As far as men and skincare go, I was in the game early. I’ve had some kind of skincare routine since I was around 12-years-old and what started as curiosity quickly became a genuine interest. By the time I was at university, I was working alongside my studies for a high-end skincare company and that experience taught me a huge amount about ingredients, routines, marketing hype, and what actually makes a difference to your skin.
One of the biggest things I learned is that if you’re only going to use one skincare product – aside from SPF, which is non-negotiable – it should be a good moisturiser. Used twice a day on both the face and neck, a quality moisturiser helps support your skin barrier, keeps skin hydrated, and improves overall appearance far more than most people realise. There are plenty of other products that can be effective and absolutely have their place, but if you’re keeping things simple, a daily moisturiser is the foundation.
The problem is that skincare is now a hundred-billion-dollar industry filled with endless claims, trends, and overpriced products. To help, I’ve put dozens to the test to find the very best – keep reading for my honest reviews.
Read more: 12 best men’s moisturisers with SPF for everyday skin protection
The best moisturisers for men 2026 are:
- Best overall – Dr Loretta barrier repair gel cream: £65, Lookfantastic.com
- Best budget buy – L’Oreal men expert derma-control moisturiser SPF 30: £9.33, Amazon.co.uk
- Best for dry skin – The Grey comfort+ face cream: £79, Thegroomingclinic.com
- Best for oily skin – Patricks SL1 superleggera moisturiser: £70, Patricksproducts.co.uk
- Best for a bright complexion – Garnier Vitamin C sorbet cream: £7.50, Amazon.co.uk
Read more: Best electric shavers for men, tried and tested
Dr Loretta barrier repair gel cream
Rating: 5/5
Best: moisturiser for men overall
Skin type: Non-oily skin types with a lot of weather exposure
Size: 50ml
Key ingredients: Tripeptide-38, Ergothioneine, Cremides, Post-biotics, Glycerin
Why we love it
- Notably effective on a variety of skin-types
- High-end ingredients at a mid-range price
Take note
- Design may leave some waste
Dr Loretta is a real person, with more than forty years in the dermatology world. This clinical background is apparent in the barrier repair gel cream, which is fragrance-free, vegan, and contains top of the range ceramides and a post-biotic. The product felt great on the skin immediately, and absorbed well.
Throughout the first week I found my skin began to feel hydrated and looked less weather-worn. Within four weeks my skin was visibly more even, had a better oil balance, and generally felt more nourished despite being tested by the elements. The bottle feels high-end and the pump is consistent and smooth to use. Though this design will likely leave more waste than a pot would, it is convenient for travelling with and packs a lot of high-end formulation into a relatively affordable moisturiser.
Buy now £65, Lookfantastic.com
L’Oreal men expert derma-control moisturiser SPF 30
Rating: 4/5
Best: budget moisturiser for men
Skin type: Combination - oily
Size: 40ml
Key ingredients: SPF30, 2% Niacinamide
Why we love it
- Entry-level oil-balancing
- SPF
Take note
- Heavier than other options on the skin
This is a really useful all-in-one option for a zero-fuss routine and active lifestyle, particularly for those with combination or slightly oily skin. The built in SPF30 is useful for age prevention, but you’d want to top up SPF during the day if you plan on being exposed to the sun for long periods of time. Given the SPF, this has a slightly thicker feel on the skin, but it is breathable enough to wear while exercising.
After a few weeks of use in the oilier areas of my skin, I did notice they had re-balanced a good amount. The SPF generally isn’t too thick but does feel more apparent on the skin, and using SPF within the moisturiser had a notable improvement to my skintone.
Buy now £9.33, Amazon.co.uk
The Grey comfort+ face cream
Rating: 4/5
Best: moisturiser for men with very dry skin
Skin type: Dry-very dry
Size: 50ml
Key ingredients: Glycerin, niacinamide
Why we love it
- Provides very immediate soothing to dry skin
- Good for sensitive skin
Take note
- Other products may present better, if less targeted, value
Formulated specifically for men with dry and sensitive skin who are in need of a strong hydration boost, the comfort+ face cream is a great option for those who find their skin gets tight, sore, or flaky. The Dutch company has a high-end minimalist design to the products, focussing attention on ingredients.
I primarily used this on the drier areas of my skin across four weeks, and found these areas felt nourished. I enjoyed the texture of the product which was rich and protecting, but absorbed well and didn’t look noticeable. The pump on the bottle feels a little less sturdy than the Dr Loretta, but provides a quality solution that is especially suited to men with dry skin. It has a lightly clinical scent and is fragrance-free, and packed with hydration-forward ingredients such as niacinamide and glycerin.
