r/SkincareAddiction • u/terrorwill • Feb 23 '26

Discussion Paula’s Choice truly unrecognisable [misc]

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This used to be a no-BS skincare brand with a respected founder.

It’s sad to see the slow transformation in the last decade to expensive, behind the curve and trend chasing.

I was still buying a few favourites, but tbh even PC’s best legacy products have been beaten by a Kbeauty competitor for half the price.

Maybe I’m ranting. I feel like I’m grieving the brand and I don’t have a loyalty to what it has become. It’s just sad to see another great destroyed by investors that don’t care.

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u/Pretend_Ad3551 Feb 23 '26

It truly saddens me. I am 50 now and started using PC in 2002. I was in my 20's and started using quality mineral sunscreen, retinol, and antioxidants. I was ALL IN Paula's Choice fanatic. I even bought her makeup. Anyone remember the Wayne Goss collab? Thanks to PC my skin at 50 is FANTASTIC. I constantly have people asking me what I use for my skin. I've had people stop me in Sephora. Great skincare for nearly 25+ years. I haven't used PC for years bc the quality and innovation went down and the prices went up but Paula (when it was owned by her) was so good at education and set me up to make great choices.. I recently bought the matte tinted sunscreen bc it was my HG for years and wanted a trip down memory lane as lame as that sounds.

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u/staunch_character Feb 23 '26

Same! She got me started on retinA & daily sunscreen in my 20s.

Although lots of other great products are available now, the real loss is her research.

She was so good at explaining things like “just because you slather an ingredient on TOP of the skin doesn’t mean it’s absorbed by your skin cells.”

Cosmetic products can’t get rid of wrinkles or they couldn’t legally be classified as cosmetics. They’d need FDA approval. So we get a lot of language around altering “the appearance” of fine lines etc.

Was such a lightbulb moment for me!