Tell me if this is you:
You have a goal for your skin. Someone sells you a bottle. If it doesn’t work, it goes in a drawer and you re-enter the cycle of trial and error fueled by your credit card, and your quietly mustered hope. sigh.
Personalized skincare routines · over 40
Skincare runs on hope. Yours doesn’t have to.
“WTH should I use?” I’ll tell you, based on your goals and what your skin needs. Starting with what you already own.
★ 4.8 from 16 verified reviews · See what clients say →
Why Didn’t It Work? The book · pre-order →
Inside: your shelf, sorted (sample)
- Cleanser you already ownKeep
- The extra tonerStop
- Vitamin C serumAdd · $9/mo
- The other 5 bottlesStop
New spend: about $9 a month. First change around week 6.
Why Didn’t It Work? The book · pre-order →
Want an exit ramp?
- Your skin’s priorities, read from your answers, a few phone photos and your shelf
- Your shelf sorted: keep or skip, and what’s missing
- Your goals in the order your skin can reach them
Your plan in 5 days. If it isn’t clearly made for your skin, all your money back. I read 10 plans a week.
Who reads your plan: Jenn Hallowes
- 19 years licensed · 20,000+ hours with clients’ skin
- Licensed instructor who trains future estheticians
- Contributor, American Spa
- Author, Why Didn’t It Work? Inside the Hope Economy of Skincare
The Empty Bottle Gang
People like us finish our bottles.
Because we finally bought what our skin needed to reach our goals, not what we hoped would work.
Tap a note to read it up close.
Want in? Your note could be the next one up here.
Get my WTH Should I Use? Plan · $147 →4.81 ★ from 16 verified reviews · Read all the reviews ↓
Proof, unfiltered
Why trial and error happens
Every product claim starts in a petri dish. Your skin doesn’t live in one.
Product claims aren’t lies. They’re shaped by what regulations allow, and by testing in calm, controlled conditions. Your skin lives a very different day. Whether a claim comes true for you depends on how closely your skin matches the conditions it was tested in. When it doesn’t, nobody tells you why. So you stop trusting the claim, then the brand, then all of them, and every new choice feels like a guess.
Ingredients don’t fail. Context does.
vs
- 1Your skin is always working.
Like your heart beating, it runs hardwired jobs every day: protecting, repairing, holding water, renewing. And it’s constantly reprioritizing them, based on the day it’s having.
- 2So I read the room first.
What is your skin busy handling right now? What are its daily patterns? What keeps pulling it off task? Your answers and photos tell me.
- 3Then we help it stay steady.
When your skin’s environment is stable, it starts to resemble the conditions the claim was tested in.
- 4Then we support the job it’s doing.
Certain ingredients support certain functions. We give your skin what it needs for the job in front of it, in any brand.
Steady skin first. Now your goal, and that bottle’s claim, finally get their chance.
How it works
Four steps. Five days.
-
today
Take the Skin State Decoder
About 8 minutes. Your answers become your Skin Score.
-
today
Send your photos
Your face in daylight, and your shelf.
-
days 1 to 5
I read your skin
I map your skin’s 24-hour day and build around your goal.
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by day 5
Your Skinformation Report arrives
20+ pages, a one-page summary up front, and a 15-minute call.
Tap any page to look closer ↗
a one-page summary up front
your skin, hour by hour
your shelf, sorted: keep or skip
also inside
Your Skin Score · what pulls your skin off task · two possible futures · your ingredient list, morning and evening · your next goals, in order · brand names, if you want them
Real pages from a client’s report. Every report looks different, because every skin is.
Why start with me?
Nearly 600,000 cosmetic products are listed with the FDA.* Somewhere in there is a well-formulated line that fits your skin, your goal and your budget. Finding it is my job.
*589,762 cosmetic products were listed with the FDA as of January 1, 2025.
How I get paid
You pay me for your plan. That’s the business. Your two routines come from brands that fit your budget and values, each one linked to the brand’s own website.
If you’d like, I’ll add a third routine in the line I use myself. I carry it. Optional, always.
Not tied to one line
No single line has everything every skin needs. Because I’m not tied to one, your routine isn’t either.
Already using something you like? If it does the job within your budget, it stays.
Three ways to start
Pick the help you want.
Learn it yourself for free, or let me build your plan.
