Two or three pumps, and my face looks like it kept a facial appointment I canceled. I love it under foundation, or if I'm running late (which I always am), I'll mix it right in with it.

The tinted primer that is also the sunscreen, because I will not do three steps when one will do the job.

They call it an eye cream. I call it a concealer that went to college. It blurs the evidence of the night before without sitting in the fine lines.

You can never go wrong with a classic black, but I highly encourage taking one of the duo-chrome shades for spin. They're stunning.

The pencil annoyingly does not come with a sharpener, so make sure you scoop up this guy, too.

Eyeshadow palettes can often be a waste. Three pans get all the love and the rest are completely ignored. I promise that's not the case with this—you'll want to use every single one of the 12 shades.

I really never thought I'd be saying that Anastasia Beverly Hills makes one of my favorite sunscreens, but here we are! The brand might be known for brows, but don't underestimate its SPF.

And of course, the best eyebrow product to ever exist. This is my secret for natural-looking, perfectly filled in eyebrows that look microbladed.

Need a sheer, everyday powder? The Mineralized Skin Finish Natural powder should be on your radar.

These lip liners are still some of the best in the game.

Not enough people talk about this skin-prep legend.

When we first came across this cleansing balm we were in awe—it seems so simple now, but the grind-on-demand concept was mind-blowing at the time. No more digging your fingers into an open jar and potentially exposing it to moisture that could destabilize the formula. Instead, you simply twist the top and it dispenses a fresh carving of balm to wash away the day. As the novel concept of the grinding balm has worn off, what really sticks out (and keeps us reaching for this creamy, plant-derived formula) is how effective it is at melting away everything from SPF to waterproof mascara—all without leaving behind a greasy residue. Just clean, hydrated skin that’s ready for the next step in your routine.

Washing our faces with this prebiotic and antioxidant formula makes us feel like we suddenly went from eating a BEC every morning to overnight whole-grain oats—it just feels like it’s good for you. And it is, or at least, it is for your skin—the prebiotics help balance your skin’s microbiome while antioxidants from blueberries, white tea, and turmeric bestow an incredible glow with each eash. Skin is clean, more radiant overall, and pores look smaller to give you a smoother and more even complexion.

If the last time you used a cleansing pad was the ‘90s, a lot has changed since the days of those alcohol-soaked skin strippers. Take these exfoliating pads from Molly Sims’s YISE brand: They’ve got retexturizing glycolic acid alongside barrier-boosting ectoin and tone-evening gluconolactone. With a dual-textured pad and a finger pocket for easy application, they help you oh-so-gently dislodge dead skin and reveal your inner glow without irritating or drying out the skin. They’re particularly handy for those 40+, who are dealing with a slower cell turnover process and need daily exfoliation to keep skin smooth and clear, but don’t want to over exfoliate and damage an already delicate skin barrier. “I liked how large the pads were and the slot for your fingers is a thoughtful touch,” says Joyce Park, MD, FAAD, a board-certified dermatologist based in Seattle. “I have sensitive skin and these surprisingly did not make my skin feel tight or sting, which typically happens with exfoliants.”

If you don’t like your skin to feel cashmere soft after every wash, definitely don’t pick up this exfoliating acid cleanser from Hailey Bieber's Rhode. It uses pineapple extract to dissolve build-up for an instant retexturizing effect on rough, dry skin. Polyglutamic acid (PGA) and advanced hyaluronic acid hydrate, plump, and lock in moisture, so your complexion is silky to the touch. Good luck keeping your hands away from your face after washing with this one. “It did a good job at washing away SPF, sweat, and the (little) makeup I wear,” says Marie Claire contributor Pia Valesco.

It took us a decade or two, but we’ve finally moved past our ingrained fear of physical facial scrubs. This rice-based wash from Dermalogica is a major reason for that, as it combines physical and chemical exfoliation to clean your skin at multiple levels, breaking down and removing pore-clogging dead skin. It’s also highly customizable as to how scrubby it feels based on how you emulsify it. “I love that you can measure how abrasive you want the scrub by customizing the water amount,” says NYC-based esthetician and makeup artist Brittany Whitfield-Morrison.

We’ve learned to be wary over the years of makeup wipes—they promise the world and often just deliver a half-baked cleanse that looks kind of clean but will have you waking up to a makeup-streaked pillow. These quick cleansers from 4AM have restored our faith in wipes. Developed by a dermatologist, the plant-derived wipes are drenched in a serum of rosewater, centella asiatica and vitamin B5, so they're able to remove dirt, oil, makeup, and SPF without tugging or irritating the skin. That same ingredient combo also helps nourish, hydrate, and balance the skin. If you struggle to wash your face at night (or are sick of hauling around your cleanser when you travel) these make a fantastic choice to keep skin clean and happy with minimal effort.

Dieux can truly do no wrong in our eyes. Every single product from Charlotte Palermino’s line has been a Holy Grail tier addition to our skincare regimens. This cleansing oil is no exception—it can take off the most theatrical makeup (we’re talking Rebecca Romijin’s blue paint from the OG X-Men movies levels of cosmetics) with ease, dissolving away color, dirt, oil, and SPF with a blend of skin-conditioning oils and a double emulsifier complex. Just 30 seconds of gentle massaging and all evidence of the day is gone like a bad memory, leaving skin fresh, soft, and clean. “I have acne-prone skin, so I'm always wary of trying new oil cleansers,” says Marie Claire contributor Isabella Sarlija. “This one did not make me break out at all — in fact, it even helped me minimize my blackheads. It feels lightweight on the skin and emulsifies very well once wet, making it easy to rinse off completely.”

It’s rare to find a skincare product that works for everyone, but this cult classic toner spray from Tower 28 has done the impossible—it truly works on all skin types. Painful cystic acne? It’s anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory to help erase those zits. Red, dry and itchy? The formula has been accepted and recognized by the National Eczema Association, National Rosacea Society, and the National Psoriasis Foundation as a beneficial pick for all of those inflammatory skin conditions. It contains just three ingredients, with a stabilized form of hypochlorous acid that took eight years(!) to perfect as the hero, which helps soothe stressed skin and defend against potential irritants that can make you look red, irritated, and inflamed. It’s a favorite of derms (especially post-procedure, like resurfacing lasers) and will keep skin calm, balanced, and clear.

There’s something so chic about honey-infused skincare. Maybe it’s because the naturally anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and moisturizing nectar has been used since ancient Egyptian times (Cleopatra was said to have been a honey mask devotee). Or maybe it’s because you can quite literally feel it cushioning your skin and watch yourself develop an ethereal glow. Whatever the reason, this luxe essence from Aunu is our favorite way to indulge our skin with the sweet stuff—it uses a 20 percent medical-grade Manuka sourced from New Zealand to soothe, condition, and balance your complexion. Coupled with resveratrol, ceramides, hyaluronic acid, and beet root extract, this active essence is a golden elixir for healthy, radiant, hydrated skin. “This is all sorts of goodness,” raves Marie Claire contributor Dani Hardman. “It's lightweight so you can easily layer and hydrate without it feeling cloying. It absorbs quickly and it leaves my skin bouncy and quenched.”

Can you tell we’re on a hypochlorous acid kick these days? When something works this well, you want to use it all the time. Lili Reinhart’s Personal Day brand has created one of our favorite versions of this now popular ingredient, which is naturally produced by your immune system to help kill harmful bacteria and encourage faster skin healing. The ultra-fine mist is like a light veil on the skin, soothing even the most irritated complexions. Breakouts are calmed, redness is minimized, and sensitivity is under control with every spray.

A face oil you can use morning and night, this luxe liquid provides essential vitamins and antioxidants to hydrate the skin and protect against free radical damage. Essential fatty acids nourish and soften even the driest complexions, giving you brighter and more balanced skin. It’s made entirely from plum seed oil, rich in protective polyphenols, and is both lightweight and hydrating enough to be used on the face, body, and even hair. Use it alone, or blend a few drops in your favorite moisturizer or lotion to supercharge the formula. "This is the only face oil I'll ever use, and it's been that way for years," says Marie Claire Beauty Director Hannah Baxter. "It feels so cushiony on the skin and leaves you feeling velvety soft, even after I wake up in the morning."

