Agency Skincare Review

If you’re in the market for custom skincare products, then you’re not alone — the market has grown massively over the past couple of years with no signs of slowing down. By 2032, the market is forecast to multiply by 22 times to a value of over $52B.1 Companies have taken note of this opportunity, leading to dozens of options popping up all over the internet, which can make choosing the right one for you even more difficult.

One company specializing in personalized skincare is Agency Skincare by Curology. This service focuses on customized prescription and over-the-counter products, particularly for anti-aging and hyperpigmentation needs. Our review covers everything you need to know to help you decide if Agency is right for your unique situation — from its effectiveness and safety to its cost, convenience, and more.

Agency Skincare by Curology is a good option for those in search of prescription skincare for anti-aging and hyperpigmentation concerns. All Agency formulas are unscented, paraben-free, non-comedogenic, dye-free, cruelty-free, and vegan. The company uses ingredients that have shown quite a bit of promise in studies, like hydroquinone and tretinoin. While the latter can cause birth defects when used by pregnant people, most of Agency’s safety risks come from the former; hydroquinone may (in rare cases) cause permanent skin discoloration or a higher risk of certain serious health conditions, but the other ingredients are more likely to cause only some transient side effects, like skin irritation, itching, and redness. Price-wise, Agency is pretty middle-of-the-road, but the products are only available as subscriptions. However, you do get your first month of treatment for only $14.95, which is up to 80% off the original price.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions involving staying healthy and living healthier lifestyles.

For our review of Agency Skincare, we read through dozens of studies and pieces of academic literature on all things related to the company’s offerings. We also drew from our hundreds of hours spent evaluating similar products and companies to better judge the customer service experience offered by Agency. To further develop our understanding of how the company operates, we personally explored the website, took the intake questionnaire, received our own formulas, and tried them out. On top of that, we interacted at length with customer service representatives, asking questions and gathering answers to bring you everything you need to know about Agency Skincare.

Additionally, like all health-related content on this website, this review was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy.

When evaluating Agency Skincare, we considered what consumers would find most important when shopping for a new skincare product. We determined that the safety, effectiveness, cost, and convenience of the service and its products were vital factors.

Let’s go over how Agency performed in each category.

Safety

Agency Skincare’s products should be generally safe for most healthy, nonpregnant adults. The formulas are cruelty-free, vegan, and non-comedogenic (won’t clog your pores), and they don’t contain any parabens or dyes. Customers can also request gentler ingredients for their formulas, making the products suitable for various skin types (including sensitive).

While many of the active ingredients, such as tretinoin, may cause only temporary irritation, breakouts, or peeling as the skin adjusts, one potential ingredient in the Dark Spot Formula, hydroquinone, presents a more significant risk.2

The FDA restricted the over-the-counter sale of hydroquinone in 2020 due to reports of severe side effects.3 Besides redness and irritation,4 the potential adverse effects include ochronosis (permanent skin discoloration) and higher risks of certain cancers and thyroid disorders.5 6 These serious side effects are rare but have been seen in long-term users.7 Given the risks, it may be safer to opt for a gentler alternative like azelaic acid, which appears equally effective but has fewer potential risks.8

Competitors Hims, Hers, and Musely use some similar active ingredients, but only Musely also uses hydroquinone — at a very high concentration of 12%. For reference, 4% hydroquinone has been shown to be effective in some studies,9 so triple that effective amount may be best for hydroquinone veterans or those with the most stubborn hyperpigmentation.

If you don’t like the idea of using any medications or prescriptions in your skincare, then Prose’s botanical approach may be more appealing.

Effectiveness

Overall, Agency Skincare uses ingredients with a good amount of research supporting their use for the company’s intended purposes. For example, many of the ingredients used by the company for hyperpigmentation have multiple studies supporting their efficacy, such as the following:

• Experts consider hydroquinone to be the “standard” treatment for several forms of hyperpigmentation.7 In a 2009 study, there was a “statistically significant” difference between hydroquinone and placebo for the treatment of melasma, with the former clearing up a large amount of hyperpigmentation in subjects.9
• In a 2023 review and meta-analysis, azelaic acid performed even better than hydroquinone for the treatment of melasma.8
• Kojic acid inhibits tyrosinase (an enzyme that helps create melanin) and, in a small study from 2023, brightened the skin of 75% of patients.10 11

We cover more of the ingredients later under the “How does Agency Skincare work?” section, but the results from the studies surrounding them are similarly positive. The same goes for the inclusions in the nonprescription Agency products.

