SkinGoal Skincare

Your skin has changed. Has your skincare?

I see it in clinic every week. A woman sits down, tells me her skin has gone dry, or red, or just tired looking, and then lists a routine she has been using for 10 years. Nothing wrong with the products. They were simply chosen for skin she no longer has. Oestrogen drops, the barrier thins, repair slows, and the cream that worked at 38 starts sitting on the surface doing very little.

The answer is rarely another bottle. It is choosing for the concern you have now.

Red, reactive, stinging: niacinamide, then a bakuchiol night cream.
Dry, tight, dehydrated: hyaluronic acid, then a peptide cream.
Tired, changing, menopausal: an NAD+ night serum, then a peptide cream.

Which one sounds like your skin right now?

My 2 minute Skin Quiz is in the comments, with 15% off your first order.

Nobody warned you your skin changes at 45. I certainly wasn't warned, and I do this for a living.

Less oil, a thinner barrier, slower repair. Oestrogen drops and your skin is often the first place you notice it, before anything else gives the game away. The cream that did the job at 40 suddenly seems to sit on the surface and do very little.

That's what the Renewal Code is for. An NAD+ supporting night serum, then a peptide cream over it. Best at night, every night, because that's when your skin does its repair work and when the serum has the best chance of helping.

The number I insisted on before I put my name on it: wrinkle depth down 15% in 6 weeks. And Sharon H., a verified customer, in her own words: "My skin looks smoother, more even and just feels stronger and healthier overall."

Stronger and healthier is the part I'd underline. Smoother is lovely, but skin that feels like itself again is the real win at this age.

What changed first for you, dryness or lines?

My 2 minute Skin Quiz is in the comments, with 15% off your first order.

Every autumn I see the same thing in clinic. Skin that suddenly feels tight and dry, on women who were comfortable in August.

Here's why it happens. Cold air holds less water, so as the temperature drops the air pulls more water out of your skin. Then the heating goes on and dries indoor air even further, and you sit in it for hours. You go from cold outside to warm inside all day, the showers get hotter, and your barrier feels every change. And research shows skin barrier function dips in the colder months, so skin loses water faster than it did in summer.

So add hydration now, before it starts. That's the Hydration Code pair: a hyaluronic acid serum, then a peptide cream over it. The serum is shown to hydrate for up to 72 hours, and the number I insisted on before I put my name on it: signs of dry skin improved 20% in 4 weeks. Katie D., a verified customer, calls the cream "the cream I can rely on whatever my skin is doing."

Send this to your sister if her face feels tight by lunchtime.

Has the heating gone on in your house yet?

My 2 minute Skin Quiz is in the comments, with 15% off your first order.

Natural doesn't mean gentle. These are the 5 that surprise people most when I mention them in clinic, and I've seen the damage from every one of them.

Lemon essential oil, the cold pressed kind, makes skin sensitive to the sun. On skin in daylight it can burn and leave dark marks that last for months. Giant hogweed grows wild along UK rivers, and its sap plus sunlight can blister skin badly, so mind the dog walk. Fig leaves are being sold online as a tanning hack, and the sap has sent people to hospital with burns. Tea tree oil oxidises once the bottle's been open a while, and oxidised tea tree oil is a known allergen. And garlic taped on a spot overnight can leave a chemical burn.

Now the flip side. Hyaluronic acid and niacinamide are made in a lab, and they're 2 of the gentlest ingredients in skincare.

Plants don't care about your face. Judge the ingredient and your own skin, not the word on the front of the bottle.

Pass this on to the friend who only buys natural.

Which of these did you not know?

My 2 minute Skin Quiz is in the comments, with 15% off your first order.

It stings at things it never used to notice. Your usual cleanser, a bit of wind, the moisturiser you've had for years.

That usually isn't sensitive skin. It's reactive skin, and there's a difference. When the barrier weakens, more gets through it, so more of what touches your face stings. The skin hasn't changed its personality. It has lost some of its armour.

The instinct is to strip everything back to nothing and wait it out. I'd rather you used the right calm actives, every day, and gave the barrier something to rebuild with. That's the Calm Code: a calming botanical peptide serum, then a soothing night cream over it. Nothing else in the mix.

The number I insisted on before I put my name on it: redness down 24% in 12 weeks. And Rebecca, on Cream Revive, put it like this: "Cream Revive is what I reach for when my skin goes sensitive and retinol is too much."

What's the last thing that made your face sting?

My 2 minute Skin Quiz is in the comments, with 15% off your first order.