Moisture and acne are always a tricky combo. Blemish-prone skin needs moisture but you have to walk a tightrope between balancing out skin oils and not overloading the skin with hydration that makes it feel greasy or clogs pores. This acne-targeted gel hydrator from Neutrogena walks that line with ease. The lightweight texture won’t drown the skin in excess oil and it contains a trio of clinically-proven ingredients to clear blemishes, balance the skin microbiome, and help face post-acne marks faster. “Fantastic price point, I love that it's easy to find in any drugstore, and it actually works,” says Marie Claire contributor Kristin Limoges. “I'm always a little hesitant with sensitive skin that some salicylic acid formulas will cause too much irritation or barrier issues, but I found I could sporadically use this during the day (even pair it with more salicylic at night) and it didn't irritate at all. The addition of n-acetyl glucosamine is nice—it adds some hydration and helps fade past blemish marks."

Whipped cream for your face sounds like a sticky skin disaster but turns out it’s actually the recipe for a bouncy, hyper-hydrated complexion. Or, at least it is if the whipped cream in question is this ceramide-packed cream from Skinfix. The airy texture makes it endlessly layerable without smothering the skin, with humectants to draw in moisture and ceramides to strengthen the skin barrier and lock in that hydration. Niacinamide helps even out tone and smooth rough texture while minimizing the look of large pores. Even the driest skin is hydrated without feeling heavy, and is more resilient against daily stress.

If you think night creams are just a richer type of moisturizer, allow us to introduce you to this high-tech cream from Révive. Yes, it is an extremely rich hydrator, but it’s also packed with skin-transforming ingredients that do their best work while you’re sleeping. We’re talking potent exfoliating ingredients that help refine skin texture, proprietary peptides to renew the skin and smooth out the look of fine lines, resulting in skin that looks progressively more radiant each morning. “I do really see an immediate difference after applying, probably due to the exfoliating glycolic acid and fruit enzymes in the formula,” says Marie Claire contributor Erica Metzger. “That combined with peptides and rich emollients like shea butter and squalene leaves my skin extra glowy and nourished.”

The ability to deliver hydration that won’t overwhelm oily or combination skin is a skill not every moisturizer has mastered. Byoma not only found that Goldilocks mix, it created a gel-cream hybrid our testers of all skin types kept reaching for. Infused with not one, not two, but three lipids to cushion and reinforce the skin barrier, it’s also got niacinamide to smooth skin and control excess sebum, plus green tea to soothe skin and provide a boost on antioxidant protection.

Fans of dermatologist Dr. Shereene Idriss (a.k.a. Pillowtalk Derm) know the good doctor is all about a no-nonsense approach to caring for the skin. Her Dr. Idriss line of products takes that philosophy and puts it into practice with skincare that is backed by science and actually delivers on its claims. This calming cream for sensitive skin is a perfect example of that ethos, providing instant relief for red and irritated skin while also delivering a healthy dose of hydration. It has a minty hue that helps visibly counteract flushing, plus barrier soothing actives like colloidal oatmeal, zinc PCA, acetyl tetrapeptide-40. “The product feels great on my skin and calms my minor redness,” says Marie Claire contributor Iman Balagam. “I love the ingredients and that I can use it without worry.”

We’re not saying Martha Stewart is a witch, but the 85-year-old does have suspiciously youthful looking skin. Maybe it has something to do with this night cream, a product she helped develop with her long-time dermatologist Dr. Dhaval Bhanusali for her Elm Biosciences line. It combines a fourth-generation retinoid (trifarotene caprylate) with ectoin, lipids, and the brand’s proprietary A30 anti-senescence, which helps neutralize so-called “zombie” cells that increase inflammation for faster collagen breakdown. So skin receives the benefits of retinol without the dryness, and you’ll wake up to firmer skin, less noticeable wrinkles, and a barrier that is visibly restored.

It’s difficult to describe exactly how this water cream from Skinmedica feels on parched skin. The best analogy we have is that it’s like those early aughts face wash commercials where a fresh-faced actress splashes what looks like an entire sinkful of water into her face in slow motion. It’s hydrating, it’s cool, and you can practically feel your skin drinking in the five types of hyaluronic acid to instantly plump and hydrate your complexion. A prebiotic Microbiome Barrier complex and vegan collagen help the skin retain that refreshing moisture by reinforcing the skin barrier to minimize water loss and better protect against environmental aggressors. Your face looks dewy and smooth for instant and long-lasting hydration for up to 48 hours. “To put it simply, I love this cream,” says Marie Claire contributor Ruby Ford-Dunker. "It's easily absorbed, lightweight, and non-greasy. It comes with the most adorable (and necessary) spatula, which makes the whole experience feel luxe. It leaves the skin rejuvenated, hydrated, and smooth.”

This ingredient list on this eye balm (stay with us) from Exoceuticals reads like a who’s who in skin longevity: exosomes, NAD+, copper peptides. But the brand has managed to combine all these buzzy ingredients into a formula that delivers preventative and reparative benefits alongside instant and long-term results. We’re talking visibly reduced puffiness, fine lines, and dark circles as the formula goes to work on your skin cells to support DNA repair and help restore skin functions to their peak. Yes, it’s a balm, but it doesn’t feel like that when applied. “It's rich and thick but somehow doesn't feel like it,” says Marie Claire contributor Ama Kwarteng. “Once it absorbs, your undereyes just look smoother and more hydrated.”

Paula’s Choice is a brand we always have represented somewhere in our skin care regimens (don’t even get us started on the many ways we adore the BHA Liquid Exfoliant) so it wasn’t a toal surprise that this eye serum rocketed up to the top of our list of potential winners. But what put it over the edge was seeing the firming effects up close and personal. Not only did the peptide blend immediately depuff our tired under-eyes, but it also lifted and tightened the entire eye area with continuous use. Bonus points for the metal applicator, which felt cooling and soothing when we massaged it around our eyes.

The idea of a topical cream that can mimic the effects of an injectable is tantalizing, but more products fall short of that dream. While not exactly the same thing as a tox and filler session, this advanced formula from Estée Lauder can deliver noticeable results that will have you doing a double take in the mirror. Part of the brand’s beloved Advanced Night Repair lineup, this lifting and sculpting cream has a double dose of hyaluronic acid to create a filler-like effect, plus hexapeptide-8 to sculpt, and ANR’s signature night peptide to fast track skin renewal. It’s definitely not going to replace those appointments with your injector, but there is a very apparent plumping and smoothing improvement to the delicate eye area. “Incorporating peptides and hyaluronic acid, this cream helps to firm the skin around the eyes while also plumping the skin and helping with resting lines and expression lines around the eye,” says Marisa Garshick, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based in NYC. “I especially love that it can be used for the entire eye area including the upper eyelid, crow's feet, under-eye area, and inner eye to ensure comprehensive improvement.”

Not quite a concealer, not just an eye cream, this tinted perfector from Storied Beauty works as a color corrector to help minimize the look of dark circles while a blend of bakuchiol, niacinamide, caffeine, hyaluronic acid, reversatrol, and squalane smooth fine lines and depuff for a revitalized undereye. Use it alone for a brightening boost on a minimal makeup day or layer it under your regular concealer to amp up coverage and hide every last trace of pesky darkness and puffiness.

For how often we use these collagen under-eye patches as part of our daily prep, we’re hard-pressed to remember what we even did before they came on the scene. Cut up cucumbers and lie around waiting for them to work some veggie depuffing magic? These cooling patches have the benefit of not expiring in your fridge and use a little more high-tech ingredients to diminish under-eye bags and firm skin in the process. The bouncy gel has a diamond texture to keep them gripped in place, helping the collagen, caffeine, and probiotic exosomes better absorb for advanced results. Your gaze is revived, firmer, depuffed, and smoother. Let’s see a cucumber slice do that.

A balm and treatment in one, this hydrator from VIOLETTE_FR has vitamin E, peptides, a plant-based collagen activator, and nourishing butters and waxes to seal in moisture. Available in clear and tinted versions, it instantly soothes even the driest, most cracked lips to instantly reveal a plush and velvety pout. Your moisture barrier is replenished and lips look fuller, which makes the lip color easier to apply—although, the glossy and glowing look a coat of this balm leaves behind might just become your new favorite lip look.

