15 Best Skincare Sets for Men in 2023
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15 Best Skincare Sets for Men in 2023
Buying your skincare products pre-bundled is a great idea—it means getting all the products you need at once, which often work particularly well in tandem and may even cost less when purchased in bulk. In the market for a skincare set designed specifically with men in mind? We’ve got you.
What Should Be in a Skincare Set?
This is fairly individual. One man might be looking for a skincare set with all the products he needs to get started with a healthier grooming routine, while another may be hoping to target signs of aging or find just one or two products to add to his bathroom shelf. Some brands offer quizzes to help you figure out which products will help you meet your goals, and other times you’re completely on your own.
In general, look for skincare sets with products you’re going to use. What’s the point of getting a skincare set with a dozen different items in it if you know most of them will gather dust in your bathroom cabinet? If you’re new to skincare and want to test the waters, look for a kit that contains trial-size products so you can sample your way through a line without fully committing.
You also want to make sure that the products in the skincare set you buy are optimized for your skin's health. A teen won’t need anti-aging products, for example, and someone with dry skin won’t need a kit designed to sop up excess grease.
As for what shouldn’t be in a skincare set? Toxic or harsh ingredients that may cause a reaction. Some of the main culprits are parabens, sulfates, phthalates, and parabens. It’s worth noting that some skincare brands test their products on animals, which is considered animal cruelty. If that’s something that concerns you (and honestly, it should), opt for products that are labeled cruelty-free!
How to Choose the Right Skincare Set
Here are some things to keep in mind in order to settle on the perfect skincare set for you:
Your Skin Type. Optimal skin health starts with knowing your skin type, and this particular piece of knowledge should inform your choice when it comes to picking out the right skincare set. Not all products are safe or effective for all skin types, so don’t buy a set without figuring if it’s a good fit for your skin first. If you often feel or look greasy, you may have oily skin. If you notice frequent dry flakes, you probably have dry skin. Skin that generally seems balanced is labeled “normal,” while skin with both dry and oily patches is called “combination.” It’s worth noting if your skin gets irritated easily, as it may be sensitive.
Your Goals. Next, ask yourself what you’re trying to get out of your skincare routine. If you’re just looking into a skincare set out of a sense of obligation toward your complexion, a basic kit with everyday products is probably a good idea. Men looking for products to target their dark spots may want to identify brightening skincare sets, and those with frequent breakouts probably need an acne-busting bundle.
Your Budget. You can find skincare solutions at all different price ranges. Go into the hunt with a basic budget in mind so you know which brands are right up your alley and which you might have to save for and splurge on in the future.
Your Routine. We love the enthusiasm, but if you can barely summon the energy now to scrub body wash in between your toes, do you really think you’ll make the time for a fully fledged skincare routine? Be realistic about what you’re willing to take on. It’s also important to take stock of the products you already use on a daily basis. Are there any that aren’t serving you? Or ones that you feel loyal to and won’t need a duplicate of?
Your Scent Preferences. Some skincare products are unscented, while others contain perfume or natural fragrance. Figure out which kind you’d prefer before you buy a whole set!
What Products Make Up a Skincare Routine?
Each man has different skincare needs, but here are some staple products to look for:
Face Wash. This right here is the bread and butter of any man’s skincare routine! A face wash is a product you’ll use twice a day every day for a vigorous clean. It works to rid your pores of buildup, dirt, oils, and other impurities that collect there, then often replenishes skin’s moisture and provides added benefits. If you don’t have a face wash already or aren’t happy with the one you use, look for a skincare set that contains a cleanser.
Exfoliator. For a little extra help with cleansing (plus getting rid of flakes), there are exfoliators. These face washes can come in scrub form or use chemical exfoliants to help rid the skin’s surface of anything that doesn’t belong. You’ll want to swap this in place of your face wash a couple times a week.
Toner. Toner gets rubbed across your skin after cleansing in order to remove the last bits of dirt. It’s especially helpful for men with acne-prone skin, and may even reduce the size of pores.
Serum. Serums provide highly concentrated ingredients directly to skin, targeting issues with a more direct and in-depth approach. There are all kinds of serums out there, so you can choose one that makes the most sense for you. Maybe you want a little extra brightening help, additional moisture, or even wrinkle-busting power.
Moisturizer. If you were to pare your skincare routine down to just two products, those should be face wash and moisturizer. Your skin’s moisture barrier is absolutely essential for skin health and skin appearance, and moisturizer is there to reinforce it. Even men with oily skin will benefit from a moisturizer—this is a key part of any skincare set!
Sun Protection. Not all skincare products offer sun protection, but if you find a set with sunscreen or a moisturizer that contains SPF, go for it! This is especially true if you spend a lot of time outdoors or burn easily. Protecting your skin from the sun also helps delay aging and reduce skin damage, so take this part of your routine seriously.
1. Supply The Skincare Set
Supply has got it just right with this best skincare set for men. After all, most men want to keep their skincare routines simple, and this set dials it into the two most important products out there: face wash and moisturizer. That’s because the brand is all about uncomplicated skincare, creating products that are fuss-free but full to the brim with important, helpful ingredients.
