Elementrē

A clinical range built to cover a full routine without needing anything from outside it. Cleansers, five serums, four moisturisers, four sunscreens, two exfoliants, an eye serum and a blemish gel.

The strength of it is that everything is designed to be layered together, so there is no guesswork about whether two products will fight each other.

The difficulty is that the names describe the result rather than the ingredient, so Brightening, Illuminating and Radiance all sound like the same thing. The next two questions sort that out.

Five of them, and you want one, possibly two.

• Hydro-Balance Serum for dehydration, and the safest first purchase
• Brightening Serum and Illuminating Serum for dullness and uneven tone
• Renewing Serum and Revitalizing Serum, which are the two vitamin A options
• Intense Firming Eye Serum for the eye area

A hydrating serum in the morning and a vitamin A serum at night is the classic pairing and covers most people. Do not run both vitamin A serums.

They are the range's two vitamin A serums, so they do the same broad job and are not meant to be used together. Check the individual product pages for the strength and the detail of each before choosing, since that is what should decide it.

Whichever you pick, treat it as a retinoid. Two nights a week to begin, build up slowly over a couple of months, and expect some dryness early on.

Keep the Exfoliating Night Gel and the Enzyme Gel off the same nights, and wear sun protection every morning.

Four options, all SPF50 or above, and the choice comes down to finish.

• SPF50+ Dry Touch for oily skin or anyone who dislikes a dewy finish
• SPF 50+ Mineral Non-Tinted for sensitive or reactive skin
• SPF 50+ Mineral Light Tint or Medium Tint if you want colour, and the better option if you are treating pigmentation

Use more than feels natural with any of them, particularly the tinted ones, which get under-applied because people treat them like makeup.

Cleansers first. Cleansing Gel is the everyday one, Micellar Water is for taking makeup off, and AHA Foamer Cleanser is the exfoliating option for congested skin, which is better used a few times a week than daily.

Moisturisers go by what your skin needs rather than by texture alone.

• Nourishing Cream for dry skin
• Radiance Cream for dullness
• Lifting Cream for firmness
• Recovery Mask Cream for skin that is irritated or recovering, used as either a cream or a mask

Four products cover the whole range for most people.

• Cleansing Gel
• Hydro-Balance Serum in the morning
• A moisturiser from the list above
• One of the SPFs, worn every morning

Add a vitamin A serum at night once that is settled, and leave the exfoliants until you know how your skin is coping with it.