."
✕Nay
65%Guru Score
"While some batches of the Lala Retro Whipped Cream [...] lack a preservative system, tests actually revealed the presence of yeast, such as Candida parapacillosis and bacteria. These [...] were microorganisms that are commonly found on human skin and in the environment, but they can cause infections, particularly in immunocompromised individuals or those with compromised skin. You don't want to be putting this stuff on your skin."
✕Nay
67%Guru Score
"Whilst it's not anything revolutionary, the Glow Recipe Plum Plump Hyaluronic Cream is basically one of the best ever plumping hydrating moisturizers I've ever used, both for the feeling of deep hydration and the look of plumper, more hydrated skin. It's perfect for my combination skin, with my oily skin benefiting from the humectant while it's nourishing enough for my drier cheeks. It also contains polyglutamic acid, which I personally prefer to standard hyaluronic acid."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"It didn't do that, it didn't even heal my barrier in a month. It contains peptides and Salix alba extract which I'd usually enjoy, but it also contains limonene and linalool, two fragrant ingredients known to be irritants, and I don't think fragrance [...] belongs in skin healing and repairing products. What's even weirder is it doesn't even have a nice smell, it just smells like off tea. This is the worst barrier healing product in my opinion."
✕Nay
60%Guru Score
"One that truly went viral was back in 2019 with their Pink Cloud Cream which was recalled after multiple reports of mold growth. Customers began noticing changes in smell, texture and visible mold in the product which led to its recall."
✕Nay
68%Guru Score
"I have to stick with the classic, the Lan Cream Skin Refiner. Whilst it wasn't the first ever milky toner, it's the one that started people's love for this kind of toner. It's been reformulated, [...] and even now it focuses more on trending ingredients that either weren't in the original formulations or they just didn't highlight, like ceramides and peptides. Yes, these are buzzy trendy ingredients, but they're also really beneficial for the skin."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"Such as the lunar sleeping oil and Tidal Brightening Enzyme Water Cream these products complemented their already hugely now popular lineup"
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"This is one of the best gel cream textured moisturizers I've ever used. I have combination skin and it's perfect for the most driest parts of my skin and for the oiliest parts. There's ceramides, glycerin, and niacinamide in here so our barrier and hydration levels are cared for. It targets everything that needs to be targeted but it's just super super quenching. I would call it if you haven't tried it already give it a go, I'm pretty sure you'll love it."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"It starts off like a cream, like a gel cream, right, and then you start putting it on your skin and [...] it turns into like this thick water that just feels so quenching on the skin but doesn't sink in and disappear. You are left looking glowy and dewy, feeling super well hydrated. It's got Aloe Leaf in it as well which I love for soothing and hydration. I love this and it's a moisturizer I can rely on to keep me looking hydrated but not greasy and oily throughout the whole day."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
"The most iconic products within Tara including their [...] Moisture Rich silk cream"
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"When my research had a look at the reviews, the most recent eight reviews gave it a one-star rating. The ninth rating wasn't even that good, they gave it three stars. The next one was straight back to one star. The majority of those reviews even claimed that the product made their eyelid swollen and itchy, or they even suffered some kind of chemical burn from using it. Those definitely aren't the kind of results that you'd expect from a luxury skincare product you paid hundreds of dollars for."
✕Nay
59%Guru Score
"For me it would have to be their Moisturizing Gel Cream, first of all it just wasn't moisturizing enough for me, I have combination skin [...] and I found it felt like a serum more than a finishing product, [...] and secondly it didn't really work with any sunscreen, [...] out of the 20 sunscreens I tested with this every single one would peel with this moisturizer, but so many people love this moisturizer and I completely get why."
✕Nay
73%Guru Score
"If you're a fan of CeraVe, Aura, Illiyoon, I think you will love this brand, their real barrier Extreme Cream is an award winner of course, improving barrier function, barrier strength, in turn improving hydration, with ceramides and other essential ingredients for your skin barrier to penetrate quicker for faster healing and deeper moisturization."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"My current favorite product of theirs is their Peach 77% enriched cream, it's got ceramides, niacinamide, panthenol, collagen, and it leaves you dewy and peachy looking, and the fragrance isn't actually that strong, it doesn't linger around like it does in the serum."
✓Yay
67%Guru Score
"One of my current favorites is their Colloidal Oatmeal Plus Oat Lipid Rich Moisturizer, great for irritated skin, dehydrated skin, skin prone to breaking out, itchy skin, inflamed skin, there's oat kernel flour in here which is really soothing along with panthenol, squalene and glycerin to hydrate. It's one of those moisturizers that when you think my skin's screwed, you reach for that one."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"I will use a moisturizer with vitamin C in like the Dr. Idriss Major Fade Active Seal Vitamin C Gel Moisturizer, I've been loving at the moment to protect your skin alongside sunscreen."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"In the evening, which is more about correcting, I would use the Anua Peach moisturizer, which I absolutely love. My evening routine mainly focuses on correcting my skin, so this is where I do use some actives, but depending on the day, how my skin's feeling, what my skin's been through, it does focus a lot on calming and soothing."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"The e.l.f. Pure Skin Moisturizer is a budget option that works as a great daytime one. I personally did not like it, but I know a lot of people absolutely love this one."
~Mixed
72%Guru Score
"Some of the natural ingredients are questionable, not always backed up by a lot of science, but that doesn't mean that they don't work. [...] Overall as a moisturizer it does a great job. For £16 I think it's decent. A little bit goes a long way, one to two pumps usually is fine for my face and neck. [...] For summer this is going to be perfect, or just as a daytime moisturizer or even in the evenings when I just want to moisturize my skin."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"I use my Drunk Elephant F-Balm Electrolyte Waterfacial. I'm running out of this. I need to buy some more. This is only meant to be used at night."
~Mixed
70%Guru Score
"Love them both. Again, a really nice Ceramide packed moisturizer. Their Ceramides are delivered in these little capsules, which is supposedly supposed to help with enhanced penetration, so you really reap the benefits of those Ceramides. And again, it's just a really nice cream that's perfect for those days where your skin does feel so much drier or you've irritated your skin after experimenting with different skincare. Again, two of my go-to, mainly evening, moisturizers."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"The other one is of course Glow Recipe's Guava Vitamin C Bright-Eyed Gel Cream, which I personally love to use in the evening or if I'm going out somewhere because it has this slight reflective ability to it."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
"This has been amazing mainly as a daytime moisturizer saving my skin from that real dryness now we're going into much colder weather. [...] I believe it's because of peptides in general, my skin is loving peptides for so many different reasons, but teamed up with ceramides, my skin barrier feels stronger in the sense that I'm breaking out less, my skin is less prone to irritation, my rosacea has [...] calmed down, my flushing doesn't tend to happen as much."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"I don't understand why people love this moisturizer. I get everybody has their preferences, but I do feel like the love for this moisturizer is primarily led by influencers. [...] I've never scrolled through TikTok and seen a non-influencer under a certain amount of followers willingly buy this product unless it was gifted. I don't see anyone but influencers talking about this product. [...] Is this a nice hydrating moisturizing moisturizer? Yes."
✕Nay
61%Guru Score
"I actually really like this product. When I first used it, I was like, this feels really, really nice, and it was a nice moisturizer. But since using this, I found so many cheaper, more affordable moisturizers because I've been actively hunting for a dupe or something that feels as nice as this, that has that water cream hydrating texture. I have found so many that is like half the price of this or more so."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"I'm using it at the moment because I've got a little bit of irritation on my cheek, and it's really just helping calm it down. If I start to feel my skin stinging a little bit, I'll pop it on there like a little mask and then just rub it in eventually. I just know I'm going to keep using this up."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"It's fucking expensive. It's so expensive. Do I think it's worth the money? Not in my personal opinion. I believe there is a place for luxury skincare, and if you can afford it, use it. Enjoy yourself, pamper yourself. Do I think you can get amazing skincare for £3 or under five quid? 100%. Absolutely. People love La Mer. It's fine. I personally don't."
✕Nay
47%Guru Score
"Their slam dunk moisturizer is this really weird in-between lightweight but also nourishing for dry patches. It has aloe leaf juice, [...] avocado oil which is a nice antioxidant, glycerin which is nicely hydrating, and evening primrose oil which is nicely soothing. Even with oily T-Zone, it [...] feels nice and more like a gel cream - very light, very nourishing, very hydrating. [...] It's a really nice all-rounder."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"I absolutely love these products. I love them so much, they are so nice. My skin looked so good after using them for about a month around Christmas. [...] The Rich Cream not only made my face look so well taken care of and nourished and plump, but also helped my skin through a very dry winter. My skin looked so good. But I can't be reviewing skincare like that. That's ridiculous."
~Mixed
62%Guru Score
"The moisturizer feels really good. My skin feels really plumped out and hydrated and not stretchy or tight at all. It feels quenched, it feels flooded. I [...] got this for around 12.99, [...] which is a real bargain. [...] It does the basics, it does what it needs to do."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"The Verso Dew Point Moisturizing Gel Cream gives you really good dewy glow and your skin feels hydrated. The [...] gel cream consistency works great as a super lightweight moisturizer for oily skin, but it's comforting, moisturizing, and hydrating and nourishing enough for those drier patches as well. It has green tea antioxidants that are incredibly soothing on the skin."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"For me, this is one of those creams that you rub in and it's just white everywhere and you keep rubbing it in and it's white for some reason. You're getting a cold sweat on your top lip and you're pushing it around. It's caught in your facial hair, it's calling your eyebrows. And then once you're done it's just kind of matte on your skin. You're thinking, why was that so thick and why did that take so long? The user experience of this isn't very nice."
✕Nay
76%Guru Score
"I tried the repair cream and the coconut water cream. Their formulations in particular were horrible on [...] my skin. [...] The user experience was horrible, and they are quite expensive for what they are."
✕Nay
74%Guru Score
"I thought it was going to be like a splash of hydration and keep me feeling hydrated but still moisturized at the same time, and it didn't. It reminded me of a very old-fashioned moisturizer that I used to use as a teenager that kind of went on the skin and you're like where is that gone? And it didn't leave you any more hydrated than you were before. It didn't do what it said it would do."
✕Nay
61%Guru Score
"I find that for me this didn't rub into the skin very well. It just kind of moved around my skin, got all caught up in my eyebrows, my beard, my hairline. Whilst this isn't super heavy in any way, it felt kind of suffocating on my skin. I didn't really enjoy it, but I know loads of people love this. It's a moisturizer that moisturizes with hyaluronic acid to hydrate, super super simple. This is 6.50."
✕Nay
71%Guru Score
"It's going to deal with the aftermath of exposure potentially, but there's nothing in here that's actually stopping it. If blue light from screens wasn't a real issue, I wouldn't even recommend this brand to be honest with you because there's no protection in here. It's like sitting out in the sun all day with no sunscreen on, going back home and applying an antioxidant serum and thinking it's going to reverse all the damage you did. That's what this product is doing."
✕Nay
65%Guru Score
"I've used the Aestura Atobarrier 365 Cream for years, I've gone through so many tubes of this stuff and it's one of those moisturizers I just cycle back to all the time. [...] It's not stimulating collagen and it's not giving me peptides and it's not smoothing out fine lines and wrinkles, [...] but I actually think a really good moisturizer is so important when you're talking about well aging."
✓Yay
90%Guru Score
"The Kahi Wrinkle Bounce Multi Balm became huge several years ago, it was good, though it was also pushed through K-dramas with pretty unnatural product placement, and it then traveled internationally, they did an eye cream stick and a sunscreen stick off the back of it too."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"This is still a favorite that I'm emptying time and time again. [...] This is a better than basic barrier supporting moisturizer. It says it's created for dry, dehydrated, and sensitive skin, which it works great for, but my oily T-zone loves this moisturizer too. We have 150,000 ppm of squalane to replenish your moisture, keep your skin soft, and help support the skin barrier. They also have Quaxil in here, which is a patented complex of glucose and xylitol."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"I've been enjoying this cream on and off. [...] For me, the real strength of this formula is the combination of ingredients rather than any one ingredient alone. [...] It's cushiony with an elastic feel that wraps the skin without feeling greasy or suffocating."
✓Yay
Notverified
"After using it consistently, I can understand why it's become such a staple. [...] As somebody with combination skin, I can happily use this throughout the day without feeling greasy. [...] What I love about this most is the feeling of long-term support. It feels like the kind of product you keep repurchasing [...] because your skin responds so well to it."
✓Yay
Notverified
"I've been using this on and off for about a year now, and [...] there are two brands I use when my skin is really truly destroyed, and this is one of them. I love that it doesn't feel like a pharmaceutical fixing cream - it feels like a pleasure to use. It has an elegant gel-cream texture that's lightweight but moisturizing enough, [...] and represents that Korean skincare approach of well-aging through hydration and barrier support."
✓Yay
Notverified
"In the morning I will use one little capsule, one little bit of the gel cream, get an even amount. In the evening, I'm taking more of the gel capsule versus the gel cream, so I get more of kind of like an overnight mask type feeling with this in the evening. I absolutely love it. VT have really kind of reignited my love for not just Korean skincare, but skincare innovation over the last year or so."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"TirTir's Ceramic Cream is a really nice rich moisturizer that strengthens the skin barrier while deeply hydrating and locking it all in, leaving your skin feeling soft. It has ceramides, panthenol and hyaluronic acid for long-lasting hydration, so your skin is left comfortable, soothed, dewy and glowy."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"I have discussed this moisturizer in sponsorships outside of sponsorships for just under 2 years now on camera. I've been using it for a little bit longer off and I just love it. I love it. This is a lightweight, super, super hydrating, calming, repairing moisturizer that uses goat milk as one of its key ingredients. Goat milk has a pH that's close to our skin's pH, so it helps keep things nice and balanced, nice and calm, especially if you're prone to sensitivity and irritation."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"It's a perfect lightweight gel cream moisturizer that has that perfect balance for both my oily skin and my dry cheeks, my combination skin. You get this just like intense hydration without greasiness, without heaviness. Got hyaluronic acid, glycerin, all the usual in here. But we have their signature ladies mantle which helps to calm and heal the skin. There's this proprietary blend of loads of different herbs as well."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I think if you've tried any belif products, it's probably this one. You can see mine is very well used. And years later, this still manages to live up to its hype and be a bestseller pretty much everywhere. If you've got skin that needs hydration, aka everyone, you're going to want to try this if you haven't already. This is [...] a lightweight gel cream, think of a gel cream but make it just that little bit thicker but not heavier on the skin. [...] This melts into your skin."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This is one that's great for the colder months if you're looking for a slightly thicker ceramide repairing barrier healing supporting cream that also targets irritated skin, this is a really really nice one to go for."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"It really provides a brightening boost and intense hydration. We have Centella asiatica to help soothe and repair the skin, niacinamide, the five layer hyaluronic acid complex, and this one really is ideal for dull skin. It's so light that I would actually say you can use this as a serum if you just want a brightening boost to your skin, another real dose of hydration to the skin. You can layer this after your final serum, put it on your skin then put your moisturizer over the top."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"The texture is unreal. This is like perfect for that dewy glow that I like to finish on a routine with. It actually absorbs better and works better for your skin, not just for the look and feel. This has been a lifesaver. It has halong extracts, it has camid, it has a lot of squalane, but it doesn't feel like those heavy moisturizing ingredients. You get that protective kind of finish to it with that dewy glow, but it's not going to be making you greasy throughout the day."
✓Yay
Notverified
"You've been a big you know fan of cream VI for so long great at educating people about it"
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"When I use this pink collagen cream, I was meant to be going to an event. I did go. I wore a lot of makeup, but my skin was hot. It was [...] raining, it was cold. Hydrolyzed collagen always seems to be a guaranteed for me [...] to flare up my rosacea. When it does flare up, my rosacea flares up to the point where it burns and is almost painful. I can guarantee you hydrolyzed nano collagen hyaluronic acid is on that ingredient list. It's the only consistent thing. [...] I'm so disappointed."
✕Nay
49%Guru Score
"I used the Illiyoon Ceramide Ato Smooth Soothing Gel. Full disclosure, I've done a sponsorship with Illiyoon once before, but that's because I love their products. I'm pretty sure they do my other favorite barrier products."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"It's in this light, fluffy, watery texture that at first, you're like, I don't think this is going to be enough. But then that's where those capsules come in. And you can feel that kind of lock in kind of film. [...] If you have facial hair and you're using this, give this a rub in the palm of your hands first, break down those capsules, then rub on your skin. And you will love this."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"The Mixsoon Bean Cream is a personal favorite of mine. [...] Whenever I'm doing a K-beauty shop, I will always pop this one in the basket just to have, because I know I could always rely on it and fall back on it. It has Fermented Soybean, which is great for leveling out that oil water balance in your skin and helping to retain hydration and moisture, along with [...] Fermented Pomegranate, Barley, Korean Pear."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"I feel like they have a nice small kind of capsule collection at the moment. [...] These products have five different ceramides and good fats to help replenish your skin barrier, 0.8% colloidal oatmeal to relieve signs of irritation, Korean star botanicals like heartleaf and mugwort, and panthenol to visibly quell inflammation. [...] Hyaluronic acid and squalane restore lost moisture."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"What I love about the texture of this is that at first, it feels very, very heavy. But as I'm rubbing it in, it kind of then just turns into like a watery texture without disappearing on the skin. It goes from being this thick cream to kind of feeling like a gel cream and leaves your skin feeling super smooth and soft. And it lasts forever. This lasts so long. So, so long. I remember, like, in Summer trying to get rid of it because it just wasn't going anywhere."
✓Yay
Notverified
"The Oat So Simple Water Cream is actually a really, really nice moisturizer for my combination skin. My skin feels so soft."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"I absolutely love this. Perfect summer moisturizer. Really nice, lightweight texture, has that watermelon smell that just makes you feel refreshed. Perfect for oily skin. My favorite thing to do is once I've done my serums, re-damp my face with some spritzy water and put this all over and all down my neck, and I just feel dewy and hydrated and quenched. I will continue to buy and use this throughout the day or on days where I'm feeling a bit oily or I'm just at home."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"For me this is the Vichy Mineral 89 72-Hour Moisture Boosting Cream. [...] I've been using it on and off for about three weeks and I [...] had to stop using this because for a 72-hour moisture boosting cream I felt very tight and dry almost instantly. [...] It's got hyaluronic acid, squalane, vitamin B3 and E, lipids and their volcanic mineral water in here, but it just feels very normal."
✕Nay
86%Guru Score
"I'm gonna put this on damp skin because I feel like it just looks nicer. Yes, I love COSRX, but the reason I went for my drawers and got this out again is because TikTok reminded me of it because it's everywhere on TikTok shop at the moment and I'll be honest it's actually doing my head in, but it's such a good product."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"You have Heartleaf, of course, in here again, which is not only a great antioxidant but helps calm and soothe the skin. Arginine. So you have all those really good deep hydrating ingredients along with Ceramides. I've only just started using this. It's been a couple of weeks. But as far as a nice moisturizer that moisturizes and hydrates me in the evening, this is a really, really nice one."
✓Yay
Notverified
"I don't like skin barrier restoring creams that are thick, medicinal, clinical feeling, but this is a gel cream that does all the good things for your barrier with all those really nice skin-soothing, restoring ingredients without being thick and heavy. It's great for my combination skin. It has niacinamide and zinc PCA which are great if you're prone to breakouts or very oily, green tea for antioxidants, and squalene - so it's nicely moisturizing without being greasy."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"I also really really love the hydrogel moisturizer with hyaluronic acid and peptides. It's just a really nice lightweight moisturizer deeply hydrating but also moisturizing enough for those with oily skin to dry skin."
✓Yay
Notverified
"I'm trying their slushy serum moisturizer at the moment [...] and I really love the finish it gives your skin this slightly dewy filtered kind of appearance."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
Cleansers80 reviews
"I've never liked their products. They're basic and they don't evolve with the times. [...] The brand isn't interested in evolving with new science within skincare. Nobody really uses their wipes."
