And Dr Fayne Frey is here to tell you why, and what to do about it.
ARC review : The skincare hoax, by Dr Fayne Frey
This is a non-fiction book coming out on October 18, 2022. I received an eARC thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis

We all want to have young and healthy skin, yet the beauty industry is so mixed in its messages that most consumers have no way to tell which skincare products are helpful and which claims are pure hype. In The Skincare Hoax, skincare expert Dr. Fayne Frey explores the “essential” product categories that are entirely unnecessary, exposes how many well-known skincare ingredients have no scientific basis, and recommends truly effective skincare products and regimens that are easy and affordable.
This book transformed my views on skincare
This book just completely transformed my entire outlook on skincare products.
No, seriously.

A whole bunch of unnecessary products
I consider myself a beauty enthusiast – I’m very interested in makeup and skincare, and try to learn more about it as the years go on, but it’s never been my specialty. This is one of the reasons why I often get quite overwhelmed by the amount of different products on the shelves when I go to stores like Sephora – between the eye creams, the moisturizers, primers, SPF foundations, day creams, night creams, essences, toners… I don’t really understand which is which, and what should be put on my face, at what time of the day, for what purpose.
This is the main reason why I picked up this book in the first place : I wanted to understand more about skincare, and make sure I was “doing it right”, so to speak. And oh boy, was I not disappointed.
Reevaluating your knowledge, one step at a time
This book makes you take a long hard look at your makeup and skincare cabinet, and want to throw out at least half of your products. Because guess what ? Apart from sunscreen (SPF 30 or over) and moisturizer, says Dr Frey, everything else is either fake or useless. Fake in the sense that it’s actually a moisturizer in a different packaging (looking at you, eye cream!). Useless in the sense that the claims that are so neatly written on the fancy little tube are unproven, void of any sense, and medically unverifiable.
It seems silly to say so, but I really did believe that face serums could be “anti-aging” and reverse wrinkles. It was written on the glass jar! Surely, marketing wouldn’t lie to me, now, would it?
Yeah. It feels really naïve, when you put it like that. But Dr Frey is here to explain the whole thing to you, step by step, and if there is one thing she seems to be really good at, it’s breaking down the science and the facts for her readers without making you feel inadequate or stupid for not having realized it sooner.

Why do we fall for the skincare hoax?
During the entire course of the book, one thing the author insists often upon is self-esteem and appreciation of our own appearance.
In her opinion, women’s poor self-esteem and confidence in their looks are strongly linked to the reasons why we keep buying all these unnecessary products, and why we fall victim to all of these marketing tactics. They’re designed to make us feel bad about ourselves, about how we look – hate the fine lines around our eyes, the softness of our cheeks, the light color differences on certain areas of our face… the worse we feel, the more – overpriced and useless – products we buy.
And I don’t know about you, but I don’t really want to waste all of my hard-earned money on a ton of products that won’t do anything for me, just because some random marketing exec decided I needed to feel bad about the way that I look.

Who is this book for?
Every friend you have that thinks eye cream and night cream are both essentials to their daily routine. That person in your class you heard complain about having acne breakouts after using a primer that was advertised as non-comedogenic. Your sister. Your mom. Every woman you know.
This is a very easy to read non-fiction, and one that I think could change – at least a little bit – the lives of a lot of people. I do believe it will slightly change mine, for the better.

Note : Once again, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me and ARC copy in exchange for an honest review!