Get the best skincare routine for your skin and needs with this selection of online skincare regime finders and routine builders
Finding the best skincare routine can, at times, be a maze of competing products, conflicting advice, and wildly varying prices.
This is made even worse by the fact these needs change each month with our monthly cycle, as the seasons change, and as we get older. It’s a minefield.
Thankfully, skincare brands have started recognising just how difficult it can be and are creating their own skincare quizzes, online tools, and skincare routine builders.
From simple multi-quiz questions to AI-powered sites, we have located the best skincare routine finders for all your skincare needs.
To help you further, we’ve also explained how to find out what your skin type is and how best to layer skincare in our What skin type do I have? and How to layer skincare guides. You can also try makeup on virtually via our How to try makeup on online article
Below are the best skincare routine quizzes if you want to shop for different products from different brands.
Below are the best skincare routine quizzes for specific brands. These skincare finders only recommend products from the brands in question.
WANT TO KNOW MORE? Best BB cream | Best moisturiser | Best tinted moisturiser | Best toner | Best primer | Best cleanser| Best eye cream| Best anti-ageing cream | Best hand cream| Best foot cream | Best face mask | Best face exfoliator | Best face oil| Best serum| Best night cream | Best SPF | Best Vitamin C serum | Men’s skincare routine
What we love about this quiz is that Superdrug doesn’t just ask questions, it also offers to take a selfie so AI systems can make sure no areas or skin concerns are missed.
The quiz starts by asking what skin type you have. You can then pick which skin concerns bother you the most, or which you want to target specifically. These include problems like shiny skin, large pores, wrinkles, dark circles, and so on.
You can then input whether you have skin conditions, like rosacea, eczema, hyperpigmentation, and more, and tell Superdrug what region you live in so it can tailor your skincare recommendations to the level of pollution and humidity in that area. This can play such a crucial role in your skin’s texture and complexion and it’s rare for it to be taken into consideration.
It’s a slightly long process but once it’s all completed, Superdrug will recommend your ideal skincare routine for morning and night from an array of brands that Superdrug sells. You can also filter the recommendations to make sure they’re fragrance-free, vegan, organic, and paraben-free.
We were recommended brands that we’ve not seen before and would highly consider buying!
FURTHER READING: Could your phone be prematurely ageing you? Blue light can make wrinkles and fine lines worse
Take the Superdrug quiz
Sephora offers perfume, skincare, makeup, hair care, and much more and this skincare quiz helps you find your ultimate product from its vast collection, in just three clicks!
It starts by asking what skin type you are before moving on to ask what your skin goals are. For this skincare finder, these range from being blemish-free to having reduced wrinkles, firmer skin, radiance, hydration, or smaller pores. The final question asks what is important to you about your skincare, such as making sure it’s fragrance-free, vegan, alcohol-free and more.
We love that Sephora shows a whole range of different brands we didn’t know about – Sephora stocks amazing skincare brands like By Terry, Charlotte Tilbury, Wishful, CeraVe, La Roche-Posay, Estée Lauder, and plenty more – and you can even email the results to yourself. This gives you time to think about which recommended products you want to opt for.
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Take the Sephora quiz
Boots partnered with Love Island in 2021 to offer a range of holiday-inspired skincare products from Fenty Beauty, Huda Beauty, Ola Henrikson, Liz Earle, and Boots’ own No7. As part of this collab, it released a quiz to help you find your best skincare routine and this quiz is still live.
It’s quite detailed in asking your age, what your skin usually feels like before delving deeper to ask what your skin type is (on paper). It then asks you what your skincare goals are, what your current skincare routine is like, and any key skincare products you can’t live without.
Being the theme of Love Island it will ask questions about what you would do before a big night out or date. After this Boots show the perfect match for your skincare, there is a mix of products from Boots, Fenty, CeraVe, and more. Plus, if you use the code FINDTHEONE Boots offers 10% off any recommended products you buy. This code worked at the time of writing.
FURTHER READING: Boots and Macmillan launch No7 virtual beauty consultations for women going through cancer
Take the Boots quiz
This isn’t a typical skincare routine quiz because it assumes a certain level of knowledge. Namely your skin type. Lookfantastic’s beauty editor then lists the best cleansers, serums, eye creams and SPF products that will suit you and your type.
It’s far from the attention to detail seen in other quizzes in this list, but at least the site has taken the guesswork out of your morning and evening routine. Plus, under each skin type it gives a step-by-step guide on what type of cleansers, serums and so on will suit you. You can then also shop for each routine.
For example, for normal skin, the site recommends using a cream or water-based moisturiser to leave the skin looking glowing and radiant. You can read more in our The science of moisturiser guide.
The recommended products come from a wide range designed to suit different budgets including Eve Lom, SkinCeuticals, La Roche-Posay, Clinique, Elizabeth Arden, and more.
FURTHER READING:
See Lookfantastic's recs
The Inkey List’s skincare finder is a five-step quiz that goes from cleansers to sunscreen.
It starts by asking what your main skincare goals are, and you can select up to three. In the next stage, you’re asked about your eye area, then The Inkey List dives into what your skin type is. They then check if you’re pregnant because some ingredients aren’t suitable when you’re expecting. If you want to know more about this, check out our What skincare ingredients to avoid when pregnant or breastfeeding guide.
At the end of the quiz, you’ll be asked if you want to be emailed your skincare recipe builder but you can skip this bit and go straight to the results page if you don’t want to share these details.
The results present a morning and evening routine to help you achieve your skin goals, from 17,000 possible skincare routines. You can then buy all the recommendations via The Inkey List site.
FURTHER READING: Spotlight on…The Inkey List: Affordable skincare and hair care that actually does as it promises
Take The Inkey List quiz
Kiehl's Similar to the Olay Skin Advisor, the Kiehl’s Instant Skin Reader scans your face and uses AI to spot potential areas of concern.
You begin by taking (or uploading) a photo of your skin without makeup on. The Skin Reader then asks for your name, skin type, and if you have sensitive skin before analysing your photo. It will then rank a range of skin concerns out of 10.
If they score highly, they’ll be listed as a skin strength. If they rank poorly, they’re listed as a skin priority. You’re then given an overall score out of 10. We scored 5/10 and the firmness of our skin was the only skin priority we got.
The tool recommended that we invest in a good moisturiser and built a personalised skincare routine which included a cleanser, serum, moisturiser, eye cream and SPF – all from Kiehl’s obviously. You can then choose to have this routine sent to you via email, or you can add the products directly to your kart and buy it from Kiehl’s.
Note: It’s only available on mobile.
Try Kiehl's Skin Reader
