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The five areas this site analyses: active ingredients, retinoids, barrier repair, chemical exfoliation and peptides — and the questions that define each.

• Active ingredients

  Most of what a skincare product does comes down to a small number of well-studied molecules at concentrations that are often lower, and sometimes higher, than the evidence supports. These analyses look at what is in the bottle and what the literature says about that amount of it.

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• Retinoids

  Retinoids have the strongest evidence base in cosmetic dermatology and the widest gap between what a label says and what a formula delivers. Stability, concentration and base chemistry matter more here than in any other category.

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• Barrier repair

  Barrier products are judged on a boring question: do they reduce water loss and replace the lipids the skin is missing? The ingredient list answers most of that, and the marketing rarely adds to it.

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• Chemical exfoliation

  An exfoliating acid only works in its free-acid form, and how much of it is free depends on pH — a number almost no brand publishes. That single omission is why two products at the same stated concentration can behave very differently.

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• Peptides

  Peptides are the category where the distance between marketing confidence and effect size is widest. The effects are real and repeatedly measured; they are also small, and the percentages on labels rarely mean what they appear to mean.

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• Red light therapy

  Photobiomodulation is the one skincare category where the device specification matters more than the brand. Wavelength, irradiance and dose are measurable, the clinical literature is real, and most marketing quietly ignores both.

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