My 2025 Skincare Finds: What I Loved And What I’ll Never Repurchase
No BS, just the honest unfiltered truth
Happy New Year, everyone! Hope 2026 brings you great health, joy, learning, love (and very happy skin). We do “annual reflections” a tad differently on the 1 am skincare club, so I’ll use my first Substack of the year to talk about the new products I tried last year.
I tried including the whole laundry list, but the post became unhandably long. In this issue, I’m covering the 10 most interesting ones (for good reasons and bad), but if you’d like to see the next 10, comment and I’ll cover those too.
Over the last 5-7 years, going from acne-free skin → to struggling with acne and dryness → to finally treating the acne and scars (but still struggling with the dryness and sensitivity) - how I find and buy skincare products has changed drastically.
In my early-mid 20s, these were all either budget buys (I love sales…) or based on what smelt the best. To younger me, skincare meant self-indulgence. Through my acne journey, I started understanding ingredients - both the good and bad ones. I realised that my skin was paying the price for the luxurious smells and lack of barrier repair.
Now, I’m an INCIdecoder snob - I religiously study ingredients and read reviews. I’m ultra conscious about what goes on my face and avoid added fragrance / harsh ingredients as much as possible. Here’s a recap of my most notable 2025 buys. I’ve broken down their ingredients, my product reviews, and which of these made it to my permanent routine.
For context: I have acne-prone, sensitive, ultra-dry skin
Cleansers
1) Bioderma Atoderm Intensive Gel Moussant
I bought this on the recommendation of a friend who also has ultra-dry skin. She uses it as her daily cleanser when she doesn’t have any acne flare-ups.
✅ Pros: It lathers better than most gentle cleansers (that tend to usually fall flat otherwise). It also has some great ingredients like niacinamide and mannitol that work beautifully on my sensitive skin. I loved the viscosity of the product - gel-like but not super thick.
❌ Cons: It contains SLES, which has no place in a cleanser for sensitive skin. It also left my skin feeling drier than the typical gentle cleansers do.
🔁 Did it make it to my routine? Nope. I prefer my OG Cetaphil gentle cleanser to this. Or even the Nuede “Jelliciously Clean” cleanser.
2) Cipla Saslic DS Cleanser
My dermat recommended this to me as a reliable salicylic acid cleanser for when my acne starts flaring up.
✅ Pros: It’s easy to use, lathers well, and leaves my skin feeling fresh. I do see some impact on my active acne, too, after a few uses. All in all, it’s a decent substitute for the La Roche Posay Medicated Cleanser, which is much more expensive.
❌ Cons: I’m not a fan of the super-foaminess - reminds me of shaving cream more than a cleanser. It also has added fragrance, which isn’t great for my sensitive skin :( Why is nobody making salicylic acid cleansers without fragrance???
🔁 Did it make it to my routine? Nope. Just doesn’t hold up against its LRP counterpart.
3) Episoft Cleansing Lotion for Sensitive Skin
This was another dermat recommendation for when my skin is feeling dry, sensitive and doesn’t need treatment for active acne.
✅ Pros: It is indeed gentle - perhaps even gentler than the Cetaphil gentle cleanser. I love that it has super clean ingredients and no added fragrance (and still does not smell disgusting).
❌ Cons: I no longer associate a feeling of dryness / tightness post-wash with feeling “clean” but this cleanser was just too… weak. It felt like I was rubbing milk or diluted moisturiser on my face, not a cleanser. I also refuse to live with such ugly packaging.
🔁 Did it make it to my routine? Nope. I used the entire bottle I bought but don’t plan to rebuy. Just doesn’t leave my skin feeling ‘clean’ enough.
Moisturisers
4) Naturium Multi-Peptide Moisturiser
This one wasn’t a conscious buy to be honest. I remember remarking to my husband that the packaging was stunning. To his credit, he actually remembered and brought back the range on his next trip to the Valley. Yup, even I’m impressed.
✅ Pros: Great INCI list - largely low on comedogenic ingredients and has squalene and niacinamide high up on the list. Excellent packaging - not just aesthetically, but also functionally.
❌ Cons: It smells terrible! I’ve been using non-fragranced pharma skincare long enough to now not think about the smell of my skincare products. But this one smelt awful (and sadly with moisturisers, smells linger). It’s also very thick and still not very hydrating. It’s a balmy consistency (that waters down a bit when it touches the skin), but it still didn’t feel hydrating enough. I felt the need to go back a few more times (which sucked, given the smell).
🔁 Did it make it to my routine? Nope. Honestly, not even using what I have left.
5) Moisturex Hydra Gel
I love asking dermats what products they use and recommend most often, or find most versatile. This question is usually how I discover my best pharma skincare finds. Moisturex Hydra is a product that comes up fairly often in chats like these.
✅ Pros: It blends effortlessly and doesn’t feel sticky / tacky. It contains urea which makes it great for my dry and flaky skin.
