The Best Anti-Redness Products: 21 Serums, Primers and Concealers
The last thing you want on your wedding day is irritated, flushed skin - these creams, serums, cleansers and primers can solve your problems
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If you're struggling with redness - whether it's down to sensitive skin, eczema or rosacea - it can have a major impact on how comfortable you feel in your skin - not ideal when the most photographed day of your life is on the horizon. Luckily, there's a wealth of anti-redness products that are proven to help and we've created an edit of the very best.
From concealers and primers that colour-correct red areas in an instant to serums and moisturisers that produce long-term results, these skin saviours should take your skin from red and sensitised to soothed and glowing - just remember to make them a regular beauty habit three to six months before the big day.
If that wasn't enough, we also chatted to La Roche-Posay Consultant Dermatologist Dr Justine Hextall who answered all of our skin redness questions. Get ready to banish the beetroot hues and welcome your wedding wonder glow!
The Best Anti-Redness Serums
Serums penetrate deeper into the layers of your skin to deliver the active ingredients where they’re needed. Anti-redness serums can help achieve long-term results that mean you’ll need to use less concealer and foundation over time.
1. La Roche-Posay Rosaliac AR Intense Localised Anti-Redness Intensive Care – £15, Boots
For it’s very reasonable price, the La Roche-Posay serum is a miracle product to calm stinging and burning, and treat redness and rosacea. It contains the powerful vegetal extract ambophenol – which is rich in polyphenols and helps reduce the size of blood vessels and strengthen their walls – plus the soothing active ingredient of neurosensine. Use day and night for four weeks to see results.
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2. Dr. Barbara Sturm Calming Serum – £175, Space NK
It may be pricey but if you can’t treat yourself to some luxe products before your big day, when can you? Plus, with a range of powerful ingredients combined to combat redness and soothe irritation, we reckon this skin saviour is worth every penny.
This lipid-based formula utilises a potent complex of ingredients including calming cardopspermum and hydrating echium along with sunflower seed oil that helps to neutralize free radicals and Purslane that fights aging and reduces visible signs of irritation.
2. Dermalogica Ultra Calming Serum Concentrate – £55, Look Fantastic
Containing oat and plant extracts, the Dermalogica serum is designed to relieve sensitive and reactive skin. It absorbs quickly with no unpleasant residue, comforting tight skin and helping conditions like psoriasis and rosacea.
3. Darphin Intral Redness Relief Soothing Serum – £59, Space NK
With a gentle, but fast-acting formula, Darphin’s serum balances dehydration with micro-water technology to nourish irritated skin. Their famed Calm Complex is a blend of hawthorn, peony and chamomile, which conditions and protects the skin against environmental damage to keep redness at bay. Note: it does have a mild fragrance so if that doesn’t agree with you, skip this.
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4. REN Evercalm Anti-Redness Serum – £45, Look Fantastic
Used twice daily, this intensive REN serum is specially formulated to relieve sensitive skin. It uses milk protein to calm redness and inflammation, wild Canadian rumex to reduce hyper-pigmentation and hyaluronic acid to boost hydration.
The Evercalm serum targets environmental aggressors and toxins from pollutants as well as addressing signs of ageing.
5. SkinCeuticals Phyto Corrective Gel – £60, Look Fantastic
This oil-free serum is packed with cucumber, thyme and olive oil extracts plus hyaluronic acid. It calms the skin, diminishes the appearance of redness and hits you with a huge boost of hydration. It’s at the higher end of the price range but totally worth it. Use with their masque for the ultimate treatment.
6. The Ordinary Azelaic Acid Suspension 10% – £8.60, The Ordinary
The Ordinary are an amazing budget brand who sell high-quality active ingredients that you can layer according to your skin’s problems. This azelaic acid comes from grains, but it’s naturally found in the skin. This lightweight cream-gel brightens the skin tone, visibly improves the evenness of skin texture and reduces the look of blemishes.
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7. Pai Skincare Instant Kalmer Sea Aster and Schisandra Ceramide Serum – £39.20, Look Fantastic
Take your skin from distressed to de-stressed with this calming ceramide serum. Sea aster works to calm unsettled skin while ceramides help to strengthen the skin barrier, preventing further irritation in the future.
Formulated especially for those with rosacea and eczema, this ultra-gentle, fragrance-free formula instantly calms and works to reduce redness over time.
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The Best Anti-Redness Moisturisers
As well as using a serum, daily use of moisturisers with active ingredients kickstarts the process of solving redness problems. Add into your regime morning and evening.
8. Clinique Redness Solutions Day Relief Cream – £42, John Lewis
Whether your redness is caused by cold or dry weather or medical issues like rosacea and eczema, Clinique’s super nourishing dry relief cream instantly cools and soothes skin and works to improve its appearance over time. It can lessen the look of broken capillaries and heal flaky and bumpy skin.
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9. Origins Mega-Mushroom Relief & Resilience Moisturiser – £32, Origins
Dry skin can often mean redness and irritation, which is why we’re fans of this super-moisturising cream. Made from a powerful selection of skin-quenching ingredients, including plant-derived hyaluronic acid and soothing reishi and chaga mushrooms, this lightweight formula sinks deep into the skin to boost moisture.