Achieving silky and full lips doesn’t have to be hard work. In fact, it’s so easy you can do it in your sleep—as long as you’ve got this softening mask from LAWLESS. It’s lip-maxxing in the best way, taking the brand’s award-winning Forget The Filler Plumping Gloss formula and cranking up the level of shea butter and the brand’s proprietary MaxiLip volumizer. You’ll wake up to smoother lines, softer lips, and a dramatically plumper pout.

At this point, sunscreen should be a basically automatic addition to your routine. But if you’re not including your lips in your SPF regimen, you’re exposing that delicate skin to the dangers of UV rays. Lips are skin, after all, so skipping the SPF means you’re sun protection is incomplete. Traditionally lip SPFs can be a bit of pain—they either are too greasy or leave behind an unpleasant taste. This gloss from Good Weather is neither of those things, instead delivering a moisturizing (but not oily!) finish and no icky aftertaste. Just juicy, naturally tinted lips that are safeguarded from the sun.

This mask from Byoma is a major step up from the early peel-off treatments of the '90s—for one, it’s a lot gentler on the skin, so you don’t feel like you’re ripping off your epidermis during removal. It’s got three different types of ceramides to actually protect your skin barrier, while bio-collagen helps smooth out your texture for a glass skin finish. It also uses cica and astaxathin to immediately calm irritation and minimize redness—an inevitable after-effect of the early peel-off masks that left skin stinging and rosy. Instead, your complexion looks firmer, brighter, and smoother when you remove it. “This mask definitely made an immediate difference in my skin: It looked really hydrated and glowy after I peeled the mask off, even before I applied moisturizer,” says Marie Claire contributor Kara McGrath. Just be careful to avoid your brows and baby hairs unless you want an unintentional facial wax.

For clearing pores and controlling excess oil, there’s really no beating a clay mask. Unfortunately, you’re often choosing to take the drying side effect that can come with these masks—they work by being a magnet to suck out debris and dead skin, but oftentimes that also means sucking up essential moisture. Not the case with this refining mask from Oak Essentials. It uses blue tansy and mineral-rich sea water to reduce the look of pores as it calms and balances the skin. No tight, stripped-skin feel or post-mask dryness to contend with. “I really, really like this,” says Marie Claire beauty writer Ariel Baker. “It feels incredibly soft on the skin but my skin looks so bright and fresh after using it.”

A week’s worth of skin care in one high-tech mask? Leave it to K-beauty to rewrite everything we thought we knew about sheet masks. Inside the hydrogel are liposome capsules featuring a patented hybrid peptide and NMN, a precursor to NAD+. The capsules slowly disintegrate as the mask dries, releasing the cell energizing ingredient into the skin. It firms, hydrates, and smooths the skin while providing up to 128 hours of antioxidant protection. “The mask dished out next level moisturizing,” says Marie Claire contributor Jamie Wilson. “I like that it came in two pieces for easy application and it stayed on my face really well. It left my skin soft and hydrated with a glass skin finish.”

Another overnight overachiever, this nighttime mask from Marini SkinSolutions uses proteolytic enzymes (a.k.a. proteases) to gently exfoliate the skin without the potential dryness or irritation that comes with acids or retinol. Peptides, glycerin, and plant oils and butters deliver intense hydration when your skin is in its repair cycle, ensuring you wake up to a juicy, glassy complexion that feels soft as silk. “I was pleasantly surprised when I applied this at night as the last step in my skincare routine and it didn't cause any extra messes on my sheets,” says editor Shauna Beni-Hayes. “It dried within a few minutes, and I woke up with the most radiant, smooth, and glowy skin. This product was a game changer!”

If you feel like you’ve seen one sheet mask, you’ve seen them all, we present to you this Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) twist on the trend. It’s packed with eight calming TCM botanicals—including licorice root and camellia sinesis—plus a polymer derived from mushrooms, probiotics, fermented rice serum, and multiple molecular weights of hyaluronic acid. It drenches skin in hydration while calming stressed and reactive complexions, leaving behind an almost ethereal glow that lasts. “This is the only mask that I think I saw results for more than one day with—the next day my skin felt softer and more plump,” says Marie Claire contributor Lauren Caruso. “It actually felt like it helped my makeup glide on better, too.”

Once a dark spot or sun damage appears on your skin, it can be very difficult to make any kind of improvement on its appearance. In the past, dermatologists have suggested prescription-strength drugs like hydroquinone, which is effective but can be dangerous with long-term use. Most topical serums can’t replicate that spot-fading power, but Mother Science has managed to create a hydroquinone alternative that has been clinically proven to reduce dark spots. Its secret is a biotech replication of malassezin, a natural molecule found on the skin. It targets hyperpigmentation in three unique ways and is 10 times more powerful than vitamin C. This hero serum from the brand noticeably fades dark spots and sun damage in as little as two weeks. Is it magic? No, just science.

It’s a pretty bold claim to call your serum “The Laser,” but this exfoliating serum from Lenox and Sixteenth delivers. Is it the same as a professional laser treatment? No, that’s not how topical products work. However, it is the one of the most effective and versatile treatments we’ve tried outside of a derm’s office for everything from acne scarring and active breakouts to hyperpigmentation and rough skin texture. It uses a trio of acids—each a different molecular weight—to penetrate multiple levels of the skin for a more effective serum, but also has plant extracts like kakadu plum and prickly pear to provide antioxidant protection and help keep your skin barrier calm and supported. “The triple acid formula makes it super potent so you get your bang for your buck, and it works on scarring, hyperpigmentation, and texture issues,” says Marie Claire Beauty Director Hannah Baxter. “It's formulated by a skincare practitioner and you can tell—it gets the job done fast.”

Like a retouching tool for your face, this targeted firming serum from dermatologist Marnie Nussbaum, MD, goes to work on expression lines on the eyes, mouth, and forehead. It has hexapeptide-9, a signalling peptide that tells your fibroblasts to make more collagen, which results in firmer skin and wrinkles that are visibly smoother. Bakuchiol, a retinol alternative, boosts skin cell turnover to make your complexion glowier without the irritation while ceramides deliver barrier strength and long-term moisture retention. The cooling applicator tip is soothing on the skin and delivers a depuffing boost to the eye area.

Exosomes are one of those skincare ingredients that sound good in theory, but a lot of brands have difficulty delivering on the transformative power of these messenger molecules, ( plated ) boasts one of the most scientifically advanced and clinically-tested formulas on the market. And the trillion(!) platelet-derived exosomes in the formula not only do all of the things for your skin—firming, brightening, smoothing, evening—but they do them really, really well. “I love Plated, they were some of the first to tap into the growth factor/exosome space and have lots of scientific backing,” says NYC-based esthetician Madalaina Conti. “This serum does a great job at delivering these actives in a super absorbent, almost invisible way that I have found to be a great base for the rest of the routine. It's really hard to get a product that feels as good on the skin as it is effective. Love this serum and worth the hype.”

If you’re not pairing your SPF with an antioxidant serum, your skin isn’t fully protected from the dangers of the sun. That’s because sunscreen only protects against UV damage (which is obviously very important—we don’t want to minimize its proven benefits). An antioxidant ensures that the free radicals that the sun also blasts your skin with don’t create oxidative damage that can cause premature aging. We love pairing our fave SPFs with this incredible serum from Biologique Recherche—it uses antioxidant adapatogens like lingonberry and indirubin to protect against daily sun exposure and enhance the protective abilities of your skin’s natural melanin.

Retinol has always been that girl for delivering the most impactful benefits to skin’s texture, tone, and overall quality. It’s also notoriously harsh on the skin, which can sometimes lead to redness, dryness, and skin purging. So when you find a formula like this one from Sofia Vergara’s toty line that gives you the retinol glow without the red, you grab as many bottles as your arms can carry. It uses micro-encapsulated sustained-release retinol at 0.5 percent. Translation: It slowly releases the retinol on your skin over a longer period of time instead of blasting your face with it all at once, so you are less likely to react negatively. It also has a unique irritation-minimizing complex of two percent N-acetyl glucosamine (NAG) and five percent niacinamide to further calm your complexion. Instead of red and flaky, skin is bouncy, plump, smooth, and dewy.