✕Nay
61%Guru Score
"This is just one of the nicest most hydrating cleansers I've ever used and I don't usually team the term hydrating with a cleanser but when there's 50% glycerin in a cleanser it's obviously going to be hydrating. It's such nice texture. There's aloe, there's oat extract, arginine as well so all soothing and helping to support the skin barrier. You get your money's worth with this cleanser."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"A slightly more focused cleanser, which is thankfully not stripping anyway cuz it is nice to leave on your skin for a little bit kind of like a mask, especially when you have actives in it. So, so gentle, niacinamide balancing things out a little bit. I just love this. Again, another everyday cleanser that I'd happily use morning and night, which I do when the weather gets hotter and my oily combination skin becomes more oily."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"This is probably one of my most staple products ever. As in like, it's always coming back and forth in my routine. It's always a cleanser I fall back on. In fact, when I'm testing new products, it's one of the cleansers I use because I know how well my skin reacts to it. Great for when your skin is stressed out, you want to focus on maintaining the skin barrier. Matcha for antioxidants. We've got hemp seed oil in here as well."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"If you want a really good deep thorough cleanse for your oily skin without stripping the out of your skin, this is the cleanser to go for. Gives you that satisfaction of almost like a deep purge without destroying your skin barrier, without voiding your face of all moisture. Salicylic acid, of course, is going to gently exfoliate. [...] Balance with like ceramides and glycerin, so it doesn't feel stripping."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"The Centella and Green Tea Hydrating Gel Cleanser has been one of my favorite cleansers since it launched. It's just that really soothing everyday cleanser that I happily used twice a day. Centella and Green Tea just doing what they do best, antioxidants, soothing, calming visible redness, supporting the skin. And then you got that really high level of glycerin, which [...] keeps you so hydrated whilst you cleanse. It's such a good cleanser."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"It's very thorough, very, very good, and honestly, a fairly average cleansing balm that just does the job. So many people can make a cleansing balm. So many people are making a cleansing balm, but to do it good and effective sounds so basic, but it's hard to do. This has that soft sherbety texture, which I absolutely love. It doesn't leave that kind like those little small bits of plastic that some cleansing balms do and it's not just solidified oil."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"This is a scientist chemist founded brand, so you know they're going to come out with some good stuff. And this is one of very few cleansers I've used where I'm genuinely like this is actually moisturizing. A lot of cleansers nowadays are non-stripping by default, pH balanced by default. [...] But this one actually gives you that moisture on the skin. [...] It's a low foaming gel cream formula that uses amino acid surfactants, so it cleanses without that [...] stripping foam."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"This has stayed consistently in my skincare routine. [...] This one has just been my go-to over and over and over. It kind of feels like this isn't viral, and this should be because this feels luxury, but it's very much drugstore price at the same time. This does beat out to me all those viral really popular well-marketed oils which I've tried. [...] The reason I love this one so much is there's three different versions and I love the Speedy version."
✓Yay
94%Guru Score
"I've been using this for maybe like two weeks now. This soap is fine. It's fine. Again, this is one of those products where it can't just be an effective skincare product. There has to be something visually appealing about it that can make it go viral online. [...] It's like, let's just do this bubble gum texture and say it's lifting stuff out of your skin. Again, it's not bad. I didn't, it's not bad in any way. Does my skin look clearer after? Yes, but I feel more so because I've just cleansed."
~Mixed
68%Guru Score
"Clinique's Take the Day Off balm is iconic. It's very nice. It's very simple. It's fragrance-free and it gets the job done. [...] This has safflower seed oil, ethexel palmitate, and a few emulsifiers. It melts down makeup and sunscreen and rinses clean. It's very basic. It's more of a cosmetically elegant kind of feeling. It's nice. A little bit pricey."
~Mixed
78%Guru Score
"The House of Hur Purifying Cleansing Balm [...] takes things just that little step further. It still has that sherbet to oil to milk kind of texture, but also includes cranberry powder which melts down as you massage offering a really really gentle daily exfoliation which you can use alongside other exfoliants. You've got fruit extracts like strawberry, cherry, and sea buckthorn which are very antioxidant rich and help regulate oil production and help brighten the complexion too."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"Remedy for lightweight cleansing is perfect for my very oily T-zone and the hot weather we just had. It is a great example of how to format a cleanser for oily or congested skin without falling into that trap of it being overly harsh and stripping. It's a classic gel to foam cleanser that's designed specifically for normal to oily skin types."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"This is one of my favorite examples of a modern dermatologist created product. I've used non-derm versions of this, and I still find them incredibly drying and stripping, really leaving your skin tight with that squeaky, clean, irritated skin. Instead, this formula is all about giving you the exfoliating benefits of salicylic acid without compromising your barrier."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"House of Hur cleansing balms are some of my favorites. I don't think they're anything crazy special, but that's also why I find myself reaching for them time and time again. I just know they're going to do the job they have to do, which is remove makeup and sunscreen and leave my skin feeling really nice and kind of like moisturized after."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"The Kate Somerville Eradicate Daily Foaming Cleanser. Kate Somerville products are so good. So, so good. This is a gentle daily exfoliating cleanser. It's hydrating, exfoliating. It's also got sulfur in which my skin usually reacts to, but it's meant to be great for rosacea and breakouts, which this product is for me. I think because it's in a washoff product, I don't have an issue with it."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"This is the Hydrating Cream to Milk Cleanser. It very much reminds you of an old-fashioned cream cleanser, but a lot more gentler and lighter feeling on the face. They say it delivers 24-hour hydration and 12-hour barrier support with 5% rice milk and hyaluronic acid. It's very soothing. I've only used it twice, but it's great for removing makeup, sunscreen, and even just unlike naked skin as a gentle cleanse."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"Products like the Milky Jelly Cleanser [...] became an instant hit upon release, cementing Glossier's reputation as the beauty brand for a new generation of beauty enthusiasts."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"The cleanser at $43, which is a lightly foaming cleanser, developed to gently dissolve any makeup, water resistant residues, unwanted oils and impurities without stripping or irritating the skin. Honestly, this was nothing special. A good basic cleanser, but way overpriced, in my opinion."
✕Nay
63%Guru Score
"It feels like the starting point of a cleansing balm, and whilst it has nice ingredients and does the job, it's a little bit outdated. There are many more richer, more nourishing balms with better ingredients that just feel nice on the skin. It's decent but outdated, and I feel like it's been replaced by many. This was everywhere at one point, but now it just doesn't hold up. There's too many better options in today's standards for a cleansing balm in my opinion."
✕Nay
67%Guru Score
"Glow Recipe focuses on fruit-based formulas combined with gentle but powerful active ingredients, and they wanted to create products that are not only effective but also offer a sensorial experience that make skincare fun and like a pampering experience for all their customers. And that's why I love the brand so much because I want my products to be effective, but that doesn't mean they can't be a joy to use."
✓Yay
59%Guru Score
"The hydrating cleanser was a gentle cleanser formulated to remove impurities without stripping the skin's moisture. It was formulated with ceramides, as well as [...] their patented multivesicular emulsion technology. This technology allowed for the gradual release of moisturizing ingredients over 24 hours, providing long lasting hydration and enhanced skin barrier restoration. [...] This was new and something different at the time, which it feels so standard now."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"The Foaming Facial Cleanser, developed for normal to oily skin types, aiming to remove excess oil and sebum without disrupting the skin's natural barrier."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"Contained benzene, a known cause of cancer at levels which exceeded federal safety standards"
✕Nay
76%Guru Score
"The Foaming Face Wash was criticized for containing fragrance and drying ingredients that many complained weren't suitable for all skin types. The way this was being sold as suitable for all skin types is what really made people look at these products and be like that's not suitable for all skin types."
✕Nay
55%Guru Score
"The jelly cleanser, certain batches contain a preservative not listed on the product ingredient list. And whilst this preservative is found commonly in skincare products, especially those clean beauty ones, this preservative, like many paraben alternatives, can cause skin irritation in sensitive individuals, especially at higher levels."
✕Nay
59%Guru Score
"For oily, breakout or acne prone skin, or those wanting to maintain well-maintained pores, I think you will love the INKEY List salicylic acid cleanser. It's a great daily use cleanser that contains 2% salicylic acid you massage on the face for 60 seconds to 2 minutes [...] and rinse away. If you have a teenager just starting to break out and get blackheads, [...] this is a great way to gently and safely introduce a chemical exfoliant into their routine. I love this one."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"I'm convinced people are pretending to like Garnier micellar water. [...] I hate this one. I like the concept, and as much as I say you don't need to rinse off your micellar water, this one needs to come off your face and into the bin. [...] It left my skin sticky and stingy, it stung around my eyes and around my nose folds. It got rid of makeup particularly well, but so does a cleansing balm. If you really like the feeling of a sticky oily mess on your skin, give this one a go."
✕Nay
68%Guru Score
"Dr. Althea's pure grinding cleansing balm went viral recently for a good reason, but Beplain do a better version of this in my opinion."
~Mixed
74%Guru Score
"I always used to use a cleansing brush like the Clarisonic, which made me think I couldn't have a proper effective cleanse unless I had a brush scrubbing at my skin [...] twice a day. But they basically went out of business for the same reason I stopped using them: it just became too harsh, and people realized they needed a gentler approach to cleansing."
✕Nay
55%Guru Score
"Bondi Sands have an amazing skincare line [...] of very basic basics, with the default serums most brands have, [...] and not a single product goes beyond the 15 pound mark so it keeps your wallet in budget. I love their cleanser in particular, a very good example of a lightweight hydrating moisturizing cleanser that doesn't strip your skin. All their products are simple, decent skincare that feels great to use in really nice packaging and they just do the job."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"Beplain do a better version of the viral Grinding Cleansing Balm in my opinion. Similar grinding packaging, but the formulation overall is softer and easier to use, it's lighter, it melts down quicker and melts everything away quicker. It's also very gently exfoliating with PHA and LHA, and has soybean oil to moisturize and ceramide too."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"It removes makeup, sunscreen, and excess oil without stripping your skin. [...] It has some gentle exfoliants, aloe, green tea, spinach and kale leaf extract, and vitamin C. [...] It really looks like a great alternative at $39 for 8 oz instead of $110.99."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"Using the Dr Idriss Soft Wash Complete Daily Cleanser, super gentle, doesn't strip your skin in any way. So really, really good if you've got a heavy, thick mask on that you just want to rinse away in the morning."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"I'm using Skin Rocks Cream Cleanser. I actually use this as a double cleanse most of the time but I use this to take off if I'm wearing any sunscreen all that kind of stuff because it is just so so gentle and it is a cleanser I'll take with me to like a hotel traveling because it's just like a one and done cleanser, well a two and one cleanser perfect for both steps of the double cleanse routine but this one just feels extra nice."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"When it comes to oil cleansers, the Softy Mo one is the only one that I've used doing this successfully."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"It's just such a nice cleanser. It's quite a unique cleanser in the sense that the texture is a little bit different. There are a few other similar cleansers, but as far as how it then interacts on the skin, how it then foams up, how it then leaves your skin, is fairly unique. The thing about this that just feels a lot more nourishing and moisturizing than any other cleanser I've used."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"Krave Beauty's Makeup Rewind is such a consistent part of my routine and daily life that sometimes I forget to talk about it. I love it because it's in between a cleansing balm and a cleansing oil, for when I can't be bothered with either. It's more like a jelly that instantly turns into an oil once you start gently massaging it onto the skin, and it clears away makeup and sunscreen very quickly without having to rub or massage too much."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"Bioderma micellar water is perfect for me, made to stay on the skin with sensitive skin in mind. Micellar waters are made to be left on, for convenience and a tap water free cleanse, and this one does not irritate me or break me out."
✓Yay
96%Guru Score
"The green Youth to the People cleanser that went viral over lockdown dried out my oily skin so bad. It takes a lot to strip my skin of its natural oils, especially my oily T zone, and this honestly felt like a stripping cleanser from the early 2000s. It is a bit much and somehow very, very stripping, and I do not see people genuinely loving it anymore."
✕Nay
64%Guru Score
"I am convinced people are pretending they like the Rhode cleanser. I was genuinely looking forward to it because Rhode's other products are nice, but I used it solidly for a week and it was so drying that I was breaking out badly with little whiteheads and itchy skin, and that is coming from someone with a very oily T zone. It has an odd silky feel and the whole thing feels a little outdated."
✕Nay
68%Guru Score
"This is the type of cleanser I've been waiting for from Glow Recipe for a long time. This is far superior. This gives a really nice gentle, effective cleanse without the slightly drying cleanse that their other cleanser gives. This is great for all skin types. Oily skin is going to love it because it's not overly stripping of your oils. Dry skin is going to love it because it's nicely hydrating and moisturizing and repairing and we have Colloidal Oatmeal in here for soothing your skin."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"Rich in fatty acids, Oleic, Linoleic Acids. So it's going to keep your skin nicely moisturized and hydrated and very good in general just for makeup removal. And Blueberry Extract really nice, great antioxidants. I really, really like this one. I like it more now than I used to because of my change in preference for a cleansing balm. The effortless, smooth kind of experience of it attracts me back to it."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"This is for me was just the same as any modern day non-stripping cleanser. [...] Did it feel bougie, did it feel nice, yes, would I pay that much for it, no. I wouldn't necessarily say it would stand out for me as far as keeping my skin from drying out. [...] It says soothing, the dullness, lack of firmness, none of that for me. There's nothing wrong with it, I just don't think it's worth their price point to be honest with you."
✕Nay
69%Guru Score
"It smells really good. It's like buttery soft, like it's gliding over the skin. [...] It emulsified and kind of turned into that whitey milky fluid that rinsed away so effortlessly and so easily. It's a really, really nice cleansing balm. [...] I do much prefer the texture, to be honest with you, rather than that plasticky feeling balmy texture. I do think it's going to be one of my preferred cleansing balms."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"My skin is smooth, yes, but not dry. Has it done an okay job at getting rid of my excess oils? Yes. Obviously not poreless, because that's not how any product works or our skin works, but it's fine. It's a clay mask. If you like doing a clay mask, you will like this. If you already have your favorite, you're not missing out on anything."
~Mixed
77%Guru Score
"I've washed my face using The Ordinary Glucoside Foaming Cleanser."
~Mixed
70%Guru Score
"I really like one of their cleansing balms. [...] Their products are nice, they're nice. But am I racing out to re-buy them? No, not really. I understand why people like this brand and why I'm asked pretty much on a daily basis to review them. [...] I think it's one of those brands I knew growing up, [...] so I'm kind of over it. [...] I'm not in a rush to buy them because I feel like they've been around for so long."
~Mixed
75%Guru Score
"I really like Skin Fix products so far, and this is a really nice non-stripping foaming cleanser that I'd recommend. But I was a little bit disappointed because I thought it would be an actual oil cleanser, not just a regular cleanser with oils in it. It's a nice everyday cleanser, but [...] if you've already got non-stripping cleansers that you like, this isn't anything new. I wouldn't rush out and buy it."
~Mixed
80%Guru Score
"I really liked this for a couple of months and then I got a new one and it just started drying out my skin really really really bad, like really bad. It reminded me of my early day teenage skincare routine cleansers where my skin would feel so tight. I actually just popped it in the shower and started using it as a body wash and bought another one thinking that maybe it was just the product I got online was maybe a dud or a bad batch, but no, it continued to really really dry me down."
✕Nay
75%Guru Score
"Not for me, I can't use this. It's just so tough to use. [...] You have to have so much strength in order to get this out of the tube. It's just so annoying to use. And it is a good product if you don't mind the kind of user experience of it. It's got three percent oat kernel oil which is rich in ceramides and one percent colloidal oatmeal to reduce redness and soothe your skin. That's kind of its main selling point. It really is like a solidified oil."
✕Nay
75%Guru Score
"These Ultra Deep Cleansing Pore Strips are tough, they are strong, they are made some strong stuff like they will get that out of your nose. The problem with nose pore strips is they're great at kind of removing what you can see on the surface, they're not great at getting right deep in there and really decongesting your nose. Something like BHA is much better for that."
✓Yay
56%Guru Score
"This is a great first and second cleanse and really it's just a nice basic non-drying non-stripping kind of cleanser. It ensures that you don't get that tight feeling to the skin. [...] This is a good one and it's 5.50. I do find that I tend to use these up really quick compared to a lot of other cleansers, so a little bit doesn't go that far. But it's really accessible, you can find it everywhere, it's really really good. It's just a nice basic non-stripping cleanser."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"This is a really gentle jelly cleanser that does very lightly foam but doesn't leave you dried out at all. This makes a perfect first and second cleanse, [...] and it's really gentle even when my skin is at its most sensitive. It has licorice root and green tea as the key ingredients, with licorice root being good at evening out skin tone and complexion, whilst green tea is a great antioxidant and can help soothe the skin. It's a [...] huge bottle for 9.99 and lasts for absolutely ages."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"If you have no particular skin care concerns and you just want a nice gentle cleanser, this is a really really good one to go for. I got this for six pounds, it's super cheap and super affordable for 110 milliliters. It [...] has fragrance in it, but once that's on your face you don't smell it. [...] The fragrance is just there to take away that waxy crayony smell you can get from fragrance-free products."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I've cleansed my face using the [Paula's Choice] Cleansing Balm."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"The Living Cleansing Balm from Then I Met You. An icon in my bathroom for the last 5 years. I love this. I will forever love this. And this is very much a barrier first kind of formula. Grape seed oil, olive oil, sea berry oil, which gives it that [...] orangey yellow kind of tinge. All keeping your skin moisturized without stripping the skin. And every so often I will use this as a mask."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"I hate it. I absolutely hate it cuz it kind of felt similar."
✕Nay
61%Guru Score
"The Arenia Fresh Green Rice Mochi Cleanser is my favorite cleanser in general of the year. [...] Arenia has used a traditional kneading process similar to how mochi is made, and that actually matters here because [...] it changes the way the cleanser works. It has this density to it that is kind of like very soft butter. It spreads slowly, cushions the skin because you can use this as a mask as well."
✓Yay
62%Guru Score
"I do understand why it's a, it's a an award winner, constant award winner."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"TirTir's Hydroboost Enzyme Cleansing Balm is a very sherbety, silky cleansing balm that effortlessly removes makeup and sunscreen while leaving your skin feeling nicely hydrated."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"The Calamine Pore Control Cleansing Oil is one of the nicest cleansing oils I've ever used. I think it's because to me it's somewhat of like a cleansing oil milk. You'll see it's a milky texture, it almost looks biphasic the way it comes out. Of course perfect for cleansing away sunscreen and makeup, but with a little bit of massaging too it also helps to loosen sebaceous filaments, blackheads, even our pores looking cleaner and cared for."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"So if you do find that your skin gets very easily stripped and your barrier gets very easily irritated from these types of cleansers, this is going to be a great one to go for. It's also packed with ingredients like ladies mantle extract, which is a classic belif ingredient for antioxidant support. It's a great morning cleanser, especially with the warmer weather coming up now or if you slug at night constantly or use thick creams."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This product went viral, and I don't understand why. Like, it's fine. It's absolutely fine. It's gonna do the job it needs to do. It's gonna take off your makeup. It's to take off your sunscreen in no different way to any other oil, other cleansing oil out there. [...] It's fine. It's normal. It's nothing special."
✕Nay
62%Guru Score
"I love using their Dermatica Caring Squalane Cream Cleanser. This is like a really creamy formula that almost feels like it's a moisturizer. It feels like you're rubbing a moisturizer on your face. You apply it on dry skin, you can use it to remove makeup and sunscreen. You massage that gently on the skin, add water to emulsify, and then rinse away, and it leaves you with basically moisturized feeling skin, thoroughly cleansed without feeling stripped."