We love that it absorbs rapidly – let’s face it, who has the time to wait for their face cream to absorb in the morning? – and that it keeps the skin hydrated for a massive 48 hours. Not only that, but it’s also non-acnegenic and non-comedogenic so it won’t clog your pores in the process.
10. Avène Antirougers Day Emulsion SPF30 – £17, Look Fantastic
This lightweight moisturiser works to soothe existing redness and protect skin from further irritation – pretty impressive. Containing TRP-regulin, it helps to visibly reduce redness and puffiness while soothing skin that feels hot and sensitised. Pongamia oil works to preserve the skin’s microbiome and SPF30 ensures skin is protected from harmful UV rays.
Finally, Avène’s renowned thermal spring water soothes and hydrates the skin, leaving it supple, soft and wedding-ready.
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11. Rosalique 3 in 1 Anti-Redness Miracle Formula SPF50 – £29.99, Rosalique
This product refers to itself as a 'miracle', and with a legion of fans and thousands of great reviews online, we had to investigate.
It turns out, we were right to believe the hype. Developed by a bio-medical research scientist and dermo-cosmetic scientist, Rosalique has a lot of high-tech research to back up its claims – plus all those glowing reviews we told you about.
Rosalique contains micro-encapsulated technology that instantly conceals redness and ingredients such as zeolite, provitamin B5 and shea butter to tackle the root cause. Plus, it contains SPF50 to protect skin from UVA and UVB rays.
12. Happy Face Extreme Relief Cica Moisture Cream – £60, Beauty Pie
Now this may seem a little on the spenny side, but if you’re already a Beauty Pie member or you’re thinking of becoming one, you can get your hands on this powerful cream for less than £15.
Described as ‘a cashmere blanket for your face’ this moisturiser was formulated especially for highly sensitive, dry and rosacea-prone skin. With synurus palmatopinnatifidus (don’t worry, we can’t pronounce it either), a Japanese grass extract with soothing and anti-inflammatory properties and centella asiatica for calming irritation, your skin will quickly feel relieved.
For the final flourish, sodium hyaluronate, a powerful humectant that attracts up to 1000 times its weight in water, gives skin a major hydration boost leaving you with a very happy face indeed.
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The Best Anti-Redness Primers
Primers smooth the skin and blur out imperfections, providing the ideal canvas on which to apply makeup. Anti-redness primers have the added benefit of cooling down skin tones and cancelling out redness, allowing your makeup to shine.
13. Dr. Jart+ Cicapair Tiger Grass Color Correcting Treatment – £15, Cult Beauty
Dr. Jart’s entire Tiger Grass range is brilliant for irritated skin. The key ingredient is Centella Asiatica, which is proven to soothe and balance skin and reduce redness long-term. As well as a brilliant serum, mist and gel, it’s the correcting treatment that’s your all-in-one hero product. After cleansing, apply a moderate amount: the green cream will change to beige to cover redness and adjust to your skin tone.
14. Stila One Step Correct Primer – £28, Space NK
This triple-swirled helix serum contains not one but three colour-correcting pigments that correct, brighten and nourish the skin – ideal for those looking for a multi-purpose anti-redness product. The green tone neutralises redness, the lavender counteracts sallowness and the peach tone illuminates and brightens skin.
Enriched with a mineral complex that hydrates and nourishes skin, this primer will help to smooth pores and fine lines, leaving you with a fresh and vibrant complexion.
15. Step 1 Redness Corrector – £30.50, Make Up For Ever
This light green corrector instantly neutralises redness for an even skint one that’s ready for makeup for application. It also ensures that your base won’t budge all day – ideal for wedding makeup.
Infused with ginseng, this priming formula not only corrects colour it also soothes skin making it look more radiant and balanced.
16. Clarins SOS Primer Green – £27, John Lewis
Clarins SOS Primer preps, corrects and illuminates skin with its unique high lumitech complex. Pearls and soft focus powders blur imperfections while organic sea lilt provides all-day hydration and Clarins’ anti-pollution complex protects skin.
Neutralising redness and smoothing pores and lines in one sweep, this primer will ensure your wedding day makeup not only looks flawless but stays put from the ‘I dos’ to the last dance.
Anti-Redness Foundations and Concealers
Heavy foundations and concealers probably feel like the last thing you want to apply to dry, sensitive skin. Swap traditional foundation for light and moisturising CC, BB and tinted moisturisers with skin-soothing properties and neutralising pigments.
17. Erborian CC Red Correct – £39.50, Look Fantastic
It’s no secret that Korean skincare has taken the beauty world by storm and Erborian is one of the brands leading the way thanks to their cult favourite CC Cream. CC Red Correct was formulated especially for those of us that struggle with concealing redness. But concealing isn’t all this multi-tasker is capable of.
The green-toned corrector contains glycerin, vitamin E, centella asiatica and SPF25 that work together to moisturise, improve elasticity, soothe and protect the skin. As the ingredients work their magic, micro-pigments adapt to the colour of your skin, giving it a natural ‘your skin but better’ appearance.
