Skincare brands · 23 brands reviewed
Skincare index
The skincare brands that earned their score. From dermatologist-tier actives to French pharmacy classics to Australian formulation specialists — every brand reviewed on the same four-axis rubric. Performance over packaging. Formulation over marketing.
Editor's top three.
All skincare brands.
23 brands · sorted by scoreFrasé Skin
Aussie men's skincare that beat the imports. Three products that work as a routine.
SkinCeuticals
The brand other skincare brands quietly benchmark themselves against. C E Ferulic is the original.
Ultra Violette
Australian-made, TGA-listed. Queen Screen the country's most-recommended daily SPF.
Medik8
The CSA framework — Vitamin C, Sunscreen, Vitamin A. The most evidence-based routine on the market.
La Roche-Posay
France's most-prescribed dermo-cosmetic. Five products to buy, three to skip.
Dermalogica
Professional skincare with salon-grade actives. The PreCleanse stays in the routine.
Alpha-H
Australia's strongest formulation brand. Acid-forward, active-led, Aussie-made.
Aesop
Melbourne apothecary that earned its luxury positioning honestly. Buy the body. Skip the actives.
Supergoop
Unseen Sunscreen — invisible finish that finally made daily SPF tolerable under makeup.
Paula's Choice
Evidence-led, fragrance-free, priced fairly. The 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant is the most-recommended exfoliant on the consumer skincare internet.
CeraVe
French pharmacy science at chemist-warehouse prices. Ceramide-led barrier care.
Kiehl's
NYC apothecary heritage, Midnight Recovery legacy, ageing-but-loved formulations.
Go-To Skincare
Zoe Foster Blake's sensitive-skin brand. Reviewed across four flagship products.
Triumph & Disaster
The New Zealand premium men's grooming brand. Closest competitor to Frasé Skin on the Australasian shelf.
The Inkey List
Direct-to-consumer actives in plain English. Solid value, retinol stable in the bottle.
Mario Badescu
Drying lotion icon plus a quiet, gentle range that gets less attention than it should.
The Ordinary
The brand that democratised skincare. Retinol, vitamin C, niacinamide tested.
Summer Fridays
Influencer-founded brand where the products outperform the marketing. Buy the lip balm and the Jet Lag Mask.
Bulldog
The mass-market men's brand that doesn't insult the buyer. $11 at Chemist Warehouse — best in tier.
Frank Body
Melbourne coffee-scrub brand. The Original Coffee Scrub is the body scrub equivalent of a great pasta dish: three ingredients, executed properly.
Drunk Elephant
Suspect-Six framing has aged poorly. The formulations are clean — the price-to-performance arbitrages The Ordinary.
Clinique
Department-store skincare that defined fragrance-free in 1968. In 2026, the actives lag the market by five years.
Two Dudes
TikTok-popular brand we wanted to love. The pricing made it impossible.
All 23 brands in the skincare category are independently reviewed by named Glow editors against the same four-axis rubric. No paid rankings.
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