✓Yay
Notverified
"My rosacea flares up really quickly to it"
✕Nay
75%Guru Score
"It also has licorice extracts which brightens your skin. It is a unique jelly-like texture and it has this really nice bounce to it and you just need a little dime sized amount. With a gentle pH of six and the fact it has these natural brighteners, it maintains your pores, cleans your pores and I just really feel that that will do a really thorough job of cleansing your impurities from skin."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"And then we have ginger root extract and ambroxol, which is a soothing blend of soothing actives to help calm the skin. And it really is such a nice cleanser. A lot of cleansers you can just use twice and they do a good job, but this does an excellent job at both steps of the cleansing routine. It's the ideal cleanser to take away with me, carry around everywhere, use at home, just like a one-in-one type thing."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"It has this jelly, watery jelly texture that really does give you a nice deep cleanse without stripping your skin completely. In summer I'm going to need this, I'm going to love this. The greasiness, the oil that comes out with me in the summer, this is going to be able to gently cleanse all this away because I cleanse twice a day in the summer and this is going to do it without irritating my skin. I love this. Hydration has been great with this."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"This is a standard cleansing balm in a nice way. It has that kind of plasticky feel to it that rubs down into an oil, you rub that gently on your skin and emulsify it and wash away. It's a really good cleansing balm. I like this [...] size. These ones are nice because you don't have to spend ages trying to break it down. It washes away super easy once emulsifying. Heimish is known for their cleansing balm. Like, you can't not win with this one."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"The reason I'm highlighting this Centella light cleansing oil is because this is really an oil that got me back into using oils. [...] What I don't like about cleansing oils is thickness, the feeling of suffocation on the face, and the drippiness of a cleansing oil, you know, it starts to drip all down your arms. I was like, no, I'm going to be using cleansing bars from now on. But I did a sponsor with these guys ages ago and they sent me a load of product and the cleansing oil was one of them."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"There's Soybean Oil, Jojoba Seed Oil, Sunflower Seed Oil. So you do really get that good kind of oily cleanse. Layers of makeup, layers of sunscreen, applied constantly throughout the day. This cuts right through in this really lightweight, non-suffocating kind of way. You don't need that much. [...] You absolutely do not need much, two pumps is more than enough. If your skin is dehydrated and you're sick of Hyaluronic Acid, you will want to try this one."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"What I love about this cleanser in particular is it's really, really good for easily sensitized and sensitive and irritated skin. And this really does have breakouts in mind. It has Salicylic Acid in, which when it's in a cleanser and you really take time to massage it in, it's a really nice way to exfoliate skin that's prone to breakouts, is breaking out, congested skin. And it is a foaming cleanser, but it's almost like this creamy foam rather than just like a bubbly foam."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This is an amazing, very gentle, non-stripping cleanser that's very good at removing sunscreen and makeup as well as just being a nice cleanser. [...] As the name suggests, there is Glycerin in here and you could feel that, it's like a thick serum texture that leaves your skin just feeling nicely untouched."
✓Yay
Notverified
"It gives a nice foam as well when you lather it up. I use it every single day. I absolutely love it. It's one of my favorite probably body cleansers of all time. So I'm glad I kept getting served that advert because I was kept tempted to buy it every time I saw it and I finally did. If you see this, grab it. It's really really nice. Is it anything crazy special? Like no. If you really have a favorite shower gel, carry on using it."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I primarily use this as a first cleanse, although you can use it as a two-step cleanse as well, but this is really really good at removing your makeup and removing sunscreen so gently without leaving your skin feel stripped and tight and parched. At first it's like a really water down gel cream texture and then you add water to it to emulsify and it turns into like milky cream that's super easy to wash away."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"Their foam salicylic acid cleanser is also a pleasure to use, loving soft, non-stripping, very gently exfoliates and also contains AHA as well."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"With daily or every other day use of this product, you get a really nice gentle exfoliation that is effective without the risk of overdoing it without destroying your skin barrier, which will lead to further issues. It also has rice water which helps hydrate and brighten skin, even out skin tone, and make you look fresher alongside soothing allantoin and hydrating glycerin."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"I absolutely loved [...] this cleanser when I first tried it. It's just over 10 pounds but if you hunt around you can get it for under, it's actually around eight pounds. It comes in a huge bottle and it is worth the price. Fulvic acid is an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory ingredient, so it's good for sensitive skin and all skin types. I found this particularly good for my oily skin during the summer."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"The Succulent Skin Wash Serum Weight Cleanser is a super lightweight pH balance cleanser that does a really good job at cleansing your skin without leaving it feeling stripped. This actually contains amino acid packed surfactants which I've never heard of before to help maintain a healthy skin barrier."
✓Yay
67%Guru Score
Sunscreen69 reviews
"And super goop play. This is a mineral sunscreen"
✓Yay
63%Guru Score
"Supreme Screen, which is one of my favorite sunscreens of all time. This was more of an allrounder. Supreme Screen was meant to be used as a daily moisturizer and primer kind of combination whilst also providing sun protection, combining hydration, sun protection and a primer into this really smooth textured cream again with SPF 50 plus. It featured broadspectrum SPF UV filters alongside kakadu plum which is a nice antioxidant and pentitin for antioxidant support and moisture retention."
✓Yay
92%Guru Score
"Despite being marketed as having an SPF rating of 50 plus, Choice revealed that their test returned an SPF rating of just four. This rating was so low that Choice actually sent a sample to another lab in Germany just to double-check the results, [...] and that came back with an SPF rating for Lean Screen of five. So slightly better, I guess, but not the rating they promised. [...] A drop from a rating of 50 plus to just four or five would be bad enough for any sunscreen product."
✕Nay
57%Guru Score
"This is an oil-free formula that's designed to melt into the skin super quickly. And it does, it really, really does. Providing a subtle glow without any greasiness. It can get a little bit greasy if you're oily, but it's a really nice texture. Formulated with those NextGen UV filters and a blend of vitamins, it's aimed to brighten, hydrate, and smooth the skin. And it was originally pitched as an alternative to like a primer for dry or dull skin."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"It's still very very good. It feels very nice. It doesn't sting my skin."
✓Yay
65%Guru Score
"Clean Screen. This is a combination of mineral and chemical sunscreen with a lightweight gel texture. I think this is one of my favorites, too. [...] A fragrance-free formula with a slightly matt finish. It was meant for sensitive or reactive skin types that needed a low irritation option. The founders say that because it was a zinc based formula, they kept the SPF at 30 to avoid making it too whitening, saying that the best SPF is the one that you wear daily."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"I've tried it so many times. I wanted to give it a really fair chance, but every time I use it, I end up like squinting. My eyes are burning. I end up having to wash it off. It's irritating. My rosacea flares up. For me, it's just one of those like cult favorites that I just cannot get to work no matter how hard I try."
✕Nay
80%Guru Score
"I hate the smell of this sunscreen. Horrific. It was horrible. And I was doing a meet and greet [...] and the queue was going past the display and I saw people in the queue who were coming to meet me and Robert picking up the product and smelling it and pulling a face. A lot of people didn't like the smell."
✕Nay
71%Guru Score
"IOPE's UV Shield Sun Ample is an SPF 50 [...] sunscreen that's part skin treatment, part sunscreen, and it's amazing. It's lightweight and watery and very quickly vanishes on the skin, with no stinging, no peeling and no white cast, and you can keep layering it [...] without a greasy finish. It has their Allantoin complex of allantoin, onion bulb extract and peptides to calm, soothe and repair, plus their Stem 3 Ample [...] for hydration and barrier repair."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"It does have a slight fragrance, which has never been an issue for me. If you want glowy, dewy, well-hydrated, plumped-up skin without irritation or that sunscreen feeling, this one's perfect. I've been reaching for it nonstop over the vast majority of my sunscreen collection."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"Not water resistant though. I will be buying this because I love Beauty Sunscreens. I have seen a few sponsored posts, but from influencers who I know really take their sponsorship seriously and aren't just going to sell any old thing and it looks great on their skin. They love it, too. Beauty of Joseon makes some really nice products. So, I would give this a go. I really, really would."
✓Yay
66%Guru Score
"It has a beige tint to it that kind of blends into skin and neutralizes that redness, great for rosacea and acne scarring. I think it's zinc, so if you can't wear a mineral sunscreen without it going white on you, you might want to patch test this before you use it. It doesn't match your skin tone like TikTokers say it does, it just goes like a natural skin color. It's thick, so it's not for everyone, and it's a little bit grippy as well."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"Like it's a mineral sunscreen, not invisible as promoted. And when creators were showing you exactly how sunscreen looks when you apply the recommended amount, the appropriate amount of sunscreen, the amount you should use in order for your sunscreen to be effective, not a dab, not a tiny dot like the Tower 28 promo shows, a full actual application, it just did not blend in. It wasn't invisible at all. Which makes you wonder, did they even test it on deeper skin tones and black skin?"
✕Nay
64%Guru Score
"It's great for humid climates, oily skin types. It does contain a little bit of fragrance, however, which I don't love in my sunscreen, but I'm not really bothered by it, to be honest with you. With these alcohol heavy sunscreens, which is very typical of Japanese sunscreens because it helps everything absorb quicker and has this cooling effect on the skin, you need to add a little bit of something in there to take away that smell. If you're very sensitive, you might want to avoid this."
~Mixed
83%Guru Score
"One of the best sunscreens I've ever used. I feel like I've been using this for like 4 years on and off. It's everything somebody with any skin type would want, right? It's lightweight, but it's hydrating. It's moisturizing. It's chemical, so it doesn't leave a white cast. And it's just perfect. Perfect for daily use under makeup as well. This sunscreen is formulated with beetroot extract which is known for its antioxidant properties that help combat that free radical damage and UV damage too."
✓Yay
66%Guru Score
"My favorite is the Undefined Beauty RNR Mineral Sunscreen. Three play-around shades and hopefully more coming soon. They've not announced that but I hope there's more coming soon. This is just a perfect sunscreen that you can reapply and reapply. It doesn't peel throughout the day. It looks like natural skin."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"This is an ultra lightweight hydrating 100% tinted mineral sunscreen. [...] I was gifted this when I went to Texas this year and this was perfect fit in the humid hot weather. It rained as well for a little bit, the weather was crazy, [...] and a product that I expected to just slip off my face with the rest of my oils and sweat from the humidity stayed put on my skin. It kept me looking dewy, not greasy, throughout the whole day."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"Despite being an SPF 50+, Purito actually said it's roughly around SPF 84.5. However, the results from both independent labs showed that the sunscreen only offered a really low and disappointing SPF rating of 19, far below what it had claimed to provide, far below 84. This finding caused a ripple effect throughout the beauty community, raising doubts about the accuracy of SPF claims for other K beauty sunscreens as well."
✕Nay
51%Guru Score
"Keep Cool Soothe Bamboo Sun Essence SPF 50+ were also bought into question and also failed independent SPF testing, all having SPF results much lower than what they were advertising."
✕Nay
56%Guru Score
"Bondi Sands is a brand I don't see many people talking about beyond that one viral sunscreen they have, which I actually didn't like very much."
✕Nay
79%Guru Score
"Successful examples of this include their relaunch of their Umbra sunscreen with an updated formula, as well as swapping the basic jar of lala cream for an airless pump bottle, all based on what their consumers told them that they wanted."
~Mixed
65%Guru Score
"The ginseng moist sun serum is another amazing sunscreen I've not seen enough people talk about. If you are super oily and you hate layering sunscreen throughout the day and reapplying every two hours because you just feel like other sunscreens get greasy, it sits on your skin, makes you look oily, then you should try this. This is super lightweight."
✓Yay
66%Guru Score
"It hates one of these UV filters. I'm not sure which one. This isn't an Inkey List thing, it's a chemical sunscreen thing for me. But if you want a sunscreen that's not going to dry your skin down, doesn't smell alcohol heavy, doesn't sting your eyes, doesn't sting your skin, and you don't have rosacea, I would give this one a try. It's a really nice sunscreen, it just feels like a nice quenching moisturizer. Unfortunately my rosacea was not having it."
✕Nay
67%Guru Score
"Listen, I've tried them and they're decent, but the way people go on about them on this app it's like there's something revolutionary. There's two versions, right? There's the regular chemical sunscreen, which is just like any other regular chemical sunscreen. A lot of influencers are marketing it as having no white cast. Of course it's going to have no white cast, it's a chemical sunscreen. Even worse is their glow version, in my opinion."
✕Nay
66%Guru Score
"My current favorite, like everyday go-to sunscreen, is the new one from Pito, their Centella daily one. It's amazingly lightweight and non-greasy. You could reapply it every 2 hours or however much you want to reapply it without feeling greasy, and it will leave you with a natural-looking skin glow. So if you're not a fan of dewy skin or gloss skin, then you will actually love this sunscreen."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"That is actually a really good sunscreen"
✓Yay
65%Guru Score
"One of their best and I would say most iconic products is their unseen sunscreen, purely because everyone can use it, it works great as a sunscreen, a lot of clear sunscreens can be very greasy and oily looking, this one isn't, in my opinion, and it doesn't sting my eyes."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"Probably my favorite sunscreen of all time, [...] this is a fully mineral tinted sunscreen available in three shades, it's got cica mushroom in it which is very hydrating, and niacinamide, it gives you a very natural looking glow, sometimes [...] people ask if I'm wearing makeup but it's not heavy coverage. I've been using this solidly for about 2 years now, absolutely love it, never going to stop using it."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"After a wear test, [...] I completely forgot I even had this sunscreen on, it's so comfortable on the skin, my eyes aren't stinging whatsoever, [...] my skin feels very comfortable, [...] honestly I think this is going to be one of my new favorite sunscreens. There was a bit of [...] my rosacea flaring up on a really warm day, but [...] not too dissimilar to what sunscreens always do to my skin."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"They say it's sheer. It's not. [...] But as a first step in the morning, I'm really, really enjoying this. Do I think you need to run out and purchase it? No, I think there are better mineral sunscreens. [...] Tatcha's overpriced, usually anyway. It is one of the nicer mineral sunscreens. But unless you're white to this kind of tan, it's not going to be good for you. It's not the best to reapply, but it does feel nice as your first sunscreen application in the day."
~Mixed
63%Guru Score
"This is just the most hydrating, moisturizing sunscreen without being greasy, without being oily. It's perfect to reapply and reapply and reapply throughout the day. And it gives you that same glowy, dewy, natural dew, dewy glow each time you apply it without looking heavier. We have Vitamin C in here, we have ascorbic acid in here. We also have niacinamide [...] and adenosine as well."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"I honestly feel like they're kind of useless in general as a sunscreen product but I'm not against having some kind of sun protection every single product it can it can only do good right well sometimes there's no point at all in this case. You [...] shouldn't rely on this as your main sunscreen or even as a reapplication sunscreen unless you want to look like a powdery mess. It's just never going to be good enough coverage."
✕Nay
62%Guru Score
"Brush on sunscreen like this is never enough coverage. You just cannot get the full coverage you need or the total protection in a brush on sunscreen like this. [...] The amount of powder that you would see on your skin that gives you the required amount of sunscreen you need covering your face, creating that shield that sunscreen needs to make on your face. This isn't going to do it. [...] As a sunscreen alone, no. [...] Even for touch ups, you're really not getting good coverage."
✕Nay
67%Guru Score
"It's not as drying as those ultra-light sunscreens. [...] Almost like waterweight, really light. But this leaves you super hydrated, feeling nice and dewy and glowy without stinging the skin, the eyes, or leaving you looking overly greasy in any way."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"The moisturizer was thick and creamy not that it's a bad thing but it felt like I was just using the same product one after the other"
✕Nay
63%Guru Score
"The elf one I still use, very, very nice. Made my rosacea a little bit red, a little bit rosacery. But to be honest with you, I expect that from chemical filters. It's something that triggers my skin. So I'm at a stage, though, where the sun will trigger my rosacea or sunscreen will, unless it's like a real zinc sunscreen. So it's just a thing for me. I'd rather wear sunscreen if I'm going to flush either way. How it looks on the skin and how it feels on the skin was really, really nice."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"I didn't want to waste money on this and I didn't—it was in a Sephora gift bag. [...] I've said before [...] I don't really get along with tinted sunscreens. [...] In real life [...] it's showing up every single bit of texture on my skin. [...] It looks like I've got liquid bronzer on all over my face. The pearlescent finish is clinging to every pore and makes me look dirty and sweaty. It doesn't sting and feels fine, but I [...] don't like it at all. I want to take it off immediately."
✕Nay
66%Guru Score
"But this was so greasy, I don't understand why it was so greasy on me. I posted about this and made a video about it as it was in a video, a lot of people said, yeah, it's incredibly greasy on me too, and that's even in my drier areas. Here it was just slippy and slidy. I definitely wouldn't say it was non-greasy. However, as a chemical sunscreen, it didn't sting my eyes, it didn't sting my skin. If you have very very dry skin, you're probably gonna love this."
✕Nay
65%Guru Score
"I do really really enjoy the Naked Sundays Clear Glow Radiant Sun Serum. It's a bit less like powdery and pasty feeling compared to Unseen by Super Goop. Whilst I wouldn't say this hydrates your skin, the texture feels a bit more hydrating to apply as a clear cream, whereas Unseen by Super Goop feels like melted Vaseline. Then you're left with that really velvety touch and that is kind of the same as this, but I don't feel as matted down and tight on the skin."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"However, [...] this stung my eyes a bit when I was being active. It didn't break me out or anything like that, but [...] I'm not used to a chemical sunscreen that stung my eyes for a really long time. [...] This does smell like your typical sunscreen, like a day at the beach. But it's 6.99, it's a bit of a bargain. You can [...] do a bit of powder over your eyes when you apply this and it stops that stinging sensation."
~Mixed
79%Guru Score
"I'm gonna go into my sunscreen. I am going to be using the Thank You Farmer Sun Project Water Sun Cream."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"The Haruharu Wonder Black Rice Airy Fit Sunscreen is another one I really like, I feel like I can just use it as a daily sunscreen because it feels exactly like a moisturizer."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I absolutely love the new Round Lab one if you are after one that is watery in texture. So lightweight, doesn't sting the eyes, doesn't irritate your skin. This is an amazing one."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"For me, the biggest compliment I can give a sunscreen is that I want to wear it every single day. This feels more like a moisturizer than a traditional sunscreen. Lightweight, watery, creamy, spreads easily, absorbs quickly, and leaves the skin looking hydrated and naturally radiant. No white cast, no sticky finish."
✓Yay
Notverified
"The sunscreen doesn't peel, it doesn't sting, it doesn't feel occlusive. Even when my skin is bad I tend to try and avoid sunscreen because it can irritate my skin further. But I can use this on everything. Breaking out, irritated skin, rosacea. In fact, it feels calming compared to other sunscreens."
✓Yay
Notverified
"It [...] spreads so easily over the skin, feels just like a normal moisturizer, no white cast, no fragrance. [...] This is a sunscreen you could just use as a moisturizer every single day. [...] There is just so much goodness in this sunscreen, [...] packed full of really beneficial ingredients in a really gentle way. It has a really nice natural dewy finish, nothing extreme, no glazed doughnut look, just a nice natural glow."