18. Hourglass Hidden Corrective Concealer – £31, Space NK
Hourglass is known for its glow-enhancing and complexion perfecting products and this corrective concealer is one of our hero products. With a creamy, light texture, this concealer blends seamlessly into the skin covering redness, dark spots and blemishes.
Infused with the powerful antioxidant vitamin E, this multi-tasker also protects skin from environmental stressors while nourishing and hydrating.
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19. Rosaliac CC Crème – £21, La Roche-Posay
Containing thermal spring water to soothe and hydrate dry and irritated skin, Rosaliac CC Crème is more than just a complexion enhancer. Non-comedogenic and hypoallergenic, this cc cream is a safe choice for sensitive and break-out prone skin.
Rosaliac provides instant coverage in a universal tone for fair to medium skin while ambophenol extract helps to neutralise visible redness.
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20. Avène Antirougers Unifying SPF30 Tinted Moisturiser – £19.85, Look Fantastic
Tinted moisturiser is the perfect choice for those lusting after that natural, ‘your skin but better’ appearance. We like the Antirougers formula in particular because it’s light and gentle on sensitive and rosacea prone skin.
Enriched with TRP-regulin to reduce puffiness and redness and dextran sulfate to decongest and soothe flare-ups, this tinted moisturiser tackles the root cause of redness while concealing it – talk about multi-tasking!
21. Bioderma Sensibio Anti-Redness Tinted Moisturiser – £12.98, Feel Unique
Sensibio Anti-Redness Tinted Moisturiser is so much more than a complexion enhancer and concealer. The product works to regulate the biological factor responsible for vasodilation (that’s the widening of blood vessels that causes flushed skin, FYI) and protects skin from aggravating UV rays.
As light-reflecting pigments conceal redness and perfect skin, enoxolone, allantoin, glycerin and canola combine to soothe and reduce heat as well as strengthen the skin’s barrier. Pretty impressive, no?
Everything You Need to Know About Skin Redness
From the ingredients to look out for in anti-redness products to the causes of redness, we asked La Roche-Posay's Consultant Dermatologist, Dr Justine Hextall, our skin redness questions.
What are the Causes of Skin Redness?
"There are many causes of skin redness. Some individuals have a high colour that flushes easily with triggers such as a change in temperature or stress. This skin type is often fair with a propensity to skin sensitivity and needs to be carefully looked after. As a dermatologist, I am convinced that quite a lot of the time we sensitise our own skin with products we use. It is therefore important to use the most gentle skin products that will help to protect our skin barrier and also protect against external aggressors such as UV and pollution.
"Also, always think about activities. Swimming daily is great for our health but may not suit a sensitive skin barrier as the pH of swimming water is often around 9, whereas our natural skin pH is acidic 4.5-5.5. If we leave that water on the skin barrier it will disrupt and cause water loss leading to sensitisation. So immediately cleansing with a rich gentle cleanser that also helps to bring hydration to the skin will help, followed by a calming hydrating moisturiser."
Which Ingredients Should I Be Looking Out for in Products I Buy? And Which Should I Avoid?
"I always ask those with red skin whether their skin feels tight or dry after cleansing, this tells me whether the first step of the skin care regime is sensitising skin. Another question I ask is if the skin feels dry and lacking moisture during the day as this again suggests an unbalanced skin barrier. So the first step here is to find a really gentle skin care regime that is unlikely to causes irritation. I often recommend the Toleriane Dermocleanser followed by the Dermallergo serum, that contains humectants to draw moisture to the skin and the peptide neurosensine that helps to reduce the sensation of skin irritation. It is always important to wear a broad spectrum high factor sun cream, redness may be a part of rosacea and UV is a common trigger.
"Ingredients I recommend for redness would start with those that help to calm and repair the skin barrier. Ingredients that mimic the natural fats and oils found in the skin barrier include shea butter, ceramides and cholesterol. Niacinamide is also an important ingredient that can reduce redness and also help to support the skin barrier. Azaleic acid is a good ingredient to help with redness and is a very helpful ingredient for rosacea, again helping to support a healthy skin barrier. Vitamin B5 or panthenol will help to hydrate and support the skin barrier and the anti-oxidant madecassoside from the plant centella asiatica helps to protect the skin barrier from free radical damage from external aggressors such as pollution, also reducing redness and inflammation."
Is There Anything Else You Recommend to Combat Skin Redness?
"Broadly, use a skin care regime that protects the skin barrier, leaving skin calm and hydrated. Be cautious about the terms ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ this does not mean your skin can’t react to such products. When introducing actives such as exfoliants e.g. AHA’s and BHA’s and retinoids, introduce them slowly and balance the skin barrier with calming, hydrating ingredients. A sensitive skin may only be able to tolerate potentially irritating actives once or twice a week, and in some cases not at all. If looking for actives seek those created specifically for sensitive skin and start slowly – listen to your skin."
Don’t miss our edit of the 39 bridal beauty hacks that will change your life. Combine them with our 15 wedding makeup hero products and you’re onto a winner!
