Somewhat unexpectedly, I’m having much better luck lately with reasonably priced moisturisers than I’m having with fancy ones. I really liked what Alex Steinherr did for Primark (and Sali Huges agreed!), found CeraVe lotion to be a solid basic and now, the new moisturising and hydrating products from The Inkey List have seriously impressed me. I am not exaggerating when I say that my Drunk Elephant Protini and Biologique Recherche VIP O2 creams (both good) are just sitting there on the shelf while I use my cheapo stuff.

I have talked about The Inkey List before: it is one of those post-The Ordinary brands that aim to offer proper skincare for reasonable prices. I have been happy with most of the things I’ve tried from them, but their three recent launches – Multi-Biotic, Polygultamic Acid and Hepta-Peptide – are by far my favourites.

Multi-Biotic is a very lightweight but effective moisturiser that includes the very fashionable pre-, pro- and postbiotics. Frankly, I don’t know if and what they are doing to my skin exactly. What I do know is that as a mosturiser, this works beautifully. I like the slightly yoghurt-y texture, the cream sinks in immediately and leaves my skin nice and supple. I haven’t noticed any tightness on days when I’m using this, so clearly it’s providing me with enough hydration. I’m not sure if this would work for very dry skins, but for everyone else it’s definitely worth a try.

I’ve seen some people being rather confused about the Polyglutamic Acid: it’s not quite a moisturiser and they don’t call it a serum either, although I think that’s pretty much what it is – a hydrating serum. Polyglutamic acid is similar to hyaluronic acid; the brand claims it is four times more effective when it comes to holding on to water. I have not tried to dive into the science of this, but I do use my Polyglutamic Acid where I would usually apply a hyaluronic acid based serum and it works at least as well. In effect, it is (for me) closest to the Drunk Elephant B-Hydra serum which I love. The molecules of polyglutamic acid are large, so it mostly functions by settling on the top of the skin and preventing water loss. Hyaluronic acid can also have smaller molecules, so if you are extremely dehydrated, you could use a more liquid hyaluronic product first and the more substantial PA on top. During weekend, this is sometimes the only thing I put on my skin after shower and it is fine – if you have oily skin, I think you could get away with this as a moisturiser, especially if you will follow up with sunscreen.

Hepta-Peptide gets its name from another very now ingredient, peptides. However, the peptide complex seems to be rather low on the ingredient list, so I’m not sure if I’d recommend it as an anti-aging product or a seriously active moisturiser. I would, however, recommend it if you are simply looking for a mattifying moisturiser. My skin can get pretty combination, with a shiny forehead and nose. I usually don’t mind, as it just doesn’t bother me and in any event, I don’t want to look matte all over. However, now that I have the Hepta-Peptide, I quite like using it in my t-zone to take down the shine: the blurring and mattifying effect is immediately noticeable. I think this can make a nice moisturiser/primer for oilier skins. Because it includes silicones and because of how it functions, I would not use this one at night.

These three are not dirt cheap, but still very well priced at 13-15 pounds. Personally, I think they are well worth the money (also nicely packaged in pump bottles) and if you’re looking for something light and hydrating for summer, this is a good place to start.