✓Yay
Notverified
"It's like a sunscreen that has a lot of moisturizer benefits. Zero white cast obviously because it's a chemical sunscreen. It doesn't peel. Sits amazingly under makeup. Doesn't sting my eyes. Doesn't bother my rosacea. They always say the best sunscreen you can use is the one you're actually going to use. This ticks all the boxes. There's no negatives for me as far as irritation, eye stinging, greasiness, heaviness. It just really is one of the best."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"What I love about this one as well is although it does have like a natural glow to it, the more you apply it that glow doesn't become more and more. You can reapply every 2 hours as recommended without it piling up on the skin, without it just looking like a ton of product on your skin. Great under makeup, doesn't peel, doesn't sting my eyes, doesn't irritate my rosacea. It's viral for a reason, it's a bestseller for a reason, a constant bestseller on any K beauty website you go on."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"What I love about this one is how it absorbs excess sebum. It doesn't mattify your skin, it keeps that glow but takes away any greasiness. So if you are extra oily, this sunscreen is going to make you oily, but of course your natural oils are going to come through, so this is a really nice one to take that shine away while supplying protection. It's got a micronized powder that absorbs sebum and excess oil but applies so thinly. It's like a powder in stick form but it's also sunscreen."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"But for me there was nothing special about this sunscreen as far as application, drying down, reapplication. It was just a very basic run-of-the-mill sunscreen. I think if you're very very oily you'll be absolutely fine with this sunscreen. If you're very very dry you'll be fine but you probably prefer something like Round Lab sunscreens, like something that's actually moisturizing. But for me this was just like, it's a sunscreen."
✕Nay
77%Guru Score
"It wasn't really anything tinted at all. And it peels like crazy. There's no playing around with this. You have to put it on your skin, rub it in as little as possible, and then don't touch it. If you touch it, you're done. It clings to the dryness. I have very dry crevices and it was just clinging to them. I couldn't get it to work. I used primers, I used everything like extra hydration to try and get this to work around the area and it just didn't work."
✕Nay
64%Guru Score
"If you haven't used this Korean sunscreen already and you love K-Beauty and you love Korean sunscreens, you are missing out. This is the typical everything you expect from a Korean sunscreen, it's lightweight, it's watery, it genuinely feels soothing and hydrating on the skin. My rosacea-prone skin loves this. It's like most Korean sunscreens, it's like a sunscreen you could just use as a moisturizer. It's got niacinamide, we all know what niacinamide does."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"The Sun Barrier Mineral Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 50 plus PA4 plus is from Prequel and is one of my favorite mineral sunscreens as somebody with rosacea, because chemical sunscreens can flare me up sometimes. [...] This is a mineral sunscreen so those with deeper skin tones will not be able to use this."
✓Yay
55%Guru Score
"It's my version of the Korean sunscreen, it's not as like the lightweight ones that like drip on your skin but I like hydration. I like for my sunscreen to feel like it's cocoon your skin and it doesn't leave a white cast and it just makes your skin glowy. You do it on, half reapply it's not like greasy, it's not like a greasy glow so if you're out you can replay every 2 hours and you're not going to feel like bogged down. It also layers really well under makeup it doesn't pill."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"SPF 50+ PA++++. Chemical filters again. That leaves that natural not too matte, not too greasy finish on the skin, and, of course, easy to reapply on the go. That's why I love a sunscreen stick. [...] And the curved shape enables you to get into all the crevices, which I love in a sunscreen stick. Like all Haruharu products, it is, of course, cruelty free. [...] We have their Air fence, which is like a mattifying and cooling ingredient without feeling like minty."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"My oily skin feels a lot more controlled. If you're oily skinned like me and you find yourself having to reapply more regularly because you're constantly blotting your oily T-zone, this has such good oil control and sweatproof that you know that it lasts the recommended time before reapplication. Really really good one if you don't like, even if you're not oily and you just don't like the way constantly reapplying sunscreen looks because it can build up and get greasy."
✓Yay
66%Guru Score
"I absolutely love a very good box but [...] this one, set number two, [...] is my favorite one. They're all amazing but this has to be the box with some of my more favorite products in it."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"The ABIB Quick Sunstick Protection Bar SPF 50+ PA++++ is another great one for reapplication. What I like about this one is it's curved. I know that sounds like it's not a big deal, but it's so much easier to roll across the face, get into the crevices like around your nose, over the nose, around the forehead, along the neck, behind the ears. That tiny adjustment of just curving the product ever so slightly makes such a big difference in terms of how easy it is to use."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
"This somehow gets that perfect balance between nice natural glowy skin that isn't dewy, but it's also a nice matte finish as well. It's a very silky smooth matte finish. These sunscreen sticks are great for reapplication. So if you do have a sunscreen that you love, but maybe you're finding it a bit greasy as well, you can also just go over the top with this to kind of bring that shine level down and add that soft touch matte finish to your skin."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"This is the entry hyaluronic acid watery sunscreen SPF 50 plus broad spectrum PA 4 pluses. We all know this one, viral truly viral for a reason, everybody loves this moisturizer sunscreen. It feels like a moisturizer, it feels like a super lightweight moisturizer, very very nice. If you have oily skin in the summer, this is your moisturizer and sunscreen. In the winter months I would team this up with a moisturizer."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"This is one of the very first K-beauty sunscreens I use that I was like, wow, this is different. This isn't like my Piz Buin, like Nivea face and body sunscreen like all those years ago. And it's the first sunscreen that I was like, this is just a moisturizer. It feels like just a moisturizer. And I'll be really happy to use this every single day. My skin has changed a little bit since four or five years ago when I first reviewed this."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"A lot of people find that it pilled throughout the day. If they even touch their face, it would pill. I don't use it anymore. I just don't use it anymore. And that's mainly because there are better sunscreens out there. I think a good sunscreen is a sunscreen that you're just going to use without having to think about it too much. And unfortunately, you do have to kind of be considerate of how you use this and also what products you're using in conjunction with it."
✕Nay
70%Guru Score
"We all know to find yourself a lightweight, non sticky, non greasy, non irritating, non eye stingy sunscreen like this one, but also one that gives you that kind of hydrating and moisturizing feeling. We have eight types of Hyaluronic Acid in here for real good hydration, Centella Asiatica as well to help soothe the skin, which I love for my easy, sensitized and rosacea prone skin. I apply SPF first thing in the morning, often in place of a moisturizer."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"These Sun Sticks are perfect for reapplication throughout the day. So always start your day with the gel, reapply when you can with this. But if you're out and about and you want to reapply your sunscreen super easily, then the Sun Stick is the way to go. This has Niacinamide and Adenosine in it, so it's not only going to protect you from the sun, but also all those other skincare goals that you're trying to achieve. Again, super hydrating."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"This is so heavily fragranced. It smelt like there was a scented candle following me, put under my nose. Every time I wore this, it made my cheeks very red. It was far too strong. I physically cannot put that on my skin anymore. I got headaches from the smell and I've never, I probably have, but I don't remember the last fragrance product that actually physically made me feel sick."
✕Nay
Notverified
"What I initially loved about this product is it's super lightweight and non-greasy. [...] The new and improved one feels even lighter. I can use a really lightweight moisturizer if I want to with it and still layer it up without feeling bogged down, oily and greasy. It kind of feels more like a moisturizer than it does a sunscreen, like a super lightweight gel type moisturizer."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"They've even got this new SPF 50 Illuminating one which is like a glow primer. PA4 pluses UVA and UVB. I don't wear primers but this really gives you a nice glow on the skin. They call it a cushiony soft primer and it does feel like that, lighter than a moisturizer so it's nice to layer under things. Plus it's got vitamin C in there, nice antioxidant, and we love to pair with sunscreens, and hyaluronic acid so you're getting that kind of hydration as well."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"The One Serum comes as a mini, so having this little mini to actually just pop in your bag or even pop it in your pocket, so tiny, and be able to reapply throughout the day makes this like a super handy little thing to have. It's super easy to reapply without having to check in the mirror if it's like left on your skin or anything. It just sinks perfectly into the skin and you get a nice even spread using the correct amount of sunscreen to cover all areas."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"We also have niacinamide and hyaluronic acid, and you can feel that it's hydrating. It's confusing because I was expecting something completely different, but it honestly just feels like a very nice moisturizer. Reapplication is very easy; it doesn't feel bogged down or greasy. While these are one of those brands that market themselves on being non-toxic and EWG-approved, which I don't usually opt for, [...] this is such a nice sunscreen that I'm willing to see past that."
✓Yay
Notverified
Other54 reviews
"These can temporarily smooth the appearance of lines by hydrating the area and physically flattening the skin, which kind of boosts the hydration in fine lines, making them temporarily look plumper and less obvious. But they're not wrinkle erasing in any way."
~Mixed
62%Guru Score
"But it actually is really nice. It helps with lymphatic movement and product absorption. [...] It helps the eye cream absorb super fast and sinks down into the skin, and it just feels nice. It [...] doesn't [...] contain [...] hydrolyzed sponge spicules which thank god because I don't want those anywhere near my eyes. It contains peptides, PDRN derivatives, ceramides, tranexamic acid, and niacinamide so you get brightening, barrier support, and hydration."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"I'm always skeptical of these kind of products that promise these drastic results in a few minutes. And there were a few reviews complaining that this product was a complete scam, but it works. This does work. It's a temporary dramatic result that disappears once you wash your face. [...] It does seem to make a noticeable difference for most people and people are showing off their transformations all over Tik Tok, Instagram, and everywhere else."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"We have adenosine which is going to help with fine lines over time. Trela mushroom extract again hydrating. Hoba seed oil good for hydration. It's a decent moisturizing stick. It's quite nice to use over a moisturizer in those areas where you're drying out a little bit. But that is it. Topical products as we know even ones with special calcium ingredients cannot make structural changes to your skin."
~Mixed
62%Guru Score
"I have combination skin. My oily skin loves this. It's absolutely fine with it. But basically, if your skin barrier is suffering in any way whatsoever, this is a good product to pick up to kind of revive everything and make your skin feel normal again. It has a slight fragrance to [...] it, smells a bit like bread. It has sodium hyaluronate, hyaluronic acid, so it's a humectant that's going to give your skin that cushiony feel."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"This doesn't sting because it kind of soothes whilst you're doing it. It's very gentle. [...] I love this. It's gratifying because you get those instant results that you want from something like a pore strip without the irritation, but long-term it also really just helps keep everything congestion-free."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"The routine consisted of a BPO cleanser, a glycolic toner and a treatment lotion. And it was marketed as a complete skin management routine rather than as one off light products. [...] The products were good at the time and people who tried them generally loved them."
✓Yay
60%Guru Score
"It wasn't just another soap. It was a gentler alternative that still cleaned your body and killed bacteria whilst also moisturising your skin at the same time. And although that sounds so basic now, it was actually the first of its kind and it helped position Dove as something closer to a beauty brand than a typical soap brand. They really leaned into that moisturising aspect of the product with all their ads focusing on the fact that their bars contained a quarter moisturising cream."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"I would always moisturize my skin with Nivea, it was a brilliant one. It was fantastic and still is."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"It's a very refreshing spray, if you want to call it that. I find it absolutely horrific. It's minty. It's like spraying a cold mint all over your face, and you get a tingle, which is mostly from peppermint and alcohol. You can feel that evaporation, not from anything really improving your skin or refreshing your skin. And in fact, for sensitive skin, that combination of fragrance and essential oils in here is going to be more irritating than beneficial."
✕Nay
64%Guru Score
"I think it's a really really nice restorative repairing cream, but that's because it does have some solid ingredients. So we have panthenol obviously at 5% which is amazing for like barrier repair and hydration cuz it keeps everything locked in. Madecassoside from Centella which brings that kind of like anti-inflammatory soothing kind of property to the balm. And then of course there's zinc and manganese which act as those like almost like antibacterial agents."
~Mixed
64%Guru Score
"It does look extra dewy, [...] a little more than I like in a sunscreen, but under makeup it sits so good, and even without makeup it calms down after about 10 minutes. There is no white cast because it's a chemical sunscreen, it reapplies perfectly and there is no peeling whatsoever. Within the 24 hours I've used it, I cannot fault it yet, and I'm so happy to finally have a Glow Recipe sunscreen I can use daily."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"The brand, which once associated itself with the idea of simplicity, efficacy, and sustainability, had become kind of the poster child of overconsumption and skincare misinformation. And this backlash went far beyond the comment section of TikTok or YouTube. [...] In California, a bill was introduced in [...] direct response to the Sephora Kids controversy, which Drunk Elephant was the poster child for."
✕Nay
60%Guru Score
"These are newer glow pad PDRN and hyaluron again because I love the ample so much. I kind of want that in all forms. But yeah, they always leak and these didn't. Thank god."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"Recently genuine competitors have come into the market like k18 and redkin bonding"
✕Nay
59%Guru Score
"The payoff wasn't enough for me. The instant cooling was very very nice and that's probably more what I would use this for on a daily basis rather than the ingredient benefits. But [...] I don't know, if you don't like your skin dewy, glowy, feeling hydrated and you just want it calmed, this will be fine. But I feel like if you're going to have these hydrating ingredients in a serum, it should feel like your skin is hydrated. My skin felt like nothing was on it after, which I don't like."
✕Nay
57%Guru Score
"Step one cleanse using their Facial Soap which was a mild cleanser that comes in both liquid and bar form."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"I still use my Foreo to this day. I love their cleansing device. [...] They launched the Foreo Luna in 2014, which has silicone bristles, which provides a gentler, more hygienic facial cleanse. That addressed two of the main issues people have with Clarisonic devices: [...] that the traditional bristles were too abrasive, especially for sensitive skin, and that they [...] would harbor bacteria like toothbrushes do, especially kept in the bathroom."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"Whilst I understand why the Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair serum is a cult classic, I feel it gained popularity at a time when you couldn't find anything similar for cheaper with the same sort of ingredients. It may be packed with an amazing cocktail of ingredients, [...] but they're all ingredients you can find [...] in individual products, and when you buy those separately your whole routine will still cost less than this one serum."
~Mixed
64%Guru Score
"I love this, it's so lightweight, it's got a nice dewy finish. I don't have to wear primers with it or anything like that. I can just apply this after my moisturizer, even if I've really layered up my hydration, even if I've used a heavy moisturizer, this doesn't skid around my skin. [...] It just applies flawlessly, effortlessly. I've got it on now with this dewy, very natural looking glow to it."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"Under their ownership, drunk Elephant even launched body and hair care lines, as well as venture to makeup with products like cult favourite old blues, rosy Drops, I hate the stupid name."
✕Nay
59%Guru Score
"I gave Reedle Shot a go after seeing more and more unsponsored positive videos about it and my skin has never been so smooth. The pores on my nose and forehead are a lot clearer, they appear a lot smaller. My skincare products seem to be working better. Soothing ingredients seem to be more soothing. This is now a product I've been using daily for about three months now. I absolutely love it, cannot be without it."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"This is one of the nicest easiest makeup products I've ever used. Something that just sits on my skin so easily without me having to do a lot of work is perfect. I use a flat brush to get a really nice even layer of product on my skin, and then I just lightly paint it on where I want it to go. With a beauty blender, I can pat that in. You can still see a little bit of redness from my rosacea and some natural skin tone, but it is buildable. It looks like there's more coverage once it oxidizes."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"Personally for me the essence isn't great, it's one of the more expensive essences on the market but definitely not one of the best, in theory it sounds nice, it's got all those fermented ingredients [...] alongside camellia and green tea, but it falls a bit flat, it didn't do anything for me, and even worse it's got a weird smell to it, it smells like somebody licked you and then you let their saliva dry on your face."
✕Nay
56%Guru Score
"Shame on you Glow Recipe. Guys, just because this kit is called Fruit Babies does not mean it is safe for kids."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"I swapped Sudocrem for the Aveeno Baby version for face basting. It is pretty much the same ingredients with that healing zinc oxide, which is the whole point. It is a little harder to spread and I avoid the eye area because it can be slightly drying on that thinner skin, but it does the exact same thing with great results and does not smell, so I will be using it from now on."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"I started face basting with Sudocrem, applying a generous layer of the zinc oxide cream over a basic evening routine to help heal the skin, reduce inflammation and calm breakouts. I went to bed a greasy mess but woke up surprisingly dry, with my tiny breakouts reduced and my skin calmer. The results were pretty good, however it stinks, so I swapped it out."
~Mixed
69%Guru Score
"I've been waiting for someone to do something, anything about clean beauty claims. How misleading they are, the misinformation, the fear to sell. And Sephora are kind of at the forefront of that. They are, to me, probably the biggest, most recognized retailer that use this clean beauty kind of slogan with their own Clean At Sephora labeling system, which they launched back in June of 2018. Really, when clean beauty was at the height of its bullshit."
✕Nay
66%Guru Score
"I'm going to use Bloom Effects Tulip Dew Drops. I've been using this brand loads and [...] I love this. Just throughout the day it really kind of helps give my skin a glow but also keeps it like well hydrated and moisturized and calmed, especially as the weather here was getting warmer but now it's just like raining and it's that horrible sideways rain that really irritates my skin."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I just feel like all my creases are orange. [...] There's like orange bits in my beard. [...] If I could have applied that on its own at certain points, I feel like it would have been less patchy and I could have got a more even coverage if I dotted it on my face rather than mixed it in the top of a moisturizer. Or maybe this is just the reason I don't like any kind of fake tan or like bronzing anything because I feel like it makes my skin look patchy. I don't think it looks bad."
~Mixed
59%Guru Score
"I think I exfoliate too much to really see a difference with this. It's an interesting device. A hundred pounds worth of device, though? I'm not really sure. I feel like you can get manual setting pore vacuums cheaper on Amazon or something like that. I do think Foreo love to chuck in an LED light to make the device more expensive. It'll kind of give some kind of reason as to why their device is more expensive than it should really be."
✕Nay
56%Guru Score
"When you introduce the Goldi Drops. It's not for kids. That's what you say. Why do you not have some sort of disclaimer in the caption?"
✕Nay
65%Guru Score
"According to studies available and actual ingredient claims, this is an effective Peptide. It can't paralyze the muscle in the way Botox does. [...] The studies that we currently have on Argireline shows that this Peptide is very, very good at reducing the appearance of fine lines. [...] Whilst this is a great Peptide to decrease the depth of fine lines and wrinkles, this is not an ingredient to use if you're looking for longer term anti-aging effects or structural aging of your skin."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"Their aloe 2% NAG 2% serum, when I was using it was amazing at keeping my skin hydrated and calm."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"I do use and love Crest Whitening Strips. My main thing is I buy them when I am in America. I can physically pick them up from the shelf. I know they're real. I know they're not imported from Wish or AliExpress. I have used them for possibly ten years with no issues whatsoever. Maybe once every two years my teeth stay white. It's never been an issue for me."
~Mixed
80%Guru Score
"48 hours after using his first Crest Whitening Strip, he noticed a little lump, kind of like here, kind of where his chin meets the throat."
✕Nay
68%Guru Score
"Face Halo, great for cleansing, removing masks, like wiping everything away, perfect."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"Their Rose Gold Elixir is a lightweight oil that I don't like oils. I'm not interested in oils, so I'm just going to skip that one."
✕Nay
62%Guru Score
"With the Pore Fix, it almost gives this like immediate [...] blur to the pores, but it almost kind of like sets them up really well for makeup. I kind of want to see this used as a primer. [...] It just makes for such a nice everyday serum. What I do like about this one, the Pore Fix, is I can go in in the drier areas, so like around my nose, [...] and really pinpoint where I feel like my skin needs that little extra bit of attention."
✓Yay
Notverified
"The Garlic AC Real Shot Spot cream is this really fast acting blemish treatment that's like way more elegant than you'd expect from a garlic based product. It doesn't smell like garlic, but it combines garlic exosomes, tea tree, and centella, so it's antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and soothing at the same time, targeting spots without drying out your skin."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"You just spray this on your skin and it really leaves your skin looking instantly hydrated and plumped and glowy but you can feel that as well. You get a very nice glow but in a very natural way as well. It's amazing after the Garlic AC Real Shot Spot Cream actually, it can really help calm and replenish the skin whilst helping reinforce your skin barrier. I use this in the morning, I use it in the evening between stages as well."
