We’ve rounded up the best skincare fridges and mini coolers to keep your lotions and potions cool and chemically stable
JUMP TO SECTION
Click the links below to jump to the relevant section:
If you’ve ever read the small print on eye patches or face masks, you may have seen that you’re advised to store them in the fridge.
Yet if putting your skincare in alongside your eggs or milk feels a little odd, then look no further than a skincare fridge.
Also known as beauty fridges, a skincare fridge is – as its name suggests – a fridge where you can store your skincare.
They’re effectively just mini-fridges, the type you take camping, but skincare-specific fridges tend to be designed slightly differently to make sure you have somewhere to store masks as well as bottles and pots of cream.
Whether you’re new to the concept of skincare fridges generally, or you want to discover which skincare fridge is best, we’ve compiled the explainer and list below.
WANT TO KNOW MORE? Best BB cream | Best moisturiser | Best tinted moisturiser | Best toner | Best primer | Best cleanser| Best eye cream| Best anti-ageing cream | Best hand cream| Best foot cream | Best face mask | Best face exfoliator | Best face oil| Best serum| Best night cream | Best SPF | Best Vitamin C serum | Men’s skincare routine| Best stretch mark cream
£39.99 | Buy now
STYLPRO SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions: 27.5 x 17 x 19cm
Capacity: 4L
Temperature range: 2 to 48°C
Why we love it: This was one of the first skincare fridges we tried, after being bought as a gift, and it’s still one of the most stylish beauty fridges we’ve tried.
STYLPRO is part of the STYLIDEAS brand, founded by The Apprentice star Tom Pellereau.
The STYLPRO Skincare Fridge is a dinky-looking skincare fridge but it holds an impressive amount of bottles and tools thanks to its four-litre capacity.
In the door is a shallow shelf where we store our eye and face masks, but it can also be used to store eye-roller tools or a jade roller/beauty bar. There is a top-shelf compartment that’s better suited for flatter pots and packaging like moisturisers, balms, and similar.
You can then store your skincare bottles upright in the lower compartment. There isn’t enough room for the largest of bottles, but most skincare products will fit in this fridge, and if they don’t you can always remove the inner shelves to give you more headspace.
The STYLPRO skincare fridge cools skincare up to 20°C below room temperature but you can also switch it to hot, up to 48°C.
What’s more, Aldi recently started selling this fridge for up to £15 cheaper than anywhere else – at £39.99 – so if you’ve got your eye on it, grab it quick!
FURTHER READING: Skincare makeup: The best beauty products that are good for your complexion while saving you time and money
Buy now
£39.99 | Buy now
SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions: 25.5 x 19 x 28 cm
Capacity: 4L
Temperature range: 18 to 65°C
Why we love it: Now, we’re aware that, at £40, this can’t really be classified as a cheap skincare fridge, relatively speaking but given that others in this list are £65+, it does represent a saving.
The Subcold Classic4 skincare fridge has the same four-litre capacity as our Editor’s Pick, but dimensionally is larger and a bit chunkier.
There’s a removable shelf in the door for your masks and tools, plus a shelf in the main compartment that can be used to separate your skincare products.
The Subcold skincare fridge is available in a choice of five door colours – black, white, pink, blue or grey (although only the latter four are being sold on Amazon at the time of writing).
With this fridge, you additionally get the benefit of being able to power it via USB making it perfect for travelling, festivals or similar.
Temperature-wise, it cools at up to 18°C below room temperature and heats up to 65°C, and you can switch between these modes via a button on the back.
FURTHER READING: How to do facial massage at home – and why it could make or break your skincare routine
Buy now from Amazon
£459.95 | Buy now
SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions: 43 x 47 x 50cm
Capacity: 48L
Temperature range: 10 to 18°C
Why we love it: If you have the budget, and you have a lot of skincare you want to refrigerate, give this Retro Fridge a go.
It’s about twice the size of most of the options in this best skincare fridge list – it measures 43cm x 47cm x 50cm – yet comes with a staggering 48-litre capacity.
This is thanks to a wire rack and two side-door shelves that are deep enough to hold skincare bottles in their own right.
The top and bottom shelves are equal in height, meaning you can store bigger, or a wider range of skincare items in them, or you can move the shelf to suit your needs.
As the name suggests, this fridge’s design is inspired by the fridges of the 1950s and this particular skincare fridge is available in white, green, black and red, giving you more options than the cheaper options on this list.
Part of the reason it’s so expensive is its size, but also because it’s not a dedicated skincare fridge. It’s actually designed to be a mini-fridge for food and drink but can be used for both/either.
FURTHER READING: Best K-beauty brands: Where to buy the best Korean beauty makeup and skincare in the UK
Buy now from Create-Store
£75 | Buy now
Create SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions: 20.8 x 26.5 x 27 cm
Capacity: 4L
Temperature range: 18 to 60°C
Why we love it: We’re borderline obsessed with how cute this mini skincare fridge is.
It comes in pastel pink, pastel green and pastel yellow and each model has a four-litre capacity perfect suited for cosmetics and skincare.
The FRIDGE Mini Box is part of the same range as the Retro Fridge 50, which means it’s been inspired by the same retro designs of the 1950s, but comes with the addition of a USB charging cable.
This skincare fridge also has a handle, to make it extra portable.
The layout is similar to that of the STYLPRO fridge, with a pocket for tools and masks in the door, a smaller upper shelf, and a larger lower one.
However, it doesn’t go as cold as our Editor’s Pick – which is why it just missed out on the top spot. It does go hotter, though. The temperature range is 18°C to 60°C.
