Skincare science, simplified

Latest articles

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  Is La Mer Worth It? We Read All Three Ingredient ListsOctober 20, 2026
  Ask whether Crème de la Mer is worth it and you will get the same answer everywhere, usually from someone who has read the ingredient list badly or not at… Read more: Is La Mer Worth It? We Read All Three Ingredient Lists
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  The C E Ferulic Patent Expired. Here Is What a Dupe Has to MatchOctober 13, 2026
  The patent behind C E Ferulic expired on 24 March 2025. A steady run of articles has since explained that the dupes are finally legal, listed five bottles and moved… Read more: The C E Ferulic Patent Expired. Here Is What a Dupe Has to Match
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  What an Ingredient List Actually Tells You About ConcentrationOctober 6, 2026
  Sooner or later every skincare argument arrives at the same sentence: the cheap one and the expensive one have basically the same ingredients. Sometimes they do. Almost nobody who says… Read more: What an Ingredient List Actually Tells You About Concentration
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  SPF 50 vs SPF 100: Why “Only 1% More” Misreads the NumbersSeptember 29, 2026
  There is a line that turns up whenever someone asks whether SPF 100 is worth it: SPF 50 blocks about 98% of the UV that burns you, SPF 100 blocks… Read more: SPF 50 vs SPF 100: Why “Only 1% More” Misreads the Numbers
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  Collagen Pills vs Peptide Serums: What the 2026 Meta-Analysis Actually FoundSeptember 22, 2026
  In March 2026 a systematic review in Frontiers in Medicine pooled 19 randomized trials of peptides for skin aging and put its conclusion in a box at the top of… Read more: Collagen Pills vs Peptide Serums: What the 2026 Meta-Analysis Actually Found
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  The Retinol Conversion Numbers Nobody Can SourceSeptember 15, 2026
  Somewhere in the last few years, skincare writing settled on a set of conversion numbers. One percent retinol is supposedly a match for 0.05% tretinoin. Retinaldehyde is about ten times… Read more: The Retinol Conversion Numbers Nobody Can Source

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We are not a laboratory. We are the people who read the ingredient list and the research behind it. Read more about us.