Who says plant-based skincare can’t be powerful? Our friends at Clark’s Botanicals have managed to take some of the most effective ingredients in skincare right now and develop plant-based alternatives that we’d argue work better than the originals. Safe for sensitive skin, this bioactive serum uses a plant-derived dual PDRN complex and a dual exosome system made from botanical stem cells to enhance skin longevity while immediately improving the look of fine lines, wrinkles, smoothness, and skin elasticity. “I tested this product for 40 days straight and I was thoroughly impressed with how my skin looked,” raves Marie Claire contributor Danielle James. “My fine lines on my forehead softened and my skin seemed to be in overall better shape. I started using this after my skin was looking a little dull and tired and it perked it right up!”

It seems these days that every brand has their own unique peptide, which makes it hard to tell which one is going to actually do something for your skin. Thankfully this serum from Dr. Barbara Sturm has made incorporating peptides into your routine ridiculously easy with a triple peptide blend that addresses everything from expression lines to collagen degradation. That means you’ll see both instant and long-term results with regular use. The bio-tech peptides used here have been optimized to focus on preserving your existing collagen while simultaneously creating a tightening effect that gives your complexion a lifted and defined look.

Never has a product more accurately lived up to its name than this serum from Barefaced. Developed for sensitive and reactive skin, it somehow manages to combine a potent blend of actives that firm, smooth wrinkles, minimize the look of pores, and even out skin texture—all while keeping even the most delicate skin calm. “I have used several bottles of this serum and cannot sing its praises enough,” says Marie Claire contributor Adelaide Giesey. “This formula packs all the powerful actives you want in an everyday serum but without any of the irritation. I notice that my skin feels stronger and more resilient to stressors when I have this in my routine.”

Vitamin C is one of the most tricky of the antioxidants to work with. That’s because it’s typically unstable, susceptible to degradation due to everything from light exposure to the literal air. INNBEAUTY Project makes it look easy to craft a powerful-yet-stable vitamin C serum. This brightening antioxidant serum uses a 15 percent complex that blends three different types of vitamin C—liposomal 3-O-ethyl ascorbic acid, gold-stabilized L-ascorbic acid, and tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate (THD)—for a “hyper-stable” combo that delivers advanced brightening and dark spot correction. Antioxidant tranexamic acid, ferulic acid, and alpha-arbutin defend the skin against free radical damage while peptides and growth factors help reverse hyperpigmentation. “I love the formula because it has all the benefits of a highly effective vitamin C, but no bad smell and it's not sticky like some other formulas,” says James. “I'm a Skinceuticals C E Ferulic superfan and while this is not a ‘dupe,’ it is a formula that gives it a run for its money.”

This is not your basic hyaluronic acid serum—it's a hydrating powerhouse. With ceramides, niacinamide, and multiple weights of hyaluronic acid, it floods skin with moisture while simultaneously plumping up fine lines, addressing uneven tone, and strengthening the skin barrier. I recommend using two pumps morning and night—your face will look plumper, glossier, and bouncier than ever before. And with temperatures dropping, now is the perfect time to add this to your routine.

When this Aussie-born brand first hit the scene, we were tripping all over ourselves to shout its praises. The brand has only gotten better in the year that followed, releasing new formulas like this glow-booster that perks up our skin every time we slather it on. The luminous version of the brand’s best-selling Supreme Screen has managed to fulfill our pre-teen desire for Edward Cullen sun sparkle skin (™). It has light-reflecting mica that gives you a soft-focus glow that masters that lit-from-within luminosity we’re constantly trying to achieve with our highlighters. It works well on its own but can also be layered under makeup to add some glow to your base without pilling. “Ultra Violette makes a great sunscreen—full stop,” says Marie Claire contributor Dani Hardman.

We know that the buzz in SPF has been about chemical filters as of late, but there’s something to be said about a really well formulated mineral SPF like this one from Kiehl’s. Made with cica to help soothe redness, it has nano-zinc oxide to help it better disperse and ensure you don’t have to deal with that chalky white cast that used to be the hallmark of mineral SPF. It not only protects your skin from SPF damage, but also helps strengthen your skin barrier, making it a fab pick for those with more skin sensitivities. "I still can't believe this is a physical sunscreen," say Marie Claire Beauty Director Hannah Baxter. "It's got zero white cast and feels so lightweight on the skin."

It’s a makeup setting mist. It’s an SPF spray. No, it’s both! Australian brand Naked Sundays has made reapplication a breeze with this spritzer. It has broad-spectrum SPF 50 protection, plus fruit extracts and hyaluronic acid to hydrate and refresh the skin. It’s also formulated to be sprayed both on bare skin and over top of makeup, so you can spritz it on without worrying your carefully applied beat is going to slide right off your skin. “The very fine mist feels weightless and dries down quickly,” notes Marie Claire contributor Catharine Malzahn. “As with other mist formulas, it's hard to tell if you're getting enough protection, so I like this as a topper on top of another face sunscreen. It does leave skin looking hydrated and radiant.”

We absolutely adore a tinted sunscreen—two steps in one!—but oftentimes SPF tints go light on the coverage and heavy on the sunscreen. This mineral tinted SPF from Alastin provides some of the best coverage we’ve seen, working as a makeup base that rivals BB and CC creams. It has an SPF 36 mineral formula infused with antioxidants and ectoin to protect skin from free radicals and blue light damage. While it’s only available in one shade, that hue does a great job of matching a variety of tones in the light to medium range, delivering a glowy skin finish that is the very definition of your skin but better. “This is one of the best sunscreens I've ever used (and I've used a ton),” says Marie Claire contributor Isabella Sarlija. “It glides over the skin effortlessly and creates a radiance that makes my skin look hydrated and healthy. I love that universal tint, too; it blends in very easily without leaving an ounce of white cast, despite the fact that this is a 100 percent mineral formula.”

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to give your skin a little sun-kissed color—provided you’re not tan-maxxing to achieve it. Instead, grab this self-tanner from Saltyface to mimic the golden glow that looks like you spent the summer on a yacht in the Mediterranean (a girl can dream). Available in two formulas (light to medium and medium to dark), this innovative mist is infused with skin-hydrating botanicals, making it compatible for all skin types—including acne-prone and mature. It develops and fades gradually, so you don’t even have to think about it once it’s been applied. The fine mist goes on clear, so there’s no worries about color transfer. Just spray it either directly on the face or onto a brush and blend outward for a natural looking tan in 24 hours.

We’ve all been there—you head out with the girls for “a quick after-work drink” and the next thing you know it’s midnight and you’re three martinis, a caesar salad, and a basket of fries in. Fun in the moment, but you’ll definitely see the consequences the next morning when you blearily hit your alarm and realize your face looks like someone inflated it with helium while you slept. That’s the best time to reach for this depuffing and sculpting tech from Dermaflash—with a copper cooling head and sonic vibration, it provides lymphatic massage to drain excess fluid and instant cooling to help constrict blood vessels for depuffing and redness reduction in seconds. No one needs to know how you spent your night, and with this, you won’t have to deal with annoying comments from your co-workers speculating about your after work activities. Mind your business, Janice from Accounting.

This ceramic tool might not look like your typical gua sha, but what it lacks in familiarity it more than makes up for in efficacy. It focuses on acupressure with a finely tapered point on one end for targeted treatment and a curved massage head designed for the scalp. Use the tool to release tightness, massage away excess lymph fluid, and promote circulation for a revitalized, sculpted complexion and instant stress relief.

We are by no means new to facial cleansing gadgets—we both remember and even owned the OG Clarisonic (RIP). But this gadget from Shark Beauty is light years beyond a mechanical cleansing brush. The brand boasts that it’s 10 benefits in 10 minutes with one device, and we can attest that it does, in fact, do exactly that. You get not only a cleansing brush, but a variety of attachments that deliver everything from exfoliation and pore clearing to contrast therapy and sculpting. It hydrates the skin, depuffs—hell, it even cleans itself! It’s the Swiss army knife of beauty tech. “There's a LOT of room for error here, but if you're willing to put in a decent amount of time with the manual and YouTube, it's worth it,” says Lauren Caruso. “The cooling/gua sha attachment was great and comparable to results from my NuFace in terms of lifting, but just like any manual device, you'd have to use it every day for consistent results. I could see why someone who wants a spa-like facial at home could really get into this.”

