words by Sarah Tarca and Sherine Youssef
Go for quality, science and research over hype.
Sarah Tarca and Sherine Youssef are Australian beauty editors and the founders of Gloss Etc, a weekly newsletter dedicated to the best beauty reviews, news and tips. With 20 years of experience and a wealth of product knowledge, they’re here to answer beauty questions from Fashion Journal readers each fortnight.
Hi Sherine and Sarah. Usually I get my skincare recommendations from friends and just buy what they tell me is good. But I’m trying to be more conscious of what ingredients I use on my face. What should I be looking for when reading skincare labels? What do you look for? – Ploy
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Gloss Etc: We’ve worked in beauty for a long time (ahem, over a decade each) and we still get confused by the absolute onslaught of information being hurled at us, not to mention The Da Vinci Code levels of detective work needed to decipher marketing speak from the truth.
It’s frankly a miracle that any non-beauty industry person can navigate it. It also doesn’t help that product names and ingredients lists are getting so long they no longer fits on the box (hello, QR codes).
But you’ve came to the right place, because sharing this kind of information is why we started Gloss Etc in the first place. In fact, we did a whole special issue on how to read an ingredients label and it was one of our most popular ever, because we’re all just so confused.
The ‘how many ingredients under one per cent can be listed in any order’ is our Roman Empire. We have a few extra notes, the best bits from both of our brains after years of translating complex information for our audiences:
Know your skin type, and the ingredients it likes
Have a fairly good idea of your skin, its specific idiosyncrasies (is it dry on the cheeks? Does it tend to get oily by the afternoon? Does it react to fragrance or essential oils?) and the things you’re focusing on, such as uneven skin tone, blackheads or fine lines. This will help you to narrow down the kinds of ingredients and products that may work for you.
Do your research on these ingredients
An upside of beauty product names getting longer is that it’s that they’ll often list the hero ingredient in said product name. This can make it easier to know exactly what you’re shopping for. And read some product reviews to get an idea of what’s being said about it.
But don’t over-research
Advice relevant not just for beauty product shopping, but for life on social media in general: pick a couple of trusted, reliable sources (ahem, us), and stick to them. Spend too much time in the vortex and opening multiple tabs is a recipe for brain scrambling. If the product and ingredients are good, those reputable sources should all be in agreement.
Learn what products play well together
When you want to ‘fix’ your skin it can be tempting to want to slap everything on to get the fastest results, but the only thing that’ll get you is a disrupted skin barrier.
For example, don’t layer a vitamin A product (otherwise known as a retinol or retinal) with exfoliating acids like AHAs because you’ll be over-exfoliating your skin. Instead, retinol pairs nicely with hyaluronic acid for hydration and niacinamide for evening skin tone.
Pay attention to what works for you
Here’s where it gets tricky. What works for your friend may not work for you, which we’re sure you’ve probably discovered on your own. So always patch test a new product or ingredient and keep a note of what plays nicely with your skin – you could even start a Google doc!
Give it time
When we’re talking active ingredients, particularly in serums, you need six weeks to see results. Yes, six. So you need to be patient and not move onto something else after a week because you don’t see immediate results. That said, with some ingredients, you’ll see results sooner, we made a chart for reference:
Go for quality, science and research over hype
Some of Sarah’s favourite products come from brands that look like their packaging was designed by an intern. They’d never make it into the Instagram flat-lay, but that’s okay, because they’re spending their money on research and development, the real sexy stuff.
But that isn’t code for ‘inexpensive is best’. Some products, like SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic Vitamin C Serum, is worth every cent of its $242 price tag, but equally our beauty cabinets are stocked with The Ordinary and No7 because they’re great, affordable brands who have great R&D.
If you don’t know where to start and you just want a basic routine, you can’t go wrong with French pharmacy brands. They excel at products formulated with dermatologists and chemists, and always look after the skin barrier. Check out some of our favourites like SVR or Bioderma.
For more on skincare ingredients, try this.
