As an esthetician and a mom of teenagers, I know firsthand how challenging teen acne can be. When your 16-year-old daughter is spending just as much time trying to cover up her acne as you are trying to figure out how to help her; a closer look is needed. What she doesn’t realize is that what she’s applying to her face every single day could be making it worse. I looked into the ingredient lists of the top TikTok beauty brands teens are obsessed with. Here’s what I found.

In June 2025, researchers at Northwestern University’s Department of Pediatrics analyzed the top TikTok skincare routine videos from creators ages 7 to 18. Published in Pediatrics - one of the most respected medical journals in North America - their findings didn’t surprise me.

6 products per routine on average - costing $168/month 11 potentially irritating active ingredients layered across those products (one routine had 21) Only 26.2% included sunscreen - despite using acids that make skin MORE sun-sensitive

 

And it's no wonder that acne and skin barrier issues are on the rise.  Eleven irritating actives - for teenagers? 

I pulled the actual ingredient lists from the base products of 10 of the most-hyped TikTok beauty brands - the foundations, tinted serums, dew drops, and cushion compacts for comparison.

The Ones That Concern Me

1. Medicube

The “salmon sperm facial” went viral on TikTok, and suddenly every teen wanted PDRN on their face. Here’s the thing: PDRN is a legitimate ingredient - in professional injection treatments. Slapping it in a serum at unknown concentrations and marketing it to teenagers is a gimmicky marketing disaster.

But the real problem isn’t the salmon DNA hype. It’s the Isopropyl Myristate hiding in the serum - an ingredient with a comedogenic rating of 5 out of 5. That is literally the highest pore-clogging score an ingredient can get. In a product marketed for “glow.”

2. Tarte

Tarte’s Face Tape Foundation contains Parfum/Fragrance PLUS seven individually-listed fragrance allergens: Benzyl Salicylate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene, Hydroxycitronellal, Geraniol, Amyl Cinnamal, and Linalool. That’s an alarming fragrance load in something worn on the face for eight-plus hours.

Add a triple-silicone base that’s nearly impossible to remove with a basic teen cleanser, and Tarte’s aggressive TikTok Shop presence pushing full-coverage products on kids who don’t need full coverage, and you’ve got a recipe for chronic irritation disguised as “flawless skin.”

3. Glow Recipe

Those adorable watermelon-pink Dew Drops are Sephora’s #1 selling niacinamide serum, and the niacinamide IS genuinely beneficial for acne-prone skin. But the formula also contains Fragrance/Parfum and Benzyl Benzoate - a known allergen that can trigger contact dermatitis. My daughter gets little white itchy bumps from this one.

The irony is that the one ingredient that could actually help teen acne (niacinamide) is undermined by the fragrance irritating already-inflamed skin.

4. Drunk Elephant

Drunk Elephant’s D-Bronzi Drops are relatively mild on their own. The real issue is the brand’s “smoothie” culture - they encourage mixing multiple products together into morning and evening “cocktails.” Mix the drops with Protini moisturizer, add TLC Framboos (that’s glycolic acid), maybe throw in Babyfacial (a 25% AHA/BHA peel).

This is the behaviour the Northwestern study flagged. Layering multiple actives into a single routine without understanding what they do. The product isn’t the villain. The brand’s cocktailing culture is.

5. E.L.F.

E.L.F.’s Halo Glow Liquid Filter has a decent base - Squalane is excellent for acne-prone skin. But it also contains Propylene Glycol (a penetration enhancer and potential irritant) and Bismuth Oxychloride (a mineral known to cause itching and redness on inflamed skin).

The real E.L.F. problem isn’t any single product. It’s that everything costs $8–$18, so teens again buy everything. The Halo Glow plus the Poreless Putty Primer plus the Power Grip Primer plus the Camo Concealer plus the setting spray. Five products for under $50. That your skin probably does NOT need.

The Grey Area

6. Rhode

Rhode’s Peptide Glazing Fluid is fragrance-free, which is a genuine plus. But it contains Marula Oil (high in oleic acid, comedogenic rating 3–4), Butylene Glycol as a penetration enhancer, and Acetyl Hexapeptide-8 - an anti-wrinkle peptide that no teenager on earth needs.

Rhode’s entire brand identity tells teens they should look like a glazed donut - Hailey Bieber’s version of “bare skin.” No serum is going to make a 16-year-old with hormonal acne look like a 28-year-old supermodel.

7. The Ordinary

The Ordinary’s Serum Foundation is honestly fine. Short ingredient list, silicone-based, gets the job done. The problem is the brand’s entire model: clinical-looking bottles at $7 each that makes a teenager feel like a skincare scientist. So she buys the Niacinamide, the AHA/BHA Peel, the Glycolic Toner, the Retinol, and layers them all under this foundation. This was super common in my clinic when I would ask girls what they were using for their at-home products. Just never a good idea as my philosophy is a less-is-more approach.

