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Your skin deserves a spa day, even if your schedule doesn’t allow for one. Don’t worry — we’ve got you covered!
Whether you’re dealing with dryness, sensitivity, or environmental stressors, there are several skincare essentials available that can rescue and refresh your complexion. From ultra-hydrating serums to barrier-repairing balms, the stand-out products on our list will elevate your skincare routine and reveal your most radiant, healthy skin yet. It's time to discover the ultimate picks for transforming your skin, one luxurious treatment at a time.
To help us curate our list, we scoured Amazon to learn about what products could change the game for your skin. We also sought advice from Radha Patil, specialist dermatologist at Medcare Royal Speciality Hospital, Dubai. Don't forget to shop with Amazon Prime for free, fast delivery!
1. Best Overall: La Roche Posay Cicaplast Baume B5
Is your skin feeling a little rough around the edges? La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5 can be your go-to remedy. This versatile balm offers a soothing and protective shield for irritated, damaged, or sensitive skin. It's a popular choice for many, thanks to its ability to promote skin regeneration and provide comfort. This multi-purpose balm tackles a range of skin concerns, from cracked, dry, and chapped skin to minor burns and irritations. Its effective blend of active ingredients plays a crucial role in skin healing and repair. Panthenol (vitamin B5) stimulates cell regeneration, calms irritation, and provides long-lasting hydration. Madecassosid, extracted from Centella Asiatica, accelerates skin regeneration, reduces inflammation, and promotes wound healing. Shea butter and glycerin offer deep hydration, preventing dryness and flaking, while creating a protective barrier to shield the skin from environmental aggressors. This cream is particularly beneficial for post-acne healing, reducing redness, irritation, and fading marks left by blemishes. With its soothing and protective properties, La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5 is a must-have for anyone seeking to restore their skin's health and vitality.
2. Best for Sensitive Skin: CeraVe Healing Ointment
When a product combines ceramides and hyaluronic acid, you’re in for a skincare treat. Packed with the two powerhouses, this ointment not only heals but also locks in moisture, creating a protective layer. The formula replenishes the skin's barrier, often compromised by dryness, by using three essential ceramides. This strengthens the skin, promoting healing and preventing future damage. Hyaluronic acid, a star ingredient, attracts and retains water, ensuring deep hydration and efficient healing. Petrolatum (46.5 per cent) forms a protective barrier without suffocating the skin, making the ointment comfortable for daily use. Perfect for severely dry, cracked skin, whether caused by weather, over-washing, or conditions like eczema, this non-greasy, fragrance-free, and hypoallergenic ointment is gentle yet powerful. Whether as a daily routine, post-procedure recovery, or multi-purpose product, CeraVe Healing Ointment promises effective skin healing and barrier protection.
3. Best for Restoring Moisture Retention: Eucerin Original Healing Cream
For those in need of serious relief and restoration, Eucerin's Original Healing Cream delivers exactly what your skin craves. This cream is known for its rich, thick texture, specially crafted to provide intense hydration for extremely dry skin. With a hefty 30 per cent petrolatum, it acts as a powerful occlusive agent that forms a protective shield over your skin. This shield locks in moisture and prevents water loss, crucial for maintaining hydration and accelerating skin healing. The cream doesn’t just guard against dryness — it actively restores and strengthens your skin’s natural barrier. By rebuilding this essential barrier, Eucerin Original Healing Cream helps your skin retain moisture and fend off external irritants and harsh conditions, reducing the risk of further damage. Helpful for those with sensitive skin or conditions like eczema, psoriasis, or dermatitis, this formula is fragrance-free, dye-free, and non-comedogenic. This means it’s incredibly gentle and minimises the risk of irritation, making it suitable for use on both the face and body.
4. Best for Irritated Skin: Avene Tolerance Control Soothing Skin Recovery Cream
If your skin needs a little TLC (tender loving care) after a dermatological procedure, look no further than Avène Tolerance Control Soothing Skin Recovery Cream. This French skincare gem can be your skin’s sanctuary, offering a calming retreat with every application. Infused with soothing thermal spring water, it’s crafted to gently protect and restore your skin’s barrier, making it perfect for ultra-sensitive and reactive skin types. The formula is designed to minimise irritation and allergic reactions, so even the most delicate skin can enjoy its benefits. Besides Avène’s thermal spring water, the cream includes dextran sulfate, which works to reduce inflammation and redness, and squalane, a plant-derived emollient that deeply moisturises and replenishes the skin’s lipid barrier. This dynamic duo helps prevent dryness and keeps your skin feeling smooth and supple. With its rich, yet lightweight texture, this cream provides intense hydration without any greasy residue. It combats dryness and flakiness, improving skin texture and restoring a healthy, balanced complexion. Whether you’re recovering from a procedure or simply need extra care for sensitive skin, Avène Tolerance Control Soothing Skin Recovery Cream is your go-to for ultimate comfort and rejuvenation.
5. Best Hydrating Cleanser: Neutrogena Hydro Boost
Hyaluronic acid is truly the star of the skincare world, and Neutrogena Hydro Boost harnesses its incredible power to deliver exceptional hydration. This potent ingredient can hold up to 1,000 times its weight in water, ensuring your skin stays plump and hydrated for longer. Hydro Boost goes beyond just moisturising; it fortifies your skin’s natural moisture barrier, crucial for locking in hydration and defending against environmental stressors. With its ability to enhance your skin's barrier function, this formula not only keeps your skin beautifully hydrated but also boosts its overall health and resilience.
