Skincare from 2025 to 2026

And before I realized it, we’re in 2026. What a year 2025 has been, right? Like many of you, the overall nature of whatever we call our current times has made the year speed by, even as much as I consciously try to make time to slow things down.

I’ve been reading trend forecasts — a common media story across industries during the new year — and I think the idea of returning to comfort, to the things that made you happy last, is what we’re collectively pursuing. Across fashion, it’s comfy, chunky knits and ’90s aesthetics; in music, our airplay is decidedly more soft-girl Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter than anything else; and even in tech, my partner has told me about a wave of new phones that emulate the BlackBerry experience with tactile keys. And if you’re wondering where I’m going with this, it’s that I think this trend extends to how we engage, too.

Last year, I found myself missing NMDL/ITG and the blogs. As much as Instagram and TikTok produce significantly more content, there’s no genuine community — a buzzword that’s being used to death, I know. If the rise of Substack has meant anything, it’s that I suspect many of us feel this way. And so, I’m making a conscious effort to be the change I want to see by making sure I don’t let the dust settle on my own blog, The Beauty Idealist, which at this point is older than many of the brands I talk about.

And this post… is more of an exercise in simply writing rather than not. Because I saw a TikTok that made a compelling argument that the act of reading analog books — and writing — is, in itself, a tool for empowerment in a society where the powers that be seek to dumb us down and divide us into easy-to-manage sheep. I’m sharing some of the products I’ve kept close as we made the transition from 2025 to 2026.

French Farmacie Serum Radiant is a face oil that, in itself, isn’t revolutionary, but it reminds me of the value of appreciating products rather than announcements. I feel like we’re trained to expect the next product release to change our world these days, and that’s why face oils can feel a bit boring by comparison. But a good face oil is undeniable. You learn the personality of the line through the color, the feel, the scent, the way it wears and absorbs. Even a simple oil, done right, exclaims quality.

Serum Radiant is a richly red face oil thanks in large part to rosehip and sea buckthorn — two deliciously carotenoid-heavy oils. It’s light, but with a decided heft that gives me the three drops and you’re good feeling. Perhaps it’s the abundance of the formula, which includes black cumin seed, or the overall feel, which is luxurious with a tinge of grounded herbalness and wood-spice from the mix of sandalwood, frankincense, and cedarwood, layered with orange blossom and rose geranium. Think taking in a pool of flowers at a Moroccan spice market. What it taught me is that sometimes what determines how much face oil to apply doesn’t come simply from the weight of the oil, but also from its active compounds too. And it made me quite happy that even all these years later — with more bottles of face oil than I care to count — I’m still learning new things with products and my skin.

Speaking of new things, French Farmacie’s Elixir Exfoliant is maybe the first time I encountered an exfoliant in face-oil form. And it was something I needlessly complicated in my own head before I even tried it. They provide a towel with each bottle, and the instructions offer wiping down the skin like an exfoliating treatment. But I’ve simply taken to using it as an overnight face oil on days when I think, I should acid tone but don’t care to. And honestly? It’s such a delight. It’s a well-textured face oil that smells like a fruity creamsicle. It just makes me happy to use it. And on top of being a good face oil, it offers exfoliation that I imagine could be especially good for people who have a hard time with getting moisturization yet battle congestion.

The Augustinus Bader Cleansing Cream is an example of there being a product in a line for everyone. And here’s what I mean: overall, the brand is known for its moisturizer(s). If you used one of the moisturizers and didn’t like it, you’re probably not going to appreciate much from them. For me, their OG and light moisturizers were good — even great — but when I really think about it, there are moisturizers by Youth to the People, and even Kahina, that I think do just as good of a job for less. But the cleansing cream is that perfect instance where they took their talent for making creams, put it into a nice and gentler cleanser formula, and brought the price point to something within certain reason… although still questionably high, but not markedly so compared to other cream cleansers on the market. It’s gentle, lightly foaming, with an ever-so-subtle fragrance that feels comforting at the end of a long day.

I find myself taking the NuFace Aqua Gel Activator with me even though I’m a big proponent of the idea that any water-based gel product can work in its place when using a microcurrent device. It’s just a big, heavy texture that I find provides the right buffer — it makes it so that the device doesn’t “zap” my skin — and it keeps the glide in place longer. Although the instructions say you can leave the product on as a moisturizer, I find it sticky and drying in that gel way once it fully dries, so I prefer to rinse it off. But for what it does, as an activator for microcurrent devices, it really is good enough to deserve its own spot in my travel arsenal.

