Which Active for Which Concern? A Guide to Choosing Skincare Actives

Almost nobody walks into a clinic and asks for azelaic acid. They ask why the marks left by last summer are still there, or why their skin looks tired by three in the afternoon, or why the pores across their nose seem to have changed. The ingredient is never the point. The result is.

The difficulty is that skincare is sold the other way round. Actives are marketed as though the ingredient were the achievement, which leaves you to work backwards from a molecule to your own face. This guide runs in the direction people actually think. Find your concern, and you will find the active that answers it and the formula that delivers it.

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First Principles

What an active actually is

An active is the ingredient in a formula that does the work. Everything else in the bottle exists to carry it, stabilise it and make it pleasant to use. What separates a serious active from a marketing one is concentration, stability and evidence: enough of the ingredient to matter, held in a form that survives contact with air and light, with clinical work behind the claim.

A short, well-chosen group of actives will always outperform a long routine of weak ones. Most people need two or three, not eight.

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Concern by Concern

Pigmentation and dark spots

The activeVitamin C by day, retinol by night.

Pigmentation is the concern we answer most confidently, because it responds to two actives working at different points in the day. Vitamin C in the morning brightens and helps even tone while defending skin against the daily light exposure that drives new marks. Retinol at night speeds surface renewal, so pigmented cells are shed more quickly and existing marks look progressively fainter.

Reach for Exo C Booster or Pure Vitamin C Powder Cream, with Retinol Night Repair at night. Pure Vitamin C Powder Cream can also be applied directly onto individual brown spots, which is one of the few genuinely targeted things you can do at home.

More on this concern in our guide to hyperpigmentation, prevention and treatment.

Fine lines and wrinkles

The activeRetinol, supported by peptides.

Retinol remains the most rigorously studied ingredient for the appearance of lines, which is why Retinol Night Repair sits at the centre of this answer. Peptides do complementary work without the adjustment period retinol asks for, so they suit anyone whose skin will not tolerate retinol every night.

Supreme Maintenance Youth Serum contains 95% active ingredients, including peptides and resveratrol, and layers underneath a moisturiser. Serum Repair and Exo C Booster both work alongside either.

Platinum Gold Elixir is the most concentrated peptide step in the range. Use it between serum and moisturiser two or three times a week rather than daily. For anyone whose skin will not take retinol at all, it is the strongest route to the same concern.

See also Retinol 101, our complete guide to peptides and the story behind Platinum Gold Elixir.

Loss of firmness

The activePeptides, collagen support and exosome technology.

Firmness is a structural concern rather than a surface one, so the answer is a treatment serum rather than a richer cream. Supreme Maintenance Youth Serum is the hero here, with Exo C Booster and Serum Repair layered alongside it.

If the change is most obvious on the neck and décolletage, which is usually where it shows first, add Supreme Neck Lift. Skin there is thinner, gets less attention and ages faster than the face.

Our collagen guide covers the structural side in full.

Dullness and loss of glow

The activeAHA exfoliation with vitamin C.

Dull skin is usually skin that has stopped shedding efficiently. Light scatters unevenly off a build-up of dead cells, and no amount of hydration will fix it. Deep Exfoliating Mask clears that layer, and vitamin C afterwards gives the newly exposed surface something to work with.

Use Pure Vitamin C Powder Cream or Exo C Booster after the mask, not before.

Pores and texture

The activeRetinol or AHA, depending on which kind of pore.

This is the concern most often answered wrongly, because pores come in two varieties. Pores that have become more visible with age, on skin that is not especially oily, want Retinol Night Repair, which is formulated to refine. Pores on oily, shiny skin want Skin Perfecting Cream, which is formulated to minimise. Same complaint, two different answers, and using the wrong one is why people conclude that nothing works on pores.

Deep Exfoliating Mask supports both, once or twice a week.

Breakouts and congestion

The activeZinc and azelaic acid.

Breakout Cream & Powder pairs zinc with azelaic acid to calm and clear congestion without stripping the skin, which matters because aggressive drying tends to make the cycle worse. Skin Perfecting Cream manages the oil underneath it, and Deep Exfoliating Mask keeps pores clear.

