What a skincare routine that works costs: the three steps that matter and what makes a bottle expensive

A considered routine starts at three products, and all three can be had for less than a single high-end serum. Cleanser, moisturiser and sunscreen: that is what holds the result up. The rest — a retinoid, an antioxidant, an eye cream — comes in when there is a specific priority calling for it, and that is when the bill goes up.

The question that reaches the consulting room is not “how much does it cost”, it is “is the €150 cream worth it?”. The honest answer has two parts: there are steps where paying more changes little, and there is one where spending too little ruins everything else. This page explains which is which, and with real prices.

The amounts shown here are our shop’s and are read live. This page sits inside the dermocosmetics guide, where the legal framework of what a cream can promise is set out, and the full routine by skin type is built by the skincare routine tool.

The three steps, and where the evidence for each one lies

Not every step in a routine rests on the same thing. In order of solidity:

1. Sun protection. It is the only cosmetic with a randomised trial running over years behind it. In a study of 903 adults with four and a half years of follow-up, skin ageing measured by microtopography was 24% lower in the daily-use group than in the discretionary-use group. No other product in a routine can show anything like that.

2. Retinoids. The benchmark trial with 0.4% retinol, arm against arm and double-blind, showed significant improvement in fine wrinkles against the vehicle at 24 weeks. Watch the small print: the population had a mean age of 87 and it was measured on arm skin. It serves to show that retinol induces measurable changes, not to promise a specific result on a 40-year-old face.

3. Moisturiser. There is no spectacular trial backing it, and it is indispensable all the same: it is what makes everything else tolerable. On oily skin, stopping moisturising is the classic mistake.

4. Antioxidants and depigmenting agents. Here the evidence exists and is more modest. Niacinamide at 5% improved lines, pigmentation and texture in 12-week half-face trials. Vitamin C only penetrates when formulated at a pH below 3.5, and its absorption peaks at 20%: above that it does not increase. These are figures that change what to look for in a bottle.

What really makes a bottle expensive

Four things put the price up, and only two should matter to you:

And a practical consequence: price per millilitre says nothing on its own. A 30 ml serum at €144 and another 30 ml one at €66 may contain the same active, with the difference lying in the concentration, in the pH or only in the bottle.

The same routine, in two budgets

Our tool resolves each profile in two ranges. They are not “the good one” and “the cheap one”: they are the more economical half and the dearer half of each step, mixing brands. For dry skin wanting to work on wrinkles and texture, starting with actives, it comes out like this:

With those four steps, the difference between one column and the other comes to around two hundred euros. The structure of the routine is identical: what changes is the product, not what is done or the order.

And there is one case worth looking at twice: the sunscreen is the same in both columns. Not for want of a high-end alternative, but because it is the one the signatories prioritise in almost every routine. There is nothing to be gained there by paying more.

Where to trim without losing results, and where not to

You can trim on:

• The cleanser. It is the product that stays on the skin for the shortest time. All it has to be is gentle and close to the skin’s pH.
• The eye cream. It is optional in almost every profile, and a gentle moisturiser reaches that area.
• The toner. It is an extra step. Our tool only offers it in the high-end range and always as optional.
• The number of products. Going from seven to four almost never makes the result worse; it often improves it, because all of them get used.

It is not a good idea to trim on:

• The amount of sunscreen. The economy that costs most is making the bottle last: the declared protection is measured with 2 mg/cm², and most people apply considerably less.
• Consistency. A retinoid used for three weeks and abandoned is money lost: the trials measure at 12 and 24 weeks.
• The moisturiser, on skin that tolerates actives badly. It is what holds the treatment up.

What the law lets you demand of a high price

The European claims regulation sets six criteria for what a cosmetic can say about itself: legal compliance, truthfulness, evidential support, honesty, fairness and informed decision-making. In practice that means a manufacturer can state “reduces expression lines” only if it has evidence of that; not that its formula is better than another, unless it has also demonstrated that.

Translated to the shop: when two products cost €66 and €144 and neither shows a comparison between the two, the difference in price is not a demonstrated difference in efficacy. There may be good reasons for the expensive one — concentration, stability, tolerance — and they are worth asking about.

When the problem is not the budget

If you have spent two years changing creams and nothing changes, the expense is not in the price of the bottles: it is that the problem is probably not a cosmetic one. Inflammatory acne, rosacea or melasma do not respond to a routine, however expensive the products. A cosmetic, by legal definition, does not treat disease; what it does well is look after the skin and accompany a medical treatment where there is one.

