The Skincare Trial-and-Error Trap (and What It’s Actually Costing You)
If you’ve ever found yourself searching for the best skincare, wondering what skincare you should use, or feeling tempted to try every skincare trend under the sun, you’re not alone…and you’re also absolutely in the right place.
If you’re new here, hi! I’m Morgan, an esthetician and the founder of Enlightened Beauty, a holistic skincare studio I opened in Sacramento, California in 2016. After working hands-on with skin for nearly a decade, I’ve seen one pattern repeat itself over and over again.
Most people aren’t struggling because they don’t care or aren’t trying hard enough…they’re struggling because they’re trying to navigate skincare without a clear plan.
It usually starts innocently enough, a cleanser someone swears by, a serum that went viral, a TikTok or Instagram skincare trend promising “fast results”. You add to cart, add it to your routine, feel underwhelmed by the results, then rinse and repeat. Over time, those well-intentioned choices turn into constant switching, layering, stopping, starting, and second-guessing, all in hopes that something will finally work.
This is what I call the skincare trial-and-error trap.
When skincare decisions are based on trends, random recommendations, or trial and error, progress tends to reset again and again.
Products get swapped too quickly.
Skin never fully settles.
Goals feel close, but never quite sustainable.
The real cost of skincare shows up not just in money, but in mental energy, skin health, and the feeling that you’re constantly starting over.
With that said, I’m here to help you understand what skincare actually costs when there’s no strategy in place, and how a more intentional approach can change everything.
Let’s take a closer look!
Why skincare feels expensive even when you’re “not buying that much”
A lot of people don’t think they spend that much on skincare. They’re not buying luxury products every month or investing in a full routine all at once. They’re just picking things up here and there while trying to figure out what works.
A cleanser usually feels like a safe place to start. Then maybe a serum for breakouts. Then something to help with irritation, texture, or glow. Each purchase feels small and reasonable on its own.
Skincare starts to feel expensive when there’s no clear direction. Without a plan, products are often added before others have had time to work, items get swapped out quickly, new products are introduced to fix issues caused by the last routine. Over time, skincare becomes less about progress and more about managing the fallout of constant change.
This is why people often say, “I don’t even know how much I’ve spent on skincare.” The cost isn’t obvious because it’s spread out. It lives in half-used bottles, forgotten products, and routines that were never followed long enough to be effective.
When you’re guessing, you’re not just buying skincare, you’re paying for uncertainty. That uncertainty is what makes skincare feel costly, even when you’re trying to be careful with your spending.
Here’s what that can look like in real life.
I see this pattern often with clients who come in after years of trying to figure things out on their own. One client, in particular, had spent about two years building her routine almost entirely from social media recommendations and trips to Sephora & Ulta. She wasn’t buying the most expensive products on the shelf, but she was consistently buying what was trending, beautifully packaged, or heavily promoted by influencers.
Over those two years, her purchases looked something like this:
6 cleansers at an average of $38 each
8 serums averaging $48 each
4 exfoliants averaging $42 each
5 moisturizers averaging $45 each
3 face oils and “glow boosters” averaging $52 each
None of these were used consistently or fully finished, because something new was always introduced before the skin had time to respond.
When we added it up, she had spent just over $1,600 on skincare products alone. During that same period, her skin barrier became increasingly reactive, breakouts lingered longer, and her confidence in skincare completely disappeared. She felt like she had tried everything, yet nothing ever really worked.
The cost might look the same upfront, but the long game is different. Guidance from a professional replaces guesswork, proven products replace trends, and a clear plan replaces constant resets. Having that support is what leads to actual results and fewer wasted dollars over time.
I see a similar cost show up on the other side of the spectrum as well. Another client came in after seeing a different esthetician who did a discounted facial with dermaplaning without proper preparation, aftercare, or follow-up, and she suffered for it.
She had never dealt with ongoing breakouts before, but once her skin reacted, she found herself in the same cycle, trying to correct the reaction on her own with store-bought acne products, over-exfoliating, and unintentionally compromising her skin barrier even further. Within months, her skin felt unpredictable, inflamed, and far more sensitive than it had ever been before.
What stands out in both situations isn’t the number of products or even the treatments themselves. It’s that neither client was given a clear plan or guidance on how to support their skin over time. In both cases, money was spent, effort was made, and good intentions were there, but none of it moved them closer to sustainable skin health.
That’s the real financial cost of trial and error. Not one bad purchase or one imperfect treatment, but months or years of well-intentioned guessing that never quite adds up to lasting results and ends up costing you your confidence.
The mental cost: When skincare turns into constant decision-making
One of the most overlooked costs of trial-and-error skincare isn’t financial, it’s mental.
When you’re trying to build a skincare routine without a clear strategy, every decision starts to carry weight. What cleanser is best? Should you add a serum? If so, which one? Is that new product you got actually helping, hurting, or causing a purge? How long to wait before switching again? These questions tend to follow you long after the purchase is made.