✓Yay
Notverified
"I think it's one of the most effective yet gentle product innovations I've seen in the last two years or that I've probably ever used. VT's Reedle Shot technology is kind of like a micro needle delivery system using 100% natural mineral reedles, these little spicules that create micro pathways into the skin, think of it like very minimal micro needling without the needles."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"It's rare to find something that's versatile, gentle, effective, fun to use, and meets that kind of K beauty skin entertainment that I absolutely love whilst actually being beneficial for your skin. It's a perfect example of what Korean skincare does best: targeted skincare with a soothing approach and innovation. If your skin is feeling overwhelmed and you just want something that simplifies your routine whilst giving you results, this is a really good one to look into."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I really do like when that toner pad serves more of a function on its own rather than like oh this could have just been a toner and I use these particular tone pads year round because as somebody with very easily irritated skin easy sensitized skin and rosacea these are so soothing and calming everything I want for my skin and they've done their own case studies as abib have to show how much these significantly cool down the skin."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This is really really nice in summer if you're like me and like you want to slug in summer or you want to have a thick overnight mask in summer because your skin does still get dehydrated in summer but you hate the feeling of it like thick and heavy on your skin this is a really really nice one to go for. Or in general if you are just oily and you want some lighter weight that you can wear overnight this is a really really nice one to go for."
✓Yay
Notverified
"The Madagascar Centella Quick Calming Pad, these are amazing, these are so good for soothing irritated or sensitized skin with the centella asiatica to provide pretty much like that instant relief from redness and irritation whilst helping strengthen the skin barrier. We do have polyhydroxy acid in here which is a super gentle exfoliant that hydrates while it's also removing dead skin cells, making it suitable for even sensitive skin. We have hyaluronic acid which of course hydrates the skin."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"The VT Color Reedle Shots are one of my favorite collagen ones. They're travel friendly versions that will be traveling with me."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"This is meant to be the lighter alternative and it really is. [...] It feels so watery. It does have a slightly typical sunscreen smell, [...] but a lot of people found that the Relief Sun actually left somewhat of a white cast on their skin, and they're finding that this one really does leave nothing because it's chemical filters. [...] The finish isn't dewy like dewy glass skin, nothing. It's just sheer. It's going to go on your skin, it's going to match your skin."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"Pat it into the skin instead of rubbing because this feels less prickly but we ensure that the seadles penetrate the skin as they need to. Second tip, use this in conjunction with a soothing sheet mask, lay a sheet mask over the top, pat the skin again, gently roll your fingers over the sheet mask like a rolling tool. Again, this will help the seadle penetrate the skin as they need to, but in conjunction with a soothing mask it's going to feel a lot more soothing. I love these products so much."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"Not only is this a really good skin booster in the sense that it boosts everything throughout the rest of your skincare routine, but as a standalone serum it's surprisingly calming because of the Seeker, despite you getting little micro needles in your skin, and hydrating as well. I love it, I absolutely love it. It's always out of stock though, so if you want it get it, but get like two. I've got like three because I know it's always out of stock."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"This one really focuses on that skin cell turnover, really targets pores and elasticity of the skin. I've heard it's a little bit more prickly. [...] If you're [...] finding that rubbing it in feels a little bit too prickly, start patting on your skin instead, nice and firm, and those needles are still going to penetrate the skin, it just feels a little less prickly. A good idea is to use a sheet mask alongside this product when you first start using it."
✓Yay
Notverified
"You can go for a pore dedicated serum like Remedy For Pore Size, only in the US at the moment, but this has everything in it. This has retinol, salicylic acid, niacinamide, and green tea to really target everything that you need to help your pores look smaller."
✓Yay
91%Guru Score
"Style Koreans told me that 2.3 million have been sold in Korea. And these are just going to be good for, like, helping moisturize the skin. Carrot Seed Oil and Carotene, which is a nice antioxidant. What I love about these ones is you can use them like normal masking, but you can also kind of cut them into different shapes. So one pad can do several parts of your skin. So 60 pads, but that doesn't mean 60 uses. You can double it to 120 if you want to. But yeah, hydrating, soothing, moisturizing."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"Their Face Glaze is almost like a highlighter moisturizer minus the makeupy kind of thing. It's lightweight and gives an amazing dewy glaze on the face [...] but also contains ceramides, hyaluronic acid, and squalene so we have this really nice kind of moisturizing quality to it without being heavy and greasy."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
Toners47 reviews
"This one's just one of my favorites. [...] It's bifase, meaning it's hydrating and barrier supporting at the same time. You shake it up and you get this blend of [...] goat milk, which is really nourishing and soothing. We have mugwort as well, great for redness, calming irritation. Squalane, that really nice lightweight oil to soften the skin and lock everything in along with hyaluronic acid to keep your skin plump and hydrated."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"Dr. G's Red Blemish Clear Soothing Toner. Last time I used this was like a year ago, but I always have a full bottle in my drawer ready to go. We have centella asiatica. We have aloe and super gentle AHAs and BHAs for very, very gentle exfoliation. So if your skin can't handle those higher percentages, they have very gentle exfoliating acids in here with those soothing properties."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"The Vanilla Milk Toner was criticized for containing fragrance and drying ingredients that many complained weren't suitable for all skin types. I think the way this was being sold as suitable for all skin types is what really kind of made people look at these products and be like that's not suitable for all skin types."
✕Nay
62%Guru Score
"My favorite toner has to be the Wonder Relief Centella Toner Unscented by Purito. It's a very gentle fragrance-free version of their other popular toner that hydrates sensitive skin and calms sensitive skin as well. Of course, with centella asiatica known for its healing and soothing properties, calming down irritation, we have panthenol in here as well for skin hydration, improving elasticity, and helping repair skin barrier."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"Byoma is probably the most popular brand on this app, focused on supporting a healthy skin barrier with effective actives without the irritation. [...] One product I particularly love, that I've talked about to death, is their hydrating Milky Toner. It's hydrating and moisturizing like all those other viral milky toners, but so much more lightweight, refreshing and hydrating feeling. It's also super soothing and contains all their barrier supporting ingredients."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"I really had to go back into the archives for this one. [...] I used this years ago, but it is making a bit of a comeback. I used this toner non-stop for about two years and my skin was well balanced, there was no excessive sebum production whatsoever, more even skin tone, really probably just down to me consistently using one product consistently. But also the niacinamide in here, I know a lot of people find niacinamide overwhelming because it's in everything, but my skin loves it."
✓Yay
94%Guru Score
"I just like it for hydration and really gentle exfoliation."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I shared this for a soothing toner and I found this actually stung a lot and a lot of people agreed with me and had the same issue. I cannot stand the heartleaf 77% toner, it's a soothing toner that's stung my face like crazy, it's also too watery when I use it, I lose half the product down my arms. For a product for irritated skin it shouldn't irritate my irritated skin."
✕Nay
87%Guru Score
"This is a chemical exfoliant, this isn't a toner, a toner is a hydrating product that sometimes nowadays have actives in, I'm going to put this as eight, it's a great product but it's not a toner."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"Then they sent me their milky toner, absolutely love this, it's got snow mushroom in alongside hyaluronic acid so again really really nicely hydrating, it will often foam a little bit for me which is annoying, but for the price I don't really care, all in all I've been impressed with this brand so far."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"I love their Panthenol Essence Toner, it's got a load of soothing, hydrating, and barrier repair ingredients in it. I talk about this to death, this is my second bottle, this is now my go-to line for calming my irritated skin, for helping with redness, healing a damaged skin barrier and strengthening my skin barrier, this in conjunction with the cream is amazing for my skin."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"I actually purchased their original toner for a [...] video I filmed and I absolutely loved it, it was very basic in a good way, the aloe and glycerin made it super hydrating and soothing, and the witch hazel did what you would expect from an astringent, pores looked more refined, my skin was less red."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"I'm very very surprised by the fact that I'm enjoying this Anua Peach 77% Niacinamide Essence Toner. This is my second bottle because I did like their serum but as I mentioned I didn't use it much, it was nice, [...] but the fragrance was just too much. However in this toner and their cream, the scent is still there but it doesn't linger like it does in the serum."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"When it comes to a chemical exfoliant you cannot really go wrong with Pixi Glow Tonic. It is a little fragranced, so if your skin does not like fragrance, give it a skip and go for something from The Inkey List instead."
✓Yay
65%Guru Score
"I'm going to use the tear tier milky toner despite what it looks like. I've been using this for some time and it just never seems to go down. It's a very nice, more on the moisturizing side of milky toners but still nice and light. It smells a little bit like plastic."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"I'm going to use the CLA Supple Preparation Toner just to hydrate my skin. I'm struggling a bit with breakouts at the moment, well more irritated skin, and I'm just going very gentle on myself."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"They have a 10% glycolic acid toner, a jelly cleanser, and that healthy aging serum. I actually quite like that term, [...] healthy aging is actually quite nice. [...] Goop is one of those brands who think that natural fragrance is somehow better and less harmful for easily irritated skin than synthetic ingredients, but it isn't."
~Mixed
68%Guru Score
"You feel really good after using this. Like you've done a lot for your skin. I am tempted to try the rest of their products now. I bought this with my own money. I've got backups because I love it so much. Dr Jart+ is a very kind of, either I really like the product or I just don't like it at all. There's no real in-between for me, and for me this is a love of product. I love this one so, so much. This is really just a good all rounder. Like everyone can benefit from this."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"It also has antioxidants like [...] green tea and [...] centella paired with really nice soothing ingredients. It [...] also has allantoin, citric acid, glycolic acid, and some fruit extract as well, so [...] you're getting a really nice formulation with more actives for your money. The only thing is it's like watery, so you do have to apply it on a cotton pad because if you put it in the palm of your hand it will just go everywhere. But as far as results go, it's really good."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I'm going to go straight in with a toner, this is the Round Lab Birch Sep Toner. It's [...] so nicely hydrating, it's that typical full fat toner water that we love. [...] I pat it in rather than rubbing because my skin is very reactive and can go quite red at a single touch."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"I absolutely love still, but this is like the evolution of snail mucin without the snail... [...] it's nice that we have this alternative and especially for those people who really kind of like focus more so on what it is and is put off by the amazing benefits that mucin can have. I feel like this is such a good thing to do have this kind of like cruelty-free alternative."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"A layer of this toner feels like three. It's incredibly thick in a light way. You have to use it to know what I mean. And it feels like it's wrapping your skin in this hydration barrier. It's so so nice. I have emptied this time and time again. I [...] love it. I love it so much."
✓Yay
91%Guru Score
"The texture is extremely watery [...] and absorbs pretty much instantly giving that fresh glossy look whilst the ingredients in here work to give you that glossy dewy look longterm as well. When you first splash this on the skin, it's quenching. I love that word for toners, but especially in the colder months now, my skin is parched, [...] so the first time I put one layer of this on, it's like an instant quench. And then you can layer this up."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"TirTir's Milk Skin Toner Light is perfect for humid weather and great for easily congested, oily skin. It gives a dose of instant hydration while helping to refine pores."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"For a regular toner, the belif Aqua Bomb Hydrating Toner. I've been using this for just under 5 years. Formulated with hyaluronic acid, which helps hydrate your skin. Honeysuckle extract to help soothe the skin. Baobab tree seed extract to help with moisture retention. It's very watery, but it just leaves my skin feeling refreshed and plumped. It's everything a daily use toner should be. Hydration, soothing, locks that all in. It doesn't fight with my serums when it comes to active ingredients."
✓Yay
Notverified
"They didn't make me say it, but they were like, you know, you maybe should so that people can tell how much you love the rice one. And I think that's great. I think when a brand knows that not everybody's gonna love every single one of their products, I think it just shows how much the creator genuinely loves the other product, if that makes sense. And to be able to say that and for a brand to be okay with that, I think that's worth giving props to."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"They feel like a very plush cotton. This targets dark spots and uneven skin tone with vitamin C, glutathiosome, and niacinamide along with allantoin, camelia, and cholesterol as well, so you get all these skin brightening and evening ingredients with that soothing and healing skin barrier caring touch. And LHA as well for very gentle exfoliation. There's a lot of essence serum in here, but the thickness of these pads really does hold on to that and keeps it very close to your skin."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"We have niacinamide again, you also know what that does by now, but then we also have vitamin C as well. So if you're looking for a bit of a glow, if you do find vitamin C is beneficial for you at brightening and evening out your skin tone, this is a really nice one to go for. It's a great option for those who are looking to add a bit more oomph back into their dull looking skin, help reduce pigmentation as well. For me, I am looking for antioxidants."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This is perfect. You have those barrier repairing and loving ingredients like ceramides and nice calming ones like panthenol and centella and something called Coffea japonica root extract which is a medicinal herb to help soothe inflamed skin. It's a very very nice toner. Honestly though I do wish it was a little bit thicker. At first I didn't want to use it because it looks so watery, like almost too watery."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"Their Black Rice Hyaluronic Toner, it main humectant is of course hyaluronic acids so it provides a really nice hydrating feeling that remains throughout the day and it's kind of like just thicker than water kind of consistency. [...] Rice extract is a really popular ingredient within K Beauty, Haru Haru's version is fermented meaning their fermented black rice extract is two times more effective. It's moisturizing, it's an antioxidant, the black rice leaves your skin feeling plump."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"They say it's got 24-hour moisture retention, and I've not tested it for 24 hours, but my skin feels well moisturized, hydrated, and nourished throughout the day whenever I use this. I believe that."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"I love this so much. [...] The glow that it leaves on your skin is incredible. If you need that extra kind of wrap of moisture and nourishment to your skin, this is incredible. It also really helps with the texture of your skin in general. [...] We have soybean ferment extract which is supposedly very good at balancing that oil moisture level [...] and help strengthen the skin barrier. We have pear juice which is an antioxidant and pomegranate extract again which is an antioxidant."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"This is a nice one to put on [...] cotton pads and leave on your skin. If you get hot rosacea like I do, having it flare up, you can soak it in and leave it on and you get this instant soothing feeling. It's very watery so I prefer to use it on a cotton pad. One of my favorite toners, and a multi-award winner. It's also really good on dry legs if you get dry legs [...] in the winter."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"The Benton Guava 70 Skin Toner Calming Pad"
~Mixed
77%Guru Score
"This is such a nice watery toner. [...] It almost looks like a little bit of a watery jelly in the packaging, but the moment you pump it out into your hand, it [...] turns into a more liquidy toner. When you put it on your skin, it almost just feels like water on the skin, and it just sinks in. You feel like your skin's just had a little drink of something. This does have a slight smell to it, but it's very refreshing, citrusy sweet without being lemony and bleachy. [...] It's a multitasker."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"I really like the toner. They do a fragrance free version now, which is actually nicer because I wasn't keen on the smell. It's just very unique."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"We also have copper tripeptides in here, which I didn't know about, which I feel like everyone is kind of taking interest in now as a skin healing anti-aging ingredient. Licorice root extract, which can help even skin tone, add some brightness to it, revive the look of it, and sodium hyaluronate as well to help hydrate. It really is a really nice, simple hydrating toner that if your skin's ever feeling tight and dehydrated, it's just good to splash on your skin. I really, really enjoy this one."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"This is a very nice, super hydrating, calming, recovering toner. I use it by soaking cotton pads in it and putting them on areas where I'm finding myself super dehydrated, where I have a little bit more texture than usual, or where I'm very, very red. I sit in front of a fan and instantly feel the toner getting cold, and my whole face cools down almost instantly."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I use this for my armpits. [...] My armpits got quite dark from use of certain deodorants, and when a product has caused that kind of darkening of the skin, I feel like I need to [...] fix that. I've been using this on and off for like a year and a bit now, and my armpits are like one color now but smooth and even. Once or twice a week I'll use this, sometimes with deodorant, sometimes not. This does stop the smell."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"This is for me a really hydrating, nourishing, calming, soothing toner. It has oat milk, aloe juice, and niacinamide. Aloe juice is one of my favorite ingredients for soothing and hydrating the skin. [...] Oat milk is nourishing, soothing, and very calming for my skin. Niacinamide evens out skin tone, balances sebum production, and has skin soothing properties. [...] It also has hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and ceramides to help your skin barrier heal and recover."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"This is a really really nice simple toner with great antioxidant and healing properties. We have green tea, Centella asiatica, willow bark extract which I love for soothing my skin, hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid, and beta glucan to help hydrate and moisturize. It's very very lightweight and like an instant soothing drink for your irritated skin. It's very very nice."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"This is an incredibly soothing, calming toner, helping to moisturize the skin, but we also have tranexamic acid and a vitamin C derivative. Tranexamic acid helps with uneven skin tone and dull skin, it helps brighten your skin, and the vitamin C derivative really gives your skin that brighter look. I love this when I used it, it's more on the watery side for a toner, so it was definitely like a summer one for me."
✓Yay
Notverified
"I use low percentages more often with great results, and this is a very low percentage double chemical exfoliant that's really [...] gentle and can be used as a daily exfoliant. It has betaine salicylate, which is a moisturizing version of BHA, and glycolic acid as well. It's very gentle and works on texture and tone without over-exfoliating."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"This is a really decent exfoliating toner, one of the more gentle that I've used. The main exponents are the BHA which is salicylic acid, the PHA which is lactobionic acid, and the AHA which is papaya fruit extract, so it's really gentle. I prefer the lactobionic acid, the PHA, [...] especially as I have rosacea because sometimes AHAs can wreak a little bit of havoc on my sensitive skin. [...] This does have tea tree in which I love for my breakout-prone skin."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"You should shake this toner up before using it because it creates these nourishing bubbles that kind of help deliver everything into your skin. I love it, it's just so lightweight again like what I feel a good classic toner should be."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"The Noble Rot Lifting Essence [...] is a perfect example of what a hydrating essence should look like and what it should do. It's [...] a deeply hydrating and soothing essence that you can feel the moment it touches your skin, not only getting into your skin but soothing and smoothing the surface of your skin, providing instant hydration that you can feel throughout your skin. It's formulated with lower molecular weight hyaluronic acid to deliver that hydration into your skin."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This centella goes through a very strict four-step process when it comes to sourcing and extracting centella in order to keep it as pure and potent as possible. [...] What I like about this is how lightweight it is. It feels like water. [...] It's a little bit tricky because you kind of put it on your hand and then you're like, careful so it doesn't spill anywhere, but it's so lightweight. It's got that instantly calming and soothing effect that a lot of centella products have."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
Masks & Peels46 reviews
"My favorite reusable sheet mask is from Experiment."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"The Caffeine Reset Sculpting Cream is marketed as a cup of coffee for your face that depuffs and leaves you looking lifted and less puffy in minutes. However, people reported finding white particles or crystals in the product that looked like fiberglass. While these are likely just ingredients crystallizing due to cold weather and probably aren't actually a danger to your skin, I'm a little bit worried about the direction Rhode are going in with all these products that have texture issues."
~Mixed
67%Guru Score
"Their AHA 30% BHA 2% peeling solution is also another popular product for the brand. And it's also one that many people complain is far too strong. Like people at home just don't need this. Of course, every skin is different and not everybody needs something as strong as a lot of what The Ordinary products are. But a lot of skincare enthusiasts were still made to feel like these products were suitable for them."
✕Nay
58%Guru Score
"This product is perfectly fine as an exfoliant. It has mild chemical exfoliants in it like PHA and BHA. And those little balls act as a gentle physical exfoliant, but it cannot draw anything out of your pores. No topical product can. I originally wanted to give Dr. Melaxin the benefit of the doubt here."
~Mixed
54%Guru Score
"That Laneige one is super lightweight."
✓Yay
65%Guru Score
"They also launched an exfoliator which was $55, a double mechanical and again enzymatic exfoliator that helps promote skin resurfacing. This was horrible. This felt like shards of finely milled glass poking into your face. It wasn't gentle at all. It hurt while using it. It made my skin red and stingy when I applied products after it."
