Best Skincare Products For Sensitive Skin
Struggling to find the best products for sensitive skin? You’re in the right place.
Skincare can be overwhelming at the best of times, but when you’re trying to avoid things like fragrance and strong actives and make sure your skin is getting everything it needs to stay calm and happy, it’s even more difficult.
What Is Sensitive Skin?
Simply put, sensitive skin is skin that is easily irritated. It might be that it stings when it comes into contact with water, tingles when you apply skincare, or burns after moisturising. Itching, redness, tightness and general soreness are also signs of sensitivity. The term is a little confusing though, as there is no official diagnosis.
There is also sensitised skin, which is slightly different from sensitive skin and follows an incident which has damaged the skin barrier. It could be that you used a retinol that was too strong for your skin or overused an exfoliating acid. Sensitised skin is a short-term concern which is easier to remedy than sensitive skin, which tends to need long-term management. Remember that our skin becomes thinner and more fragile as we get older, so don’t be surprised if your previously hardy skin is suddenly acting up.
What Products Are Best For Sensitive Skin?
If you have sensitised your skin or are experiencing a sensitivity flare-up, then I recommend taking your routine back to basics until the balance is restored. You need to put the focus on caring for and nurturing the skin and give this priority over treating any other skin bugbears like hyperpigmentation or fine lines. These are the three key products that should form the basis of your routine:
A gentle cleanser to carefully remove makeup and wash away the day without disrupting the skin barrier.
A soothing serum containing ingredients like hyaluronic acid to keep the skin hydrated, ceramides to restore the skin barrier and fatty acids to nourish. This could be a lightweight facial oil instead of a serum if you prefer.
A comforting moisturiser that’s going to seal the goodness from your serum into your skin without overwhelming or suffocating it. Make sure this, and all the other products in your routine are fragrance-free, as natural and synthetic fragrances are two of the biggest drivers of skincare reactions.
Once you have nailed this routine and your skin is happy, you can look to include other products and ingredients into your routine. Go slowly, incorporating one new product at a time and leave a gap of at least 48 hours between the initial applications to check for reactions. Once you can see your skin is tolerating it well, you can increase your usage. Having sensitive skin doesn’t mean that active ingredients are off the menu, it’s just about choosing the right products and making sure the rest of your routine is supporting your skin.
Best Skincare Products For Sensitive Skin According To A Skin Expert
Looking for recommendations? These are my top picks for sensitive skin.
Best Cream Cleanser For Sensitive Skin
Kate Somerville Delikate Soothing Cleanser
Kate Somerville Delikate Soothing Cleanser is beautifully creamy and glides over the skin with ease allowing you to gently massage into your skin and melt the day away. I would always recommend massaging for 60 seconds especially when your skin is feeling fragile, that way your skin benefits from all the wonderful ingredients that are packed into a cleanser. Delikate Soothing Cleanser is an absolutely gorgeous cleanser which contains peptides, ceramides, cucumber seed oil and pepperberry to immediately calm and soothe the skin and help strengthen the skin barrier over time. Your skin will feel comfortable, moisturised and clean after one use. Use this product morning and/or evening and rinse off easily with just water. It’s a no-brainer for sensitive, sensitised rosacea-prone skin and it’s fragrance-free.
Best Foaming Cleanser For Sensitive Skin
Galinee Foaming Facial Cleanser
Galinee Foaming Facial Cleanser is an ultra-gentle facial wash, with a foamy consistency which is so gentle and soft. It transforms from a milk consistency in the bottle to a foam when dispensed. Combining prebiotics (food for the good bacteria to flourish) and lactic acid the skin feels super soft and comfortable, it melts into the skin and feels like silk. The skin doesn’t feel stripped, and the pH is at the optimal level which is especially important when your skin is sensitive. You could use this as a morning or evening cleanse and could be used with Delikate as a double cleanse.
Best Toner For Sensitive Skin
Comfort Zone Remedy Toner
Comfort Zone Remedy Toner is a dual-action soothing toner and a refreshing hydrating spray that is designed to give you an immediate sensation of relief. Thanks to the soothing, calming and hydrating properties of this product, it’s perfect for sensitive skin which would normally be aggravated and irritated by toners. The Comfort Zone Remedy Toner feels beautiful and after using, the skin becomes soothed and helps prevent any rosacea flares up. Fragrance-free and alcohol-free with prebiotics to help restore the skin’s microflora and help sensitive, reactive skin cope with day-to-day aggressions.
