The only four skincare ingredients that have been proven to work

Whether you want to brighten, firm, plump or smooth, there is an eye cream, neck cream, lip cream, face cream, serum, lotion or capsule available, for day or night use. But should you choose the one containing retinol or ceramide; enriched with green tea extract, marine collagen or pentapeptides? The choice of products, ingredients and regimes can be bewildering.

One thing that many dermatologists agree on is that it pays to keep things simple. “If you don’t have time for anything else, a cleanser, moisturiser and sunscreen will cover about 90 per cent of what skin needs on a day-to-day basis,” says Victoria Fu, a skincare chemist and co-founder of Chemist Confessions, a cosmetics company that says it helps consumers decipher skincare ingredients.

Although it is a good idea to cleanse twice a day, doing so in the evening is more important in order to remove the build-up of sweat, oil, pollutants, sun cream and make-up, if you wear it. “The breakdown of those chemicals can cause a stress response in the skin, so it is important to get those things off,” says Emma Craythorne, a London-based dermatologist and founder of skincare company Klira. “It is also important because our skin cells [are constantly replaced], otherwise you end up with bits of dead skin stuck to you like a crusty scale.”

Expensive cleansers aren’t necessary – a soap-free synthetic detergent, such as a gentle cream cleanser, will do, says Craythorne.

Cleansers and moisturisers

After cleansing, most people will want to restore the…