Geek & Gorgeous: I bought (almost) everything
I bought almost the entire Geek & Gorgeous range. Not particularly sensible, but I wanted to understand the brand rather than buy the three things the internet had already decided I should like.
And somewhere during the process, I stopped reviewing it.
Things started moving. The hydration mist ended up somewhere I could reach it. I kept touching the HA. The Vitamin C disappeared because I gave it to a client. Then the HA went the same way to a member of The Circle.
Other bottles barely moved at all.
And I think that probably tells you more about this review than me working through twelve ingredient lists ever could.
Because overall, I really like Geek & Gorgeous.
I like the price. I like the lack of nonsense. I like people knowing what they are getting. And I particularly like that affordable doesn't seem to have been interpreted as find one fashionable ingredient, put it in a fairly average formula and write it very loudly on the front.
But I absolutely didn't love everything. And that's where this gets interesting.
What we recommend…
Geek & Gorgeous Liquid Hydration
A hydrating toner formulated around 5% panthenol alongside a blend of the skin's own natural moisturising factors, including sodium PCA, urea, diglycerin and hydrolysed rice protein. Together these humectants work to draw moisture into the upper layers of skin and support the barrier, while allantoin adds a further soothing element. Free from fragrance, oils and harsh alcohols, it is designed to be gentle enough for daily use across all skin types, including sensitive or reactive skin.
Geek & Gorgeous C-Glow
A lightweight, water-like serum formulated with 15% pure vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid), ferulic acid and vitamin E, a combination chosen for its established ability to stabilise vitamin C and enhance its antioxidant and photoprotective properties. Designed to protect against environmental damage, support collagen production and even out skin tone over time, with a fast absorbing texture that leaves no stickiness.
Geek & Gorgeous Jelly Joker
A gentle, non-foaming jelly cleanser formulated with two mild cleansing agents alongside panthenol and allantoin to soothe the skin during cleansing. A trio of sugar-based moisturisers, xylitylglucoside, anhydroxylitol and xylitol, help support the skin's water retention and strengthen the barrier as it cleanses. With a low pH of 5 to 5.4, it works in line with the skin's natural acid mantle rather than against it, and does not sting the eyes.
Geek & Gorgeous Happier Barrier
A nourishing yet lightweight moisturiser built around 7% squalane and a 3% skin-identical lipid mixture, which works alongside ceramide to help reinforce and repair the skin barrier. The lipid blend is designed to mimic the surface lipid composition of healthy skin, while polyphenol rich green tea extract adds antioxidant and soothing benefits, further supported by bisabolol and allantoin for calm, comfortable skin.
THE THINGS I KEPT TOUCHING
Let's start with Liquid Hydration, £8.25.
I wasn't expecting to care much about a face mist. I have clients who LOVE a mist and others that would rather go to a public swimming pool than spray their face with anything. But I cared about this one – it showed because I kept using it.
It's 5% panthenol alongside Natural Moisturising Factors including PCA, sodium PCA, urea and amino acids. Not terribly sexy. Very useful.
Going into winter, I think this is a really smart little product. Central heating goes on, the environment changes and skin that was perfectly comfortable suddenly starts feeling tight.
Then there was HA 5 Rich, £8.95 God, the HA.
Hyaluronic acid is everywhere, so this was possibly the product I was least excited about testing. But it has five forms of HA and, importantly for me, they've built more around it: betaine, glycerin, Tremella mushroom and panthenol.
It feels considered as a hydration serum rather than we've put some hyaluronic acid in a bottle, off you go. I loved the texture. I loved how it layered. I kept reaching for it.
Then I gave it away to a member of The Circle.
That probably says more than another paragraph of ingredient analysis. I don't routinely give clients the things I'm testing. Something moving from I'm reviewing this to I want your skin to have this is quite a big kite mark of confidence from me.
I now need another one.
JELLY JOKER. TERRIBLE NAME. GREAT CLEANSER.
£8.95.
And this one has made me think about why we're still having the same La Roche-Posay conversation every time somebody says their skin is sensitive. That isn't anti-La Roche. There are products from the brand I really like. But familiarity isn't automatically formulation superiority, and some of the traditional pharmacy cleansing space can feel more surfactant-forward than I want for certain dry, reactive or compromised skins.
Jelly Joker is different. It uses two gentle cleansing agents with panthenol, allantoin and a sugar-derived humectant complex, sits at a low pH and doesn't foam its head off.
Your face just feels like your face afterwards.
I like this for sensitive skin. Dry skin. Someone who gets that immediate tightness after cleansing. Someone whose barrier is having a wobble. Or frankly anyone who doesn't need cleansing to feel like an industrial process.
And I particularly like Geek & Gorgeous saying that if you're not wearing waterproof SPF or make-up, this can simply be your one cleanse. They don't even think everyone necessarily needs cleanser in the morning.