8. Rare Beauty

I’ll be honest - Rare Beauty’s Positive Light Tinted Moisturizer is not a bad formula. Dimethicone and Talc are the top ingredients after water, and while they sound scary, they’re both rated 0–1 on the comedogenic scale. It’s fragrance-free and contains Sunflower Seed Oil, which is actually good for acne-prone skin (high in linoleic acid, comedogenic rating 0).

The one flag is Homosalate at 9% - a chemical sunscreen with legitimate questions around endocrine disruption. For teens already navigating hormonal changes, that’s worth knowing about. But from a purely acne-causing standpoint, this one isn’t the problem. Credit where it’s due: it includes SPF, which puts it ahead of 74% of TikTok routines.

The Better Options

9. Fenty Beauty

This might surprise you given how heavy Fenty’s Pro Filt’r foundation feels, but the ingredient list is relatively acne-safe. Dimethicone and Talc are both rated 0–1 for comedogenicity. There’s no fragrance, no comedogenic oils, and no known high-rated pore cloggers.

The Polypropylene (a synthetic polymer that helps fill pores for that smooth finish) sounds concerning, but it’s not rated as comedogenic. My concern with Fenty is more practical than ingredient-based: it’s a full-coverage performance foundation designed for photo shoots and events. Most teens don’t need full coverage for a Tuesday at school. But if your teen insists on wearing it, the formula itself isn’t going to make her acne worse - as long as she’s properly cleansing it off at the end of the day.

10. Charlotte Tilbury

The Hollywood Flawless Filter is one of the cleaner formulas on this list. Squalane-based, fragrance-free, relatively short ingredient list. The Bismuth Oxychloride is the main irritant concern, but it’s lower in the formula. If your teen is going to use a “glow” product, this is one of the less harmful options. It’s more expensive, but at least it’s a solid product.

The Real Issue With Foundations

The Layering Problem. These base products are never used alone. They’re the foundation of a 4-8 product stack. Every additional product multiplies the risk of irritation and breakouts. Northwestern found an average of 11 irritating actives per routine.

The Fragrance Problem. Six of these 10 brands put fragrance or essential oils in their base products. Fragrance is the #1 cause of cosmetic contact dermatitis. On acne-inflamed skin with a compromised barrier, fragrance molecules penetrate deeper and cause more damage.

The Occlusion Problem. Nearly every product uses silicones, talc, or synthetic polymers to create the “flawless” look. These occlusives sit on skin for 8+ hours during the school day, trapping oil and bacteria underneath a cosmetically perfect barrier. Teen skin is producing more sebum than at any other life stage. Sealing it in is the opposite of what it needs.

So What Actually Works?

I spent years as a medical esthetician. I've seen what over-treating does to skin - adults as well as teens. Viral skincare routines usually make me wince, not because makeup is bad, but because 6 layered products with 11 actives is a recipe for irritation, not clear skin.

Your teen doesn't have to stop wearing foundation. But keeping acne-prone skin clear means choosing products with fewer irritants, removing them properly at the end of the day, and not burying skin under layers it can't breathe through.

Here's the daily routine I recommend:

A gentle, pH-balanced cleanser. Nothing fancy. Just clean skin without stripping it.

Hypochlorous acid spray. Your body already makes this - it’s the antimicrobial your white blood cells produce to fight bacteria. As a topical spray, it kills acne-causing bacteria without stripping, without irritating, and without adding another layer of ingredients your skin has to deal with.  Read more about How Hypochlorous Acid Helps Teen Acne here.

Salicylic acid. Really the only active ingredient needed for acne. It gets inside the pore and clears it out - great if they have blackheads.

A lightweight, non-comedogenic moisturizer. Only if skin is dry. Oily teen skin often doesn’t need one, and adding one just because TikTok says to can make things worse.

Mineral sunscreen. Zinc oxide based. Non-comedogenic. Non-negotiable.

That’s it. Less is more.  You can buy Biome Aid's Hypochlorous Acid here.

And for teen boys- Even simpler. Most of them aren’t going to do a multi-step routine, and they don’t have to. A hypochlorous acid spray can double as their cleanser since it’s already pH-balanced and antimicrobial. Spray it and you’re done. Clean skin without the fight to get them to wash their face.

 

Research based on the Northwestern University Pediatrics study (DOI: 10.1542/peds.2024-070309) and publicly available ingredient lists from brand websites, Sephora, and INCIDecoder. February 2026.