The best skincare routine is one that’s personalised, and they are on the rise as more people read up on their skin
- Personalised skincare is based on hi-tech analysis of your skin’s specific needs. Clinics hand-mix formulas to deal with hydration, pigmentation and ageing
- Experts weigh in on the best skincare brands to use, why it is important to book regular skin checks and what external factors can impact our complexions
It’s little wonder hyper-personalised skincare has emerged when you consider just how many products are on the market, how many experts there are (real or otherwise, especially on TikTok), and how many regimes have moved beyond necessity towards an act of self-care.
Skincare is not what it used to be. Dr Joseph Hkeik, a cosmetic doctor and owner of All Saint Clinic in Sydney, Australia – which specialises in bespoke and technically advanced skin treatments – says personalised skincare is an inevitable evolution.
Hkeik says skincare technology has evolved, allowing clinicians to better tailor treatments to clients and to pick up issues before they become visible.
“At All Saint Clinic, we are able to freshly compound these products to match each client’s specific prescription of active ingredients within just five minutes,” he says. “Often this will involve one for morning and one for their evening regime.
“We also utilise very hi-tech skin analysis tools that enable us to deeply assess the skin’s needs – often detecting signs of damage or ageing not yet visible to the naked eye.
Two brands Hkeik sees as leaders in this category are the doctor-only brand Universkin, formulated by clinicians for patients, and SkinCeuticals, with its Custom Dose serum formulations.
Meanwhile in Australia, The Secret Skincare, launched by two cosmetic medical professionals – Blanc skin clinic owner Dr Clara Hurst and general practitioner Dr Deb Cohen-Jones – aims to make prescription, personalised skin care more accessible with products that can be customised to an individual’s needs.
If you have ever had a facial with Biologique Recherche, you will know the brand’s Skin Instant Lab skin analysis tool is used to determine the skin’s hydration levels, density and other criteria, before a combination of products and methods is decided by the therapist.
“Every person’s skin condition changes several times a day, as well as during a lifetime,” points out Aurélie Abbinanti, communications manager at Biologique Recherche Paris. “We don’t have one skin but several: the skin of our forehead is different from our T-zone and different from our eye contour or neck.
“The artificial categorisation of skin as normal, dry, or oily provides a poor physiological definition of a skin’s condition and only gives a stationary image of the epidermal cosmetic imbalances.”
As Abbinanti notes, there are many external factors, such as air pollution, as well as internal factors like stress, lifestyle, and age that will impact the make-up of each individual’s skin.
“Through our wide bank of active ingredients and the infinity of combinations of professional treatments, we can cater to each individual epidermis’ conditions, adapting our products and treatments to their specific needs. This gives us the opportunity to react properly to any changes they may have.”
Abbinanti says one of the biggest technological advances is in how much precise information can be gathered about an individual’s skin. She says people are far more knowledgeable about their skin now.
The most advanced of Biologique Recherche’s personalised skincare offerings is its Haute Couture programme. Developed in 2012, it uses devices to measure skin parameters such as hydration, water spots and pigmentation and take scientific photographs of the face that can show in alarming detail the size of pores, and more.
The brand will then create customised products and prescribe a regime to be followed for one, three or six months. Each month, clients check in with their doctor and receive a new batch of specifically formulated products.
Skincare expert Melanie Grant, who has salons around the world and has always offered her clients a customised approach, has just started offering the Haute Couture programme in her Sydney salon. She personally has experienced incredible results.
“There are so many elements to this method that I feel excited about finally being able to offer, but it’s the truly preventative ethos paired with such a highly detailed and personalised approach [that] thrills me most,” she says.
“The potential for results with these formulas is incredible. I’ve experienced such a marked change in my skin since incorporating them into my daily regime – particularly around building collagen and volume, an improvement in barrier function and the level of hydration my skin is retaining.
Ultimately, as Grant – who has just released her first book, A Modern Guide to Skin Health – notes, while the Haute Couture programme will bring long-term results, you need to be consistent when it comes to maximising efficacy.
“When it comes to optimal skin health, consistency is key,” she says. “Using just a handful of products that are specific to our individual skin will always yield optimal results.
“Personalised skincare is the epitome of that – it allows us to care for our skin in a really specific way and as such, means we don’t have to do as much.
“I can only imagine we will continue to see more of this type of product offering in the near future.”
