How to choose a moisturiser
We sell some of what is named here
Routinae sells some of the products written about here, so read this the way you would read any shop’s opinion of its own shelves. Where we think a cheaper product does the same job we say so, and where the evidence is thin we say that too. Our buying standard is published so you can check the argument against it.
Moisturiser is the category where the gap between price and performance is widest, and where the marketing is least useful. Almost every one of them works by the same three mechanisms, in different proportions.
The distinction that decides it
Dry skin lacks oil: it flakes, it feels rough, it gets worse in winter and it stays that way. Dehydrated skin lacks water: it feels tight but can still be oily, it looks dull, and it changes week to week. Dry skin wants a richer cream. Dehydrated skin wants humectants and often does better with something lighter used more consistently.
Most people who describe themselves as dry are dehydrated, and have been buying the wrong thing for years.
Judge it at hour six, not at minute one
Every moisturiser feels good going on. That tells you nothing. What matters is how your skin looks and feels six hours later: still comfortable, or tight again? Comfortable but shiny in a way you dislike? That is the only comparison worth making, and it is why you cannot judge one in a shop.
What you are actually paying for above thirty euros
Usually texture and packaging. Occasionally a genuinely better emulsifier system that suits reactive skin. Rarely anything you can feel at hour six that a twenty-euro cream could not also do. We stock creams at both ends and will say plainly which is which on the product page.
What to ignore
Ceramide counts. “Barrier repair” as a phrase — it is not a claim a cosmetic is permitted to make in those terms, and where you see it, someone is stretching. And any moisturiser whose main argument is the extract it is named after.
If you are not sure which of the two problems you have, read your skin before you read a label works through it properly.