'Monodosing' is the skin gurus' favourite way to apply skincare (and the benefits are amazing)
Forget about moisturiser pots and serum pipettes – switched-on skincare buffs take their potions in pods, tabs, ampoules or patches supplying the perfect daily dosage of product.
Satisfyingly sciency-looking and fool-proof, single-shot skincare comes with a slew of surprising benefits from perfect dosage, maximum hygiene, minimising preservatives while maximising actives potency, plus some sustainability saves.
Skincare packaging has been through quite a transformation over the past few years. Not only do Herculean efforts continue to be made to make our bottles, jars and vials more recyclable – we’ve also become increasingly keen on keeping our active ingredients fresh and away from contamination. Bacteria and oxygen are potion killers that can quickly turn a hi-tech formula into a basic moisturiser – and that’s not what you want from your skin-vestments.
But it turns out packaging can go one better when it comes to delivering supercharged formulas. Monodosing – the skincare equivalent of single-use contact lenses - is on the rise because it addresses not only issues of contamination and degradation, but solves a few other conundrums as well.
For those who don’t like the idea of preservatives or worry they might irritate sensitive skin, some single-shot products are preservative-free while other are low on preservatives: because the doses stay hermetically sealed until you put them on your face, no bacteria-killers are required.
If you never know how much product is enough, monodoses have the answer: this, and that’s it. There’s also little or no need for ingredients like water, silicones and inert oils to bulk up the formula and fill the bottle, so single doses tend to be highly concentrated and extra-effective. Thanks to the absence of oxygen and the potential to leave out water, these little pods have the power to keep highly unstable molecules like ascorbic acid (vitamin c) from deteriorating, allowing them to burst onto your skin with all their superpowers intact.
They defy airport baggage check jobsworths (should we have have the pleasure of facing them again) with their average content of just milligrams. And, done well, they seriously cut back on environmental waste: one monodosing brand, Noble Panacea, estimates one 50ml plastic bottle creates 15 times more waste than 30 doses of its single-podded serum
Spot zapping stickers
Dots for Spots, £5.99 for 24 Dots, Amazon
These little see-through spot busting patches are made of just plant-derived hydrocolloid (no active ingredients) which, once stuck onto a ripe spot, is surprisingly effective at drawing out and absorbing moisture, pus and bacteria from whiteheads and brewing zits. Thinking there’s a scab, skin is tricked into sorting out the inflamed area, flattening and sucking the life out of pimples. Delivered in recyclable plastic pouches, the brand has got rid of its additional box packaging to reduce waste.
Vitamin serum capsules
Superactive Capsules Pure Double Vitamin C & Vitamin E Serum, £50 or £14.33 for members, Beauty Pie
These biodegradable pods feature l-ascorbic acid, which is pure (but highly unstable) vitamin c. Hermetically sealed in, it’s protected from light and oxygen so remains fresh until you pop it open and apply the whole lot to your skin for a potent dose of brightening and plumping action. The formula is preservative-free as well.
The makeup remover vial
Toleriane Monodose Make Up Remover, £17, La Roche Posay at LookFantastic
Toleriane is La Roche Posay’s product collection for the most reactive and intolerant of skins, and these 30 single-use vials of makeup remover take their no-irritant premise most seriously of all. The water-like liquid (you can use it for the face as well) is preservative-free thanks to the pod packaging, and there’s no fragrance, alcohol or colourants either.
PIgmentation busting stickers
Hyperfade Spot Clarifying Patches, £29, Zitsticka at Cult Beauty
ZitSticka is on a mission to subdue acne and its effects on skin, one microdart transdermal patch at a time. Made of biodegradable hydrocolloid, these transparent stickers, equipped with tiny plasticky darts, are pressed onto brown patches (either from sun damage or post-acne discolouration) so they can precision-deliver their pigmentation-dissolving (or spot-shrivelling, in the case of Zitsticka Killa patches, £27) ingredients inside the spot’s core. Undiluted by ‘filler’ ingredients and a lot more hygienic than a cream (no dipping-in of fingers), you get the right dosage every time: no wastage.
Single dose super serum
Boasting serums and moisturisers packed with time-released, encapsulated skin-regenerating ingredients (it’s technology by a Nobel Prize-winning chemist, no less), Noble Panacea prides itself on delivering each active exactly where skin needs it, ensuring “35% better penetration and more efficacy.” You buy your chosen product in boxes of single-dose 30 pods, vacuum-sealed to protect the delicate delivery system and volatile active ingredients – these formulas are paraben but not entirely preservative-free. FSC-certified cartons go in the recycling and the pods in a pre-paid Terracycle envelope.
Skincare cocktailing
Duolab Capsules, £35 for a Two-Week Supply & Duolab Device, £250, Feel Unique
The Duolab system offers three vacuum-sealed monodose bases and five concentrates, created by l’Occitane, that can be combined to create your perfect skin cocktail (there’s a free skin-diagnostic app to help you pick the right formulas). You just pop your chosen pods in the Duolab device – think Nespresso, but for skincare - where they get emulsified (blended) at a gentle 40* heat before emerging as a moisturiser-and-serum hybrid, which they say comes “with twice the amount of actives compared to average bottled skincare". It allows for formulas free from preservatives and emulsifiers, both considered potential skin irritants, while a warm cream is said to be better absorbed. Used capsules, sleeves and pouches can be popped in a pre-paid envelope for Terracycle to recycle them 100%.
Skin brightening capsules
Decléor White Magnolia Intensive Cure 60 Nights, £95.85, Feel Unique
Another ‘cure’, these 60 pods promise brighter skin in two months thanks to skin-regenerating white magnolia and ginger essential oils and pigmentation-blocking ferulic acid. Essential oils oxidise under the influence of light, heat and oxygen, so these biodegradable, synthetic preservative-free capsules keep them in their virgin state until you break them open before bed.
7 Day skin reset
Anew Protinol Skin Reset Plumping Shots, £18, Avon
A course of seven monodose vials, this hydrating serum featuring a patented collagen-boosting active, promises to plump out lines and wrinkles over the course of a week. Less concerned by being preservative-free (they aren’t) and more by delivering the maximum optimum dosage to show fast, visible results, these pods are used as a monthly ‘cure’ to keep your collagen levels topped up at all times.
Pick and mix skincare
Daily Bases, from £14 for a 14-day Supply, Wo
Wo understands our skincare needs and preferences change all the time, so its monodosing system lets you combine different serums and creams at will without ending up with a battery of half-used bottles on your bathroom shelf. Choose from four moisturising Daily Bases that double as cleanser and makeup remover (use half to cleanse, the other half to moisturise), and 11 ‘Power TonIQ’ serum essences. They come in pods and vials made from 80% recycled and 100% recyclable plastic that weigh very little (which means a lower carbon footprint) and can be bought in as little as two-week supplies. Not sure what to get? There’s a handy skin diagnostic tool on the website that’ll suggest just the right options for you.