THANK YOU.
We've turned double cleansing into a rule when sometimes one good cleanse is just... a good cleanse.
THEN C-GLOW MADE ME LOOK AT SKINCEUTICALS ( YES ,AGAIN! )
C-Glow is £11.95.
15% pure L-ascorbic acid, with ferulic acid and Vitamin E. So yes, my brain immediately went to C E Ferulic.
I'm not calling it a SkinCeuticals dupe. Ingredient lists looking vaguely alike do not make two formulations equivalent, and SkinCeuticals has significant research behind its particular antioxidant system.
But they are absolutely sitting in the same formulation conversation.
And Geek & Gorgeous have managed to enter that conversation for £11.95. That is quite something.
Pure L-ascorbic acid is notoriously awkward, and I actually like that Geek & Gorgeous don't pretend otherwise. C-Glow is made in fresh batches and comes with specific storage guidance because oxidation matters. And mine?
I gave it to a client. Again, that doesn't happen often.
For somebody whose skin is appropriate for 15% L-ascorbic acid and who wants a serious Vitamin C without immediately entering three-figure skincare, I think this is exceptionally interesting.
HAPPIER BARRIER
This was my other oh... they've actually thought about this moment.
£10.25.
Seven percent squalane. A 3% skin-identical lipid mixture. Ceramide 2. Green tea polyphenols. Allantoin. Bisabolol. Yes. Yes. Yes – said like Monica Gellar in ‘that’ episode of friends.
This is what I want when somebody uses the words barrier cream. Not simply a thick moisturiser with the word BARRIER printed on it.You've got lipids, ceramide and squalane, but it still feels surprisingly lightweight.
Dry skin, winter skin, skin using actives, skin that's started doing that actually, I've had enough thing — this makes sense to me.
I also tried Hydration Station, £8.50, with 5% glycerin and 1% ectoin. Perfectly good, particularly if you want something lighter. But if you're making me choose?
Happier Barrier. Every time.
WHAT DIDN'T I LOVE?
This is important because I don't believe any brand makes the best version of everything.
Power Peptides, £15.25, is actually interesting on paper. Geek & Gorgeous have used multiple peptide technologies rather than throwing one token peptide into the formula.
I just didn't keep reaching for it.
And peptides are becoming a very crowded space. P-TIOX still leads that conversation for me, and I'm now sufficiently interested in NIP+FAB's copper peptide formulation that I'm going to buy it and give it a review of its own.
So Power Peptides isn't bad. It just didn't make me care enough. There is a difference.
B-Bomb, £8.25, was similar. Ten percent niacinamide with Zinc PCA and sarcosine.
Fine. But niacinamide is in so much skincare now that I'm increasingly questioning whether everybody needs a dedicated 10% serum. I didn't dislike it. I just didn't miss it. And that counts.
AZELAIC WAS MORE INTERESTING BECAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENED NEXT
I tried aPAD, £11.25, which uses an azelaic acid derivative rather than pure azelaic acid.
Again: good.
Didn't blow me away.
But Geek & Gorgeous have since moved the conversation on with their newer pure azelaic acid formulation. And that interests me almost more than aPAD itself. Because it tells me something about the company. They're prepared to revisit a category rather than deciding they've already got an azelaic product so the job is finished.
I haven't properly lived with the newer formulation yet, so I'm not going to review something through an INCI list. But I will be trying it.
SO WHAT WOULD I ACTUALLY BUY AGAIN?
This is where reviewing a whole range gets quite simple. If you came into the clinic tomorrow, took every Geek & Gorgeous bottle off my shelf and gave me my bank card back,
HA 5 Rich would be the first thing I'd replace.
I did not expect the humble HA to win this.
It did.
Second is C-Glow.
The formulation, the feel, the price and the fact that I was confident enough in it to give mine to somebody else. At £11.95, I think it's quite remarkable.
Third is Happier Barrier.
Ceramide, skin-identical lipids and squalane for £10.25. I don't have much more to argue with.
And if you let me have a fourth?
Jelly Joker.
I just refuse to sacrifice one of my precious three places to a cleanser because cleansers are incredibly personal and once someone finds one they love, I'm generally reluctant to start a domestic incident in their bathroom.
Liquid Hydration stays too. Particularly for winter.
The others? Some good products. Some very good formulations. But I don't need to own every good product. And I think that's probably my overriding Geek & Gorgeous review.
You absolutely do not need the whole range. I bought it so you don't have to.
But there are a handful of products here where the formulation, experience and price come together incredibly well. And apparently my next job is replacing the HA I gave away and buying a NIP+FAB copper peptide serum and diving into their ‘mark 2’ azelaic conversation.
Which is precisely how one shelf review turns into another.