Best Eye Makeup Remover for Sensitive Skin
Garnier Micellar Water
Garnier Micellar water for sensitive skin is a dream, after trying many eye removers this is a clear winner when the skin is sore and irritated. Often, rosacea can irritate the eyes and finding an eye makeup remover that removes all the makeup and doesn’t sting the eyes is hard. Garnier Micellar Water is the only micellar water recognised by the British Skin Foundation and Allergy UK due to its proven gentle, soothing formula that is suitable for all sensitive skin types.
Best Face Mask For Sensitive Skin
Payot Creme No.2 Masque Peel Off Douceur
Payot Creme No.2 Masque Peel Off Douceur is a mask you need in your bathroom cabinet for when the skin needs cooling and calming if it has become extremely sensitised, red, hot and blotchy. It’s a single-dose mask which actually reminds me of professional masks I have used in spas and clinics. Its application is a creamy, foamy mask which then plasticises, setting within a couple of minutes. I recommend that when applying this use thickly and evenly and avoid the hairline and the eye area. It’s a brilliant soothing, comforting, rescue mask with good bacteria (probiotics) and the food for the good bacteria (prebiotics) to flourish.
Best Eye Cream For Sensitive Skin
SVR Palpebral Irritated Eyelids Anti Itching Soothing Cream
Just like eye makeup remover, it’s hard to find an eye cream that doesn’t sting and make your eyes water and cause more dehydration and lines. Created for allergy-prone, eczema-prone and flaky skin under and around the eyes, this product delivers immediate comfort, hydration and soothes the delicate eye area. Packed with omegas for moisture and hyaluronic acid for hydration and plumping and a unique anti-itching complex for the most hypersensitive skins.
Best Soothing Serum For Sensitive Skin
Comfort Zone Remedy Serum
Comfort Zone Remedy Serum, is incredible at soothing, calming and restoring peace and tranquillity back to the skin. It contains an extract from Peru (Mirabilis Jalapa Extract) which has a soothing, calming action and has been linked to reducing redness and inflammation and helps restore the skin’s barrier. Marula Oil is an amazing oil renowned for being more powerful than argan oil, rich in amino acids, fatty acids and antioxidants, it is similar to the skin’s own oil and so it absorbs really quickly.
Natural-Origin Prebiotic, which is derived from sugar, bring respite to the skin whilst the skin barrier and balance to the microflora is restored. Upon application, it cools and softens, as well as reducing redness and alleviating any itching and irritation.
Best Brightening Serum For Sensitive Skin
Oodee Aura Perfecting Serum
This serum is the one if you not only have sensitive, reactive skin but you have also lost the radiance and the glow from your skin. Oodee has cleverly created a formula that includes zero tolerance for potential skin triggers. It's Allergen Neutral™ formulas exclude 14 food and 26 fragrance allergens and are instead boosted with our multivitamin powershot: DermaRDE+™ which includes 22 vital nutrients to ensure skin health is achieved. The skin is left feeling hydrated, more refined and plumped with a clearer complexion. This product is also cruelty-free, vegan, Allergen Neutral™ and has fully recycled and recyclable packaging.
Best Repairing Serum For sensitive Skin
Cellshock Essential Serum
Cellshock Essential Serum is a wow product this was put to the maximum test… a rosacea fare up. Cellshock is not cheap but if your skin is temperamental and you need one product that can be your serum for even the toughest of days this is fantastic. It helps repair the skin’s barrier for optimum skin health, helps the skin cope with stress and fatigue whilst also reducing redness and balances oil and water levels. This product combines prebiotics and probiotics and the brilliant madecassoside otherwise known as tiger grass.
Best Intense Moisturiser For Sensitive Skin
Kate Somerville Delikate Recovery Cream
Delikate Recovery Cream is gorgeous and best described as a comforting blanket for the skin. It provides immediate and long-lasting comfort, which is a saviour for stressed parched skin. This cocooning cream is hydrating, reduces redness and soothes the skin all thanks to the peptides, ceramides, ginger root and Tasmania lanceolate fruit extract. With impressive user trials after just one week - 96% reported product instantly soothed dry, irritated skin whilst 92% reported long-lasting relief for dry, tight, irritated skin.