Buy now £79, Thegroomingclinic.com
Patricks SL1 superleggera moisturiser
Rating: 4.5/5
Best: men's moisturiser for oily skin and warm climates
Skin type: Oily
Size: 50ml
Key ingredients: Hyaluronic Acid, Niacinamide, Biomimetic Peptide
Why we love it
- Great for oily skin, with great mattification
- Luxury feel to product and packaging, with high-end anti-ageing ingredient
Take note
- Scented element might not be suitable for everyone
For the price point, this Patricks SL1 superleggera moisturiser is loaded with active ingredients which balance oil in the skin, lock in hydration despite the very lightweight feel, and help collagen production to keep the skin firm and healthy. There is a mattifying finish to this which is good for those who want the benefits without looking like they’re into skincare, and those who get oily shine-prone skin. The light sandalwood and amber scent is appealing and offers a luxury touch to using the moisturiser without exposing the skin to harsh chemicals.
The pump mechanism is reliable and provides a great amount of the formulation each time, allowing you to effectively manage how long the product lasts. I really enjoyed the scent of the product, which allowed every morning to start with an element of glamour. The product itself absorbs very well and is hardly felt on the skin within a few minutes, compared with others I also felt my skin had less of a shine to it. Across the weeks I felt my skin appeared and even felt firmer, there was a better oil balance, and blemishes had reduced too.
Buy now £70, Patricksproducts.co.uk
Garnier Vitamin C sorbet cream
Rating: 4/5
Best: moisturiser for men for brightening skin on a budget
Skin type: Normal-combination
Size: 85ml
Key ingredients: Vitamin C, Niacinamide
Why we love it
- Effective ingredients at a small price point
- Lightweight, useful for nighttime use
Take note
- Limited results relative to more expensive product
- Distinct Garnier smell, not unpleasant, but is fragranced
If you realistically know you’re only going to use an entry-level moisturiser at night, because that’s just who you are, this one with niacinamide and vitamin C is a great option. It comes in a convenient minimal-waste pot, has a lightweight texture that absorbs quickly (ideal for not sticking to your pillow), and thanks to the vitamin C and niacinamide, it hydrates and elevates how your skin looks without the price tag. If you are using this in the morning also, make sure you have SPF on as the sun can interact with the acid-forward formulation.
On the skin there is a slightly silky texture left after applying but this does absorb into the skin well eventually. I found that there were benefits to using this product over four weeks. My skin looked brighter and healthier, while especially dry areas had become more nourished without it affecting oily areas adversely.
Buy now £7.5, Amazon.co.uk
Aesop elemental facial barrier cream
Rating: 5/5
Best: intensely hydrating moisturiser for men
Skin type: Dry, dehydrated and sensitive skin, or cold and harsh conditions
Size: 60ml
Key ingredients: Copper PCA, Bisabolol, Ginger Root, Glycerin, Shea Butter
Why we love it
- Punches above its price-point
- Sensitive-friendly without compromising on effectiveness
Take note
- Some people find natural essential oils irritating compared with lab-based alternatives
If you want a product that you can really feel protecting the skin barrier, Aesop’s elemental facial barrier cream is your answer. At its price point, few products offer as strong a blend of natural sensitive-friendly ingredients. Higher-end ingredients such as copper PCA offer the benefits of vitamin C but with five times the effectiveness, without as much of an irritation risk.
The pot the product comes in also ensures you get every last drop. I found this product massively improved my dry skin, and generally offered a sense of calm to my complexion after being in harsh weather through stormy winter months. I do feel this is now my go-to moisturiser for these conditions, as nothing has helped my skin to be both as hydrated and soothed, while being so wearable. I also found the natural scent from the oils enjoyable.
Buy now £49, Libertylondon.com
Patricks AM1 anti-aging moisturiser
Rating: 4.5/5
Best: anti-ageing moisturiser for men
Skin type: Normal-dry skin
Volume: 50ml
Key ingredients: Hyaluronic Acid, Tego Cosmo C100, Syn-Hycan, Squalane, Creatine, Bisabolol
Why we love it
- Great price-point for what is a fairly advanced set of ingredients
- Unintentional wonderful scent
Take note
- Over-engineered packaging
For those with normal-combination skin and some concerns around fine lines, elasticity, or dullness, this anti-ageing moisturiser quite simply takes care of business. The elegant, if slightly over-engineered, pump bottle immediately looks luxurious and will stand comfortably on the bathroom shelf. The product is lightweight but has a wonderful rich texture, and incidentally a great scent. For the price point, the active ingredients are on the high-end, with a great broad approach to anti-aging concerns from skincell regeneration to hydration, and plenty else.
Within four weeks I found fairly dramatic improvement to how my skin felt and looked; particularly when it comes to elasticity. It almost felt as though I was getting the benefits of using a serum as well as a moisturiser. Of course, it handles hydration concerns with ease, too. It’s the kind of daily moisturiser you know will look after you for years to come, and saves you having to worry about which of the endless serums of the world to layer underneath a moisturiser.
