The Skincare Routine That Costs More Than Your Rent

It started, as these things always do, with a serum. A small bottle, a large promise, and a price tag that required a brief sit-down. Welcome to the world of ultra-premium skincare, where the products have names like "The Sérum" and the descriptions contain words like "quantum botanicals."

We spent a week testing the One Skin range, a three-product collection from a brand that describes itself as "plant-based, lab-adjacent, and probably fine." The founder, a former fintech consultant, insists the formulas are clinically validated. His definition of clinical, it turns out, is flexible.

The Wash, at £190, is a cleanser. It foams. It smells of something green. "Not a colour," the brand clarifies on its website, "a feeling." We washed our face with it for seven days. Our face was clean. It was, by any reasonable measure, a lot of money for a clean face.

And yet. There is something about the ritual. The heavy glass bottles. The gold dropper. The act of doing something expensive in the bathroom at 7am, before the day has had a chance to disappoint you. Whether that something is worth £895 is, ultimately, between you and your savings account.