In this case, the face wash is built around soothing ingredients like aloe and green tea, with plentiful hydration in the form of sodium hyaluronate and natural extracts. Coconut-derived surfactants get rid of any accumulated dirt, and there are no parabens, sulfates, phthalates, or petroleum jellies to be found. The moisturizer nurtures skin to its fullest expression of health and radiance with aloe, glycerin, squalane, and plant extracts like lentil, guarana, and watermelon for antioxidants and other natural benefits. It truly doesn’t get better than this.
2. Perricone MD Brighter Together Set
Men seeking help with hyperpigmentation or those who want to brighten up their complexion should opt for this set from Perricone MD. It contains a serum and a moisturizer, both of which are designed to aid in sun protection and fade discoloration. The brightening complex turns to high concentrations of vitamin C for this effect, plus vitamin E and ferulic acid for smoothness. Meanwhile, the moisturizer provides an extra dose of vitamin C plus SPF to fend off future sun damage.
3. Aesop Balance Classic Skin Care Kit
Aesop’s Classic Skin Care Kit is a great way to sample the brand’s best products and come away with a full, if somewhat oversimplified, skincare routine. It all starts with the brand’s In Two Minds cleanser, loaded with witch hazel, sage leaf, and salicylic acid for clean and tight pores. Next comes the toner, using witch hazel again (plus chamomile bud and vitamin B) for soothed and moisturized skin. At long last, the brand’s moisturizer from the same line seals in H2O with jojoba esters and natural oils.
4. Sunday Riley All About Acne
Next we have one of the best skincare sets for men battling it out with acne. When used in combination, these products leave pimples no chance, attacking them tirelessly at the source. The first step is a Ceramic Slip Cleanser, loaded up with kaolin clay to draw impurities out from clogged pores while natural oils balance sebum production.
Next, Sunday Riley offers a facial oil that contains salicylic acid (a favorite acne-buster) along with clarifying tea tree and black cumin oil for inflammation reduction. Once you’ve applied the face oil to your skin, it’s time for the brand’s lactic acid treatment. It uses prickly pear extract to regenerate skin without blocking pores, orchid extract for conditioning purposes (oily skin needs moisture, too!), and blue agave (the same ingredient that tequila is made of) for acne treatment.
In the mornings, follow these products with your moisturizer of choice, preferable one that contains SPF. At night, use the cleanser again to get rid of the day’s residue, then follow it with the kit’s retinoid serum, which combats acne with retinol, CoQ10, and algae. If there are any problem blemishes, hit them with the Saturn Sulfur Spot Treatment. It fades spots fast with sulfur, tea tree, and bentonite.
5. Dr. Jart + Cicapair Redness Rescue
Dr. Jart + has put together this Redness Rescue Kit for men with irritated skin. With just three products—a calming serum, desensitizing cream, and instant color corrector—you can reduce redness both immediately and over time. Ingredients like holly leaf, sugarcane extract, and turmeric do the trick, soothing skin, reducing sensitivity, and adding hydration.
6. Every Man Jack Skin Revive Bundle
Every Man Jack has you covered with this Revive Bundle, designed for tired and dry skin. It provides a pick-me-up thanks to products like a hydrating face wash, gentle face scrub, invigorating coffee-infused lotion, SPF moisturizer, and an eye cream to wake up the skin around your eyes. All of the products in this bundle are fragrance-free, so suitable for men with sensitive skin.
7. Huron SPF Face Kit
Huron’s SPF Face Kit would make a great gift for a guy about to head on a beach vacation or start a new job that involves hours under the sun. That’s because it’s built of products that protect skin from sun damage, keeping it youthful and healthy in the face of harmful UV rays. With this purchase you get two face washes, a moisturizer, SPF moisturizer, and eye stick.
8. Brickell Men’s Daily Advanced Face Care Routine
Those with normal to oily skin will find this one of the best skincare sets for men. It contains a clarifying gel face wash that is loaded up with aloe vera, coconut cleansers, and geranium for antioxidant and anti-inflammatory power. The accompanying scrub uses jojoba, green tea, and avocado butter to get the job done, and the moisturizer wakes skin up with a combination of green tea, white tea, and rooibos, which provides the additional benefit of wrinkle reduction!
9. Jack Henry Face Kit
Jack Henry’s Face Kit has it all, and by “it all” we mean a cleanser, toner, nighttime moisturizer, face oil, and face cream. These products are high end but have simple ingredient lists. For example, the cleanser consists of just seven ingredients, including moisturizing coconut oil, calming aloe vera, and mineral-rich sea kelp.
The PM moisturizer delivers tea tree, avocado oil, and coconut oil to skin overnight, helping it regenerate so you can wake up with a fresher complexion. The face oil delivers serious antioxidants and nutrients to skin with superfood oils like açaí and baobab. Then the face cream instantly transforms skin’s texture, soaking skin in moisture thanks to moringa oil, using tamanu and maize to encourage collagen production (keeping skin taut and plump for longer), nourishing with vanilla oil, and improving elasticity with prickly pear.
