Skincare Trends I’m So Not Falling For

You know that moment when you're scrolling TikTok at 11:47 PM, wearing a pimple patch and convincing yourself you're only going to watch “one more” skincare video? And suddenly you’re being told to tattoo your freckles, slather beef tallow on your face, and ice-roll your way to eternal youth?

In that moment, I can’t help but wonder…when did skincare become the Wild West of the internet?

As an aesthetician who has spent fifteen years inside treatment rooms, mediating between real dermatologic science and whatever went viral that morning,

I’ve learned this: the internet doesn’t care about your skin, it cares about your clicks.

Inside my room, I spend just as much time correcting misinformation as I do correcting pigment and acne...and honestly, it’s long overdue that we talk about the trends I’m not falling for.

Let’s pour some Skin Tea and get into it.

Tattoo Freckles

Romantic in theory. Regrettable in reality.

Freckles are adorable. Soft, sun-kissed, youthful.

Tattooed freckles?A completely different story.

As we age, our elasticity declines, volume shifts, and skin texture changes. What looks perfectly placed today won’t stay that way. Just like tattooed brows eventually droop, blur, and fall with gravity, your tattoo freckles will migrate too.

But here’s the real long-term consequence:

Ink in the face limits future laser options.

If, years later, you want to treat sun damage, spots, texture, redness, or rejuvenation... the lasers that actually reverse aging can’t be used safely over tattoo pigment.You’ve essentially traded a temporary trend for long-term treatment limitations.

Trends age. Your skin ages. And tattoo ink ages even worse.

Celebrity Skincare Lines

Aesthetics by celebrity… results by their Derms, Plastics & Aesthetician.

Celebrities have access to:

• the best skincare on the market

• luxury clinical brands

• top-tier estheticians

• in-office treatments weekly

• lasers, peels, lymphatic sculpting

• injectables and private dermatologists

They are not relying on the $34 moisturizer with their name on it.

These brands aren’t passion projects, they’re e-commerce vehicles. Built on margin, image, and the illusion that their glow is sitting in Sephora waiting for you.

I work with celebrity clientele. I know what they actually use...It’s not their skincare line... it’s professional-grade everything.

Influencer “Say-For-Pay” Skincare Advice

Skincare advice… sponsored by ✨ whoever paid first ✨.

Let’s be brutally honest: the line between “recommendation” and “ad” has never been thinner.

While some influencers are authentic, many are delivering scripts created by marketing teams, not their personal experience and definitely not clinical expertise.

From my chair, I see:

• over-exfoliated barriers

• retinol misuse

• chemical burns

• congested skin from trendy routines

• people doing 10-step TikTok regimens meant for content, not human faces

The algorithm doesn’t care about your skin. It cares about engagement.

And not everything that goes viral survives real-world skin biology.

“Medical Grade Is Fake” & “All Skincare Is the Same”

If all skincare were the same… I’d be out of a job.

This claim usually comes from people trying to discredit higher-quality lines or people who don’t understand formulation chemistry.

Let me give you a simple analogy:

A steakhouse burger vs. a fast-food burger.

Both are burgers.But sourcing, quality, preparation, and how your body feels afterward are completely different experiences.

Medical-grade skincare is not about a fancy label, it’s about:

• pharmaceutical-level ingredients

• higher percentages proven to create change

• delivery systems that actually penetrate the dermis

• clinical studies and real data

• consistency, stability, and purity

If all skincare were equal, over-the-counter products would be able to correct melasma, acne scars, deep wrinkles, and real pigmentation issues. They can’t.

Medical-grade lines change skin. That’s the difference.

“Food Doesn’t Affect the Skin”

Biologically impossible.

Your diet affects:

• hormones

• inflammation

• immune function

• energy

• cellular turnover

• gut health

• vitamin and mineral status

And somehow people think skin... your largest organ.... is magically unaffected?

Healthy diet, hydration, vitamins, omega fatty acids, minerals, and supplements all impact:

• barrier function

• inflammation levels

• collagen production

• clarity

• breakouts

• rosacea flares

• overall luminosity

Internal health always shows up externally. It’s all connected, it always has been.

Blaming Devices Instead of Providers

Lasers don’t ruin faces. Poor technique does.

A device is only as safe as the person operating it.

