The Under-$25 Acne-Friendly Products This Skinfluencer Swears By

"Friends have always come to me for [skin care] recommendations," digital creator Cathy Cao (better known as her online moniker Cathy on Skincare) tells me during a video call. "So I thought, why not put myself online and talk to people as if they were a friend of mine." Even though Cao only debuted her YouTube channel during the pandemic, her well-researched, honest videos quickly resonated with fellow beauty enthusiasts — 171,000 subscribers (and counting).

"I used to think that I needed to spend $60 on a moisturizer for it to be good," says Cao. "But then, I started looking into ingredients and doing research [into product formulations]. I used to be an investment banker and startup founder, so scientific research is super important to me." From ingredient explainers to viral product reviews, Cao has quickly built a following, thanks to her informative yet wildly digestible content — which includes plenty of product recommendations for oily and breakout-prone complexions.

With all that in mind, we asked Cao to curate her ultimate under-$25 haul of acne-quelling cleansers, moisturizers, spot treatments, and more. Keep clicking to browse, read, and shop her 12 choice picks in the slides to come.