Glow and behold

Expert advice on everything overflowing on the beauty shelves. Retinol, cortisol. Sunscreen, night cream. Cheap tricks, expensive scams. Peptides, ceramides. And all those acids that still seem suss

- Shraddha Chowdhury and Christalle Fernandes

Get your beauty sleep, by all means. But don't nap for too long. In the cosmetics and skincare aisle, things are changing so fast, some products are almost unrecognisable.

We just about learnt to pronounce hyaluronic (hi-al-YOU-ron-ik) acid and understood it to be some kind of moisturiser. Now, there's glutathione, cortisol, ceramides, hair sunscreen, kojic acid and retinol to worry about. It's not just about dry, combination and oily skincare anymore it's about the microbiome, the bacterial ecosystem on the skin's surface. Eww!

Some old favourites are holding strong: Sunscreen works, so keep slathering it on. Some products were gimmicks all along: Goodbye, sheet masks. Glass skin is still a mystery. Free radicals are still out there. But the cloud's lifting on a whole lot else. Here's a look at beauty and skincare today.

What is a skin microbiome? Should I worry about creepy crawlies?

Relax. A microbiome is merely the family of bacteria, fungal elements and viruses that live and interact on each person's skin. They eat up dead cells, help heal cuts and do millions of useful jobs. It's only when this balance is disrupted that conditions such as acne, eczema, or rosacea occur, says Dr Chytra Anand, celebrity dermatologist and founder-CEO of Kosmoderma Clinics.

Doctors have been studying it for decades, but it's only recently become the focus of commercial skincare. "Your skin's microbiome is closely connected to your gut microbiome - your skin mirrors the state of your gut health," says Dr Harshna Bijlani, celebrity skin expert and founder of The Ageless Clinic. It may take up to a month for results to become obvious, but your eating habits will ultimately show up in the way your skin looks. "Consume prebiotics and probiotics as well as antioxidants as part of your skincare regime," says Dr Jaishree Sharad, cosmetic dermatologist at Skinfiniti Aesthetic. These include curd, fruits, and fresh vegetables.