Why Everyone Will Be Talking About These Fall Skin Care Trends This Season

4 min read

Change can be intimidating and comes with a lot of uncertainties. Then, there’s the kind of change that offers benefits so good, you wish you took the plunge earlier. That is why the transition from summer to fall is one of the most exciting times: Your beauty routines shift with the seasons, and dewy, sun-kissed skin takes a back seat to more strategic, reparative skin care formulas that keep skin hydrated and balanced as summer returns. If summer bodies are made in the winter, summer skin is too.

Dr. Antony Nakhla, double board-certified dermatologist, reconstructive surgeon, and founder of Eighth Day, says to think of this switch as “less of an overhaul and more of a recalibration.” After a few months of sun, sea, and humid air, the skin needs a break. “As humidity drops, the skin’s barrier comes under more stress and hydration becomes the priority. [This is where] you reintroduce richer moisturizers if you [used lighter formulas] over summer and increase barrier-supporting ingredients. It’s also the right moment to reintroduce retinoids consistently if you pulled back over summer because of sun sensitivity,” she explains. However, New York-based facialist Samantha Susca warns against completely overhauling your routine at once, but “making some minor adjustments is where to start. This can be something like gentle exfoliation or acids used more frequently and gently increasing the richness of your moisturizer.”

So, as summer winds down and you’re planning your fall fits, it’s a great time to work on your fall skin care strategy. Thankfully, the skin care trends below, predicted by our skin experts, can help inform your shopping and planning.

Regenerative Biotech Skin Care

Skin care has evolved beyond the hyaluronic acid- and niacinamide-powered serums we’ve hoarded over the years to more science-focused formulas. Dr. Nakhla observed a shift toward “regenerative biotech,” an area he’s “most invested in, and it happens to be where the industry is heading,” he says. This group of ingredients signals cell regeneration, renewal, and strengthening. “Growth factor mimetics, next-generation peptides, and bioidentical repair agents are moving from clinical settings onto shelves.” Think everything from exosomes, one of the buzziest ingredients in anti-aging skin care right now, to salmon DNA (PDRN), found in your favorite masks and serums (and hair care, too). Susca agrees, adding that she was impressed by the results she got from a recent facial in Korea using these regenerative elements and discovered that Korea has used them in its products for decades. Dr. Nakhla adds that Eighth Day products are infused with “bioidentical science and regenerative principles [that] speak to where skin care is heading.” Each product features “our patented Peptide-Rich Plasm technology, a proprietary complex of 24 bioidentical peptides, amino acids, and growth factors that mimics the skin’s own ability to renew, restore, and regenerate and is the foundation of everything we make,” he adds.

Ingredient Literacy

Both Susca and Dr. Nakhla note increased consumer interest in ingredients—more and more people want to know what they’re putting on their skin. “Consumers are losing patience with 10-step routines and single-ingredient fads; they want fewer products that actually work. A disciplined, consistent routine with the right formulations will always outperform a complicated one,” Dr. Nakhla explains.

Susca adds that part of her facial sessions with clients focuses on education and warns them against falling for marketing gimmicks. “Marketing is a huge industry, and just because something touts an incredible peptide or something new doesn’t necessarily mean there’s enough of it in the product to have a measurable difference on the skin. Concentration and the delivery system matter more than the cool new ingredient itself. You can have something that’s absolutely amazing, but if it cannot penetrate the layers of the skin in a measurable percentage, then what use is it? More important than trending products is choosing a tailored routine that benefits your skin type and lifestyle. I think many brands are delivering on this by optimizing results through topical application and cutting-edge science,” Susca adds.

Hydration + Barrier Repair

No matter the season or skin type, hydration is always in, especially if you plan on spending the rest of the winter with texture- and complexion-correcting formulas. “I start introducing richer hydration and barrier repair before the corrective treatments that come after. Once the skin is deeply cleansed and the barrier is restored, we can pave the way for stronger and more reparative actives like retinols and peels to be reintroduced,” says Susca. This looks like products aimed to “rescue distressed skin and restore structural integrity” through ingredients that boost firmness, suppleness, and revitalization.

The skin becomes increasingly dehydrated as the seasons change, “because we’re going from a time of high humidity to much, much lower humidity, adding to the drying effects of indoor heating. Initial dehydration is what leads to more aggressive sensitivity, tightness, and compromised barrier,” she explains.