✕Nay
49%Guru Score
"I love the Anua PDRN hyaluronic capsule serum. So I just wanted the sheet mask in them too again for when I'm feeling extra dehydrated."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"It involved them partnering with Charity Water a nonprofit which helps bring safe drinking water to impoverished communities"
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"Kylie's Walnut Face Scrub was marketed as a gentle exfoliator, but skincare experts and dermatologists were pretty alarmed to see that this type of physical exfoliant was included in the product lineup. Dermatologists were warning about how a physical scrub like this could cause micro tears in the skin, irritation, inflammation, and long-term possible damage. Some skincare experts even called it a disaster in a bottle. The product was immediately compared to the notorious St. Ives apricot scrub."
✕Nay
56%Guru Score
"Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant [...] is without a doubt still the brand's most iconic product, and probably its most popular and most viral. The formula has barely changed since it was created nearly 25 years ago. It was one of the industry's first leave-on exfoliants, and it was seen as a game changer all over the world."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"Sungboon Editor's collagen masks, the other versions, I absolutely love."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"Medicube do amazing collagen mask versions, their turmeric kojic acid brightening one is a favorite of mine."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"I know the Lindsay modeling masks are the more popular ones, but I just don't like modeling masks in general. They take a lot of time, they stick to my facial hair and eyebrows even when I try to avoid them, and I never get the benefits they're offering. [...] If anything it's a nice occlusive layer to trap in moisture, [...] but I find it a waste of time to be perfectly honest with you."
✕Nay
69%Guru Score
"It helps your skin look brighter and plumper. It's a nice exfoliant with watermelon extract and niacinamide. It looks like a great overnight brightening evening exfoliating mask for $88.99."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"Dr Dennis Cross skincare is selling a line of fake collagen products that actually don't contain any collagen"
✕Nay
63%Guru Score
"The Apricot Blossom Peeling Gel gives me like really nostalgic feelings. I feel like peeling gels are overlooked nowadays. If you have easily sensitized skin or mild rosacea like myself, peeling gels are a great way to exfoliate without overly hassling your skin. Still to be used once or twice a week. However, this peeling gel contains 8% cellulose which boils up as you rub it on your skin and it's that cellulose that gently exfoliates away all those dead skin cells."
✓Yay
67%Guru Score
"But I just don't have the time or patience for this mask, [...] or any mask really, where you have to wait like 15 minutes for it to dry down and then you have to peel it off and then you have to spend time peeling off the bits that didn't peel off all in one go. I probably used this twice in the last four months. [...] Every time I reach for it, I'm like, oh, I can't be bothered."
~Mixed
70%Guru Score
"I'm currently using the very few last drops of my Skin Rocks Exfoliant, which are amazing if you have easy sensitized skin and rosacea. They feel so gentle, they don't feel like exfoliant at all."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"St. Ives apricot scrub is safe to use as long as you don't scrub like we used to in the '90s, gently and in moderation like any other exfoliant. Listen, it's not my favorite exfoliant, I think it's drying as hell, but if it works for you keep using it."
~Mixed
41%Guru Score
"Another product that I really don't like is [...] their bouncy and firm sleeping mask, [...] it's just not what you expect, what you want from a sleeping mask, for a sleeping mask I want something thicker that's going to lock in all that hydration overnight. [...] This does feel like a very nice lightweight gel moisturizer, [...] it's going to make a nice daytime moisturizer, but not a sleeping mask."
✕Nay
73%Guru Score
"That said, it is a nicely formulated clay mask that dries down really nicely without over drying, and the grape is a nice antioxidant touch. For the price point I think it is decent, but you are paying for luxury fluff and there are better clay masks out there that do the same job without the potentially irritating ingredients."
~Mixed
65%Guru Score
"Within about 2 weeks I do feel like it made a difference. I've been getting some pigmentation on my forehead and I'm working on that, but I do feel like my skin looked brighter. I've not used AHAs for a very very long time, other than the Slur Laboratories decal, but I think using such a higher percentage of AHAs I saw quite a quick difference because I'm not used to using them that much anymore, so I'm going to continue to use it because I've seen positive results so far."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"I really, really like this night treatment, it's nice and gentle. I avoid AHAs as much as I can on my rosacea because I've noticed it's a bit of a trigger for me, but this doesn't bother it at all. I think moisturizers with AHA in work better for me because it's at that final stage, it's not direct contact with the skin, it's got a bit of serums it has to buffer through, and I feel like that works really, really well for me."
✓Yay
66%Guru Score
"This is a nice luxury to have. I wouldn't say I will keep buying it to cool down my skin, seeing as I do know my moisturizers do just as good a job. Even like a cold mask in the fridge, even just a sheet mask straight out the pack also cools down my skin. This gives you that kind of [...] placebo effect, because you feel it as well. You're like, oh my God, it's tingling, it's cooling, it must be working."
~Mixed
65%Guru Score
"The finish is very much like a matte natural finish, which I do quite like. The blurring results are hard to see on camera, but I can see this side where I've used it looks a little bit more blurred than this side. I'm going to not exfoliate for three weeks and just use this so we can see [...] the exfoliating effects. As for [...] an exfoliating treatment, I'll see. I'm excited to try more of it."
✓Yay
57%Guru Score
"It's a very unique texture but it's so so nice. Whenever [...] I use thick masks I will wash my face the next day but to me that's just a sign that my overnight mask did a good job. Really unique, a really nice unique product. I feel like ABIB haven't been getting the attention that a lot of their products deserve and this could potentially [...] be their big viral product."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"I've not been overly interested in Bubble, but this night mask is incredible. I'm using it during the day because it's just a little bit dry, my skin's a bit dry and it's cold out there. It leaves my skin very plump and dewy overnight."
✓Yay
65%Guru Score
"Their honey mask is a product that I'm going to love like forever."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"Once it was on the skin it felt lovely and cool and I did really enjoy using this. I really like [...] this product and I think for 14.99 you're going to get so many uses out of it. A tiny bit goes such a long way, you can just rub it very thinly over your skin, use it once a week and this is going to last you forever. This is for me a product that I really really like."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"Is it gimmicky? Yes. It launched when every other skincare brand was launching a peel-off mask. [...] Niacinamide, ceramides, we have hyaluronic acid, glycerin in here, and PDRN. So, you're going to get that plumpness. If you are struggling with dehydrated skin, a layer of this at night after your full skincare routine is going to lock everything in. And this was the only peel-off mask I could actually sleep in."
✓Yay
61%Guru Score
"There's something in these, in all the versions from this brand, that triggers my rosacea and sensitizes my skin, and I don't seem to have that issue with any other brand. [...] I've had issues with lower molecular weight collagen before, and that's [...] the only connection I can make, though I'm not sure why since I use it in other things fine. It's an interesting product, I just avoid it for my sensitive skin."
✕Nay
70%Guru Score
"The glutathione and niacinamide sheet mask is a really nice quick glow touch to the routine. It's a really soft, well-fitting sheet mask that's really drenched in essence. It's not sticky but very very hydrating. It leaves your skin feeling very dewy and well prepped if you're wearing makeup."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"Do you remember that mask from Lush Cosmetics? It was called Mask of Magnaminty. It reminds me of that in the sense that you can use this mask on your face and your body, it's targeted at breakouts, but the Lush one has really irritating peppermint oil in it. I used to love that mask for breakouts until it started to burn my skin and really irritate my skin."
✕Nay
61%Guru Score
"For me, the COSRX BHA Blackhead Power Liquid 4% is a great alternative for those wanting to take a gentler yet still super, super effective approach."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"The Skin1004 Centella Stick Mask is actually very popular and it's one that is about to be seen more and more online because it's being picked up as a viral product. This is essentially a quick clay mask stick, making it quick and easy and mess-free to mask."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"So if you really are looking to help keep your acne in control, your breakouts in control while preventing blemishes, this is a really nice one to go for. Something about tea tree and my rosacea just like go together. I'm kind of going back to my teenage years there are a number of products that I review and use and love now that have tea tree in and I just find that my rosacea loves it."
✓Yay
Notverified
"It cleanses your face, it leaves it feeling soft, but you do get a really good deep thorough cleanse without it overly stripping your skin and without leading to further irritation and breakouts. If you have very oily skin that's prone to breakouts and you need that deep cleanse without the stripping, this is a really nice one to go for. I use this last week for the first time in years and I forgot how much of a satisfying cleanse it was and how nice and soft and smooth my skin felt after."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"If you're looking for more even toned skin, I actually think the Glow Recipe strawberry exfoliating serum is just amazing."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"I have tried multiple brands' versions of these and there are only three that don't irritate my skin. The main two do irritate my skin, but these VT ones and a few other brands [...] do not irritate my skin whatsoever. [...] I don't always have the time to sit around for 3 hours with one of these on, but I've been using them prior to events if my skin is just in extra need of a bit of hydration and moisture, and I've been enjoying them."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"This is the Ground Rice and Honey Glow Mask. If you haven't used this before, imagine your favorite clay mask but without the horrible drying down, the tightness, and the way it leaves your skin void of all moisture. There's something here called rice Lees extract which is brightening and helps boost elasticity. It's a fermented ingredient as well, so you get all that kind of better aging benefits. Rice whole powder makes this a really nice gentle exfoliation once it's time to rinse off."
✓Yay
97%Guru Score
"These use their Centella Four Times Complex, which is basically using the whole Centella plant including Asiatic acid, Micas acid, Massic acid, and Asiatic side, so you're really getting the full soothing and healing benefits alongside moisturizing propolis extract and various different weights of hyaluronic acid so you're getting that deep hydration as well. There is a generous amount of serum in here."
✓Yay
Notverified
"Their Press Refresh masks are so, so nice. For breakout-prone skin, it's a really cooling hydrogel mask that has salicylic acid, glycolic acid, lactic acid, and niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, and allantoin to help hydrate the skin. They say replenish and soothe while obviously you're getting exfoliation alongside it. This is one of those masks that when I used once a week, for example, so like you get five in a pack, I used it for like five weeks, you do start to see a really good difference."
✓Yay
90%Guru Score
"When I first got this, I had never used Skin1004 before, but of course, they're famous for their sunscreens, their ampoules. A really well trusted brand. So I want to give this one another chance. I used it once, then kind of gave up. So I do want to use this consistently and see if there's any improvement in my skin, especially in my pore size, on my nose and on my cheeks here. This contains Niacinamide, Centella Asiatica, Aloe Leaf Extract, Allantoin, Pathanol, Copper Tripeptide, Glycerin."
~Mixed
62%Guru Score
"The collagen gel mask, the Sedum Jelly ones from Abib are so, so nice. I find that the kind of jelly texture of it holds on to the cold temperature so much longer than cotton, for example. Feel like with cotton, you put it on your skin, it kind of matches the temperature of your skin. And while this does come soaked in like a collagen serum. So great for moisturizing, helping support the skin barrier, keep us hydrated."
✓Yay
Notverified
"This is a salicylic acid exfoliating product, and it's really really nice. It's again non-intrusive on the skin, it feels like a lightweight toner with no redness, no irritation, no stinging. They use upcycled chestnut shell, so this is the waste from the chestnut industry that they take and extract for this product. Salicylic acid removes dead skin cells, unclogs pores, helps with clogged pores and blackheads, smoothing out skin texture."
✓Yay
88%Guru Score
"It does the job it needs to do. It doesn't dry out my skin. It's much like a lot of exfoliating cleansers that I've used. We have niacinamide and all those exfoliating ingredients. It's a nice clean. [...] If you do have more sensitive skin and you kind of want a more gentle exfoliation in a cleanser, a cleanser probably is the way to do it to get good exfoliation with a gentle massage. [...] It would do the job it needs to do. Is it my favorite product from Some By Mi? No."
~Mixed
64%Guru Score
Mists & Essences37 reviews
"If you follow me on TikTok, you know how much I have used and repurchased this product this year. Green tomato is rich in antioxidants and tannins that help support firmness, but [...] it's more the other ingredients in here that hydrate and collagen for plumper looking skin. We have PHA in here, a very gentle exfoliant that you can use daily with this serum with no irritation whatsoever, just a nice more even looking texture to the skin."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"Wellage Real Hyaluronic Blue Ampoule 100 [...] is another really super hydrating serum with a [...] slightly different approach. It has 100% pure hyaluronic acid in here, supported by beta glucan and panthenol, vitamin B5 as well, all to help lock in that moisture and repair the skin barrier. The texture is a lot thicker, almost more like on the moisturizing side of hydration, like a hydrating essence meets serum."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"It's not hyped whatsoever, but in my opinion, it's far more effective for doing what people want in a face mist. Hydration and soothing."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"I've also used this one a few times. [...] It's a very fine lightweight mist that does just feel like water on the skin. If you're looking for like a dewy glass finish after hydrating mist, this isn't the one. But if you really just do want those hydrating benefits, real hydration in your skin, this is really good."
~Mixed
70%Guru Score
"The iconic Cheirosa 62 fragrance helped make the Bum Bum Cream so popular. I think everybody loves that. And if they don't love it, they can understand why it's so popular. That blend of pistachio, salted caramel, caramel, and vanilla became instantly recognizable to fans of the brand who couldn't get enough of it. [...] When the brand [...] launched their Cheirosa 62 Perfume Mist, it gave consumers the scent they loved so much without having to moisturize first to get it."
~Mixed
73%Guru Score
"Who is still using Mario Badescu facial sprays [...] in 2025? I feel like people buy it purely because the packaging is niche. [...] It has one nice ingredient, aloe, but other than that it's just colored, flavored water. It's like a childhood potion of water, [...] food coloring and perfume that they decided to call a toner."
✕Nay
58%Guru Score
"Tower 28's hypochlorous acid spray is an amazing product and ingredient in general for breakouts, rosacea, irritated itchy skin, to oversimplify it, it's like an anti-bac for your face. These versions have gone viral but [...] if you're in the UK you can't actually get Tower 28's products."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"SK-II were supposedly the founders of galactomyces ferment filtrate and they bottled it for £100, it's a bit steep but this product is very nice, like very very nice, if you can afford it get this one, it's great."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"This is a milky toner that I absolutely wanted to love, however it is more on the thicker side of milky toners, so as somebody with a very oily T-zone I just found this maybe a bit too on the moisturizing side, and it also broke me out a fair bit, but compared to other milky toners it hasn't got that much more going for it, [...] though objectively I think it's nice and I see why people enjoyed this."
~Mixed
75%Guru Score
"Prequel's hypochlorous acid spray is an amazing product and ingredient in general for breakouts, rosacea, irritated itchy skin, it's like an anti-bac for your face. [...] I've been using this alongside prequel, and compared to the cheaper dupe, prequel gives you a really nice mist rather than it all ending up in your face."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"Their best and severely underappreciated product is their galactomyces 95 essence, this has all the fermented power of SK-II's essence but for around £15, with niacinamide it's super effective, skin brightening, soothing, healing, plumping, helps target fine lines and wrinkles, [...] and it's perfect for prepping your skin for the rest of your routine. Out of the whole lineup this is probably my favorite skincare product that I repurchase over and over and over."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"For £44 you can get the giving essence from Then I Met You, all the benefits of galactomyces ferment filtrate, but this one kind of makes my skin feel a lot more hydrated than the SK-II, probably because of the added polyglutamic acid and the red algae."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"A classic has to be the Missha Time Revolution Essence. This has niacinamide in yeast ferment extract, butyline glycol, and adenosine, so you have all those traditional essence ingredients that are going to make your skin look tighter, plumper, more even, brighter all in this stage."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"This was so hydrating. It was so brightening. It was so soothing in some ways as well. But I'll be honest, I dreaded using this. Absolutely dreaded it, because that smell just lingers. If I use it in the evening, I would get a headache. Like, it's such a strong smell. It's unfortunate. The added fragrance, which is geraniol and citronel, I don't enjoy. I don't like. My skin doesn't like it. I don't enjoy the smell. Yeah, it's very old fashioned. Unfortunately for this, the smell kind of lingers."
✕Nay
52%Guru Score
"Aestura focuses on your skin barrier, the Ato-Barrier range in particular, restoring your skin barrier, reducing irritation. So of course, we have Ceramides in here. We have Squalane, Glycerin, and Urea as well, actually, that not a lot of people talk about, which is nicely moisturizing. I always just use this as an essence serum because of its healing abilities and the fact that it is quite thick."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"I love this, and I'm going to use it all up and I'm going to buy it again because I love how it instantly hydrates my skin. But it's very watery and it comes in a pump. So you do that. You have to hold your hand, like here, because it shoots out, or if you're too close, it splashes everywhere. This would be so much better in, like, a mist bottle, in my opinion, just to mist over your face and then gently pat in. I have very sensitized and easily sensitive skin. It's not dry, it's oily."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"I always call this flavored water because that's what they are. It's like Mario Badescu's home fragrances because you have some okay ingredients, like some nice ingredients, but then you have [...] parfum fragrance, but then we have hexyl cinnamal, linalool, and then some colorings which is fine, but these are the [...] fragrant ingredients that they have to list separately because they are known irritants. I just don't see the point."
✕Nay
53%Guru Score
"I'm going to use the Lisa Eldridge Seamless Skin. This is an ultra-fine hydrating mist that is used to prep your skin for makeup, I believe, and as almost like makeup enhancing mist."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"It smells a little bit foody, kind of like curry powder mixed with a floral scent, and it's got added fragrance which I'm a bit confused about. But it feels very light and refreshing and gives me a nice dewy glow straight away. I like that a lot for an instant kind of dewy fix. It's pricey but that's expected from Tatcha. For [...] an instant dewy fix I'd use this in the morning under my other products and I can see it looking nice over makeup. [...] I actually quite like this."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"In fact if you have oily skin you would love this as a moisturizer replacement. I [...] absolutely love it. I've already repurchased it twice already. I got two more new bottles and I'm going to open them and keep using them as my key essence. [...] The essence is full of serums as well which I absolutely love for my skin all year round, all the time, especially as I experiment with a lot of skincare."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"I love this one. It's a stick like Vaseline, but with actual active ingredients. It works great as like almost a minimalist overnight mask if you want to target certain areas and smooth areas down. So you have PDRN in here from Korean ginseng, which [...] basically means it's going to give the same kind of support and look as what PDRN is supposed to do, so elasticity smoothing of the skin. We have ceramides in here to help strengthen moisture barrier."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"Anyway, I absolutely love this."
✓Yay
Notverified
"The COSRX essence being one of my favorite alternatives. [...] I believe this is one of those well-aging products that have really stood the test of time and is iconic for a reason."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"This absorbs so quickly into the skin. Your skin is bouncy, dewy, looks plump and feels plump as well. This is an essence I happily layer. I'll do a very small amount, then another one, and remember the seven skin method? This was my seven skin method essence. I would layer this up, and [...] especially with [...] drier skin, it just adds that hydration instantly back into your skin. You feel smoother, you feel brighter, you look smoother and brighter. And it still exists."
✓Yay
92%Guru Score
"Skin1004 Centella Ampoule is actually a very simple ampoule with mainly centella asiatica then other ingredients just to make it into a skincare product. It's super calming, anti-inflammatory and great for those with very reactive skin. It's almost like a lightweight toner with instant soothing benefits. [...] So if your skin is angry, red, maybe overexfoliated, irritated and you really need to strip everything back and heal, the Skin1004 Centella Ampoule will be perfect for you."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"It's got a nice texture. It's slightly thick but rubs in very nicely without any tackiness, stickiness or peeling. More importantly, it plays great with other products. [...] This is a really nice all-day everyday [...] serum with gentle actives that gently target uneven skin tone, fine lines, pigmentation and pores. When used on a regular basis, it's going to make a real difference but not irritate your skin."