And there is an intermediate step almost nobody talks about: when skincare has reached its ceiling, the next thing is not a more expensive bottle, it is a treatment in the consulting room. Our tool names it at the end of each routine, with the relevant package.

Frequently asked questions

Is a €150 cream worth it?

It depends on the step. In a night treatment or an antioxidant, a high-end product usually brings more concentration, a better vehicle and packaging that protects the active, and that does show. In a cleanser, almost never. And in sun protection what matters is that you put it on in sufficient quantity every day, not what it cost.

What is the minimum you can start with?

Three products: a gentle cleanser, a moisturiser suited to your skin and a sunscreen. That is enough to hold a routine up, and it is what we recommend to anyone starting out. Actives are added afterwards, one at a time.

How long does a bottle last?

It depends on the format and on how much you use, and that is why we do not give a figure: it would be invented. What we do know is that sunscreen applied in the right amount lasts a good deal less than people expect, and that a serum in a pump goes further than one in a jar.

Are pharmacy brands worse than clinic ones?

It is not a question of channel. There are excellent over-the-counter products and there are professionally dispensed products that add nothing. The real difference with professional dispensing is the concentration of some actives and the fact that someone prescribes which one and how, which is where most people go wrong.

Is it worth buying the brand’s set or box?

Only if you are going to use everything in it. A set with seven products, of which you will use three, is dearer than buying three.

And generics or “dupes”?

With an active whose concentration is declared and which is well formulated, a cheaper product can do the same thing. The problem is that the label states neither the concentration nor the pH, so the honest comparison cannot always be made from the pack. What can be read is in how to read a cosmetic label.

Are the prices on this page today’s?

Yes: they are read live from the shop when you open the page. If a product changes price or stops being sold, it changes here too.

Sources

• Hughes MCB, Williams GM, Baker P, Green AC. Sunscreen and prevention of skin aging: a randomized trial. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2013;158(11):781-790. PMID 23732711. — A 4.5-year randomised trial in 903 adults: skin ageing measured by microtopography was 24% lower with daily sunscreen use than with discretionary use. It is the only long-term randomised trial supporting a cosmetic against ageing.
• Kafi R, Kwak HS, Schumacher WE, et al. Improvement of naturally aged skin with vitamin A (retinol). Archives of Dermatology, 2007;143(5):606-612. PMID 17515510. — Randomised, double-blind, arm-against-arm trial with 0.4% retinol for 24 weeks: significant improvement in fine wrinkles against the vehicle. ⚠️ A population with a mean age of 87 and arm skin: it demonstrates the mechanism, not a result that can be promised.
• Bissett DL, Oblong JE, Berge CA. Niacinamide: A B vitamin that improves aging facial skin appearance. Dermatologic Surgery, 2005;31(7 Pt 2):860-865. PMID 16029679. — Half-face trials with 5% niacinamide for 12 weeks, with improvement in lines, pigmentation and texture. A low-cost active with reasonable evidence.
• Pinnell SR, Yang H, Omar M, et al. Topical L-ascorbic acid: percutaneous absorption studies. Dermatologic Surgery, 2001;27(2):137-142. PMID 11207686. — L-ascorbic acid only penetrates when formulated at a pH below 3.5, and its absorption peaks at 20%: above that it does not increase. It is the reason the price of a vitamin C cannot be judged by the percentage on the bottle.
• Commission Regulation (EU) No 655/2013 laying down common criteria for the justification of claims used in relation to cosmetic products. EUR-Lex. — Six criteria: legal compliance, truthfulness, evidential support, honesty, fairness and informed decision-making. What a high price can claim and what it cannot.
• Commission Recommendation 2006/647/EC on the efficacy of sunscreen products and the claims made relating thereto. EUR-Lex. — The declared efficacy of a sunscreen is measured applying 2 mg/cm², “which is equivalent to six teaspoons of lotion (some 36 g) for the whole body of an average-sized adult”, and the text itself acknowledges that this amount is greater than the one consumers usually apply. It also sets the UVA protection factor at at least 1/3 of the sun protection factor, with a recommended critical wavelength of 370 nm. It is the reference that turns “making the bottle last” into an economy that costs dear. Verified against the EUR-Lex text on 08-09-2026.

Book your consultation

If you want to know which three or four products are right for you and what they come to today, the skincare routine tool does the assessment in eight questions and gives you both ranges with live prices. And if you would rather a person went through it, write to us: the medical team will look at it with you, free and with no obligation.

Clinical confirmation by the surgeon

Dr Enrique Salmerón González

Specialist in Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery
Registration no. 46/4624077

Dr Elena García Vilariño

Specialist in Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery
Registration no. 46/4624503