I slapped this on my face every single morning for a month because I was a skeptic with a puffy face and a deadline.
The real test? Whether that wobbly, blue-tinted jelly could actually do something besides feel cold. Spoiler: it did one thing I absolutely did not expect.
It’s a £12.99 water-gel moisturizer from The Inkey List that claims to support the skin barrier while hydrating. The 30-day promise is “bouncier” skin, which sounds like marketing fluff until your cheeks start feeling like a stress ball.
The Cooling Matrix
Feels like a menthol breeze without the menthol—that’s the aloe water doing the heavy lifting.
The Biotic Blend
It’s not a probiotic; it’s a postbiotic, which is the dead-but-helpful bacteria that your skin actually eats up.
The Squalane Base
This is the glue that stops the gel from evaporating into nothing and leaving you tight-faced by lunch.
Photo: ibnu ihza / Unsplash
There is no perfume, which is great, but there is a faint, plasticky “lab” smell that you get used to by day three. It’s the scent of a product that isn’t trying to seduce you—just fix you.
- Postbiotic Ferment: Calms redness like a whisper
- Aloe Water: The hydration vehicle, not the hero
- Squalane: Locks it all in without greasiness
- Glycerin: The humectant that pulls water into the skin
Photo: Fleur Kaan / Unsplash
The texture is a 10/10 on the fun scale—it’s a bouncy, jelly-like blob that melts into water the second it hits your cheeks. It absorbs in about 20 seconds, leaving zero residue, which is rare for a gel that actually moisturizes.
By week two, I noticed my forehead wasn’t flaking under makeup anymore. By week three, I realized I was skipping my heavy night cream because this alone was enough. That never happens.
Photo: Evangeline Sarney / Unsplash
My skin looks calmer—the red patches around my nose are less angry, and my pores look like they’ve had a drink of water instead of a punch. It didn’t clear my breakouts, but it made the skin around them look healthier, which is a weird but welcome flex.
Photo: Laura Chouette / Unsplash
It’s a genuinely great basic—the kind of product you don’t notice until you stop using it and your face gets cranky. I’ll keep it on my shelf, but I’m not writing home about it.