Catching our attention in the tools category doesn’t always mean being a high-tech device with all the bells and whistles. It’s about making your life easier by doing a task really, really well. Anyone who has ever used Tweezerman’s Slant Tweezer understands exactly why it is a cult classic in the beauty world. The tip is hand filed to a 25 degree angle that ensures it fits perfectly against the browbone, so you never miss a hair. It has calibrated tension to make hair removal both comfortable (well, as comfortable as yanking your hair out can be) and grabs hair at the roots for easy removal. There’s simply no better tweezer for brow (and the occasional random chin) hair maintenance.

We are fully aware that strapping on this 3-in-1 LED mask makes us look absolutely psychotic. But it’s worth the jump scare when we catch a glance of ourselves in the mirror because the results are so good. “I've tested a handful of LED devices over the years, and what stood out to me about this one is the coverage—it treats not just your face, but your neck and scalp as well,” says Marie Claire contributor Hana Hong. That’s right, this somewhat odd-looking contraption is three devices in one. It has red, blue, and near-infrared light to penetrate the skin at a variety of levels and uses clinically proven wavelengths to help do everything from enhance radiance to stimulate hair growth and smooth fine lines. But, it’s not just the design that has us gagged—it also has pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) energy which, according to the brand, operates at a deeper, systemic level. Low energy magnetic pulses pass through the tissues to affect how cells transport oxygen and stimulates microcirculation in the smallest capillaries to support skin’s vitality. The face and neck masks have both PEMF and LED while the scalp section is targeted LED to help push follicles out of the telogen “resting” phase and into the anagen growth phase. The PlasmaGLO Halo is basically your one-stop shop for LED.

The original Booster Pro device from Medicube was already a blockbuster at-home device (fans included everyone from Hailey Bieber to Selena Gomez), so when we heard the brand was launching an updated version, we truly had no idea how the brand could top the original. We flew to Seoul to see for ourselves and the experience gave us a whole new appreciation for this handheld wonder. The Booster Pro X2 has updated software and hardware, including a larger treatment head, an additional intensity level (six), two new LED wavelengths, and seven core treatment modes (up from the original four). There’s more output power, more electrodes, and more LED coverage. In addition to the original Booster, Air Shot, Microcurrent, and Derma-shot modes, there’s now three additional new modes: AI mode, which can be paired with the brand’s AGE-R app to recommend and map out treatment plans for your specific skin needs; Mask mode, which can be used over top of sheet masks for better absorption, and Dual mode, which allows you to simultaneously use two modes in one treatment thanks to a new split head design. It takes everything we love about the original and makes it better and more user-friendly (which we honestly didn’t even think was possible, but Korean innovation is surprising like that).

The idea of microneedling at home used to give us the heebie jeebies—too many things that could go wrong and create serious consequences for our skin. But this dermatologist-tested system has changed how we looked at DIY microneedling. With its single-use applicator, Qure’s Micro-Infusion system ensures that every application is hygienic and the pre-sterilized 24K gold-plated, 0.5 mm needles hit a consistent depth to avoid skin injury, safely delivering either the dark spot-fighting Brightening formula or the line-smoothing Restorative formula. The brand is also in the process of clinically proving the benefits of the system outside of the initial safety trials— it is currently the subject of four independent clinical trials for wrinkle appearance and skin texture, dark spot appearance, skin elasticity and firmness, and collagen-related skin benefits. “This micro-infusion delivery system is appealing for consumers looking for a more procedural-style at-home experience,” says Westchester-based board-certified dermatologist Kseniya Kobets, MD. “The treatment itself was slightly prickly at times, but overall I found it very tolerable. I also appreciated that each treatment uses a new sterile needle tip, which helps keep the process clean.”

A hybrid cleanser and exfoliator, this face wash declogs and de-gunks your pores to dissolve away dead skin build-up and debris that can set up shop in your skin and eventually lead to blemishes and blackheads. It uses salicylic acid, niacinamide, and hyaluronic acid to clean without stripping the skin, so you don’t have to worry about that dry, squeaky feeling that says you did too much. “This is AMAZING for acne,” says Marie Claire contributor Audrey Noble. “I would use this cleanser at night in hopes it would help with the breakouts on my chin. When I woke up the next morning, they were drastically less red and had decreased in size. By day three, they were pretty much gone. It also does a great job removing makeup.”

These peeling pads from Korean brand Celimax uses beta-hydroxy acids to really dive into your pores and clear them out. The double-sided pad is textured on one side and smooth on the other so you can get a deeper exfoliation, if that’s your thing. Dead skin and excess sebum are swiped away, leaving you with soft, clear, hydrated skin with none of the irritation. That’s because they also contain heartleaf, a popular soothing and calming botanical in K-beauty. But its benefits go far outside of acne—it can also be used for skin roughness and dark spots. “I loved that it was gentle enough for the face and intense enough for the body,” says Whitfield-Morrison. “It’s a great BHA product, especially for KP and hyperpigmentation on knees and elbows.”

Esthetician Sofie Pavitt is the unofficial acne whisperer of NYC. A facial with her has you leaving with what looks and feels like brand new, much clearer skin. So of course her eponymous skincare line is going to be a must-have for anyone dealing with breakouts. This serum is a standout favorite because it not only clears congested skin, but smooths and brightens your overall complexion in the process. It uses an eight percent mandelic acid to remove dead skin, plus hyaluronic acid to hydrate and panthenol to nourish and smooth.

EADEM has made some of our absolute favorite skin-brightening and hyperpigmentation-correcting products over the years. This dark spot treatment is the latest addition to that ever-growing list because it works on both existing dark spots and blemishes to ensure they don’t leave behind post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. It uses a concentrated blend of five percent tranexamic acid, one percent kojic acid, one percent alpha arbutin, and one percent acetyl glycyl beta‑alanine to brighten skin, minimize redness, and disrupt pigment formation. “What sets this product apart is the gel-patch delivery system that locks the formula in place over the spot rather than allowing it to spread, which differentiates it from traditional dark spot serums and creams,” says Brendan Camp, MD, FAAD, a double board-certified dermatologist and dermapathologist in NYC.

We don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say we have tried every lip hydrator on the market. There are always multiple tubes of various brands rolling around the bottom of our bags. But recently we’ve been reaching more and more for this new treatment from the Dr. Diamond Metacine line. Created by double board-certified plastic surgeon Jason Diamond, MD, FACS, LipLift is a combination hydrator and lip perfecter that uses high tech ingredients to revive your pout. We’re talking a proprietary complex of bio-peptides to restore lip volume, definition and contour while actively decreasing the breakdown of fat that can deflate lips. There’s also a novel blend of hyaluronic acid and castor oil that acts as topical filler to plump, plus low molecular weight hyaluronic acid and high molecular weight polysaccharides that draw water to the skin and keep it there for an instant filling effect. After continued use, lips look fuller, feel softer, lip lines are less obvious, lip color is enhanced, and the border of your lips looks more defined. It’s the closest thing to a needle-free filler we’ve ever seen and it has the third-party independent clinical trials to prove it.

Atopic dermatitis, a.k.a eczema, can be an incredibly frustrating skin condition to treat. That's why it's often cause to visit your dermatologist and discuss prescription options to soothe and heal the inflamed skin. Even better? When the cream in question isn't too harsh on your skin barrier and is free from steroids. The Zoryve formula is a gentle and effective once-daily option to heal pesky eczema patches, and is able to be used long-term (because eczema is a chronic condition, unfortunately). In clinical testing, 45 percent of people who used the cream experienced 75 percent improvement after four weeks, making it an exceptional option for anyone struggling to address their atopic dermatitis, no matter where it is located on the body.

We have a well-documented love affair with Flamingo Estate’s Soap Bricks. These chonky body cleansers are made with botanicals, minerals, and nourishing oils that make your skin feel heavenly. While the Morning Exfoliating Peppermint has been our usual soap of choice (nothing says wake up like a shot of sharp peppermint and the exfoliating power of Big Sur sea salt in the morning), we’ve noticed we’ve been reaching more and more for the aromatic Green Goddess soap. With its infusion of basil, mint, rosemary, and pea tendrils, Green Goddess is what we imagine Ina Garten’s garden smells like—abundantly green, fresh, and herbaceous. It’s booth soothing and refreshing. Scientists have shown that “green odors” like herbs and leaves have anxiolytic benefits (read: can reduce anxiety and stress responses), so adding this to your everything shower is like a mini mental health day while you wash.

