The best anti-aging skincare, ranked by evidence

On our scores, retinoid serums lead: REMEDY For Healthy Aging (4.6 efficacy) and PURITO Retinol Retinal 2000 NAD+ Serum (4.5) top the list, with several retinal serums at 4.4. See the full rankings.

One with a retinoid, used at night, plus a daily sunscreen in the morning. Paula's Choice Clinical Ceramide-Enriched Firming Moisturizer (4.6) and Olay Retinol24 Night Cream (4.2) are the top-scoring creams in our database at very different prices.

Some do, for some signs. Retinoids, sunscreen, vitamin C and exfoliating acids have controlled trials behind them for fine lines, spots and texture. No cream lifts sagging skin or erases deep wrinkles, and many anti-aging ingredients, such as collagen, caviar and gold, have no good evidence.

Skincare can soften fine forehead lines: a retinoid at night and sunscreen every day, for at least three months. Deep lines that show when your face is relaxed come from muscle movement, and the treatment that works for those is muscle-relaxing injections from a doctor.

Use a gentle eye cream with a low-strength retinoid, vitamin C or peptides, wear sunglasses and sunscreen, and be patient: results take months. Under-eye skin is thin, so build up slowly. Lasers and injections help more for deeper lines.

A retinoid softens fine lines around the mouth, and SPF lip balm prevents more sun damage. Lines from volume loss usually need fillers or lasers from a dermatologist.

Take your sunscreen and retinoid down to your neck, starting slowly because neck skin irritates easily. Horizontal neck lines are partly anatomy; skincare softens them but won't remove them.

The same ingredients work at every age: a retinoid at night and sunscreen every morning. In your 40s and 50s, choose a retinoid in a moisturizing base, and add ceramides for dryness. See the routine by age.

Men's skin responds to the same ingredients. Pick any cream from our rankings: a retinoid cream for the evening and a sunscreen for the morning. "For men" usually just means different packaging and scent.

Yes, it's the best-proven anti-aging product. In a 4.5-year randomized trial, people who used sunscreen every day showed no detectable increase in skin aging, while the comparison group did. Choose SPF 30 or higher you'll actually wear daily.

Not automatically. Korean brands are often good value and many score well with us, especially retinal serums and sunscreens. Judge each product by its ingredients, not where it's made.

There's no controlled evidence that caviar extract reduces wrinkles. It's graded C, overhyped, in our database. The products that contain it get any benefit from other ingredients.

PDRN (salmon DNA) has evidence as an injection given by a doctor. There's very little evidence for it in a serum or cream, so we grade it C. PDRN products that score well, like VT Cosmetics PDRN Essence 100 (4.2), do so because of their other ingredients.

Some peptides, such as palmitoyl pentapeptide-4 (Matrixyl) and copper peptides, have a few small trials showing modest improvement in fine lines. They're gentle and promising, graded B, but less proven than retinoids.

Yes. Hyaluronic acid hydrates and is easy to tolerate, so it pairs well with a retinoid, especially while your skin adjusts. Apply it before or after; both work.

Some trials found modest improvements in skin hydration and elasticity, but many were funded by supplement makers. They're a separate question from collagen creams, which can't add collagen to your skin. See our collagen guide.