❌ Cons: The ingredient list looks largely clean till you scroll a little and see… alcohol :( It’s also not nourishing enough since it has no barrier-building ingredients like ceramides or panthenol
🔁 Did it make it to my routine? Sort of. I just don’t find it nourishing enough for my ultra-dry skin (in already dry Bangalore). It does travel with me to humid cities where I might need a lighter moisturiser, but I can’t say I’ve used it much there either.
6) La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5+
This is a recent cult classic (and also my dermat’s favourite LRP product) that I just had to get my hands on.
✅ Pros: It’s got stellar nourishing ingredients like panthenol, shea butter and cica, and a long list of humectants and moisturisers that are non-comedogenic. Overall, super clean formulation.
❌ Cons: I have probably never used a more paste-y product in recent years. Yes, I love thick, hydrating moisturisers but this felt a little like rubbing cake batter into my skin.
🔁 Did it make it to my routine? Nope. But I’m happily using the leftover product on my elbows and feet that need the extra hydration.
Serums + Treatments
7) Benzac AC Gel 2.5%
My dermat recommended this to me as an effective BPO gel for active acne that pops up - to prevent it from growing or scarring.
✅ Pros: It definitely works to slow down the pimple’s growth. It’s easy to use, cheap, and readily available.
❌ Cons: It dries my skin out a little, and I need to be reallllllly careful about when and how I’m using it. I made the rookie mistake of using it a few hours after using D’you’s Hustle serum, and the two products fought a little battle on my cheek and left a scar to remember…
🔁 Did it make it to my routine? Yes. This now sits in my cabinet for when that rogue pimple pops up. But I’m extra extra mindful about not using other actives while I’m using this and moisturising like my life depends on it.
8) Naturium Multi-Peptide Advanced Serum
✅ Pros: Beautiful texture - fluid-y and easy to absorb but feels hydrating and rich. My skin drinks it up! Love the packaging. It’s got a long list of peptides + squalene + mannitol + glycerin + rosemary extract - all incredible for the skin. I could also see my skin looking healthier and softer within a few days of use, which is a big win. $25 (~2.2k INR) for a 30ml serum pinches a wee bit, but is worth it for the kind of results I could see.
❌ Cons: Not readily available in India :(
🔁 Did it make it to my routine? Yes! But if anyone knows a similar product that’s readily available in India, please comment and let me know!
Sunscreens
9) La Roche Posay Anthelios Sunscreen SPF 60
✅ Pros: Has a matte finish and I like that the consistency is more fluid than thick / balmy. The packaging is a funky tottle bottle that also makes it super easy to carry. I don’t think I need it, but I appreciate the extra SPF. It also manages not to smell bad despite having no added fragrance. Love that it has no octinoxate (an old gen filter that nobody should be using in 2025/26).
❌ Cons: I hated the texture - felt chalky and heavy. Not as oily as one would expect but it literally feels like I’m rubbing chalk powder on my face. It's a bummer that this formulation lists ‘denatured alcohol’ as the second ingredient. It's usually used to improve texture and reduce oil but it can be highly drying, and in some cases, even cause skin irritation.
🔁 Did it make it to my routine? Nope. I’m now using the leftover product on my arms.
10) Biore Aqua Rich Sunscreen SPF 50
A complete impulse buy. At midnight in a Hong Kong pharmacy’s skincare aisle. The brand’s rep and the pharma setting made me think I could ignore the INCI list before buying it (the non-English packaging didn’t help matters).
✅ Pros: The application experience is incredible - absorbs almost instantly and leaves a nice sheen on the skin (which I love on my dry skin, but do realise that folks with oily skin may not appreciate). Interesting neon-blue packaging - I don’t love it, but it’s not your usual sunscreen packaging for sure.
❌ Cons: This sunscreen has been my biggest heartbreak of 2025 (maybe some exaggeration there). I walked into the office one morning, forcing everyone to try what I thought was my ultimate golden find, till one of them made me open INCIdecoder and actually read the ingredients. Turns out, this has added fragrance, octinoxate, and - hold your breath - ethanol as the 2nd ingredient. So yes, I’d been rubbing ethanol on my face for weeks till I bothered actually investigating the ingredients - let this be your lesson, folks.
🔁 Did it make it to my routine? Nope.
✅ Here’s my skincare wishlist for 2026:
Sunscreens without octinoxate. It bums me out that every time I fall in love with a sunscreen (usually because of its texture), I realise it’s designed with old gen filters like octinoxate that are proven to be bad for the body and the environment.
Effective acne cleansers without any added fragrance. I get it - most acne-fighting actives smell terrible. But their job is to calm acne on sensitive skin, not to perfume the face. Adding “parfum” to a medicated cleanser defeats the purpose IMO.
More research on (and maybe some easy-to-use products for) things I can eat and drink to keep my skin healthy from within. I do think better hydration in 2025 already helped my skin perk up, but I’m keen to infuse more goodness like amla, spinach, and beetroot into my routine in a more seamless way. If you have ideas / recipes on this, please comment and let me know!
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