How we pick
Updated 28 October 2026
The quiz builds a short skincare routine from six answers: your skin type, what you want to work on, whether your skin reacts easily, whether you want fragrance-free products, whether you are pregnant or breastfeeding, and your budget.
The basics come first
Every routine starts with a cleanser, a moisturiser and a daily SPF that suit your skin type. If those three cost more than your budget, we swap in the cheapest ones that still suit you, and the price sticker turns coral to show you are over.
Then up to two treatments
With what is left of your budget, we add up to two treatments for the concerns you picked, choosing the ones that cover the most of them. We never add two exfoliants, and we never put an exfoliant and a retinol on the same evening. Your routine shows which evenings to use each one.
Filters we always apply
- Skin that reacts easily: only gentle products. The one exception is a low-strength retinol for fine lines, which we tell you to start on two evenings a week.
- Fragrance-free: only products listed as fragrance-free.
- Pregnant or breastfeeding: no retinoids.
Money never changes the picks
Dropwise earns a commission when you buy through a shop link (see our affiliate disclosure). The rules above do not know which shop pays what, and every product shows the same choice of shops.
Where the products come from
We choose products by hand from UK shop listings. Prices are guide prices and can change; the price at the shop is the one you pay.
Expert picks
The experts page shows products that dermatologists, doctors and skin educators with large followings have said they use or recommend, in an interview, a video or their own post. We count a product only when they name it as part of their routine, a favourite or a recommendation, never from a review, a sponsored post or a criticism. Each pick has a link to the source and its date.
- Dermatologists: UK doctors on the GMC specialist register for dermatology, which we check on the GMC's public register and link from their card. For dermatologists abroad, the credential comes from their own bio, because the US board register is not public.
- Their own brands: if an expert owns a skincare brand, we say so on their card. Their own products are marked and never count as picks.
- Medicines: we leave out prescription products, even when an expert uses one.
None of them has endorsed Dropwise. We check their videos and interviews for new picks once a month.
Celeb routines
The celeb page shows what well-known people have said they use, or what their groomer used on them, with a link to the source and its date. None of them has endorsed Dropwise.
Swipe
The swipe deck mixes our picks with products from expert picks and celeb routines, in a shuffled order that favours experts: a dermatologist's pick comes up ahead of a celeb's three times in four, and doctors' and educators' picks sit in between. Liking a product brings similar ones forward: the same brand, the same kind of product or the same person's picks. The order uses only these weights and your likes and skips, which are saved on your device, never commission.
Ingredient checks
Tap More on a swipe card to see a product's key ingredients, our ingredient check and its full ingredient list, copied from the brand's or a UK shop's page with the date we checked it. Formulas change, so the pack is always the final word.
The check states facts and never scores a product. It notes added fragrance and essential oils, the fragrance allergens the law makes brands name on the label, retinoids, exfoliating acids, parabens, alcohol high in the list and sun filters. It also notes any ingredient on the EU hormone (endocrine) disruptor lists kept at edlists.org by a group of EU national authorities: list I holds substances identified as hormone disruptors at EU level, list II those the EU is still evaluating, and list III those one national authority has identified. Only list I shows on the swipe card; lists II and III show in the More panel as a watch list. Being on a list is not a ban in itself: UK cosmetics law decides which ingredients are allowed and how much. We read the lists on 29 October 2026 and recheck them when they update, twice a year.
What Dropwise is not
Dropwise suggests cosmetic routines. It does not diagnose skin conditions or suggest prescription treatments. For acne, rosacea, eczema or a skin problem that will not settle, speak to a pharmacist or your GP.