SkinGoal Skincare

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.

Your morning serum isn't there to fix anything, and once you see it that way your whole routine gets simpler.

Daylight is what switches your pigment on. So the morning is about defence: Power AOX, my vitamin C serum, then Solar 50 over the top, every day of the year, cloudy ones included.

Night is when the correcting happens. That's where Power B earns its place, on the marks at bedtime, with Cream Drench over the top.

Most women I see in clinic have it the wrong way round: a brightening serum in the morning and nothing but cream at night. Swap them, and each product gets to do the job it was made for.

Is SPF the last thing on your face every morning?

Brighter, clearer and much more even. That's Sharon's verified review of Power B, and the word she underlines is consistently.

The routine I give anyone with a stubborn mark is less exciting than the result (it usually is). Power B on the marks at bedtime, Cream Drench over the top, SPF 50 every morning, and 8 weeks before you judge it. The work is done by tranexamic acid, alpha arbutin, azelaic acid and kojic acid, which slow the pigment being made.

If you're not sure Power B is the one for you, the Skin Quiz on skingoal.co.uk tells you in 2 minutes.

How long did you give your last serum?
Take our skin quiz, link in comments.

If your skin feels dry again by midday, the answer is not necessarily another layer of moisturiser.

Cream Drench delivers peptides, lasting hydration and barrier support in one lightweight formula, helping skin feel smoother, firmer and properly replenished without heaviness.

Discover your personalised SkinCode or take the Skin Quiz.

Link in the comments.