In comparison, competitors Musely, Hims, and Hers use many of the same ingredients as Agency, while Prose sticks to botanicals only. Prose’s botanicals have some positive research behind them, but less than for the ingredients used by Agency and the other competitors mentioned.

Cost

Agency’s cost is fairly middle-of-the-road compared to close competitors like Musely, Prose, Hims, and Hers, but — unlike those competitors — its products are only available on a subscription basis. At the time of this review, there were no one-time purchases available from Agency, even for nonprescription items. Also, you can never purchase just nonprescription products; each of your bimonthly deliveries needs to include a prescription item. This can make the relatively inexpensive nonprescription items feel more expensive to acquire.

Here’s the total cost per product (each is a two-month supply):

• Future Formula (Rx): $80
• Dark Spot Formula (Rx): $70
• Eye Formula (Rx): $76
• Cloud Care Duo: $28
• SilkScreen: $36
• Milky Hydration Concentrate: $48
• HydroSerum Eye Stick: $32

It’s relatively easy to cancel your subscription and resubscribe if you wish to, so you can technically make your purchases a “single time” when you need a refill. However, the subscription-only purchasing model does mean that there aren’t any discounts for Agency subscriptions, which you can get from competitors.

The only discount from Agency comes when you purchase more than one prescription. It takes $10 off per month for two prescriptions or $15 off per month for three.

Something we do appreciate about Agency is the company’s offer of an initial 30-day trial for only $14.95. This lets you test out your formula without having to pay nearly $100 to see if you like it first.

Convenience

In general, Agency is a convenient service. Getting started only involves answering a few questions about your current health status, goals, and special requests and then uploading some pictures of your skin. After that, your assigned provider will send you information about your custom formula, and your 30-day trial will begin. Shipments will continue automatically until you cancel, so — if you like your formula — you don’t really need to do much after that. If you aren’t a fan, you can cancel your Agency subscription with the click of a button in your customer dashboard, no questions asked.

The only inconvenience we experienced with Agency was when we tried to reach out to customer service via email and chat; both times, we were connected with AI first. With chat, this isn’t all that surprising or out of the ordinary, but with email, it was a first. The email AI was more advanced than the chatbot, but it kept forgetting the point of the conversation after a few messages. We wish it was easier to get in touch with a human at Agency who wasn’t your provider — contacting your provider is extremely simple, but contacting customer service isn’t.

Competitor Prose, in comparison, had human customer service representatives respond very quickly with answers to all of our concerns.

Agency Skincare — also known as “withagency,” Agency by Curology, or just Agency — is an online skincare service specializing in anti-aging and hyperpigmentation products. It’s owned and operated by its sister site, Curology, a company focused mainly on acne treatments.

Agency currently offers a collection of prescription and nonprescription items that are available only on a subscription basis — you can’t make any one-time purchases. The prescription items include:

• Future Formula (for anti-aging)
• Dark Spot Formula (for hyperpigmentation)
• Eye Formula (for aging concerns around the eyes)

And the nonprescription items are:

• Cloud Care Duo (a cleanser and moisturizer)
• SilkScreen (a tinted mineral sunscreen)
• HyrdoSerum Eye Stick (for moisturizing the skin around the eyes)
• Milky Hydration Concentrate (a hydrating serum)

We’ll go over the effectiveness and safety of the star ingredients of these products later in this review.

Company standing

At the time of this review, Agency doesn’t have a Better Business Bureau page, but it does have a small Trustpilot page. The Trustpilot page has only 140 reviews, amounting to 4.7 out of 5 stars, or “Excellent” by Trustpilot’s standards. The profile is claimed, and the company responds to negative reviews within a week of receiving them. However, Trustpilot notes that Agency may use “unsupported” invitation methods to get reviews, meaning the company may offer incentives (like discounts) in exchange for positive feedback.