✓Yay
Notverified
"I genuinely love this product. I do think it's really, really nice. [...] I love this product as a hydrating product. I love the fermented ingredients in here for my skin personally, when I have very, very dry skin, I'm going to use this. Especially if I know I'm wearing makeup during the day for whatever reason. I get a lot of texture on the top of my nose here, bit of Bean Essence over the top there, covers right over it. No texture whatsoever."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"I like that these lightweight anti-aging products, especially when you have oily skin. It doesn't feel like anything on the skin, it's rubbed in so well, it's not slimy, it's not greasy. I'm adding this to my serum lineup now, I'm going to use this every night. It has kind of taken down that hydrated-looking glow that I do tend to like, but I like it. I'm going to stick with it."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I remember using this just as like an extra in any routine. I didn't swap out anything for it. I would just add it before my moisturizer, after all my products, pop it on the skin, pat it in, leave it a little bit damp, then put my moisturizer on, and I would have constant dewy, plump, hydrated skin throughout the whole day."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"Skin1004 Probio-Cica Intensive Ampoule, another one that's on the rise I feel, packed with probiotics for health your skin. They have their probiotic complex in here which helps strengthen the skin barrier and promotes a balanced microbiome, which I don't know a lot about, I need to get to know more about it, but I know it's important for your skin and is actually something I feel like has potentially really really helped with my rosacea."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"And it's really just great for refreshing and hydrating your skin anytime especially throughout the day during travel. I like these misty skincare products because I like to do what I call a wet routine where if I'm not using any real potent actives what I'll do is spray a mist or apply toner between each step of the routine so cleanse tone serum tone other serum tone moisturizer keeping that skin wet all the ingredients are penetrating your skin and you look extra dewy and glowy."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"They describe this on their website as a single drop of milk that makes your skin glow. It's like a multi-layer serum, they call it a triple cream ampoule. You have vegan milk on the bottom, essence in the middle, and then an oil on top, so you do have to give it a little bit of a shake before you use it. All those make it like this amazing, hydrating yet moisture boosting serum that leaves this incredible, longlasting glow on your face."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"I have an oily T-zone and dry cheeks and it's been really nice so far. It's a little bit thicker than what you would expect from an essence. You'd use this before you use the sheet mask, so you put this straight on after the rile shot to maximize the benefits. [...] A lot of the reviews and a lot of people who have been using these for months and months say that this is a must-have with the rile shot line. [...] I've been loving the results for my skin texture especially so far."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"Those are pumpkin ferment extract to help protect the skin barrier, soybean ferment extract to supply nutrients and rice ferment filtrate that kind of does the job of both of those. This is a really nice affordable ferment product because a lot of them they hike the prices right up."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"There's 73 percent bifida ferment lysate in here and I love my ferments especially in K beauty which is going to help smooth the skin texture, it's very very gently exfoliating whilst also giving your skin back its natural dewy glow. [...] This serum is incredibly lightweight yet super nourishing. They describe it as a velvet fluid and that is such a nice accurate way to kind of capture how it feels, so soft yet enveloping on the skin. It's been really really nice."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"There's five percent niacinamide in here, so a great percentage that's not too much. [...] It's perfect to add that kind of extra hydration, moisturize, dewy look to your skin. I love this product so much. I'm always like if you get one thing from COSRX, if the first thing you should try is their exfoliants and this product for sure."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"In the last couple months I've been using this, my skin has this bounce [...] to it and this firmness that I've not truly felt with other kind of firm-your-skin products. It's very interesting. [...] I want another few months with this so I can come back and explain how it really does feel like it's tightening my skin, and I'm looking forward to keep using it on these fine lines. [...] I'm fascinated with it—the texture, the way it feels on your skin, what it does for your skin."
✓Yay
Notverified
Lip31 reviews
"This lip balm is so popular that brands keep trying to copy it and failing miserably. [...] I fully get why people keep trying to copy this brand. It's not one of those very basic lip balms that you put on and it disappears and you have to like reapply within an hour. This is really hydrating almost like jelly-like texture."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"They made Balm Dot Com vegan and everyone hated it, so they switched back."
✕Nay
81%Guru Score
"PHAs are a very gentle, nice exfoliating acid, but lips don't usually need chemical exfoliation. Most dry, flaky lips aren't caused by a buildup of dead skin. They're usually just dehydrated or irritated. [...] A regular lip balm tend to work much better than adding acids into the mix."
✕Nay
70%Guru Score
"Even their merch goes viral, like the lip case, the phone case that holds your peptide lip treatment. Stupid, stupid, but genius at the same time. And it's apparently made Rhode over $30 million."
✓Yay
68%Guru Score
"It's got shea butter, muru muru butter, and vegan waxes. Yes, it's moisturizing and softening, and it gives you a really nice shiny finish if that's what you're after. [...] But compared to alternatives, I feel like you don't have much control. It's shiny or nothing. And looking at the ingredients again, it's just a lot of very basic lip balm stuff. It's not groundbreaking. I [...] find myself reaching for it fairly often and my lips drying out fairly often, too."
✕Nay
71%Guru Score
"The Laneige Lip Glowy Balm [...] combines some of those more nourishing butters with a formula designed for both treatment and aesthetics. [...] It has that shea butter and miru, but it also delivers that glossy finish without the stickiness. [...] The texture is a lot lighter. It comes with added antioxidants and in tinted versions too, so [...] it's that kind of hybrid of skincare and makeup."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"Rhode's peptide lip tints used to be my absolute favorite lip product, [...] but for at least a year or longer now they've been so grainy. [...] On paper and at launch they were iconic, with peptides, babassu and shea butter, [...] but the shea butter [...] has started to crystallize. When the brand finally released a statement they said you just need to warm it up, so people are basically boiling their lip balms."
✕Nay
74%Guru Score
"The black honey lipstick, which I think has gone viral again, it's had its moment or something like that. Introduced in 1971, the black honey lipstick was relaunched in 1989 as Almost Lipstick. It quickly became a cult favorite with many consumers loving its universally flattering shade and versatile texture. It actually really significantly boosted the brand's visibility and sales during the 1990s, and the same thing happened again just a few years ago."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"If you put something on your lips you are going to taste it whether you like it or not. It's one of the main reasons brands add fragrance to lip products and advertise them as different flavors because you can taste it, and unfortunately this one tastes a little bit like chicken soup, which isn't the worst taste in the world, but it's definitely not pleasant."
✕Nay
60%Guru Score
"Vaseline's hugely successful Lip Therapy was launched with the product going on to become synonymous with the Brand"
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"I didn't like this. I actually think this irritated my lips. [...] My lips just stung with this. They start to crack all up here. And when I use this, [...] throughout the day I was having to like remove soft, dead skin from my lips because it did that to my skin throughout the day."
✕Nay
62%Guru Score
"Everybody loves the Laneige lip masks and I agree they are good, my personal favorite is the gummy bear one, [...] but I don't feel like they're the best overnight lip masks, I think they're essentially just very basic and the highlight is that they come in different flavors, especially the berry flavor like the original is kind of drying more than anything."
~Mixed
73%Guru Score
"For a little extra cost you can get the Tatcha Kissu Lip Mask, which does everything that the Laneige lip masks do but in this more cushiony, more hydrating, almost more occlusive feeling lip product, it also has squalane, peptides and antioxidants like the Laneige one. The only issue is it doesn't come in different scents or flavors, but I'd rather have nicer lips overnight than like a mango lip mask."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"Look at that, my lip balm is prolapsing and nothing is coming out. The situation is that a lot of people were experiencing this, not only after being absolutely fine using their product, but also the samples in the shops were prolapsing too. Nothing has been mentioned confirmed or denied by the brand, but it's weird considering that this is such a common applicator type and every brand is launching their own version. It's odd to see a manufacturing issue like this on something so common."
✕Nay
78%Guru Score
"The new viral lip oils, which, side note, is the best lip oil ever."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"Just using this, this is the Ole Henriksel Pout Preserve Peptide Lip Treatment. It's really, really nice."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"This is probably for me my favorite product from the brand. [...] I'm really into lip balms that don't just moisturize your lips but actually hydrate your lips as well. There's something to this Lip Balm that feels like it happens in two stages. So you put it on and it feels kind of almost watery, like there's a real slip to it, there's a real glide."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"I actually love the Tower 28 lip balms, with a really nice natural color payoff that is hydrating as well as moisturizing, so I am ranking them fourth."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"I got this Alternative Stereo Lip Potion Steaming Milk [...] before, [...] and it kind of helps my lips feel hydrated before I put on any kind of lip balm."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"It's not sticky on the lips, it doesn't transfer that much, and it lasts a really really really long time. [...] It's only $8.99. [...] You need the tiniest tiniest amount and it does just slide and glide on with a really good immediate color payoff. [...] It's buildable as well. I do like it. I think they're really really decent. I would [...] test the colors because the swatches are a little bit unreliable, but I genuinely think they're really really decent."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"What I like about these as well is they don't shift. They don't shift at all. They stay in place. They're the right consistency as well. They're not too light, they're not too thick. They transfer a little bit like any lip balm does, but more of the balminess and not the tint. I feel like I get my money's worth more with the Naturium Phyto-Lip Balms just because they stick around for a lot longer."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"Love it. Love it"
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"It reminds me of [...] Hawaiian Tropics, something like [...] that. Like a very old fashioned sunscreen. [...] After a good five minutes, that sunscreen taste kind of goes. It does leave and the stickiness does calm down. I feel like you need to give it a minute. [...] However, it's very, very glossy. [...] It's nice. I do like Naked Sundays. I'm going to use it. I will continue to use it up."
✓Yay
72%Guru Score
"I think it's great if that's what she was really doing. If she was like, I'm selling my kit to show you how to get plumper looking lips just with makeup. But she then eventually started to sell a bit of a lie, you know, her lips were fuller because she had filler, not because she overlined her lips anymore."
~Mixed
68%Guru Score
"On the website they kind of make these products look like tints and they're not. This really doesn't have much of a tint once you rub it on your lips. I've got the strawberry one and I've got the green one [...] and they honestly all look the same on the lips. [...] But it's really really nice for four quid. I could buy a couple of these and stick them in every pocket and every bag that I own."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I think Lineage, it's now a fully-fledged product, but their gummy bear lip balm was originally like a limited edition BTS flavor, I believe."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"In July of 2025, the brand finally reformulated the Rhode Peptide Lip Treatment, swapping out solid shea butter for liquid shea butter, which seems to have fixed the grainy texture. I don't think they've ever really addressed the moldy, gross smell people have complained about or the claims of adverse reactions."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"I use this all the time. [...] It is a serum, my lip balm, and it's really nice. It's very simple, I would say almost a bit aqua-forward in texture with a really nice smooth dewy glowy glossy finish to it. If you got cracked, dry, irritated lips, this is the product to go for. Put everything else down for now, anything colors in, anything fragrance in, flavors, put it down for now. Take this, smother it on overnight and leave it and let it do its work."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"I love them. [...] There's something that feels a lot juicier about these, a lot more deeply hydrating. There's collagen in here to help moisturize. You've got peptides in here, so you get really moisturized, plump, juicy lips without being sticky. They come in six different shades."
✓Yay
Notverified
"I'm super excited about trying this. I love TOCOBO. Their sunscreen is incredible, deservedly viral, and I love their packaging. Their packaging is always so nice. So this is a lip mask that is going to last me forever. This is to give you those glazed lips. And this is kind of an overnight mask more so, because not only does it have hydrating and moisturizing ingredients and some nice oils, so it's going to make the lips look plumper. It also has a PHA, which very gently exfoliates your lips."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"The Lip Balm SPF 50 doesn't taste like crap or like you're just putting sunscreen on your lips. It's dewy but not greasy and it's not vaseline either. I love it."
✓Yay
Notverified
Eye Care22 reviews
"This is such a nice lightweight eye cream. [...] I use eye creams help with puffiness and fine lines and this does a good job. There's kojic acid in there if you do want to help brighten dark circles, peptides, there's a marine algae complex for hydration, for firmer, smoother looking skin. And the gel cream just works with the applicator tip. I love an applicator tip that you can like massage the cream in with."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"We all know topical PDRN doesn't work like the injectables, but it does give a nice hydration and plumpness to the skin. You've got niacinamide in here as well to help brighten up if you've got pigmentation issues, peptides for hydration and skin support, plus a gentle amount of retinol. So [...] far, so good. It's nice and lightweight, makes that area under my eyes look more awake, less creepy and dry. Decently priced as well."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"The gold under eye patches in particular became super popular. Not only were they effective, but they were also very photogenic, which made them perfect for the social media era that was just beginning."
✓Yay
62%Guru Score
"The Numbuzin No.9 NAD+ Retinol Volumetox Eye Cream is a close second."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"Pixie Depuffing Eye Patches are interesting, they're a bestseller, they look cute. They've got gold in them, a cucumber extract, and hyaluronic acid. But if we're being honest, hydrogel patches like these are mostly very simple hydrants like water and glycerin, and they have a slight cooling effect because of it. The gold is of course purely for marketing benefits than skin benefits. [...] Cucumber and caffeine sound nice and the effects can be decent, but they're just kind of old-fashioned."
✕Nay
62%Guru Score
"The eye cream at $75 was a Moisturizing Eye Cream that preserves elasticity while acting to reduce puffiness and fine lines around the eyes. This is the best product in the whole line. I absolutely loved it. Firmness, plumping of fine lines. A good plumping under the eyes just to make your eyes kind of like not look so shallow. I absolutely love this one but, still overpriced."
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"Then the Forever Eye Mask, an iconic skincare beauty product. A reusable eye mask, which I absolutely love. It's made from medical grade silicone and works like a seal over any eye product. You can use this with any eye cream, and it just helps those eye products absorb more effectively. I'll apply the eye cream, then place this mask over for about, they say, 10 to 15 minutes, but I just leave it on for as long as I possibly can. For me, the longer the better."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"My favorite eye cream has to be the Jet Lag Overnight Eye Serum by Summer Fridays. This is really almost like an under eye mask because it's a lot more nourishing and hydrating and thick than your usual eye cream but made for that delicate skin around your eyes. It combines really super hydrating ingredients like glycerin along with gentle retinoids to help visibly minimize fine lines and smoother skin under the eyes."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"Caffeine can potentially restrict blood vessels under the eyes that can help prevent dark circles and puffiness. For £10 you can get a really really good one from The INKEY List. This is a nice lightweight formulation that you don't have to spend ages patting into the skin and they also use peptides to help hydrate and potentially reduce the appearance of fine lines."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"Their resveratrol lift eye cream is incredible, I tried it after seeing Selena Gomez use it [...] and absolutely loved it. After a solid month of non-stop use twice a day there was some definite tightening under the eyes, it was just firmness, and [...] it helps hydrate under the eyes so not only do you get an instant under-eye glow [...] but in the long run your under eyes just look fresher."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"This is just a nice lightweight eye cream without being bogged down with grease under your eyes. I absolutely love it. If you're going to dedicate yourself to an eye cream, there's a few I recommend and this is definitely in the top three if not the top two."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I think I put too much."
~Mixed
78%Guru Score
"This is a good example of a good ingredient to use under eyes that you would pay more for, but this is The Ordinary so we are talking 6.40 maximum for this. This really is just a serum to help awaken under your eyes, making you look less tired, less puffy, less dull around the eyes. It sinks in super super quick and it's something you use morning and night. At night I would pair this up with Vaseline to create that nice occlusive layer around the eyes."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"However, do I think this product is worth 24.99? Maybe for me no. Personally this does nothing more than what my hydrating toner does that's safe to use around the eyes, [...] and for me that feels a lot more hydrating and plumping than this standalone serum. Whilst the massage wand is nice, it's not really a product I'll repurchase just to have a nice feeling while I'm putting on an eye serum. That combination of a toner and an eye cream for me beats this."
~Mixed
68%Guru Score
"I love them because they reduce that puffiness. They calm down any inflammation and they kind of add this more like relaxing kind of feel to the LED mask experience with proper eye protection, too. A lot of people don't like this because the LED isn't getting to the under eyes, which I completely understand, but for me, that cold therapy really, really helps. And it makes the whole thing enjoyable. It makes it feel like a really relaxing moment for me."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"This is the belif Aqua Bomb Eye Gel. So, if you're dealing with puffiness, I would say more than anything, belif's Aqua Bomb Eye Gel might be what you need. Give it a go. It's a really lightweight gel eye cream formulated with caffeine to reduce that puffiness, hyaluronic acid for deep hydration and niacinamide to brighten the under eye area. We've also got vitamin C in here as well to help with collagen and help improve elasticity and diminish the appearance of fine lines."
✓Yay
65%Guru Score
"I really like this one because it's hydrating too. When it comes to eye creams, I hate those thick things that feel like some kind of product your mom used to use from Avon, like an old-fashioned eye cream that just sits and gets greasy and shiny under your eyes. This one is creamy but it's hydrating too and it feels a lot more lightweight but you still get that moisturization under the eyes."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"It's not oily and it's not sticky, so it doesn't sit heavy under the eyes. It's not going to look like a greasy mess. [...] They actually recommend using it as a makeup base as well so you don't get like all creepy underneath there. It absorbs super quick, it's not sticky. You don't have to spend like 10 minutes patting this thick cream into your under eyes, which is what usually makes me stop using eye creams. You could use it in the morning as well, twice a day."
✓Yay
64%Guru Score
"This is one of my top 10 favorite products of the last few months. When it comes to eye creams, I don't want to be sat there patting it in for like half an hour and end up just having really greasy looking shiny under eyes. I like eye creams that are kind of like my moisturizers but made for around the eye area, and this is a really lightweight almost like gel cream texture that's delivered on this roller ball, so you have a really nice smooth application."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"This has Ginseng and Retinol. Ginseng is a great antioxidant and of course, Retinal is great for those fine lines, but a bit of texture as well. This is nicely not lightweight, but not heavy as well. Just use a normal pea size amount and it sinks in so nicely without having to spend hours patting under the eyes. This has really good reviews across the board, especially on Amazon."
✓Yay
93%Guru Score
"This one from Heimish, this is their Marine Care Eye Cream. Really caught my eye because of a few key ingredients. Hydrating ingredients, of course, to help plump that skin and keep it hydrated. Antioxidants to help fight free radical damage, Niacinamide for tone but also peptides as well, which can supposedly help with collagen and elastin production, really concentrating on those fine lines as well."
✓Yay
71%Guru Score
"This is supposed to improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes. It's retinol, improved dark circles, et cetera. I've been using it and it's very nicely light under the eyes. It gives like a nice dewy, moisturized look. We have a lot of antioxidants, [...] soybean, [...] centella asiatica, niacinamide, 0.1 retinol, sodium hyaluronate, glycerin, and tranexamic acid. I'm interested in this one."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
Body & Tan14 reviews
"This is like the weirdest mix of like an oil and gel that I've ever used. You use it like a body wash, obviously, but it feels like you've just oiled up your skin. It feels like you've moisturized. You step out the shower almost feeling like you don't need to use a lotion, and sometimes I don't after this. It's got 50% glycerin in it, which is probably why it feels so hydrating. Linoleic rich oils as well, so it's not stripping. Just feel so, so soft after using this."
✓Yay
90%Guru Score
"You don't have that tight feeling. It's not heavy. It's not greasy in its stick form. I would say it's just amazing. If you want to try slugging but don't want to commit to the full glossy face, just use this in certain areas where you think your skin needs that little bit extra. I do put this everywhere because it does leave a nice even light layer all over the face. A classic. You can't really go wrong with it."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
"Formulated with guarana extract to help tighten the skin, kapuku butter to lock in moisture, and Brazilian nut oil for antioxidant protection. [...] The combination of the addictive scent, rich texture, and beach body confidence marketing strategy really helped make it an instant hit with skincare enthusiasts. [...] I don't love the smell of this product, but when I pick it up [...] in a shop, I'm going to sniff the tester, and then I always have another sniff."
✓Yay
63%Guru Score
"Their Renewing Salicylic Acid Cream, which was formulated to exfoliate and soften rough, bumpy skin, making it suitable for conditions like keratosis pilaris."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"I've seen a lot of people have reactions to the grapefruit range. It feels very outdated to have grapefruit in a skincare product. Citrus ingredient range as well, I just can't be doing that in 2024, going into 2025. It's just extremely outdated and honestly very, very harsh for most people's skin."