Buy now from Create-Store
£65 | Buy now
SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions: 20.5 x 14 x 13.5 cm
Capacity: 4L
Temperature range: 0 to 66°C
Why we love it: The AstroAI fridge comes in black, pink, blue, white, and teal and has a four-litre capacity.
This should be more than enough to house your creams, serums and facial oils. It cools products down to 0°C (32°F) below ambient temperature or keeps them warm up to 66°C (150°F ).
This skincare fridge comes with two plugs, included as standard, for wall outlets and 12V cigarette lighters in cars.
This makes this a great, affordable fridge to travel with on long journeys when you want to swap your skincare for cold drinks, or similar.
Buy from Amazon
£65 | Buy now
SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions: 28 x 18.1 x 22.8 cm
Capacity: 4L
Temperature range: 4 to 62°C
Why we love it: This is a US skincare fridge but it’s now available in the UK.
It measures 27.9cm x 18.14cm x 22.8cm and has a four-litre capacity, plus it comes with a cold and hot switch allowing you to alternate between the two, should you need to.
It’s portable, thanks to its carry cup pull handle on the top and the fact it can be used in the car as well as at home.
Temperature-wise, this skincare fridge heats up to 62-degrees Celcius and cools down as low as 4-degrees Celcius.
It’s only available in glossy pink and has quite a simple design, given its price, but it works as well as others on this list.
Buy from Makeup Fridge
£47.99 | Buy now
Softeen SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions: 29.5 x 20 x 24.5cm
Capacity: 4L
Temperature range: 0 to 65°C
Why we love it: Besides the sleek look, this mini fridge offers a decent amount of space to place beauty products inside.
This skincare fridge can take up to six-litres and it measures 29.5 cm x 20cm x 24.5cm.
It comes with a removable shelf and a basket shelf behind the door where you can place face masks or beauty skincare tools to keep them cool before application.
We love that the front of the door of this fridge is a mirror, which has smart touch controls and three brightness levels.
This fridge has cooling and warming, the coolest temperature is 0℃ and the warmest is 65℃.
It’s portable and comes with two plugs – a regular household plus, and a 12V car adapter.
Buy now from Amazon
£135 | Buy now
KINDD STYLPRO SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions: 27 x 25 x 42cm
Capacity: 12L
Temperature range: 10°C
Why we love it: We know this is quite an expensive price to pay for a skincare fridge but this we feel it is worth it, in this case.
Not only is it one of the largest fridges on the market, with the capacity to store 12 litres of beauty and cosmetics products, but we love the split section shelves.
It has a mini draw at the bottom, on the back of the door it has two shelves and the main compartment is divided into shelves for pots and bottles. It’s a storage dream.
Size-wise, it measures 27cm x 25cm x 42cm and the temperature it stores all the goodies in is 10C°.
The external colour of the fridge is quite muted, akin to a soft beige, and the legs are tucked away, while the handle has a rose gold metal look to it and the inside is built using a soft pink tone.
This styling, along with the backing light inside adds a touch of luxury to this mini skincare fridge. Which goes some way towards justifying its high price…
Buy now from KINDD
Sephora UK The benefit of keeping certain items in a skincare fridge is that it can make a big difference to your skincare routine.
If you hark back to science at school, or if you’ve ever done a First Aid course, you’ll know that using a cold compress on an injury can reduce swelling and inflammation. The same applies to putting cold skincare on your face. This is particularly useful for products you use in and around your eyes.
In particular, using a refrigerated eye cream can make a world of difference to puffy eyes, while cold serums and creams can help tighten pores, and reduce the production of oil – which in turn can help with acne – and it can help with wrinkles and fine lines. Reducing inflammation and redness is also beneficial to rosacea.
Alternatively, a number of the entries in this skincare fridge list offer a “hot” option. Switching a fridge to a heated mode means it can be used for flannels or reusable makeup removers to help open your pores at the start of your skincare routine.
What’s more, if your skincare is working harder, you’re getting more bang for your buck meaning it will either last longer, or you’ll see results sooner. It’s a win-win.
Products that contain Vitamin C, retinol, or benzoyl peroxide are known to be sensitive to heat and light. When exposed to heat or light, they can become less effective over time and this reduces how well they work.
Storing these types of products in a skincare fridge can help slow down the degradation process and keep them fresh for longer. Additionally, refrigeration can also provide a cooling and soothing effect on the skin, which can be especially beneficial for those with sensitive or inflamed skin.
A lot of skincare concerns can be helped by applying skincare straight from the fridge so, in theory, any skincare or makeup product can be put in a skincare fridge.
The only things we wouldn’t recommend are balms or products with a thicker consistency. This can cause problems when trying to use them, which results in you having to warm them up first. Which defeats the point of a skincare fridge somewhat.
Elsewhere, there are products that vastly benefit from being kept in a skincare fridge. This includes skincare that contains Vitamin C. Vitamin C tends to be unstable and it’s best to keep it in a cool, dark place. This is because the lower temperatures prevent it from breaking down when exposed to oxygen, which can make it less effective.
We should add that Vitamin C products kept out of the fridge are fine as well – as long as they’re not in direct sunlight. They’re not harmful when kept out of the fridge, you may just not be getting the most effective product for your money.
FURTHER READING: How to layer your skincare: Knowing the best skincare order will help make the most of your products
Victoria is founder and editor-in-chief of mamabella, freelance journalist and Mum. She has a passion for empowering people to feel beautiful whatever their age, size, skin type and budget