Best Lightweight Moisturiser For Sensitive Skin
Galinee Hydrating Face Cream
Galinee Hydrating Face Cream is a clever combination of probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics to support the skin’s microbiome and repair the skin barrier. Cold pressed yacon extract, a root extract from the same family as Jerusalem Artichokes, contains one of the largest amounts of prebiotics found in natural plants. This feeds the skin with good bacteria and has an anti-bacterial action on bad bacteria which helps to prevent breakouts and irritations. The hydrating, gentle AHAs of lactic acid are added to refine the skin surface and bring brightness whilst helping keep the skin at the optimal pH level. Even though there is an aroma from the natural prebiotics, it is fragrance-free. If you suffer from breakouts and sensitivity this is lightweight, hydrating, prevents breakouts and can calm existing throbbers.
Best Glow-Giving Moisturiser For Sensitive Skin
Oodee Nova Illuminating Moisturiser
Oodee Nova Illuminating Moisturiser works within days to help the skin looks brighter, even out skin tone and helps the skin to feel nourished without feeling heavy. If you love the idea of Vitamin C, Oodee have managed to include it in Nova Illuminating Moisturiser, which can be used morning and evening. This glow giving, energy boosting cream powered by plants and ancient grains, is a must to be used on the skin daily so that the skin can shine with radiance. Everything the brand claims about this moisturiser is exactly how the skin changes to be. This silky glow-enhancing moisturiser targets fine lines and helps even skin tone for a luminous and clarified complexion.
Best Night Cream For Sensitive Skin
Comfort Zone Remedy Defense Cream
This is a rich, cocooning moisturiser which feels amazing at night-time. It comforts the skin from the first application and works so well that in the morning, the skin still feels soft, supple and happy. Remedy Defense Cream could also be the perfect day moisturiser for the winter if you are seeking a rich comforting moisturiser.
Best CC Cream For Sensitive Skin
Payot Creme No.2 CC Cream
Unanimously, everyone that tried this fell in love with this CC cream, it’s fragrance-free and adapts to your skin tone to hide and blur imperfections. It is brilliant for red patches if you find your skin is blotchy and uneven and helps to cover up rosacea breakouts all whilst infusing the skin with brilliant skincare ingredients and providing sun protection SF50+. Crème No.22 CC Cream contains centella asiatica extract aka cica aka tiger grass, a renowned healing skin remedy. Packing this formula with amino acids, flavonoids, sugars and hyaluronic acid all help to deliver anti-inflammatory, hydrating, wound healing and soothing properties. The skin is left with a glowy, dewy complexion which is soothed and calmed whilst delivering great coverage.
Best Retinol Serum For Sensitive Skin
First Aid Beauty Lab Retinol Serum 0.25% Pure Concentrate
This product is great for dipping your toe into the world of the gold standard anti-ageing ingredient retinol. It’s great for beginners and sensitive skin as it combines retinol with peptides, hyaluronic acid and ceramides. The formula is fantastic and didn’t cause any irritation even on rosacea skin. After 2 weeks, the pores appear refined and reduced whilst the skin felt firmer and brighter. If you have never tried retinol, start here with this beautiful product.
Best Retinol and Azelaic Acid Serum For Sensitive Skin
Dr Sam Flawless Nightly Serum
This product is a sophisticated blend of retinoids, azelaic acid, bakuchiol and niacinamide. I would recommend this product as the step up and not necessarily the first retinol if you have sensitive, reactive skin. With that said, this was tested on rosacea skin and the skin has never looked better. The skin texture is refined, pores appear reduced, and skin appears smoother, clearer and firmer. Thanks to the clever combination of azelaic acid and retinol this is perfect if you have found that you’re struggling with congestion, uneven skin tone and redness.
Thank You For Reading
I hope you have enjoyed this blog, please let me know if you need any help with your skin.
Stay tuned for more blogs and follow me on social media for latest launches and more skin school.
Bye for now,
Fiona x
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