Buy now £88, Patricksproducts.co.uk
Seed To Skin the recovery cream
Rating: 4.5/5
Best: naturally derived moisturiser for men
Skin type: Normal-dry
Size: 50ml
Key ingredients: Glycerin, Olive leaf extract, Squalane, Shea butter, macadamia seed oil, Honey, Hyaluronic acid, and truly much more
Why we love it
- Holistically-responsible and incredibly advanced product
- Works with very sensitive skin
Take note
- Inaccessible price-point for many
As a go-to moisturiser, few products are as immediately nourishing and absorbing as this – the naturally derived (often at greater effort and expense than anything lab-made) does indeed make a difference and feel elevated on the skin. Using over a number of weeks, there are huge improvements to skin texture, elasticity, and balance.
Working with a normal-dry skin type, this product is designed to provide you with protection and to skincell renewal, to help your skin long-term; as opposed to targeting oil balancing issues. It’s a truly special product, giving you the best of natural skincare. The glass pot and metal spoon offer a luxury and practical touch to your routine too, which is always nice.
Buy now £218, Libertylondon.com
Dr Barbara Sturm face cream light
Rating: 4.5/5
Best: nourishing moisturiser for men during summer
Skin type: Dry and combination-dry skin in the summer, normal-oily skin all year round
SIze: 50ml
Key ingredients: Purslane Extract, Pistachio Seed Oil, Vitamin E, Grape Seed Oil, Panthenol, Sunflower Oil, Hyaluronic Acid, Bisabolol, Ginger Root Extract
Why we love it
- High-end ingredients while still being great for sensitive skin
- Very lightweight
Take note
- The absorption is slower than expected for the price point
Dr Barbara Sturm is known for packing super-effective ingredients into specifically-designed products. Developed as a lighter formula for warmer climates or for people with normal to oily skin types, the face cream light is a rounded product for hydration and anti-aging concerns. As someone with somewhat sensitive skin, I found the product very comfortable to use despite its complex formulation.
Soothing effects are apparent from first use, and I have found that using this in the morning before going to the gym has worked well for my skin and workout alike (no greasy sticky issues to speak of). It has a similar feel to the designed-for-men Patricks anti-ageing moisturiser, but is likely going to work better for sensitive skin types, and includes some more elevated active ingredients. Across the weeks I felt the product had delivered on its promises – my skin felt well-hydrated without being oily, my pores were significantly reduced, and generally I found my skin had cleared up. Very effective.
Buy now £150, Lookfantastic.com
Bioderma pore refiner
Rating: 4/5
Best: pore-reducing moisturiser for men
Skin type: Acne-prone oily skin
Size: 30ml
Key ingredients: Agaric acid, Sebo-correcting Fluidactiv complex, Glycerin, Mushroom Extract, Salicylic Acid
Why we love it
- Effective at addressing acne-prone skin
- Very lightweight, ideal for layering
Take note
- Less directly moisturising used alone
While not exactly a moisturiser, this cream is going to add a very effective layer of repair and restoration to oily and acne-prone skin, which will make any form of moisturiser work well. This is especially useful for men, as often products are not formulated to help with excessively oily skin. Think of it like a primer: If you were to use this and a less expensive moisturiser such as the Garnier vitamin C sorbet cream, you might well find you’re getting results comparable with other pricier products.
If you are trying to re-balance the skin, this small and affordable product may prove enough on its own; there’s glycerin in the product, which does help to nourish the skin. Using this for a month I found my pores did reduce well, and that consequently my oil levels improved, too. This felt like an affordable product that combined with another moisturiser, such as the Aesop elemental facial barrier cream, would provide results better than products that cost more individually.
Buy now £17, Amazon.co.uk
Seed To Skin the cure
Rating: 5/5
Best: men's moisturiser for reducing inflammation
Skin type: Normal combination
Size: 25ml
Key ingredients: Hypericum, Calendula Macerated Oil, Reishi Mushroom Ferment, Olive Leaf Extract, Bisabolol, Sicilian Prickly Pear, Chinese Prickly Ash
Why we love it
- Incredibly effective at helping to revive youthful skin appearance
- Holistically-responsible and incredibly advanced product
Take note
- Inaccessible price-point for many
Immediately, you can feel this product offers something a little different. It feels and smells botanical, and yet is at the forefront of skincare innovation. The formulation has a biomimetic complex that actually learns to mirror the skin, directing the active ingredients where they are most needed. As a recovery cream, the formulation is designed to help reduce inflammation, rebuild barrier strength, and restore radiance.
