Two kinds of published review count: user reviews on SkinRecs and first-hand comments quoted from around the web, each linked to its source. Each one is read as positive, mixed or negative. A user review's star rating decides it (4–5 positive, 3 mixed, 1–2 negative); quoted comments are judged when they are moderated, and ones nobody has judged yet don't count. Only reviews from the last 5 years count, and a quoted comment is dated by when it was written, not when we quoted it.
The order rewards products that are both well liked and widely discussed: we count how many more positive reviews a product has than an average product with the same number of reviews would have. A product with 33 positive reviews out of 43 therefore ranks above one with 15 out of 17, which is why the order doesn't always follow the share of positive reviews.
This list only takes products where at least 20% of reviews are positive or mixed and tag it “gentle”, and fewer reviews tag it “irritating” or “stinging” than that. The order is led by how many positive or mixed reviews use those tags, counted the same way (above the site average for that many reviews); a product liked more than average gets a smaller bonus (half of its positive reviews above average), and one liked less loses nothing beyond the 60% minimum.
A product needs at least 10 reviews, at least 60% of them positive (mixed counting as half), to be listed. We never pad a list: if fewer than 10 products qualify, you see fewer.
The list re-ranks itself as new reviews are published. There are no sponsored placements or paid rankings. The Amazon links are affiliate links and never change the order.