A body butter that’s both ultra-rich and airy light, this whipped formula has everything you’d want from a face moisturizer (a proprietary emulsion of facial-grade moisturizers like tremella mushroom, quick absorption, no greasy after-feel) with the benefits of an elite body hydrator (nourishing oils and botanical butters, an addictive citrus and spice aroma) in one gorgeous formula. “It’s creamy, sinks in quickly, and has a divine smell,” says Marie Claire Beauty Director Hannah Baxter. “Even when my skin was still desperately dry from the winter, it felt soothed and stupid soft after I applied this post-shower.”

The lush fig, waterlily, iris flower, jasmine dew, skin musks, and Madagascar vanilla aroma from this deo didn’t have to go so hard, but we’re really glad it did. Swiping this on delivers the barest hint of the rich scent, giving you just enough fragrance without battling it out with any other scented products you might have on. It doesn’t hurt that the deodorant itself is so effective—it combines salicylic acid with arrowroot powder and zinc ricinoleate to both neutralize odor and absorb it, ensuring you stay fresh without the potential irritation. It also moisturizes, smooths, and brightens underarm skin, ensuring your pits look and feel incredible. “Even after a hot yoga class, my pits smelled and felt great,” says Marie Claire contributor Pia Velasco. “This is the one I find myself reaching for over and over again. The formula feels comfortable on my pits and the smell is noticeable enough to mask but subtle enough not to overpower.”

The scent of green banana is a more sophisticated way to get in on the banana beauty product trend. Trouble is, not many brands have embraced the more refined version, which is honestly, well, bananas. Fortunately, there’s this exfoliating bar from Soft Services. Sweet (but not saccharine) with an undertone of grassiness, the Green Banana Buffing Bar is such a faithful recreation, we have to remind our brains that it’s a body product and not a snack when we first unwrap it. While those with ultra-sensitive skin might want to skip this one, those of us looking to eradicate strawberry skin, KP bumps, ingrowns, rough patches, and dullness will find its smoothing powers unmatched. It uses super-fine sanding crystals that have been compressed in a moisturizing shea butter, aloe, and glycerin base. Use it on clean, wet skin, massaging it in circular motions anywhere you want to get smooth. The harder your press, the more intense the exfoliation. “Wonderful for KP, textured elbows and knees, and was AMAZINGGGG for feet,” says NYC-based esthetician Brittany Whitfield-Morrison. “Like a built-in pumice but gentle and effective.”

Have you ever looked at a red bean bao bun and thought, “gee, I wish my skin could look this plump and glowy.” No? Just us? Well, even if bao skin wasn’t one of your beauty goals, you should still add this Korean body lotion from OHMIA to your cart. It uses antioxidant-rich Korean red bean extract, plus ginseng, hyaluronic acid, peptides, and caffeine to instantly rehydrate the skin as it smooths rough spots, softens lines, and delivers a visible luminosity to your skin—all while feeling ultra-lightweight and absorbing in seconds. “This was really lovely,” says Marie Claire contributor Sophia Vilensky. “I loved the weight of this—extremely hydrating and left my skin feeling smooth and plush.”

The all-star list of oils in this spray-on hydrator (avocado, olive, sesame, and argan, to be specific) leave your skin touchably soft, improving tone and texture as it helps fortify your skin barrier to create more lasting hydration. It’s also infused with a hint of shimmer in the form of pearlescent minerals that create a soft luminescence, reviving dull and tired legs, arms, and everywhere in between. Your skin will have that radiant glow of health that makes everyone think you’ve been on a wellness retreat for a week. “It’s a super nourishing oil blend so your skin is left so soft, with a very pretty shimmer that’s not too sparkly,” says Marie Claire contributor Brooke Knappenberger.

Finding the right self-tanner these days is less about avoiding one that’s going to turn you orange (although that’s definitely something to look out for) and more about finding the one that will work best with your natural tones. Self-tanning formulas have advanced so much in the past decade that they can be personalized to compliment not only your skin color, but your undertones as well. Nobody does that better than Bondi Sands. The Australian brand has perfected the sunkissed look for all skin tones to ensure your faux glow looks au naturel. With everything from Light/Medium to Golden to Ultra Dark, there’s an option for every type of tan. The coconut-scented foam not only develops and locks in your new hue after an hour (thanks to the brand’s ColourLock Accelerator technology) but helps prevent transfer in the process. No more worrying about wearing light colors or sleeping on white sheets on self-tanning day.

If you’ve never been one for lotions, this moisturizing body serum might just be the answer to your dehydration woes. While some people find lotions and body butters to be sticky, or heavy, or greasy (or all of the above) the serum texture of this 24-hour hydrator delivers deep moisture to the skin without the weight and residue. It has Australian lime caviar to gently exfoliate, a unique marine complex to create long-lasting hydration, and antioxidant-rich Australian kakdu plum to help improve skin elasticity over time. “I'm obsessed with this serum and how quickly and easily it applies—even on wet skin,” raves Knappenberger. “It has an ultra-lightweight feel but delivers the same amount of hydration you'd get from a rich body cream. As a lazy girl, I love that you don't have to dry off to apply it. I apply it while I'm still in the shower on wet skin, and by the time I towel dry, my skin feels softer and smoother.”

You know retinol can work wonders for your face, so why not score those same skin-renewing , smoothing, and brightening rewards for the skin below your neck? This retinol body serum from OSEA makes it so easy to include a retinol step in your body routine. The bedtime treatment has a proprietary blend of algae-derived bio-retinol and red algae to make skin look and feel firmer, smoother, and more radiant. Magnesium helps soothe the skin and lavender gets your head in a restful kind of vibe, so you can doze off while the lightweight serum goes to work reducing the signs of stress on your skin.

Listen, we know that shimmering body oil isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Maybe you’ve been burned by previous iterations that left every last surface of your home covered in sparkles. Or maybe you’re not looking to imitate a disco ball. We get it. We were once you. But then we gave a very skeptical spritz of this SPF body oil from Vacation to our legs and suddenly we were shimmering body oil converts. It’s packed with good-for-your-bod ingredients like hyaluronic acid, bisabolol, peptides, and vitamin E, for smooth and replenished skin, plus an SPF 30 to keep it that way. The multidiminesional rose gold shimmer it’s infused with is less club kid glitter and more subtle radiance. It doesn’t flake off or leave a trail behind us on every surface we touch, like some kind of sparkle slug—it simply creates a naturally luminous look wherever we spray it.

In theory, solid sunscreen sticks make total sense— they’re a hands-free way to nail reapplication and keep skin protected when you’re out and about. In practice, it’s a little more complicated. The ones we’ve tried in the past have either left behind a chalky look or felt so greasy we were afraid our bathing suit straps would slip right off our shoulders. Not so with this compact beauty from Japanese brand Shiseido. The stick itself is clear, so it goes on completely transparent as it helps give you a boost of SPF 60 protection. It glides on effortlessly over top of bare skin, your previous sunscreen application, or even makeup without creating a greasy pool of despair on your forehead, shoulders, back of hands, or wherever you use it. Best of all for you outdoorsy types, it has the brand’s signature SynchroShield technology, which strengthens the sunscreen’s protective veil when it comes in contact with water, sweat, or heat.

Reapplying body sunscreen in public is not for the shy. If you want to avoid the dreaded bikini line burns, you need to make sure you get that additional layer all up in your nooks and crannies. Short of stripping naked and re-slathering (which, hey, if that’s your thing—and you’re in Europe—knock yourself out) the next best thing to keep your skin protected during extended periods outdoors is with a spray SPF. We love this one from Blue Lizard because it not only is from one of the most trusted and expert-beloved body SPF brands, but it’s water-resisitant and safe for sensitive skin. It also dries as sheer as you’re going to get with a zinc formula (meaning those with skin tones deeper than Fitzpatrick 1 will see a hint of that white cast on their skin) because as NYC esthetician Madalaina Conti explains, with any non-nano zinc oxide formula, you can’t get it completely cast-free. “Which is ok—it's zinc, that's expected,” she says.