Overall, we feel that only 140 reviews aren’t enough to judge a company fully, but the information can still be beneficial. The negative reviews focus on product prices and difficulty with customer service. We also had issues with the latter. Our initial point of contact was AI (both through chat and email) that misunderstood our concerns multiple times. For example, it kept thinking we wanted to change our shipping address when we requested to speak with a human.

If you’re in the market for a prescription treatment for anti-aging or hyperpigmentation concerns, then Agency could potentially be a good fit for you. However, that’s really all the company offers at this point in time (mainly because you can’t purchase any of the nonprescription items without also buying a prescription product).

If you’re looking for treatments for a different skin issue, like acne or rosacea, then you’d likely want to look elsewhere. Here are some alternatives:

• For acne: You don’t have to go very far from Agency to find acne treatments; its parent/sister company, Curology, was founded with the goal of offering custom acne care. Some other companies that provide acne treatments are Hims and Hers, Roman, Wisp, Apostrophe, and Nurx.
• For rosacea: Musely, Nurx, and Apostrophe all offer effective treatments for rosacea.
• For non-medicated skincare: For those who prefer botanicals over medications in their customized skincare, a service like Prose may be an ideal option.

A majority of Agency’s products should be generally safe for healthy adults. The company’s offerings are non-comedogenic, paraben-free, dye-free, cruelty-free, and vegan, and the sunscreen is also reef-safe. You can also request that your formula contain less harsh ingredients — like azelaic acid in place of hydroquinone for hyperpigmentation — making Agency’s products just as suitable for sensitive skin.

Overall, the main concern from several of the ingredients — like tretinoin,2 azelaic acid,12 and tranexamic acid — is some transient irritation, itching, flaking, breakouts, or mild peeling as your skin adjusts.13 Hydroquinone is the one potential ingredient (specifically in the Dark Spot Formula) that has some considerable risk behind it.

In 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) restricted the over-the-counter sale of hydroquinone due to its potential to cause detrimental side effects.3 The possible adverse effects include, but aren’t limited to, the following:4 5 6

• Redness and irritation
• Ochronosis (permanent bluish-gray discoloration of the skin)
• Higher risk of acute myeloid leukemias
• Greater risk of thyroid disorders

The severe side effects are relatively rare, and they’ve typically been seen in patients who have used the ingredient for multiple years.7 However, we still recommend proceeding with caution and weighing hydroquinone’s pros and cons. Other ingredients, like azelaic acid, appear to be just as (if not more) effective for the treatment of hyperpigmentation, and they often come with much less risk.8

Each of Agency’s products works differently due to its different ingredients. In this section, we review the most important inclusions that power the products. Depending on your unique needs, you may or may not see some of the mentioned ingredients in your prescription formulas. In contrast, nonprescription products are more one-size-fits-all — there’s no customization involved.

Prescription skincare

The breakdown below covers how Agency’s prescription skincare products — Future Formula, Eye Formula, and Dark Spot Formula — work based on some of the star ingredients you may encounter in each.

Now, let’s take a look at how Agency’s nonprescription products work.

How Agency’s other products work

At the time of this writing, Agency offers five different nonprescription products: Cloud Care Duo (two products sold as a bundle), SilkScreen, HydroSerum Eye Stick, and Milky Hydration Concentrate. As you may be able to tell from the names of these products, most of them are focused on keeping your skin hydrated and protected. Below, we break down how three of the most prominent ingredients help the products perform as intended.

Unlike many other services, like competitors Prose and Musely, Agency doesn’t offer its products as one-time purchases; you need to subscribe to the service to be able to get any of the company’s offerings, even the nonprescription ones. Interestingly, Curology (Agency’s owner and sister site) lets customers purchase one-timers as well as subscriptions, so we hope to see Agency do the same someday.

Something we do appreciate about Agency is its transparency around pricing. The website has a dedicated support page detailing the cost of each product, including the discounts when you bundle. At the time of this review, all Agency products ship with a two-month (60-day) supply. Here’s how the pricing works out in terms of the total cost and cost per month.

