Vitamins & Supplements

Some of them, for some people, and less dramatically than the marketing around this category suggests.

Where they earn their place is filling a gap. If your diet is short on omega 3, or you are getting very little of a nutrient your skin uses, topping it up can show. Where they do not work is as a substitute for the basics. No capsule outperforms a sunscreen, a retinoid or actually sleeping.

The fair way to think about it is a few percent on top of a routine that is already decent, not a shortcut past one.

Longer than skincare, and longer than most people are willing to wait. Supplements work through skin that is still being made, and a skin cell takes weeks to reach the surface, so nothing you take today shows up next week.

Three months of taking something properly is the fair test. If nothing has changed after that, it is not the right product for you, and a different brand of the same thing is unlikely to be the answer either.

Consistency matters more than dose. Two months of taking it every day beats four months of remembering half the time.

Pick one thing for your main concern and give it a proper run rather than taking a bit of everything.

• Breakouts and congestion: Skin Accumax, or Skin Clear Biome to start on the gut side
• Dryness: Skin Omegas+, Skin Moisture Lock or Skin Moisture IQ
• Ageing and firmness: Skin Collagen Support or Skin Youth Biome
• Dullness: Skin Vit C or Skin Antioxidant
• Hair and nails: Nail Science
• A bit of everything: Skin Ultimate or Skin Complete, which are pre-built combinations

If you are not sure where to start, an omega is the least targeted and the easiest to justify taking long term.

This is the question we get asked most, so here is the honest version.

There is research on hydrolysed collagen peptides suggesting modest improvements in skin hydration and elasticity. The caveats are real though. A lot of those studies are small, many are funded by the companies selling the product, and the changes measured are smaller than the advertising implies. Collagen you swallow is also broken down into amino acids rather than delivered whole to your face, whatever the packaging suggests.

So it is not a con and it is not a miracle. If you want to try it, take it daily for three months and judge it yourself. If your budget only stretches to one thing, a sunscreen or a retinoid will do more.

Often yes, and some are designed to be taken together. Skin Ultimate and Skin Complete are several products packaged as one, and the Skin-Gut Biome Duo pairs two that work alongside each other.

The thing to watch is doubling up without realising. Read the label of everything you are taking, including any multivitamin and anything from another brand, and add up what you are actually getting. More is not better with fat soluble vitamins.

Vitamin A is the one to be most careful with. Skin Accumax and Skin Vit A+ are both vitamin A based, so check the labels before taking them together or alongside anything else containing vitamin A.

Supplements are not automatically harmless because they are sold without a prescription. Get advice before starting rather than after if any of these apply.

• Pregnant, breastfeeding or trying to conceive, particularly with anything containing vitamin A
• Taking prescription medication of any kind, including anything prescribed for your skin
• Managing a diagnosed condition or taking blood thinners, which matters for the omega products
• Under 18, or buying for someone who is
• Allergic to fish or shellfish, again for the omega and marine collagen products

Your GP or pharmacist is the right person to ask, and bringing the pack or a photo of the label makes that conversation much quicker. We are not able to advise on medication or medical conditions.