One tool that work out a number and two guided checks
Everything here runs on your device and nothing is sent to us. None of these tools is a diagnosis, and none of them can see your skin.
Skin profile builder
Four questions that give you a starting point, so you can stop buying products aimed at somebody else's skin.
Assumptions this uses
- Skin type is inferred from how your face feels a few hours after washing, which is the most reliable at-home signal there is.
- “Easily irritated” is treated as a separate axis from dry, oily or combination — you can be any type and still react easily.
- Sun protection is treated as the highest-value habit regardless of skin type.
- Nothing here is inferred about your health, your history, or any condition.
Limitations: It cannot see your skin, it does not know your history or your medications, and it cannot identify a condition. It gives you a category to start from, not an answer.
Runs entirely in your browser.
Skin type is not permanent
It shifts with season, indoor heating, air conditioning, water hardness, medication and age. A moisturiser that was right in July is frequently too light in January, and that is not the moisturiser failing. Re-run this when the weather turns, and treat the answer as a starting point rather than a label you are stuck with.
Routine builder
Turns a skin description and an honest time budget into an ordered morning and evening routine you have some chance of actually doing.
Assumptions this uses
- A routine you will complete daily outperforms a longer one you abandon, so the time budget you enter is treated as a hard constraint rather than a suggestion.
- Sunscreen is always in the morning routine, at every step count.
- Actives are introduced at a reduced frequency — two or three nights a week — rather than daily.
- Skin marked as easily irritated has serums removed from the morning, to reduce the number of leave-on products.
- Order follows thinnest to thickest, water before oil, sunscreen last.
Limitations: It suggests categories and an order, not brands or specific products. It cannot know how your skin will respond, and eight to twelve weeks of consistent use is the minimum before any routine can be fairly judged.
Runs entirely in your browser.
The Everyday Personal Care Starter Guide
Six products, what each one is for, and a cupboard audit you can work through in twenty minutes.
Get the free guide →What it actually costs you
The sticker price of a product tells you almost nothing. This works out what a year of it costs, which is the number worth comparing.
Assumptions this uses
- Cost per use is the price divided by the number of uses in the container, based on the amount you enter per use.
- A year is treated as 52 weeks and a month as 4.33 weeks.
- The amount per use is your estimate — a pea and a fingertip are very different quantities, and the result moves a long way between them.
- It assumes you finish the container before it degrades, which is not always true of small expensive products.
Limitations: It measures money, not suitability. A cheaper product that irritates you is not the better buy, and this tool has no way of knowing which is which.
Runs entirely in your browser.
What we can and cannot help with
We can help you work out what a product category is for, what to look for on a label, and which questions to take to a professional. We cannot look at your skin, tell you what a rash is, or promise a product will work for you. Anything persistent, painful, spreading or getting worse is a reason to see someone rather than to buy something.