6. Best for Inflamed Skin: Kiehl's Ultra Facial Advanced Repair Barrier
Revitalise your skin with Kiehl’s advanced formula. This cream excels at fortifying the skin’s natural barrier, which acts as a crucial shield against water loss and external threats like pollutants, UV rays, and harsh weather. By restoring essential lipids, the cream strengthens and repairs the barrier, effectively reducing transepidermal water loss (TEWL) and offering robust protection against environmental stressors. It also aids in enhancing the skin’s inherent repair processes, boosting the barrier’s resilience to damage and minimising further irritation, thus promoting overall skin health. As hydration is key to effective skin repair, this cream delivers deep, lasting moisture through a blend of hydrating agents and natural extracts. It ensures that your skin stays adequately hydrated, improving its texture and alleviating dryness and flakiness. Glycerin is also included to attract and retain moisture from the environment, keeping the skin plump and smooth, which is vital for repair and recovery. Additionally, the cream features a synergistic mix of fatty acids and antioxidants that nourish the skin, helping to soothe inflammation, reduce redness, and support cellular regeneration. By enhancing hydration and barrier function, it creates an ideal environment for the skin to heal and rejuvenate, aiding in the repair of damaged cells and restoring a healthier, more resilient complexion.
7. Best Versatile Treatment: The Ordinary Buffet
It’s just as the name suggests — a true buffet of skin-repairing goodness packed into one stellar serum. This multi-technology peptide powerhouse is your go-to for tackling a range of aging concerns while revitalising your skin’s natural radiance. Loaded with a potent mix of peptides, this serum doesn’t just sit on your skin — it actively promotes collagen production and boosts elasticity, working to smooth out those fine lines and wrinkles for a firmer, youthful glow. But that’s not all. The inclusion of amino acids fortifies your skin’s natural barrier and enhances its texture, creating a smooth, resilient surface. By combining these dynamic ingredients — peptides, hyaluronic acid, and amino acids — The Ordinary Buffet serves up a comprehensive solution that addresses everything, from sagging and loss of firmness to fine lines and uneven texture. It’s the ultimate multi-tasker for a more youthful, revitalised complexion.
The reasons for skin damage
Skin damage can come from a range of surprising sources, each playing a role in affecting our skin’s vitality.
For starters, as our experts explain, sun exposure is a leading culprit, with its UV rays causing sunburn, premature aging, and a heightened risk of skin cancer.
Moreover, pollution from smog and dust adds another layer of stress, leading to oxidative damage, inflammation, and a lacklustre complexion. The weather can wreak havoc too: Extreme weather, whether it’s the biting cold or scorching heat, can deplete the skin’s natural oils, resulting in dryness or over-perspiration. Apart from this, poor skincare habits — like using harsh products or overdoing exfoliation — can irritate and break out the skin.
The lifestyle habits accentuate these problems too, such as not drinking enough water, which makes the skin dry and vulnerable. Worse, stress is another factor. "Stress, whether emotional or physical, can flare up skin conditions and disrupt its healing processes. A diet lacking in key nutrients can leave the skin looking dull and lifeless. Additionally, medical conditions such as eczema and psoriasis can worsen skin issues, and ageing naturally erodes collagen and elasticity, leading to wrinkles and sagging. Recognising these factors helps in adopting smarter skincare habits to keep your skin healthy and radiant," explains Abbas.
A proper diagnosis, first
Patil highlights the importance of identifying the underlying cause of your skin dryness before choosing moisturisers and balms for repair. She explains that a proper diagnosis is crucial to determine if the dryness is related to an infectious disease, falls within a specific disease spectrum, or is triggered by an allergy to cosmetics. "Sometimes, our skin reacts negatively to various cosmetics, resulting in damage," she notes. Therefore, it’s essential to understand your skin type and its specific needs, whether it requires a basic moisturiser, a medicated formula, or a balm tailored to your sensitivities.
Here's how you can protect your skin
So, what can you do to protect your skin? Your strategy should involve a combination of healthy habits and preventive measures tailored to your skin's needs. Here are some effective steps to take, explain our specialists.
- Wear sunscreen: Apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen with at least SPF 30 (sun protection factor) daily, even on cloudy days. Sunscreen shields your skin from harmful UV rays, preventing sunburn, premature aging, and skin cancer.
- Hydrate well: Drink plenty of water throughout the day to keep your skin hydrated from the inside out. Use moisturisers that suit your skin type to maintain hydration and strengthen your skin’s barrier.
- Follow a gentle skincare routine: Cleanse your skin with mild, non-stripping products. Avoid harsh exfoliants and products with high levels of alcohol or artificial fragrances, which can irritate the skin.
- Use antioxidants: Incorporate products with antioxidants like vitamin C or vitamin E. These ingredients help neutralise free radicals from environmental stressors and protect against premature aging.
Our recommendations are independently chosen by Gulf News editors. If you decide to shop through links on our website, we may earn an affiliate commission, as we are part of Amazon Services LLC Associates Program.