Keratosis pilaris—also known as KP, strawberry skin, or chicken skin (rude, but accurate) is one of those annoying and weird-but-natural things the body does when you’ve inadvertantly pissed it off. These rough, red bumps like to show up all over the body, but tend to be concentrated on your arms, legs, and booty. While not necessarily harmful, they do feel rough and scratchy and don’t respond well to traditional moisturizers. Because they are a build-up of keratin, they need a specialized body treatment like this no-frills one from Amlactin. It gently exfoliates with 15 percent lactic acid, plus hydrating glycerin. Massage it in and you’ll see those bumps soften and smooth until they are nothing but a bad memory.

Winning the crown of best body wash from our testers is an impressive endeavor. That’s because we expect our wash to do all of the things—clean (obvi), hydrate, refresh, and smell really freaking good. So you know this aptly named body wash from BEIIN truly impressed us because it checked off the laundry list of qualities we look for in a product that takes center stage in our shower routine. The creamy formula has squalane, aloe vera, colloidal oat protein, and green tea to strengthen the skin barrier as it washes away grime and excess oil to ensure skin stays hydrated. The soft scent of palmarosa, neroli, and cedarwood works for both morning and evening showerers and the formula can also be used as a hand wash. It truly does, wait for it…everything.

If you’re prone to body breakouts, standard body wash won’t cut it. To help keep those deep, painful pimples that come with body acne, you need a double-duty wash like this exfoliating option from method. Infused with both chemical (AHA and PHA) and physical (bamboo dust) exoliators, it dissolves and dislodges dead skin to help prevent the build-up that can lead to zits in the first place. The micro-buffing texture helps keep skin smooth and soft while also reducing redness and ensuring you don’t irritate already cranky skin.

Do you need 96 hours of sweat protection and odor elimination? Probably not, but at least with this high-performance stink stopper you know your deo isn’t going to quit on you after one hot yoga class. The mad scientists at Degree created this spray formula to tackle five different kinds of sweat (yes, apparently not all sweat is created equal). We’re talking stress sweat, heat sweat, workout sweat, pressure sweat, and even thrill sweat, for those of you that like to live dangerously. It gives you a long-lasting fragrance, wetness protection, and odor control through the day and night (and then some). “10/10—kept me fresh on the hottest day and smells delicious,” says Marie Claire beauty writer Ariel Baker. “New favorite product in my entire routine.”

Finding an aluminum-free deodorant that actually handles odor can be a bit of a Sisyphean task—you find one and love the smell, swipe it on and are tentatively optimistic, then wind up smelling like old gym socks by the afternoon. Rinse and repeat. We worried that this bergamot and green tea option from conscious brand Each & Every might be another letdown (nothing that smells this good typically performs like we need it to) but to our pleasant surprise it actually did everything it promised it would. Not only did it eliminate odor without using aluminum, baking soda, or artificial fragrance, it also had serious staying power. It goes on creamy but leaves your underarms soft and dry, and it lasts for up to 72 hours to keep you fresh. No irritation, no redness, and no stinky sock smell.

Since first trying this sleek electric razor from Fur, we find ourselves asking why hair removal hasn’t always been this easy. The 2-in-1 trimmer and shaver has a high speed motor and ceramic blades that ensure you get the perfect groom no matter what look you’re going for. Like it bare? This can take you down to the skin without giving you razor burn or bumps in the process. Prefer a little off the top? It’s got three lengths to choose from so you can customize your cut. It’s safe for your whole body, from your nether regions and your underarms to your legs and your face. And, with its rust-resisitant blades and water-resistant body, you can take it with you in the shower for an easy clean-up grooming session—it’s even got a built-in light to help you see every last hair.

This razor from Skaura is simultaneously the most beautiful and the weirdest looking hair removal device we’ve ever encountered. The zinc alloy handle is sleek and modern, but it’s the adaptable handle that makes this shiny razor stand out. The brand uses a patented finger rest that allows you to place your fingers directly behind the blade. This allows you to better control the pressure on your skin and lets you be more precise with where you place it. The result is less nicks and cuts and the closest shave you’ve ever encountered. It takes a little bit of time to master (it is an entirely new way to do something you’ve most likely been doing for decades), but once you get the hang of it, you won’t be able to go back to grasping a razor by the handle.

Sick of shaving and waxing? Bring the laser hair removal experience home with this high-tech tool from Braun. With just two treatments a month for three months, you can get a smooth, hair-free finish for up to two years. The updated version of the brand’s bestselling Skin i-expert device features a skin-tone and hair-color sensor that will adjust the 10 power levels to safely and most effectively zap your hair. It comes with four interchangeable treatment heads to target everywhere from your toes to your legs. One full-body session can be done in just 10 minutes and you’ll see results after the first treatment.

Waxing at home takes an iron will and a high tolerance for pain—ripping your hair out from the root in large strips is not for the faint of heart. While it's still one of the most effective ways to keep skin smooth for longer, it’s a process that could benefit from being a touch (ok, a lot) more user-friendly. Which is what we love about the wax warmer from Sliick. It's got a digital temperature control to keep your wax at a consistent temperature for the duration of your waxing session and holds over 16 ounces of wax at a time, for those of you who like the full-on dolphin skin look. It works with both can and bead wax to create a caramel-like consistency that stays at the perfect temp for as long as you need it. We can’t make it any less painful to rip those strips off, but at least this device can help make the whole process a lot less messy and annoying.

We know talking about cracked feet and callouses isn’t the sexiest of beauty topics, but your feet deserve some beauty love just as much as the rest of your body. They very rarely get a break and we put them in some of the most torturous of scenarios—crammed into high heels, running miles a day, standing around for hours. Those cracks, callouses, and dry patches are their way of saying help. You don’t need to run out for a pricey pedicure (although we’ll never say no to a mani/pedi date) to give them the relief they’re begging for. Instead, just be sure to have a jar of this foot care staple handy—the thick, no-frills formula has glycerin, allantoin, paraffin, and urea to deliver a concentrated dose of healing moisture. Even the most traumatized heels will look and feel baby soft after a week of slathering this on nightly.

One of our favorite ways to de-stress and re-center is to take a hand cream break. When we’re feeling overwhelmed or agitated, we take a deep breath and reach for this collagen-infused hand cream from Havyn. Taking the time to massage this dermatologist-tested, skin-restoring cream is a moment of zen that helps us keep our sanity when things get overwhelming. That’s probably why we always have a tube of the fresh rain, morning dew, and green apple scented hand moisturizer within easy reach—at our desk, in our purse, in our car, and on our bedside table. “I really enjoyed this hand cream and felt it left my skin silky in texture but not overly greasy,” says Kristina Collins, MD, FAAD, a board-certified dermatologist based in Austin. “It’s efficacious enough for use by a dermatologist, but pretty and modern enough to look great next to hand soap in my guest bathroom. Everyone in my office loved it and even my kids enjoyed using it.”

We’re so glad that hand sanitizers have evolved from those nose-burning rubbing alcohol formulas of years past. Case in point: This serum sanitizer from Korean brand Gemi Beauty. It has nourishing botanicals like centella asiatica, panthenol, propanediol, and camellia sinensis leaf extract to hydrate skin and a creamy vanilla and floral aroma that delicately scents your hands—all while killing 99.9 percent of germs. “It smells heavenly,” says Dara Spearman, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Fort Wayne, Indiana. “It’s very lightweight, works well without leaving a residue, and it doesn't dry my skin out at all.”

We can’t prove it, but we’re pretty sure the phrase “adding insult to injury” was coined by someone dealing with razor bumps. If it wasn’t bad enough to drag a sharp blade or drip hot wax over your most sensitive bits, you then have to suffer the indignity of red, painful bumps as the hair grows back in and decides, JK, I’d rather grow sideways into the skin instead of out of it. It’s in those instances that we let this spot treatment from Flamingo work its magic. Tested by both derms and gynos, it contains white willow bark extract and lactic acid to exfoliate away dead skin build-up that can clog the hair follicle, plus aloe vera and bisabolol to calm redness and soothe irritation. It won’t leave your skin feeling sticky, so it can be used daily or whenever you need relief.