One unexpected addition: vitamin C helps limit the oxidation of sebum, which is one of the processes that turns oil into congestion. Very few people think of vitamin C as an answer to breakouts.

Dehydration and tightness

The activeHyaluronic acid.

Dehydrated skin is short of water. Dry skin is short of oil. They feel similar and are treated differently, which is why so many people apply a rich cream to dehydrated skin and wonder why it still feels tight by lunchtime.

Serum Repair is the answer to dehydration: hyaluronic acid drawing water into the skin, applied to slightly damp skin and sealed with a moisturiser. If skin is dry as well as dehydrated, add Rose de Vie Serum for the oil side of the equation.

More on the formula in our guide to Serum Repair.

Redness and sensitivity

The activeBarrier repair, and no acids.

Reactive skin does not need a stronger active. It needs its barrier rebuilt, and it needs the things irritating it removed. Rose de Vie Serum, built on organic rose oil, calms and replenishes without the ingredients that provoke a reaction. Extreme Maintenance Cream layers over it.

If exfoliation is still wanted, use Deep Exfoliating Mask Sensitive Skin rather than the original formulation.

Our skin barrier guide explains what is happening underneath.

Screens, pollution and daily damage

The activeAntioxidants.

Most visible ageing is environmental rather than chronological, and city skin takes a daily accumulation of light, particulates and pollution. Antioxidants are the defensive half of a routine, and they belong in the morning, when the exposure happens.

Supreme Day Cream is the everyday answer, with Supreme Maintenance Youth Serum or Signature Serum underneath it for anyone whose exposure is heavier than average.

The botanical actives guide goes deeper on the antioxidant ingredients themselves.

Eyes: lines and puffiness

The activePeptides, and never retinol.

The skin around the eye is a fraction of the thickness of the skin on the cheek, and it will not tolerate what the rest of the face does. Peptides give you results there without the irritation. Supreme Eye Serum is the daily treatment, De-Puff Eye Treatment addresses morning puffiness, and Instant Fix Eye Lift Gel gives an immediate tightening effect before an event rather than a cumulative one.

For the eye area in detail, see our guides to eye wrinkles and crow's feet and dark circles.

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Safety

Two rules worth more than any active

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Where to Start

Where to start, by skin type

If you would rather begin from your skin type than from a single concern, this is the shortest route in.

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FAQs

Frequently asked questions

What are active ingredients in skincare?

Actives are the ingredients that produce the change you are buying the product for: retinol, vitamin C, hyaluronic acid, peptides, AHAs and so on. Everything else in a formula supports them. An ingredient only counts as an active when it is present at a concentration proven to do something and in a form stable enough to survive until it reaches your skin.

Which active is best for dark spots?

Vitamin C in the morning and retinol at night, used consistently. Vitamin C helps even tone and defends against the light exposure that creates new marks, while retinol accelerates the renewal that fades existing ones. Daily SPF is what stops you undoing both.

Can I use retinol and vitamin C together?

Not in the same application, but easily in the same routine. Vitamin C belongs in the morning, where its antioxidant protection is useful. Retinol belongs at night. Splitting them by time of day is more effective than layering them anyway.

How long does an active take to work?

Hydration is immediate. Exfoliation shows within a day. Brightening takes four to six weeks. Anything involving lines, firmness or pigmentation needs a full skin cycle at minimum, and realistically three months. Most people abandon an active shortly before it would have started working.

Can I use more than one active at once?

Yes, and most routines should. The question is sequencing rather than quantity. Lightest to richest, treatment before moisturiser, antioxidants in the morning and renewal at night. Two or three actives used properly will do more than six used inconsistently.

Are actives safe to use in pregnancy?

Retinol and retinoids are usually avoided during pregnancy, while hyaluronic acid, vitamin C and peptides are generally considered fine. This is a question for your doctor or midwife rather than a skincare brand, and it is worth asking rather than assuming.