Fragrance-free skincare · Formulated and filled in the USA
Every product carries a number.
The number is the load: how much one use asks of your skin barrier, from 0 to 5. It is printed on the carton, shown on every product card, and it adds up. A week has a budget of 12.
Asks nothing of the barrier. Cleansers, moisturisers and sunscreen sit here — use them every day, including the days you are recovering from something else.
A daily-tolerable active. Most skin can run one of these every day indefinitely without the barrier noticing.
Two to four nights a week for most people, built up from one. Leave an unloaded night on either side while you are finding your pace.
Once a week at the outside, and never in the same week you started something else new. Nothing else loaded on the same night.
The full formula, published
Every product page carries the complete INCI list, the strength of the key active, the size, the texture and the cautions.
Fragrance-free throughout
No parfum, no essential oils, no masking fragrance. Not one product in the catalog contains any.
Cautions before the buy button
Who a formula is not for is on the page, above the fold on the record, not on a label you read after paying.
One-time purchase, always
No subscription, no auto-renewal, no membership, no stored card that can be charged again. You buy it once.
The idea
Most skincare that goes wrong went wrong by doing too much.
Nothing in a normal routine tells you when to stop. Every product says use daily, every label says gentle, and the totals are left to you — so people end up running an acid, a retinoid and a vitamin C in the same week and conclude their skin is sensitive.
So we rate each formula for what it actually asks of the barrier, from 0 to 5, and print the number on the carton. Add up a week. Stay under 12. That is the whole system, and it is deliberately the kind of system that tells you to buy less rather than more.
It is our own scale, not a clinical measure, and it describes the formula rather than you. What it is good for is comparing two products honestly before you own both of them.
A week, worked out
- MonNiacinamide 5Daily-tolerable active1
- TueRetinal 0.04Loaded night4
- WedRecovery Cream onlyUnloaded, on purpose0
- ThuRetinal 0.04Loaded night4
- FriNiacinamide 5Daily-tolerable active1
- SatGlycolic 8Never on a retinoid night3
- SunWater Layer, Night BalmUnloaded0
Start here
Four to know
Ascorbic 15
15% L-ascorbic acid with ferulic acid and vitamin E
$52.00
Retinal 0.04
0.04% encapsulated retinaldehyde, the starting strength
$62.00
Recovery Cream
Barrier cream for the nights after a heavy one
$42.00
The Weekly Mask
12% AHA and BHA resurfacing mask, ten minutes
$46.00
The Measured Week
A retinoid routine that totals 12 of the weekly 12
$155.00
By step
Seven steps, and what each one costs you
Cleansers
Load 0. Gel and cream cleansers that lift the day off without stripping the barrier. Fragrance-free, low-surfactant, pH-balanced to the skin.
Serums
Load 1 to 4. One active each, at a stated strength, so the number on the carton means something you can add up.
Moisturisers
Load 0. Day and night creams built on ceramides and glycerin. The step that holds everything underneath it in place, and the one that buys back a heavy night.
Exfoliants & Masks
Load 3 to 5. Acids and clays that resurface at a measured pace. These are the products the weekly budget exists for.
Eye Care
Load 0 to 1. Lighter formulas for the thinnest skin on the face. Buffered actives, fragrance-free, ophthalmologist-tested.
Sunscreen
Load 0. Broad-spectrum mineral SPF that wears under makeup. The one step that decides how the rest of the routine ages.
Routines
Complete weeks, costed below the sum of their parts. Every routine states its weekly load total and the order to use it in.
Whole weeks
Two routines, costed
Each one states its weekly load total and the order to use it in, and each is priced below the sum of its parts. Neither enrols you in anything.
The Quiet Week
$112.00Daily, every day of the week
A complete routine that totals 7 of the weekly 12
- 1 × Morning Wash0
- 1 × Niacinamide 51
- 1 × Day Cream0
- 1 × Mineral SPF 400
The Measured Week
$155.00Three loaded nights a week, four unloaded
A retinoid routine that totals 12 of the weekly 12
- 1 × Evening Milk0
- 1 × Retinal 0.044
- 1 × Night Balm0
- 1 × Recovery Cream0
Terms of sale
Currency
All prices are shown and charged in US Dollars (USD). Sales tax, where it applies, is calculated and shown at checkout before you pay.
Shipping
$5.95 standard, free over $65. 3–5 business days after dispatch, with tracking on every order. United States only.
Returns
45 days on anything unopened. An opened product that caused a reaction is replaced or refunded — send a photograph, keep the product.
On your statement
Charges appear as VALUE SKIN CO. If a line looks unfamiliar, contact us before your bank — we can resolve it the same day.