Do it yourself
On your own
- 1. “Why does this keep happening?” The first chapters, free online. They set the scene.free
- 2. “So how does this actually work?” Why Didn’t It Work? the book. The second half explains the method behind my plans.from $15
- 3. “Which ingredients help my goal?” How Long Will My Skin Goal Take? guide: the timeline for your goal, and the ingredients that help it.free
- 4. “Do my products have them?” The Label Decoder, for checking what you already own.free
From
Get the book · from $15 →
$15
Start with the free chapters →
What a book can’t do: look at your skin. That’s what the plan is for.
Start here
Done for you
The WTH Should I Use? Plan
- “Just tell me what to use.” Two routines matched to your goals, budget and the brands you like, plus an optional third in the line I use myself. Ready in 5 days.✓
- “What do I keep, and what do I toss?” Your shelf, sorted, with the why for each.✓
- “What’s this really going to cost me?” Each routine priced per month, from bottle size and how much you use.✓
- “Can I show this to my derm or esthetician?” Yes. What Your Skin Would Buy is one page for your esthetician, med spa or dermatologist.✓
- “How long until I see a difference?” Your roadmap: rough weeks for each goal, in the order your skin can reach it.✓
- “Would this one work for my skin?” After your plan arrives: a 15-minute call, plus 30 days to send me a photo of any product you’re eyeing. I’ll tell you how it fits your skin and your plan, if at all, within 24 hours.✓
No more paying for hope. Pay for an answer.
In my studio, this reading is $197. Online, from your photos, it’s $147. Same reading, same plan, no studio visit.
Total
Get my plan · $147 →
$147or 4 payments with Shop Pay
Don’t love the routines I picked? I’ll rebuild them once, free. Not clearly made for your skin? All your money back. You have 30 days for either.
Done with you
The WTH Should I Use? Plan
+ Your Skin, Explained Live
- Everything in the $147 Plan All six answers above, including 30 days of product-photo questions.✓
- “Just tell me what to use.” Two routines matched to your goals, budget and the brands you like, plus an optional third in the line I use myself. Ready in 5 days.✓
- “What do I keep, and what do I toss?” Your shelf, sorted, with the why for each.✓
- “What’s this really going to cost me?” Each routine priced per month, from bottle size and how much you use.✓
- “Can I show this to my derm or esthetician?” Yes. What Your Skin Would Buy is one page for your esthetician, med spa or dermatologist.✓
- “How long until I see a difference?” Your roadmap: rough weeks for each goal, in the order your skin can reach it.✓
- “Would this one work for my skin?” For 30 days after your plan arrives, send me a photo of any product you’re eyeing. I’ll tell you how it fits your skin and your plan, if at all, within 24 hours.✓
- “Can we just talk it through?” A 45-minute live call, by phone or video, instead of the 15-minute one.+
- “But why this step?” Your plan explained from your skin’s side.+
- “I’ll never remember all this.” A written recap afterward.+
- “Will you sell me something on the call?” No. Nothing is sold on the call.+
Total
Get it all · $247 →
$247or 4 payments with Shop Pay
If the call doesn’t make your plan clearer, I’ll refund the $100.
Questions
Will you make me buy new products?
No. I start with what you own. If something’s missing, you get options in any brand. Buying from me is optional, and I’ll always say so.
Can you build it around a brand I already love?
Yes. Tell me the brand and I’ll build from it. Or I’ll choose by your budget and values, or show you what I use myself.
Can I share my plan with my esthetician or dermatologist?
Yes. It’s yours. Take it to any skin specialist, dermatologist or store. Any professional can follow it.
Do you see my skin?
Yes. You send a few daylight photos. Only I see them.
Can you tell me how long my goal will take?
Yes, as a realistic range. Not a promise. Your plan explains why.
My skin changed with perimenopause.
You’re in the right place. Your plan reads the skin you have now.
I’m a man. Is this for me?
Yes. Same Decoder, same plan, built around your skin. Start here
Not ready?
Ask me one question. Free.
See how I think before you spend a dollar. I answer ten a week, within 24 hours.
Not sure what to use? Just ask me. I read every single one myself.
JennQuestions like
- I have like 15 products. Which ones do I actually need?
- Is my $12 moisturizer good enough after menopause?
- Am I using my products in the right order?
Free. Answered by me, within 24 hours. Your email stays private.
Hope is not a skincare strategy.
Welcome to hope LESS skin care.
Less hoping. More knowing.