• Wrong settings

• Poor skin assessment

• Rushed protocols

• Incorrect precare & aftercare

• Incorrect stacking

• Unskilled hands

These are the real reasons you see burn horror stories online.

When used correctly, lasers are transformative, some of the best tools we have.

When used incorrectly, they’re dangerous.

It’s not the device. It’s the lack of education, training and sales reps selling to everyone and anyone. Which ends up leaving practices with untrained unskilled providers.

Beef Tallow

Your face is not a cast-iron skillet.

Beef tallow is:

• heavy

• occlusive

• pore-clogging

• comedogenic

• not pH balanced

• not microbiome-friendly

• unstable

Your skin barrier thrives on ceramides, cholesterol, fatty acids, peptides, not rendered animal fat.

Ancestral skincare sounds romantic; the biology does not support it.

Skincare Routines on Airplanes

Welcome to 30,000 feet of bacteria, dryness, and recycled air.

Applying serums and moisturizers in-flight traps bacteria under occlusion, can clog pores, and stresses the barrier.

Your inflight routine should be:

• cleanse (before boarding)

• moisturize

• SPF

• hydrate (with water, not a mid-flight sheet mask)

And then… leave your face alone.

The cabin is not your treatment room.

Mineral vs Chemical Sunscreen Fear-Mongering

There are no villains only preferences.

The “chemical sunscreen causes cancer” narrative is misinformation amplified by fear-based marketing.

Both mineral and chemical sunscreens:

• undergo rigorous safety testing

• protect from UV

• are considered safe by dermatologists worldwide

The best sunscreen is the one you’ll actually wear daily.

“Glass Skin Overnight” Hacks

Glass skin is earned, not microwaved.

Sleeping in sheet masks creates occlusion, which:

• traps heat

• disrupts the barrier

• increases inflammation

• causes milia

• suffocates the skin over hours

• can flare acne-prone skin

Glass skin comes from:

• hydration

• brightening actives

• exfoliation done correctly

• consistent skincare

• treatments like microneedling, lasers, and peels

Not a soggy sheet mask taped to your face for eight hours.

Collagen Supplements & Powders

Helpful? Maybe. A miracle? Absolutely not.

Digestion breaks collagen down into amino acids. There’s no direct conveyor belt from your collagen drink to your dermis.

For firmness and density, you’ll get far more from:

• retinoids

• peptides

• microneedling

• heat-based devices

• healthy diet

• sleep

• hydration

Think of collagen powder as a supporting player not the star.

At-Home Pore Vacuum Devices

One-way ticket to broken capillaries.

These devices create:

• vessel damage

• bruising

• enlarged pores over time

• scarring

• inflammation

Extraction is a technique, not a suction war. Leave the pore vacuuming to trained hands, not battery-powered gadgets.

“Natural = Better”

Let’s expand this...because this myth runs deep.

Natural ingredients sound wholesome and safe, but:

1. Natural ingredients vary in potency.

Climate, soil, and harvest conditions change a plant’s chemical profile.Your skin deserves consistency, not unpredictability.

2. Natural = higher irritation risk.

Poison ivy is natural. So is lavender dermatitis.Plant extracts often contain allergens, unstable compounds, and irritants.

3. Synthetic ingredients are often safer.

They’re purified, stabilized, tested, and designed to perform without the irritating compounds found in raw botanicals.

4. “Chemical-free” is nonsense.

Water is a chemical. Your skin barrier is a chemical structure.This claim is marketing, not science.

5. Formulation > origin.

A synthetic ingredient can be gentler and more effective than a natural one.A natural ingredient can destroy a barrier if misused.

It’s not natural vs synthetic.It’s science vs marketing.

Why Do These Trends Spread?

Because novelty sells.Fear sells.Aesthetics sell.Shortcuts sell.

But skincare doesn’t run on shock value, it runs on consistency, biology, and formulas crafted by people who understand the organ they’re treating.

Inside my treatment room, I see the aftermath of trends daily...

the barrier damage, the confusion, the frustration. And I also see the sigh of relief when people finally get real education.

That’s why I write things like this.

A Good Note to End On

Your skin doesn’t need trends; it needs truth. It needs someone who understands the science, filters out the noise, and advocates for your long-term skin health...not your next impulse buy.

Keep your standards high, your routine stable, and your skincare grounded in reality, not virality.