It’s hard enough to know what each skin care ingredient can do for your skin. And even harder to choose which one you should invest your money in. To make your life a little bit easier, we’ve rounded up the top 5 skin care ingredients dermatologists swear by. Ready to take notes?
If you ever asked yourself what’s the secret behind a baby’s cute, soft, dewy skin, here is the answer! Squalane is a sugarcane derivative of squalene, a natural component of our skin—and the secret behind baby’s skin. The bad news is that, as time goes by, we lose squalene and, when we reach our early 20s, most of it is already gone.
Besides being a super effective moisturizer on its own, squalane products also work to boost the effects of any other ingredient you use in your skin care regimen. That’s because it helps other ingredients to penetrate deeper into the skin for better results.
Skin Care Products with Squalane: Make P:Rem Safe Me. Relief Moisture Cream 12, Then I Met You Honey Dew Lip Mask, and Etude House SoonJung 10 Free Moist Emulsion
As you may already know, niacinamide, also known as nicotinamide, is a form of vitamin B3. This skin care ingredient is definitely a multitasker you’d want to have around: It soothes, moisturizes, treats hyperpigmentation, reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and improves your skin’s barrier function (translation: helps your skin to stay hydrated for longer while protecting against irritating and harmful substances).
This multitasker also boosts collagen production (hello, elasticity!) and even helps to treat blemishes and acne scars.
Skin Care Products with Niacinamide: Missha’s Time Revolution First Treatment Essence and Beauty of Joseon Ginseng Essence Water
Just like squalene, hyaluronic acid is also found in the human body, and it is an ingredient that helps us keeping our skin bright and plump. Again, just like squalene, hyaluronic acid diminishes with age. Dermatologists love this ingredient mostly because of its moisturizing and volumizing properties (did someone say “bye-bye fine lines?”). Think: Its molecule can hold up to 1,000 times its weight in water! Not only that, but it actually acts like an exceptional water magnet, with the ability to pull moisture from the air down through your skin. As if it wasn’t enough, hyaluronic acid also works to revert damages caused from harmful rays.
Skin Care Products with Hyaluronic Acid: The Plant Base Waterfall Moist Balanced Hyaluronic Acid 100 and Hanskin Hyaluron Skin Essence
Green tea leaves are rich in antioxidants, which makes this ingredient a great call to preserve the collagen and elastin in your skin, prevent fine lines and wrinkles, and protect your complexion from sun damage. But a lot of green tea success comes from its acne-fighting properties: This anti-inflammatory reduces excessive oil production while calming and soothing even the most sensitive skin.
Skin Care Products with Green Tea: Neogen’s Bio-Peel Gauze Peeling Green Tea and Benton Deep Green Tea Serum
You’ve heard us raving about the super powers of vitamin C so many times, and the reason is because this may be the number one top anti-aging ingredient of all time! It boosts the collagen production (while protecting the collagen you already have, by the way), treats and fades away hyperpigmentation, and even prevents DNA damage from UV rays when applied before sunscreen.
Dermatologists also like to reinforce the fact that you can combine vitamin C with many other amazing skin care ingredients (including retinol). Just be aware if you use AHAs, since they change vitamin C’s pH, destabilizing it and making it inactive. One extra tip: Make sure you keep your magic bottle away from sunlight to preserve the product.
Skin Care Products with Vitamin C: Klairs’ Freshly Juiced Vitamin C Serum and Banila Co.’s Clean It Zero Classic