10. Hunter Daily Ritual Kit
There’s something to be said for making your skincare a ritual rather than a chore, which is just what Hunter has done with this kit. It contains a body wash, cleansing stick, and moisturizer, all laden with natural goodness that will make you feel special.
The multi-purpose body wash (it also works like hand soap in a pinch) contains bladderwrack to flush away toxins, wakame to reduce pollutants and defy aging, hydrolyzed wheat protein for its superior moisturizing capability, and violet leaf for its cooling and calming properties. For your face, there’s the Charcoal Cleansing Stick, a cleanser that comes in stick form (just rub it on your face and add water) that contains detoxifying magic. The Daily Face Fuel, step two on your face, contains avocado, macadamia, and passionfruit oils for plenty of nurturing fatty acids.
11. Bevel Skin Essentials Bundle
Bevel is a brand designed specifically for men of color, and all the brand’s best-selling face products make an appearance in this bundle. Like the face wash that has come to rescue you from dull skin with coconut fruit juice, witch hazel, and stimulating wu zhu yu extract. To make the most of this kit, apply the toner next.
Toner is there to restore balance to your skin’s pH levels and improve your skin’s tone, and this one happens to exfoliate, too. It’s designed to be used pre-shave, using a high concentration of glycolic acid to get rid of dead skin and cut back on ingrown hairs. Then it uses aloe vera to soothe and vitamin B3 to shrink pores. The moisturizing face gel is step three, using vitamin C for free radical protection, apple extract to keep skin youthful, and honey to prevent breakouts.
12. Horace The Complete Face Kit
Horace is trying to make it easy with this kit, and they’ll mveet you half way! Once you add the cleanser, moisturizer, face scrub, eye cream, and mask to your collection, the rest is up to you. Use the brand’s cleanser morning and night, purifying pores and balancing sebum production with ingredients like activated charcoal, aloe vera, and irritation-fighting allantoin.
A couple times a week, use the face scrub instead of the cleanser, exfoliating with argan seeds and adding murumuru butter and vitamin E to the mix. When your pores are clear and your skin is ready to absorb, hit it with the brand’s Mattifying Face Moisturizer, which seals in moisture thanks to shea butter, jojoba esters, and plum seed oil.
One time each week, reserve fifteen minutes in your calendar for Horace’s face mask. You’ll apply the formula to your skin and let it sit there for a bit, letting your face absorb the antioxidant benefits of blue everlasting flower, the moisture from shea butter and sunflower oil, and the complex of active ingredients designed to give you a healthy glow. When your eyes look tired, bring out the kit’s eye cream, done up with hyaluronic acid and caffeine to tighten and plump when you need it.
13. The INKEY Intro Routine
Great for men who are new to skincare and those new to INKEY alike, the Intro Routine is definitely one of the best skincare sets for men of the year. Step one is the brand’s oat cleansing balm, a cleanser that melts into skin with deeply cleansing oat kernel oil, soothing colloidal oatmeal, and moisturizing sweet almond oil.
Follow that up with the brand’s hyaluronic serum, providing moisture and plumping in spades thanks to a high concentration of the ingredient, plus extra emollients to boot. Use the eye cream to wake up tired eyes with caffeine for increased circulation, a special ingredient to speed up collagen production, and albizia julibrissin bark extract for cellular regeneration. The Omega Water Cream hydrates without clogging pores, and the sunscreen keeps skin free from UV damage.
14. Tiége Hanley Men’s Premium Skin Care Gift Set
We love how this best skincare set for men includes a body wash bar—the skin all over your body is just as important as that on your face! This particular body wash takes bar soap to a whole new level with the addition of ingredients like jojoba oil, aloe vera, and vitamin E for healthy, moisturized skin.
The brand’s face wash is an excellent product for daily use, which uses coconut oil, cucumber extract, and willow bark to balance the skin’s pH level, soften, and quench skin’s thirst. The AM moisturizer comes recommended by the Skin Cancer Foundation thanks to the inclusion of SPF 20. It also reinforces your skin’s natural barrier and prevents signs of aging with glycerin, rosemary, and lavender. Since it’s also important to protect your lips from sun damage and keep them silky smooth, this kit contains a lip balm as well. It provides lips with plenty of sun protection, plus keeps them soft with almond oil, jojoba, and tangerine oil.
15. Ilapothecary #DigitalDetox Pouch
It’s almost impossible to avoid screen time these days and your skin pays the price. That’s because blue light has been shown to block the function of melanocytes, leading to discoloration. It also can shrink skin cells and cause premature skin aging. If you or a guy you know spends a lot of time in front of a computer, consider this Digital Detox kit from Ilapothecary.
It contains a facial mist that offers your skin a quick reprieve from the harmful effects of blue light. Just one spray of rose flower water, vitamin B12, and other ingredients provides antioxidant protection and encourages natural healing. Try the day cream that protects with cocoa and shea butter, apricot kernel oil, and other natural ingredients for an even greater blue light shield.
