Skin Care Tips

The Ultimate Skin-Care Guide

Wish your complexion would make an about-face? Just rely on these essential creams and cleansers — tested by women like you and handpicked for your skin type

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Best Skin-Care Products for Normal Skin

Your skin is neither too oily nor too dry, and you rarely break out or experience redness. Your pores are small (practically invisible), and though an occasional blemish may surface, it's usually tied to your period.

Best Regimen: Cleanse and moisturize daily with gentle, basic products. Look for those with antioxidants, which fight free-radical damage and stave off the signs of aging. You might also consider adding retinoids or vitamin C to your routine several times a week to boost collagen production, says Ava Shamban, a dermatologist in Santa Monica. Finally, don't forget moisturizer - one with sunscreen for the day and one without SPF at night.

Cleanser

Winner: Fresh Soy Face Cleanser, $38, www.fresh.com. A hit for its "creamy texture" and soy proteins, which keep skin tones even.
Runner-Up: Skyn Iceland Glacial Face Wash, $30.

Moisturizer with SPF

Winner: Lancôme Aqua Fusion Cream SPF 15, $37, www.lancome-usa.com. Airy in consistency, this lotion offers moisture without greasiness.
Runner-Up: Elizabeth Arden Daily Moisture Lotion SPF 15, $37.

Night Treatment

Winner: Origins High Potency Night-a-Mins Moisture Cream, $33, www.origins.com. A "thick but not greasy" blend of the antioxidant vitamins C, E, and A makes normal skin even more supple.
Runner-Up: Be Fine Food Skin Care Night Cream with Cocoa, Millet & Rice Bran, $20.

Best Skin-Care Products for Dry Skin

Blame the flakiness — along with redness and itchiness — on your skin’s barrier layer, which doesn’t retain natural oils or water as well as it should.

Best Regimen: To keep your complexion quenched and healthy, use cleansers and creams with emollient ingredients, like hyaluronic acid and ceramides. Skip foaming face washes, since they strip away lipids, and avoid anything containing harsh retinoids and alpha hydroxy acids, says Fran Cook-Bolden, a dermatologist in New York City. If your skin is very flaky or peeling, try a face oil under your moisturizer — it will smooth out your skin in a flash.

Cleanser

Winner: CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser, $11.50 at drugstores. It “moisturized beautifully,” thanks to hyaluronic acid and ceramides.
Runner-Up: YSL Softness Cleansing Silky Balm Radiance Revealer, $37.

Moisturizer with SPF

Winner: Hampton Sun Super Hydrating Face Cream SPF 15, $40, Vitamin-packed protection that left skin “soft and supple.”
Runner-Up: Skin Effects Preventing Effects Lightweight Moisturizing Soufflé SPF 30+, $16.

Night Treatment

Winner: Boots No. 7 Moisture Quench Night Cream, $13, So thick and emollient, it cleared up dry patches overnight.
Runner-Up: Shiseido Pureness Moisturizing Gel Cream, $31.

Best Skin-Care Products for Oily Skin

Soon after you wash your skin, it looks shiny. You may suffer from blackheads and breakouts that aren't tied to your monthly cycle, and your pores are medium to large.

Best Regimen: Help keep your pores unclogged by sloughing away dead skin cells daily with products that contain salicylic acid or alpha hydroxy acids. And, logic to the contrary, it's important to moisturize: If your skin's surface gets dehydrated, your sebaceous glands, which produce oil, will kick in to action (brace yourself!). Use oil-free lotions and sunscreens, which won't exacerbate acne, says Leslie Baumann, a professor of dermatology at the University of Miami, in Florida, and the author of The Skin Type Solution (Bantam, $12, www.amazon.com).

Cleanser

Winner: Bioré Blemish Fighting Ice Foaming Cleanser, $6 at drugstores. Made with salicylic acid, it sopped up oil without drying - and won kudos.
Runner-Up: N.V. Perricone Outpatient Therapy Pore Refining Cleanser, $35.

Moisturizer with SPF

Winner: Estée Lauder DayWear Plus SPF 15 for Oily Skin, $38, www.esteelauder.com. This lightweight mattifying lotion combats the aging process with antioxidant ingredients.
Runner-Up: Clean & Clear Morning Glow Moisturizer SPF 15, $6.

Night Treatment

Winner: Lather AHA Facial Therapy with Copper & Borage Extract, $24, www.lather.com. This light moisturizer sloughs off dead skin cells with alpha hydroxy acids.
Runner-Up: Zia Treatments Alpha Hydroxy Citrus Night Time Reversal, $30.

Best Skin-Care Products for Sensitive Skin

Almost any new product, especially one that contains fragrance or preservatives, provokes a response - usually in the form of redness or stinging.

Best Regimen: A daily dose of gentle products is the way to go. Avoid anything with an added scent, says New York City dermatologist Doris Day, and pass up eye creams, which can irritate that delicate area. Calm itchiness and redness with products that contain anti-inflammatory ingredients, like green tea and licorice-root extract. And don't skimp on sun protection: Just choose products with gentle UVA-blocking ingredients, like zinc oxide and Mexoryl.

Cleanser

Winner: Clinique Redness Solutions Soothing Cleanser, $21, www.clinique.com. This cleanser delivers "dramatic improvement" in redness with oat and sea-whip extracts, and it doesn't foam, so it's not drying.
Runner-Up: Purpose Gentle Cleansing Wash, $6.

Moisturizer with SPF

Winner: La Roche-Posay Anthelios SX Daily Moisturizing Cream with Sunscreen SPF 15, $29, www.laroche-posay.com. A returning champ (readers named it a favorite in last year's "Best Drugstore Beauty Buys"), the lotion contains Mexoryl, a gentle UVA filter.
Runner-Up: Aveeno Ultra-Calming Daily Moisturizer SPF 15, $14.

Night Treatment

Winner: Eucerin Redness-Relief Soothing Night Cream, $15 at drugstores. Fragrance-free, nonclogging, and infused with licorice extract to reduce red blotches. Panelists loved it.
Runner-Up: Mario Badescu Control Cream, $26.

Best Skin-Care Products for Mature Skin

As you enter perimenopause and estrogen levels begin to drop, you experience a slowdown in both oil production and skin-cell renewal. The result: skin that lacks elasticity and looks dull. You may also start noticing fine lines, brown spots, and rough patches as past sun damage (oh, misguided youth!) manifests itself.

Best Regimen: Get your youthful glow back with products that contain antioxidants and retinoids. The former fight the free-radical damage that ages skin, and the latter boost collagen production to keep it firm. Since your skin is slow to slough off dead cells, dermatologists recommend using a weekly at-home peel to help it along.