Across testing, this did yield the most dramatic improvements of the products tested. As the product is morning-only, it feels a bit like a cheat code, offering twice the results of many products with half the usage; and in fact the results were rounded and comparable to a seven-step skincare routine which I have previously used twice a day. My skin was nourished, looked and felt healthier, the texture had evened and elasticity felt far better, without any sensitivity flareups. Magical work.
Buy now £192, Libertylondon.com
What is the best moisturiser for men?
If finances aren’t such a concern, Seed to Skin’s the cure, is a revelation in innovative, natural and ethical skincare that genuinely pushes the boundaries. For those looking for a heavy-duty moisturiser, especially suited to those working outdoors, the Aesop facial barrier cream is a seriously useful product that will feel like a solid investment. The best all-rounder though, is Dr Loretta’s barrier repair gel cream, which offers great value, is lightweight, and ideal for typical male skin.
How I tested
We have this thing called a skincell cycle, which you can think of sort of like a coin pusher. New cells form in the bottom layer of our skin and gradually they get pushed to the top layer before eventually shedding. This takes at least 28 days for most adults. Consequently, the best approach to testing a skincare product is to allow 28 days, or one full skincell cycle, for it to do its thing as effectively as it can.
I always make sure to allow this much time before deciding on whether a product is doing what I want it to or not, and have done so here, patch testing each of these products. I have combination skin, which is handy, as I have been able to try the more rich products where I have dry skin and the lighter-weight ones where I am typically oily. The higher-end options I have focused where they would be most notably effective, typically within the T-zone (the forehead, nose, and chin area shaped like a “T”) as this area is more exposed, meaning it can benefit from more treatment.
I also have enlarged pores, which is especially common in men, and so certain products which cater to that are being used there, too. Enlarged pores aren’t a major issue, but they can in time create uneven skin texture, increase oil build up (and as a result spots), and blackheads. As I have oily skin in some areas, I have to stay on top of enlarged pores. Finally, personally, I get a bit conscious about redness in my skin, so in some instances I have tested the effectiveness of products claiming to help with this. Here’s the full list of my testing criteria:
Is skin type important for moisturisers?
It is useful to know whether or not your skin is oily, dry, combination, normal, or sensitive when choosing the right product, as moisturisers formulated specifically for these concerns will provide the best results for you. Inês Abdalla, of InêSKN Skincare Consultancy says: “In basic terms if your skin shows visible shine or your pores appear enlarged, you have an oily skin type; dry skin lacks essential lipids and moisture and will feel tight, potentially show signs of taking; combination which is the more common type for men will have an oily t-zone but normal or dry cheeks.”
What active ingredients should I look for in my moisturiser?
Abdalla adds that the ingredients which do well, particularly for men, include: “Humectants” like glycerin and niacinamide (a water-soluble form of vitamin B3) – generally derived from plant oils. “Emollients” such as squalene, and “Occlusives” such as shea butter which are protective of the skin barrier, Inês notes. Combined, these ingredients mimic sebum, the natural oil within our skin as closely as possible, allowing moisture from the air to attach to the skin and hydrate it.
Should I buy a moisturiser designed for men?
The right formulations might be more easily found in “for men” product, but Inês says “skincare has no gender” even though “male skin does have specific physiological traits: it is typically 20 per cent thicker and has higher sebum (oil) production due to testosterone.” And this should inform the product you buy more so than the gender it is marketed toward.
If I have oily skin do I need a moisturiser?
It can seem counter-intuitive, but even excessively oily skin benefits from moisturisers. Oily sikn is typically caused by sebaceous glands working overtime. A moisturiser can help the sebaceus glands to regulate how much sebum they need to produce. For combination skin, you’d want to prioritise product that will rebalance your t-zone.
What other ingredients are good to have in a moisturiser?
Additionally, useful compounds include vitamin B5, which is great for anti-inflammatory and soothing the skin, fatty acids like omega 3. There are more technical ingredients that have specific functions too, depending on your skin concerns. These are typically derived from botanicals, but can be lab-made too. Increasingly, high-end products are incorporating probiotics, anti-oxidants, and peptides into their forumlations to combat fine lines, pollutants, and to help repair the skin barrier. These can often elevate the price point, but also the potency of the product. That being said, a price is not always an indication of a better moisturiser.
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
As someone who’s worked in the beauty – and more specifically, skincare – industry for more than six years – and been actively interested in skincare for 18 years, Rhys Thomas has kept a close and discerning eye on skincare’s evolution from niche to mainstream. In this time science and general consensus has often changed on which products and which ingredients are best to prioritise for skin health and has come to his own consensus from years of study. As such, he’s covered a swathe of different formulas for IndyBest, considering a range of concerns specifically common for men and their skin.
Want more recommendations? We’ve rounded up the best anti-ageing creams for men
