... AND HERE’S HER GUIDE TO GETTING IT RIGHT

JUDGING from the questions I receive from readers, most people assume the price of skincare is the best indicator of how good it is. This just isn’t true. Instead . . .

CHECK THE LABEL: When you spot the ingredients you’re looking for high up, you know you’re on to a winner. After skincare brand The Ordinary blew apart the industry by revealing that active ingredients cost next to nothing, all bets are off. RECOGNISE THE RUBBISH:

Know what you don’t want and make sure it’s not in the first half of your ingredients list. I’m talking fillers such as petrolatum, silicones, alcohol, and isopropyl myristate. They have a function, but you don’t want to see them making up the bulk of your facial products.

LOOK FOR LATIN: High levels of ‘extracts’ and Latin names (which often refer to botanicals) are a good indication your product is nourishing and active.

DO THE MATHS: A good trick for gauging whether you’re getting a decent amount of active ingredients is to look where they sit on the list in relation to preservatives (such as the popular phenoxyethanol) and fragrance. The former is approved at concentrations up to 1 per cent, while fragrance is found at levels between 0.01 and 0.5 per cent.

When you see a large number of ingredients you want, such as plant oils, vitamin C or niacinamide, languishing behind these, you can do better.

SKIP PACKAGING: Instead of novelties (crystals, little spoons, metal-clad lids), look for functionality — opaque, hermetically sealable packaging designed to keep products fresh. WATCH FOR RED FLAGS:

Products that go on about their ‘iconic scent’ or ‘melting texture’ which are ‘so important for the skincare experience’. They may well be, but they don’t add anything to the effectiveness of the product (fragrance actually hampers it) and are an excuse to whack up the price. And if you get a whiff of alcohol, it’ll make up most of the product and that is never good for your skin.

... AND GREEN LIGHTS: If a brand boasts ‘independent clinical studies’, these should be randomised, double-blind, placebocontrolled and peerreviewed. It means findings can’t be massaged. Unsurprisingly, these are quite rare.