While we’re on the topic of things that deserve a spot, the new Gentler Essentials Vital Fermented Essence is magic sauce. It’s, in one swoop, the embodiment of Asian skincare dominance: a fermentation complex that levels up what SK-II introduced to the market decades ago, paired with signaling peptides that improve upon K-beauty’s PDRN breakthrough by actually making it through to the skin. It’s rich in galactomyces — the ferment that brought SK-II all of its acclaim — but it also includes ingredients new to skincare, like immunoglobulins (proteins that exist in plasma and colostrum and are responsible for growth and immunity). This might seem at odds with the Gentler Essentials ethos of pared-down essentials, except that the formula is purposeful in the same way Ambrosia Beauty Nectar is: heavy-hitting players in a streamlined formula, gentle, and effective. It’s a marvel of an essence that sinks in like water, feels like biomedicine, and absolutely gives my skin a magic glow-up.

It unsurprisingly pairs well with Gentlerist Cocoon Dew, a face mist that feels like it’s out to prove that mists can be the thing that makes all the difference. Here’s why: it’s as pleasurable and sensorial as your favorite garden-flower mist — this has rose, neroli, ylang-ylang, lavender, cucumber… basically the most lush garden — only it’s not doing it with essential oils, which feels, in my opinion, like a cheat when it comes to face mists. Why? Because when you rely on essential oils for a face mist you’re not really using the medium to provide good water-based ingredients that way, a waste of an opportunity in my book. Cocoon Dew, though, keeps it all in the water family and seems hell-bent on proving that something in mist form can be seriously hydrating — and to that end, it’s highly and surprisingly successful. It’s not suffocating, not weighty, but once it goes on the skin, it genuinely plumps and replenishes. There’s a whole lot of clinical biomimetics, or in other words, proven natural moisture factors and humectants that the skin naturally produces for moisture and hydration, that this mist re-supplements in real time. It even provides a complex of skin minerals delivered through fermentation. I hate to sound like an ad, but there have been times when I’ll spray it, touch my face ten minutes later, and think, ‘it’s truly hydrating and refining.‘

Then there’s the U Beauty Resurfacing Compound, which I sometimes use as my catch-all serum because it does everything. There are exfoliating acids, retinol, vitamin C. If you’re wondering whether it’s too good to be true, here’s what I’ll say: the trade-off is that it’s not a particularly strong acid, retinol, or vitamin C serum. But it’s gentle, it has the actives, and it makes the skin feel good. Is it best-in-class at anything? Well, the acid isn’t as performance-driven as a P50, the retinol used is retinyl palmitate — which is weaker compared to other forms — but it’s most likely used because it’s stable and works well with vitamin C (sodium ascorbyl phosphate, the form used here, which is stable but not powerful enough to be a standalone vitamin C serum) and vitamin E. Does this matter? Only insofar as aligning expectations. You’re getting tempered performance, but you’re getting it across categories at the same time, in a nice-feeling gel, and your skin likely won’t be irritated by it. The thin, honey-like gel is pleasing, and if you want to knock out your skincare checklist of ingredients you should be using, this does it. Does it replace any of my specialized serums? No. But I love having it as a night-time catch-all when I’m tired, and who doesn’t want simpleness?

Now, the U Beauty Return Eye Concentrate is a winner of an eye serum. I had high hopes going into it because I follow U Beauty founder Tina Craig, and I know how much thought she puts into eye products — even before she had U Beauty and was reviewing other skincare lines this was a big category for her. It’s the perfect light-yet-sufficient cream texture. It never pulls or tugs at the skin, leaves just enough slip to keep the under-eye area well moisturized, and — for lack of a better word — brings it together without any fuss. And as I’ve gotten older, this has become more important, because my eye products really do have to pull their weight.

On that final note about pulling its weight, Gentlerist’s Halcyon is a hallmark of a cleanser that has already become something of an icon for the if-you-know-you-know crowd. For those unfamiliar with the lore: under YÜLI, it was initially one of the very few true foaming gel cleansers in the green beauty space — and even rarer if we filter out cleansers that rely on castile soap as their cleansing system. When Gentlerist updated it, they patched up the holes in the product, namely the fact that it was very watery and lacked some of that cleanser oomph. Now it’s a true gel cleanser that feels — again, for lack of a better word — delicious, because you know the honeyed gel texture and fresh, uplifting aroma come from real botanicals, not synthetics. The formula heralds an over 80% serum-level ingredients list with peptides, vitamins, and adaptogens. The nature remains gentle, but everything has more gravitas and sophistication for a truly remarkable cleanse that feels thorough, refreshing, and reviving at the same time.

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Let me know what has helped carry you through the year!