This often begins with good intentions. You research, you read reviews, you watch videos. You search things like what skincare should I use or why isn’t my skincare working. Instead of clarity, you’re met with conflicting advice and completely different answers depending on where you look.
Over time, this creates decision fatigue. Skincare stops feeling supportive and starts feeling like a problem to solve. You second-guess your choices, hesitate to commit to a routine, and wonder if you’re unknowingly making things worse. Even simple steps begin to feel stressful when you’re unsure whether you’re doing the “right” thing.
When skincare feels mentally draining, consistency becomes difficult to maintain. Routines are abandoned too quickly, products go unused, progress slows…not because your skin is difficult, but because the process itself feels overwhelming.
This is the mental cost of guessing, and it often shows up long before people realize what’s happening.
The skin health cost: What constant change does to your skin over time
Skin is designed to adapt, but it needs stability to do that well. When products are constantly being added, removed, or replaced, the skin never has a chance to fully adjust. This is especially common when someone is searching for the best skincare for breakouts, texture, or sensitivity and ends up switching products every few weeks in hopes of faster results.
I see this often with clients who come in describing their skin as sensitive, acne-prone, and unpredictable, even though it didn’t start out that way. One client had spent over a year rotating through exfoliating acids, retinol products, and acne treatments she found through social media and beauty retailers. Each product worked briefly, then stopped. When breakouts flared or irritation showed up, something new was added to fix it.
By the time she came in, her skin barrier was completely compromised. She was dealing with ongoing redness, frequent breakouts that took weeks to heal, and a constant feeling of tightness and irritation. She believed her skin was “just reactive” and assumed she would always need strong products to keep breakouts under control.
What her skin actually needed was a break from constant correction.
Once her routine was simplified and kept consistent, inflammation began to calm. Breakouts healed more predictably and sensitivity decreased. Her skin didn’t change because we added something powerful, it changed because we stopped changing everything.
Healthy skin responds to patterns, not constant correction. When the routine keeps shifting, the skin stays in a state of stress rather than progress.
The shift that changes everything: Moving from guessing to intention
The turning point in skincare isn’t finding the “perfect product”, it’s changing how decisions are made.
When skincare is approached with intention instead of guesswork, everything starts to shift. Fewer products are introduced at once, each step in the routine has a purpose, changes are made slowly with enough time to understand how the skin is responding.
This shift often starts with simply slowing down and paying attention. Instead of searching for the “best skincare,” you begin to notice how your skin actually feels day to day. Whether it seems calm and supported or a little fragile. Whether inflammation shows up easily. Whether your skin feels overwhelmed by too much, or stuck and not responding to much at all.
Those small observations tend to lead to better decisions than trends or one-size-fits-all routines ever could.
Most importantly, intention creates trust. You start to understand your skin instead of feeling at odds with it. Skincare becomes something that supports your life rather than something you constantly manage.
This shift doesn’t require more products or more effort. It requires structure, patience, and a willingness to stop guessing and start moving with intention.
What guidance actually provides (and why it isn’t about buying more)
Guidance in skincare is often misunderstood as being product-focused, when in reality it’s process-focused.
Working with an esthetician means your skin isn’t reacting to trends or impulse buys. It’s following a treatment strategy with a clear goal, realistic timing, and someone outside of you who knows how to read skin and course-correct without blowing everything up.
There’s also an underrated benefit here: accountability. When someone is guiding your skin, you stop panic-swapping products and chasing quick fixes. You stay consistent long enough for results to actually show up.
Financially, the math is usually misunderstood. People tend to assume an esthetician costs more than doing it yourself. What they don’t factor in is the money lost to trial and error…the half-used serums, the exfoliants that worked for two weeks, the Sephora cart built on ‘vibes’, packaging, and whatever an influencer was obsessed with that month.
Guided skincare, especially here at Enlightened Beauty, is always more targeted. The products we recommend are often similarly priced to what you’d find at major beauty retailers, but the focus is different. Less trendy, more efficacy, less fluff, more function.
A more sustainable way to approach skincare
A more sustainable approach to skincare is always going to be more intentional, and built around consistency rather than constant change. Products are chosen for a reason, routines are given time to work, adjustments are made thoughtfully, instead of in reaction to every new concern. This is exactly how we approach skin here at Enlightened Beauty!
My role as an esthetician isn’t to sell you more or rush your skin into results. It’s to help you understand what your skin is doing, why it’s responding the way it is, and what will actually support it long term. Having a plan takes the pressure off, you’re no longer guessing or starting over every few months.
If you’re feeling tired of trial and error and want a clearer path forward, a consultation is a really good place to start. Whether virtual or in person, it gives us the space to look at your skin, talk through your goals, and create a plan you can actually stick to.
I promise you don’t have to figure this out on your own. When you’re ready, you can book a consultation at Enlightened Beauty, either in-person if you’re local to Sacramento, or virtually to get results from afar. We can’t wait to see you!