In comparison, similar prescription products from Musely — The Spot Cream, The Anti-Aging Cream, and The Eye Serum — are also sold in two-month supplies, but they can be purchased either one time or as subscriptions, with the former making the products more expensive than Agency and the latter making them cheaper.

Shipping from Agency Skincare for your bimonthly subscription is free, though taxes may apply “where applicable.” Additionally, if you order two or more prescription products per month, you’ll get some money off your order:

• Two prescriptions: $10 off per month ($20 off total)
• Three prescriptions: $15 off per month ($30 off total)

Our experience with Agency Skincare was fairly standard for a telehealth service. Account creation is pretty straightforward and easy to do: Once you click Start Trial, you can immediately begin your intake tasks.

For your intake assessment, you start off by answering a questionnaire (that doesn’t take more than five minutes) on your current health and skin goals. After that, you’re asked to upload photos of your face, shoulders, neck, or back. And finally, you wait to hear from your assigned provider with their assessment, treatment plan, and prescription customization.

Once the process is complete, you have a couple of days to edit your first shipment. You can add other prescriptions or any of the nonprescription items. After your box ships and you start using your new treatment, your provider checks in with you occasionally to see how you’re doing. These check-ins are when you can report side effects or other issues you may be experiencing.

Agency’s products are nice; they feel high-quality and apply smoothly to the skin. They don’t leave any greasy or sticky residue like some similar products do, and they also don’t have any strong fragrance. Hers’ Anti-Aging Cream, in comparison, has quite a strong scent to it.

The only real issue we encountered with Agency was difficulty interacting with customer service or, specifically, the company’s AI. It’s definitely smarter than other AI chatbots we’ve spoken with, but it couldn’t replicate or replace the help of the humans we eventually were put in contact with.

As we noted in the introduction to this review, a lot of services out there specialize in custom or personalized skincare. So, if Agency doesn’t seem like the ideal choice for your unique situation, here are a few of our favorite competitors.

Musely

Musely is an online dermatology service that offers a wide range of prescriptions for an even greater variety of skincare needs. Musely treats the following conditions:

• Hyperpigmentation
• Aging
• Keratosis pilaris
• Menopausal skin concerns
• Hair loss
• Aging around the eyes
• Hirsutism (unwanted facial hair)
• Rosacea

At the time of this review, Musely offers over 15 different treatments for those conditions, most of which have multiple formulas that your provider can pick from to suit your specific needs.

It’s worth noting, however, that Musely tends to be a bit expensive. The products can be purchased once or as subscriptions, but we definitely recommend the latter — even if you cancel immediately after — just because the subscription discount makes the company’s offerings so much more affordable. For example, Musely’s hyperpigmentation topical, The Spot Cream, is $96 for a two-month supply if you purchase it once but $67 if you subscribe.

To learn more about Musely, check out our full review.

Hims and Hers

Hims (for men) and Hers (for women) have skincare treatments focused on acne and anti-aging. Like Agency, both offer prescription treatments tailored to your specific needs following a telehealth consultation with a licensed healthcare provider.

One of the biggest differences that sets Agency apart from Hims and Hers is pricing transparency. The former does a very good job of not surprising you with a high cost, while the latter two aren’t nearly as transparent — and the pricing structure varies by product. Here’s how the costs of skincare items from Hims and Hers work out:

As you can see, Hims and Hers could benefit from a more straightforward pricing structure, like Agency or even Musely. However, Hims and Hers have wider selections of nonprescription products to choose from, and they can be great options if you need haircare support, as well.

Prose

If medications aren’t what you’re looking for, then Prose’s botanical approach to skin health could be an ideal alternative. This company goes very deep into the customization process, even taking into account factors like your local air and water quality.

Prose costs less than any other product or service we’ve mentioned in this review, but it’s most likely due to the fact that no medications are involved. There aren’t too many items available for skincare at this time, but you can choose from the following:

• Skin cleanser: $29 (or $24.65 with subscription)
• Face serum: $64 (or $54.40 with subscription)
• Moisturizer: $52 (or $44.20 with subscription)

You can save more on Prose subscriptions if you also subscribe to custom haircare, which increases the discount from 15% to 20%.