This is exactly why I built the Skin Quiz, and reading these 2 reviews back to back made me very happy.

Suzanna took it. In her words: "Prep Cleanse came up on the Quiz so I went for it. 4 weeks in and no reactions and my skin feels great." Sam C. took it too: "Cream Repair was recommended after I took the skin quiz. I am absolutely chuffed to bits."

Neither of them started with a product. They started with their skin, answered the questions I'd ask them if they were sat in front of me, and were pointed to the thing that fitted. Your skin first, product second. That's the order that works in clinic, and it's the order the quiz is built in.

Most of the women I see have done it the other way round for years, buying the serum a friend raved about and hoping. Sometimes it lands. Often it sits in the cupboard.

Keep this one for the friend who's bought 3 serums this year and still isn't sure.

Has anyone ever looked at your skin before you bought for it?

My 2 minute Skin Quiz is in the comments, with 15% off your first order.

5 skin old wives' tales I still hear in clinic, and what's actually true. Most of them came from somebody's mum, so I say this with love.

Butter on a burn holds the heat in. Cool it under running water for 20 minutes instead, and skip the ice and the butter. Toothpaste on a spot isn't made for your face, and it can sting and burn the skin around it while doing nothing useful to the spot. No sun doesn't mean no SPF, because up to 80% of UV gets through light cloud, which covers most of a British year. Hot water doesn't open pores, because pores don't open and close. It just strips oil and leaves skin tight. And oily skin still needs moisturiser, because oily skin can be short of water too.

Most of us grew up with at least one of these, and probably repeated it to someone else. They were passed down with love, not bad intentions, and they were the best advice available at the time.

Send this to your mum. Then ring her, because she'll want to argue about the butter.

Which old wives' tale did you grow up with?

My 2 minute Skin Quiz is in the comments, with 15% off your first order.

The dark patches that come up over summer don't fade like they used to. That's what I hear most in clinic at this time of year.

This isn't about freckles. I love a freckle, and they're having a real moment. It's the patchy, uneven marks that used to be gone by September and are now still there in October. Skin renews more slowly in your 40s, so they hang around longer.

That's what the Clarity Code is for. A tranexamic acid serum at night, a peptide cream over it, then SPF 50 every morning, because correcting at night only works if you protect by day. The number I insisted on before I put my name on it: visible dark spots reduced 30% in 8 weeks. And in Sharon's words, a verified customer: "My complexion looks brighter, clearer and much more even."

One note from me as a clinician. Any mark that changes shape, colour or size, or itches or weeps, is a GP appointment, not a skincare job.

Send this to your sister if her summer patches are still there too.

Are your marks on your cheeks, or on your hands too?

My 2 minute Skin Quiz is in the comments, with 15% off your first order.

This one made my week. Liz, a verified customer, calls her vitamin C serum her absolute all time favourite day time serum, and in her own words she wears it everyday under her Solar 50.

That's the Defence Code, and it's what I call my winter protection. 2 steps, every morning, and it takes less time than the kettle. Vitamin C first, then SPF 50 over the top. That's it, no third bottle.

The number I insisted on before I put my name on it: skin firmness up 31% in 6 weeks.

I know how it goes once the sandals are put away. The SPF drifts to the back of the drawer with them. But summer going doesn't mean UV has gone. It still reaches your skin on grey October days, on the school run and in the queue at the garden centre, so in my house the SPF stays on all year.

Liz has worked that out, and I'd love more of you to join her.

Still wearing SPF now it's October?

My 2 minute Skin Quiz is in the comments, with 15% off your first order.

Is retinol being banned in the UK? I get asked this every week in clinic, usually by a woman who has read a headline and started worrying about the tube in her bathroom.

So let me tell you where it actually stands. The EU capped retinol at 0.3% in face products, and new products have had to meet that since November 2025. The UK hasn't decided yet. The labs, though, have decided for us. Most UK brands make their products in EU labs, those labs have already moved to 0.3%, and my own chemist has stopped making anything stronger. Vitamin A is also on the UK safety committee's list for this year, so a decision is coming.

2 things worth knowing. Retinal, which is a step stronger than retinol, isn't covered by the EU limit at all. And what matters far more than any percentage on the box is how you use it: night only, start slowly, and SPF 50 every single morning.

Nobody is taking your retinol away. Pass this on to the friend who panicked about the ban.

What have you heard about retinol this year?

My 2 minute Skin Quiz is in the comments, with 15% off your first order.