About HadaBuddy
Novia Lim, founder of HadaBuddy
Author

Novia Lim

Founder of HadaBuddy. I built it because no other ingredient scanner caught the conflicts between the products already on my shelf.

Bio

I built HadaBuddy because I needed it. I am the kind of skincare buyer who tries everything, from drugstore staples to K-beauty essences (Beauty of Joseon, COSRX, and Anua are all in regular rotation on my shelf). At some point my routine got bigger than I could keep track of. I wanted an app that could scan everything I owned, sort it into a proper AM and PM routine, and warn me when two products were going to fight each other. None of the apps I tried did that.

Yuka and EWG Skin Deep would flag ingredients with no formulation context, so a perfectly fine product would come back covered in red. INCIDecoder is great for looking up a single ingredient but does not know about the rest of your shelf. SkinSort is closer but misses most K-beauty. Nothing looked at your actual products together and built a routine from them. So I built the app I wanted.

HadaBuddy now covers 200,000+ products, 150+ ingredient interaction rules, on-device label OCR, and strong K-beauty coverage because that is what I personally use it for. The free tier is generous on purpose. Scans, ingredient analysis, and basic routine building are not paywalled, because understanding what is on a product label should not cost anything.

Alongside the app I run an editorial publication that takes a source-first, anti-fear-mongering stance on ingredient questions. When dermatology literature disagrees with brand marketing, the editorial says so. When a viral skincare trend is mostly fine and just badly explained, I say that too.

Areas of expertise

  • Ingredient interactions and layering

    Retinol with AHA, BHA, vitamin C, niacinamide, benzoyl peroxide, peptides. What actually conflicts, what is overcautious internet folklore, and how concentrations change the answer.

  • K-beauty fluency for English-speaking buyers

    Brand recognition across COSRX, Beauty of Joseon, Anua, SKIN1004, Round Lab, Mixsoon, Tirtir, and Numbuzin. Category vocabulary (essence, ampoule, sleeping pack, sun stick) and how to slot a K-beauty product into a Western-style AM and PM routine.

  • Routine building from existing products

    Cleanser, toner, essence, serum, moisturizer, SPF order. AM versus PM splits. Why most routine advice fails the moment you have more than five products.

  • Consumer skincare app methodology

    How ingredient apps actually score products, where Yuka and EWG Skin Deep get it wrong, what hazard-rating tools miss about formulation context, and what a routine-aware app gets right.

  • INCI label decoding

    Reading International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients labels in the wild, identifying the actives that matter, and spotting the filler ingredients that are usually the actual irritants.

  • On-device AI in beauty apps

    On-device OCR for ingredient capture, what AI can and cannot reliably do for skincare, and the privacy implications of cloud versus on-device analysis.

  • Sensitive skin and barrier health

    When to pause actives, what a barrier-repair routine looks like, why "clean beauty" sometimes makes barrier issues worse, and how to add actives back in the right order.

  • Skincare trends from the founder seat

    Skin flooding, slugging, glass skin, fermented ingredients, peptides. What app data shows about how trends actually translate into routines, and which ones hold up.

How I research

When a topic warrants it, I cross-reference dermatology guidance, peer-reviewed research, and regulatory ingredient databases. Posts that cover anything prescription-adjacent (retinoids, hydroquinone, barrier damage) are reviewed by a dermatologist or cosmetic chemist before they ship. Posts that are general routine or product context are written and edited in-house.

I do not copy other publications. Every post is written first and sourced second. AI is a drafting tool, never the byline. A human writes the outline, assigns the sources, edits the draft, and reads the final version before it ships. The full editorial policy is on the About page.

For press and journalists

Press kit

Short bio (copy-paste)

Novia Lim is the founder of HadaBuddy, a free iOS skincare ingredient scanner with 150+ ingredient interaction rules, an AI routine builder, and strong K-beauty coverage. Available for commentary on ingredient layering, routine compatibility, consumer skincare app methodology, and fitting K-beauty products into a Western-style routine.

Topics I can comment on

  • "Can I use X with Y?" ingredient layering questions
  • How to fit a K-beauty product into a routine you already have
  • Why two hazard-rating apps disagree on the same product
  • The gap between dermatologist advice and what people actually do at home
  • How consumer skincare apps work, and where they get things wrong
  • Indie founder perspective on building a free consumer app in beauty tech

Contact

Email hello@hadabuddy.com for interviews, expert commentary, or product information. I reply within 24 hours on weekdays. Headshot and high-resolution logo available on request.

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