✕Nay
68%Guru Score
"The INKEY List are like The Ordinary but with better products in my opinion, with more well-rounded formulas [...] that feel so nice on the skin. [...] My favorite product of theirs is still the Glycolic Acid Exfoliating Body Stick. It combines glycolic acid, salicylic acid and shea butter and helps exfoliate rough bumpy skin and uneven patches, and you can even use it as a deodorant every so often."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"In 2023, Soft Services took to Instagram to ask customers to stop using and discard their Theraplush after they received mold complaints from customers."
✕Nay
67%Guru Score
"In 1968 they finally turned their attention to expanding Vaseline's range of products with a new hand and body lotion, Vaseline Intensive Care Lotion, which was to be used for dry skin as an after sun moisturizer. It was a huge success, particularly in the US due to their Working Hands of America campaign."
✓Yay
78%Guru Score
"Wild just had an advert banned by the Advertising Standards Association, here in the UK, because much like many other Natural Deodorant brands, their advert made it seem like traditional deodorants could increase the risk of breast cancer and their ASA wasn't having any of it. Wild put out a YouTube ad back in February of 2024. Their advert showed a woman with visible bruises on her chest using their deodorant."
✕Nay
69%Guru Score
"The Saltair ones come in different fragrances and a non-fragrance as well."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"There is no scent. There's a little bit of foaming, but I feel like I've used water to wash. I feel like I've had no help. When I shower, I like to feel invigorated and cleansed. I like some scent to make me feel like I'm doing some good for my body. I like to feel like I've had a whole cleansing experience, and this product lacks anything, any experience whatsoever. It's completely joyless, almost disappointing. After you use it, your skin feels nice, but I'm like, was that it?"
✕Nay
76%Guru Score
"When the weather gets warmer, I don't like to put lotion on my body because I feel like it's sticky and suffocating, but this is super super lightweight. [...] I've mainly been using this as a hand cream because it's so lightweight. I [...] want something I can rub in without taking minutes to rub it in because I don't want oily laptops and keypads with hair coming off on my sticky hands. I want something lightweight and this is really, really good for that."
✓Yay
Notverified
"The fragrance of jasmine, lemon zest and cashmere wood is lovely and natural smelling, though it does not linger long, and the body and hair mist is the perfect non overpowering amount of scent. The packaging looks nice but the bottles are too hard to squeeze and the hand cream lid is annoyingly long. An unexpected favorite is the aromatherapy pen, a lavender and peppermint gel cream that is soothing without lingering everywhere. I do not hate this range, I am actually really enjoying it."
✓Yay
75%Guru Score
"It's super gentle as long as you don't go scrubbing really hard. [...] What I used to do was use a chemical exfoliant on a cotton pad after the shower, but this does it all in one in the shower then you can moisturize straight out after. It's a lot more time-saving. [...] I've really really been loving this and I'll keep repurchasing it."
✓Yay
Notverified
Acne11 reviews
"Their star-shaped hydrocolloid patches are always colorful, they're collectible, they're fun, and they've become very popular with teenagers and younger skincare consumers. [...] I love the fact that Starface essentially takes something people want to hide and turns it into an accessory, rather than pretending the spot isn't there, you put a huge yellow sticker on it."
✓Yay
58%Guru Score
"I don't know who's still using Noxzema. I mean, if they work, they work, but they're so outdated. There is just better options out there for you now. [...] They contain 2% salicylic acid, which is a chemical exfoliant that [...] clears congestion with safe and short contact. But left on overnight in a soaked pad is going to act like some kind of DIY chemical peel. We have denatured alcohol in here as well, which helps deliver ingredients, but also strips natural oils and dries the skin."
✕Nay
56%Guru Score
"When I woke up for work the next morning and I looked in the mirror, I wondered what was all over my face. My initial reaction was that it was loads of spots. It kind of looked like I had 100 whiteheads on my face. I touched my chin and that's when something popped and I realized that they were blisters. All this clear and yellow liquid came out. It was horrible. [...] It felt like a throbbing pain on my face."
✕Nay
78%Guru Score
"She's putting this rumored to be Spot Treatment all over her face right and during this video there's no audio but she says that she started to feel a stinging sensation but she decided to keep the product on as like a mask or something"
✕Nay
63%Guru Score
"They haven't been shy of controversy, however, with a lot of cosmetic chemists and scientists who work in the cosmetic world calling them out for their alleged misleading claims about their Succinic Acid Blemish Spot Treatment, and in turn, their response to those claims. [...] I think it's fair to say that it did leave a bit of a bad taste in a lot of skincare creators' mouths."
✕Nay
70%Guru Score
"I did a sponsored video with them years ago where they wanted [...] to see results in a week, and [...] it faded my dark spot so quickly that [...] I had to do disclaimers in the video because the results were so dramatic. The pictures weren't photoshopped. It really faded that dark spot quicker than I had ever seen anything fade a dark spot. [...] For stubborn pigmentation, this should be part of your routine. The THD ascorbate plus pure ascorbic acid really does deliver quick results."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"The Spot the Difference Blemish Treatment is obviously to help fight against blemishes and honestly looking at the ingredients, breakouts as well if you're breakout prone. [...] We have four-terpineol which is the main active ingredient found in tea tree, which I personally love for breakouts and my rosacea as well, not in its purest form but formulated into product, as well as antioxidant properties it helps with breakouts."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"I bought this when I went to Korea last year and used it all up and absolutely loved it. If you have acne, if you have like painful wounds on your skin, if you've picked your spots a lot or maybe your acne does get a little bit irritated, rosacea, easy irritated skin, this is an amazing moisturizer to go for. It's a Centella asiatica kind of base moisturizer and it contains like pretty much all the Centella plant so you get all your types of Centella asiatica."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"I don't rate pimple patches with micro darts any more than these very standard ones. A lot of those patches contain active ingredients like BHAs or vitamin C which [...] you can just use in serum or toner form and then pop a paper patch over the top. Still, for me these are some of the best pimple patches around and a real bargain."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
"Their triple acid resurfacing serum sounds crazy harsh with triple acid, but it's really nice and gentle. In this serum we have salicylic acid great for blackheads, PHA which is a very gentle kind of AHA alternative, and tranexamic acid which is great for evening out skin tone and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation and all helping prevent breakouts. So yes, I'm looking forward to using this more as an exfoliating step in my routine."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"We're talking like over time this is going to even out your skin tone, help with fine lines, texture, all that kind of stuff in a really nice gentle journey kind of way. [...] It has niacinamide which can help with breakouts, even out skin tone, help with sebum production, and help minimize the appearance of pores. It has baicalool as an antioxidant that can potentially help against fine lines and wrinkles. Sodium hyaluronate for hydration."
✓Yay
Notverified
Foundation9 reviews
"A very expensive mistake right here. I use this product exclusively for a week and my skin got much worse. [...] It has this really interesting dial at the side [...] where you can twist it depending on how much coverage you want, [...] but this makes no difference whatsoever. The same amount comes out every single time. [...] The finish is just the greasiest thing I've ever used. At first it goes on [...] nice but [...] literally less than an hour later, my dry cheeks were oily, looked greasy."
✕Nay
60%Guru Score
"Euphoria launched their darker shade which was quite literally black face paint completely ignoring the fact that black skin has undertones they made a foundation color for skin that doesn't exist it was a lazy and completely ignorant reaction"
✕Nay
51%Guru Score
"They launched with just four products, and they were their Soothing Face Mist, Priming Moisturizer, Balm Dotcom salve, and Perfecting Skin Tint Foundation. Of course their products were a success."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"She just kind of generally, generally groups all korean cushion foundations in one group together and says, they're crap. They're bullshit."
✕Nay
66%Guru Score
"This is just such a nice sheer tint that just kind of evens out a little bit of rosacea for me. I like that it's very natural. I like how you can still see a bit of redness in my skin."
✓Yay
64%Guru Score
"I've tried better tints, like the Summer Fridays, where that one is really, really nice and really fluidy without that kind of dry powderiness. But maybe that's something you're just going to get because it's makeup. But I like that, for the price and accessibility, I think that's pretty good."
✓Yay
73%Guru Score
"So this is just lying. It's lying about the quality of their product, the results of their product. And this is the kind of stuff that I wish the FDA, the Advertising Standard, the ASA here in the UK [...] should really crack down on. This is false advertising."
✕Nay
52%Guru Score
"I was not impressed with the formulation of this product. It didn't last that long at all. It had zero lasting power and there's no way I can sleep in it and wake up and carry on throughout the day. Basically, it didn't last 24 hours."
✕Nay
69%Guru Score
"I've been using this before and I was like, 'Oh, this is like a really nice like I can go out the house in this and people won't know I'm wearing makeup.' But a Korean makeup artist got a full coverage out of it, and it looked really, really good. It looked very natural with this very slightly dewy finish. My skin didn't feel dry. It didn't feel cakey. It just felt hydrated and soothed and smooth. [...] Cushion compacts are like just the best invention. They're foolproof."
✓Yay
Notverified
Haircare8 reviews
"I loved Head and Shoulders and I'll continue to use it."
✓Yay
70%Guru Score
"This has kind of been designed to be like an all-in-one medicated treatment that targets both dandruff and seborrheic dermatitis. [...] It's kind of something that dermatologists have been recommending for years, but never existed in one bottle until now. Traditionally, if you struggle with dandruff, the advice was to rotate between two shampoos, like a salicylic acid one and ketoconazole to address the yeast. [...] The problem is switching back and forth between two shampoos is really annoying."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"When I worked in a salon we were an Olaplex salon we actually would not bleach hair or touch damaged hair without using Olaplex it became a must-have because of how effective these in salon versions were people loved it they were buying it out of the salon."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"When i worked in a salon we were an olaplex salon we actually would not bleach hair or touch damaged hair without using olaplex it became a must-have because of how effective these in salon versions were people loved it"
✓Yay
76%Guru Score
"Cerave decided to venture into haircare by launching anti dandruff shampoo and conditioner line. These products were formulated with ceramides and pyrithione zinc [...] to improve scalp health while maintaining the skin barrier. [...] The collection is getting mostly positive reviews, with many praising the same things people like about the rest of their products: efficacy, affordability and simplicity."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"Their leave in conditioner is amazing. You can leave it in. Doesn't make your hair feel greasy. It's so, so nice."
✓Yay
58%Guru Score
"This is K18 Peptide Prep Detox Shampoo. I love my Head & Shoulders, but this has converted me, I'll be honest. They say that this is a color safe, clarifying shampoo with skincare inspired ingredients, plus micro dosed with the K18 peptide to nourish hair while removing buildup for clean, healthy hair canvas. It has a non-stripping lather which helps to unclog hair follicles while banishing dirt, oils, silicones and things left behind from heavy product buildup."
✓Yay
86%Guru Score
"Olaplex No. 3, which is the one that a lot of people say you should be using because it's the most potent, was never designed as the conditioning treatment that everybody's treating it like. [...] They're assuming that Olaplex is a conditioning treatment that will make hair softer and more manageable, but it's only really meant to change the structure of the hair without any sort of coating. You're not supposed to drench your hair in it, put it in a bun, put it in a hat, then sleep with it."
~Mixed
79%Guru Score
Retinoids8 reviews
"This is a prescription strength retinoid and the only topical proven to actually reverse signs of aging in the skin, increasing cell turnover, smoothing texture, fading pigmentation, and stimulates new collagen production. But it's not an overnight transformation. [...] I've been using this for 3 months and I can tell you results aren't that fast. [...] I'm peeling in a good way. I think I'm seeing a lot of less texture on my nose and forehead, but the changes are very subtle for now."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"It's a very strong retinol. Only use it if you are a pro."
~Mixed
55%Guru Score
"I've seen a lot of hate for their retinols online which I don't understand because they're very good beginner-friendly retinols. [...] They go up to a high enough percentage for those who've been using retinol for years. They're delivered in squalane so they're less irritating and less drying - your skin's not going to start flaking and peeling. [...] I don't think they're that bad - I think they're decent beginner-friendly retinols."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
"It can help tighten the skin tissue minimizing the appearance of pores. It can help regulate sebum production, leading to a more smoother looking complexion. It can help with excess oil, skin aging, really just giving you a more refined skin appearance. We also have beta carotene in here, again really helping to fight that free radical damage. So if your concerns really are like better skin texture, better aging, this is a really really good one to go for."
✓Yay
69%Guru Score
"You also avoid all that dryness that some people can get from using a retinol for the first time. I really, really like this. I think I'm going to keep this one out because I don't know why I stopped using it to be honest with you."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"I had literally just picked at my skin and within a week I started to see my post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation fading. [...] Being able to use this once a day in the evening daily as somebody with very easily triggered rosacea, this has been amazing. I'm very happy that I'm able to use this with no issues whatsoever."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"I've talked about this one before, the COSRX 0.5 retinol. This is a great starter retinol that counteracts that kind of dryness that you may experience with first time retinol users, using Squalane. And I also find that retinol in an oil or a moisturizer in general just feels a lot gentler on the skin. And I do find in general retinols from Korea seem to be gentler, they're not as potent, but they do seem to be a lot gentler."
✓Yay
74%Guru Score
"Innisfree do a really, really good one. You can get on Style Korean as well, which is very nice and gentle. Again, a great beginner retinol."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
Eye Makeup6 reviews
"The lawsuits are basically based on the accusation that Lash Boost contained an ingredient called isopropyl cloprostinate, which poses potentially really harmful risks, that the brand failed to adequately disclose. [...] The plaintiffs argue that the ingredient functions like a drug, working very similarly to prescription lash growth serums, and therefore needs to meet the appropriate FDA regulations, which they say it currently does not."
✕Nay
45%Guru Score
"Products like the Milky Jelly Cleanser, Boy Brow, the Cloud Paint became instant hits upon release, cementing Glossier's reputation as the beauty brand for a new generation of beauty enthusiasts."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"They included the Ultra Lip lipstick, the Pro Tip Liquid Eyeliner, and the legendary Boy brow grooming pomade."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"The Naked palettes, right, used to be an icon. I don't know if people use them anymore."
✕Nay
73%Guru Score
"I'm going to use the Milk Kush Gel Clear, it's a clear eyebrow gel. It doesn't really do too much for my brows but it definitely keeps them in a little bit of shape. They're so thick that they just kind of do what they want, so it's nice to add a little bit of tidiness to them."
~Mixed
76%Guru Score
"It was CGI, but it went viral because it was just so clever and so well done and it almost looked real."
✓Yay
81%Guru Score
Balms & Ointments4 reviews
"It's allergy season in the UK, or hay fever, as we call it, and I get it so bad. And one thing I swear by every single year is taking Vaseline. It doesn't have to be a stick, and literally just rubbing it along my eye like that and just leaving it like that. I do that in the evening before bed and in the morning, and it saves my eyes from this."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"We have 1% colloidal oatmeal in here. That's [...] a great skin protectant. Helps with itching, irritation, eczema flare-ups. I think this is approved by the eczema society or something. It's great for rosacea, kind of providing this protective barrier and soothing the skin. We have beta glucans and allantoin in here as well to soften the skin, calm irritation, ceramides to help strengthen the skin barrier and support its resilience."
✓Yay
89%Guru Score
"I'm slugging tonight so I'm going to use the advanced repair ointment from CeraVe. I will just kind of put this everywhere on my skin depending on how my skin feels at the time, usually this is just like on my drier areas or under the eyes, but I'm also going to put this over the lips as well. You really do need such a thin layer of this stuff. I think people go like ham on this stuff and they just end up going to bed sticky and looking wet."
✓Yay
87%Guru Score
"I really enjoy this product because I don't want to be going to bed with those heavy slugging petrolatum kind of products, especially with warmer weather coming up. I want to wake up not so greasy and oily because it's going to be hot. I kind of also want those extra added benefits that you get from this product, so not just an emollient kind of layer but skin loving ingredients too. I've only been using this for about two weeks but so far I've used it pretty much every night."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
Blush & Bronzer4 reviews
"The Camo Liquid Blush"
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"Some of the products from this line have even gone on to become cult favorites for them, like the Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder."
✓Yay
92%Guru Score
"Rare Beauty has mastered the art of inclusivity, not just in their messaging, but in their product formulations too. [...] The Soft Pinch Liquid Blush is still taking over TikTok to this day."
✓Yay
83%Guru Score
"Judging by the people reviewing this and using it, it looks like a nice decent product. Everybody I've seen looks really really nice with this blush. But [...] the packaging is kind of questionable. The packaging is also unnecessarily thick for a product that calls itself a Pocket Blush, it's meant to fit in your pocket. Rhode have opted for a very minimalist look when it comes to this new product, making this packaging potentially illegal."
~Mixed
65%Guru Score
Fragrance3 reviews
"Their perfumes are nice. I quite like them. [...] I really like this purple one. I love this one. It's really, really nice."
✓Yay
85%Guru Score
"Molecule 01 by Escentric Molecules smells like your friend who works in media, always clean and busy to the point where you are not sure if they are wearing a fragrance or that is just how their skin smells. I like this as an everyday fresh, clean scent."
✓Yay
80%Guru Score
"When it comes to fragrance, I have been loving Diptyque's L'Eau Papier. This is a White Musk, Mimosa, Blonde Woods Accord, Rice Steam Accord fragrance. It smells like a young teacher who has a lot of money. This is the perfect kind of fragrance for just day bits, if you're seeing people during the day. But it's also musky enough to take you into the evening. It's got this lightness to it, but also deepness to it that makes it feel like the perfect all-purpose fragrance."
✓Yay
77%Guru Score
Tech3 reviews
"I love LED therapy, but this mask is absolutely ridiculous. In August of 2019, Neutrogena voluntarily recalled their LED Light Therapy Acne Mask, stating that their LED mask may cause transient eye pain or irritation, tearing, blurry vision, seeing spots, or changes to color in vision. This was from something like 0.02% of complaints that they received from the mask, so it was a very small percentage, but they recalled it being extra cautious. [...] For £35, you could buy the mask itself."
✕Nay
68%Guru Score
"I love LED therapy, and just look at the proof: these are all before and afters showing consistent use of the CurrentBody Skin LED Hair Growth Helmet. What you're seeing here is thicker looking hair, less visible thinning, and fuller coverage, which is exactly what this device is designed to target. [...] A lot of hair growth products we see nowadays, serums, oils, shampoos, [...] mostly work on the surface of the scalp."
✓Yay
84%Guru Score
"It's safer, it's smarter, and so much more effective because it actually works the way it's supposed to. I've been using it for [...] over a year now, and I've seen measurable improvements, smoother texture, plumper skin, and just a nicer tone to my skin as well. [...] I know what products are going to plump my skin, what's going to add hydration and even out my skin tone, [...] but using this once every two weeks, you can just see the difference that this system can make."
✓Yay
79%Guru Score
Concealer2 reviews
"Kosas best selling Revealer Concealer [...] came under fire for growing mold and smelling like crusty feet, according to some."
✕Nay
74%Guru Score
"TirTir sent me their new Glide and Hide concealer. One side is a creamy concealer I like to use on my drier cheeks, and it does a really good job, and the other side is a liquid concealer for under the eyes. It conceals my redness and dark circles a fair bit, and because my skin is drier from using tret right now, I'm impressed it doesn't cling to every bit of texture. It does oxidize a little, so I go slightly more pale. I like it a lot, I think that's my color."
✓Yay
Notverified
Primer2 reviews
"The Halo Glow Liquid Filter, which is seen as a dupe of Charlotte Tilbury's Flawless Filter."
✓Yay
82%Guru Score
"The Power Grip Primer is considered a dupe of Milk's Primer."
✓Yay
67%Guru Score

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