A neck cream that doubles as a manual massage, Olay really outdid themselves with this chest and neck firming cream. It blends repairing peptides with NAD+ to help strengthen cellular bonds to lift, firm, and smooth the skin as it helps visibly minimize the look of wrinkles and volume loss. But what made us fall in love with this neck cream over all the others was the combination of that powerhouse formula with a built-in roller applicator that cools the skin for an instant depuff and sculpts your contours with every pass. Safe for the delicate neck and chest area, it creates the look of a tighter and more toned jawline and irons out your tech neck. Plus it’s really, really fun to put on.

We’ve seen pretty much every iteration of red light there is—panels, masks, helmets, gloves, blankets. But LED showerhead was not something we had on our beauty bingo cards. So it’s no wonder this device from HigherDOSE blew our beauty-loving minds—it combines two things we love into one never-before-seen (or imagined) product. The chic showerhead (we’re partial to the polished brass finish ourselves) instantly classes up your bathroom, but it’s more than just a pretty face. It has 10-stage water filtration to remove chlorine, microplastics, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), helping to support both skin and scalp health.

Heavy metals are notorious for stripping away moisture from the skin as well as sapping your hair of oils and messing with your salon color. Surrounding the shower spray is a halo of detachable LEDs that use two clinically tested wavelengths—650nm red and 850nm near-infrared)—to deliver all the benefits of LED to your scalp and skin without any extra steps. You can even detach the LED and use it as a red light ring for non-wash days. It’s got a remote control timer to set your treatments to 5, 10, or 15-minute sessions and has a seven-hour battery life.

“This is worth the investment,” says Marie Claire contributor Ruby Ford-Dunker. “It's perfect for habit stacking and bringing wellness into a daily practice. I have a tiny NYC bathroom, yet the luxe gold shower head and moody red light makes it feel much more elegant. The water pressure offers a rain-like stream, not to mention, the red light sessions pace your showers, helping you be mindful of time. My favorite thing? The filtered water, which leads to a range of beauty benefits when paired with the red light. This may just be my favorite tested item!”

With the influx of complexion products hitting the U.S. from Korea, it can be easy to forget that CC creams were one of the original Korean beauty imports—and that they still do a fantastic job at covering, correcting, and caring for skin. Erborian is one of the OG in the K-beauty scene, and this cica-infused formula is proof of why it endures. Available in three tints, it smooths, blurs, and evens out skin tone and texture as it delivers a radiant finish, while skin-healthy botanicals hydrate and soothe. MC Beauty Director Hannah Baxter calls it a classic, lauding it for being a “great tint that doesn't pill with time and is comfortable on the skin for hours on end.”

Product development expert Sarah Creal created her line with women over 40 in mind, but this under-eye corrector has a formula that works on pretty much everyone. Available in five shades, the correctors feature pink, peach, and orange undertones to help visibly brighten dark circles while providing depuffing, energizing, and smoothing benefits. The cushiony texture ensures it won’t settle in lines or uneven texture, providing hydration without creasing. Apply it before concealer and you’ll find you have to use less cover-up to hide any darkness or hyperpigmentation on the skin. “As someone with stubborn dark spots, I found this corrector to be easy to blend as well as long lasting,” says pro makeup artist Jonet Williamson. “I also love that it's self-setting and that the range of shades is inclusive to all skin tones.”

Pro makeup artist Jalessa Jaikaran calls this serum concealer from Ilia “a truly slept on formula.” It’s made with encapsulated caffeine, peptides, and sea fennel extract (a retinol alternative) to brighten, firm, smooth lines, and depuff under-eyes. It’s crease resistant and glides on smoothly, self-setting to deliver 12 hours of smooth, even wear. “Ilia does really well with neutral and olive skin tones,” notes Jaikaran. “It blends really nicely and I love all the skin care that’s infused and how it improves the skin over time.”

The latest trend in blush isn’t about where you place it or an unexpected color—it’s about good-for-your skin ingredients that enhance your juicy flush. Nobody does that better than Summer Fridays with its peptide-infused Blush Butter Balm. With six diverse shades, it combines the aforementioned peptides with ceramides to plump the skin and nourish your skin barrier, plus a trio of essential fatty acid-rich plant butters and hydrating hyaluronic acid. The dewy hues are buildable and long-lasting while locking in hydration for a healthy glow.

Celebrity makeup artist Hung Vanngo is legendary for his ability to create luminous, radiant complexions, and he brings that talent to his signature makeup line. This sculpting bronzer balm eschews the ultra-shimmery finish, instead relying on silica microspheres to create a blurring effect. The natural bronze shades create a sun-kissed effect, and vitamin E nourishes even the most parched complexions. Use it as a bronzer, a contour cream, or both—-with eight shades that range from fair to rich, there’s something for everyone.

With clients who include Kendall Jenner, Dua Lipa, and Hailey Bieber, Mary Phillips has perfected the sculpted visage by using her signature “underpainting” technique—applying contour, bronzer, blush, and highlighter underneath foundation to create a more natural contour without the cakey finish—and this palette helps bring the technique to those of us that aren’t A-list celebs. It has two contour colors, two highlighters, and a color corrector, plus all the tips you need to mimic the method at home. Celebrity makeup artist Tobi Henney loves it, calling it a “brilliant palette. I haven’t stopped using it on myself and my clients,” she raves.

There’s nothing we love more than a creamy luminizer—except a creamy luminizer that comes in an easy to apply stick. Boosted with hyaluronic acid and ceramides, Youngblood’s mineral highlighter glides across the skin, creating a lit-from-within glow that smooths uneven texture and provides a subtle lift to your look. Available in five pretty hues—each with a gilded shimmer—it’s endlessly blendable and buildable. Pro makeup artist Dominique Lerma loves the skin-nourishing ingredients in this formula and the pretty bronzing effect it creates.”It leaves your skin hydrated, radiant and bouncy,” she says.

Exosomes aren’t an ingredient you usually find in your makeup, but leave it to Gucci Westman to incorporate these cellular messengers into her newest foundation. A smoothing and perfecting medium-coverage foundation, the liquid formula helps to boost skin renewal while peptides smoothe and brighten skin. Its high-tech skin care meets everyday glamour. “This foundation is great for those needing a bit more coverage than the OG Westman complexion drops and less coverage than the foundation stick,” explains Lerma. “I absolutely loved how blurring it was!”

Saie has consistently made some of our favorite products over the years (we could write an epic poem about how transformative the Glowy Super Gel is), and this fluid blush is no exception. Available in 11 radiant hues that range from pop-art pink to understated mauve, it comes in a lipgloss-esque tube with a convenient applicator that makes targeted application so much easier.. Infused with plant-derived glycerin to plump and hydrate, plus blurring silica and brightening licorice root, it builds up seamlessly, ensuring everyone from natural flush seekers to blush-maxxers will find their ideal look.

Simihaze calls this liquid highlighter “sunshine in a bottle,” which we think is an apt description for how this luminizer lights up even the most vitamin D-starved skin. It uses soft-focus pearlescent particles to add radiance instantly and is versatile enough to be worn as a highlighter, a blush, a bronzer, or mixed into your foundation for an all-over glow. Available in three captivating shades, we also loved the cushioned tip that lets you dot, swipe, and blend with ease.

Of course a makeup artist would be the one to create the most perfect makeup brush. Celebrity makeup pro Patrick Ta—whose clients include Gigi Hadid and Kim Kardashian—debuted this dual-ended blush brush in his signature line and it’s quickly become a staple in our daily routines. It works for both cream and powder formulas, perfectly diffusing color and adding dimension to create a natural glow that’s worthy of the red carpet. It’s easy enough for makeup newbies to master and is a pro favorite for how consistently it deposits and blends color.

Often duplicated, never replicated, the Beautyblender has had makeup lovers in a chokehold since it first hit the scene in 2005. The bouncy, egg-shaped sponge creates a seamless, airbrushed effect for liquid and cream formulas that can work around all the contours of your face without getting patchy or overloading in the creases and crevices. “This product is groundbreaking in every way,” says celebrity makeup artist Vincent Oquendo. “It was an absolute originator, and I think it deserves all of the props. Even years later, it stands up against all the makeup sponges in its category.”

This French pharmacy staple straddles the line between makeup and skincare, delivering both correction and comfort. It primes the skin for your complexion products while also hydrating without pilling or sliding. The mint green hue helps reduce redness of all kinds—from rosacea to pimples—for an overall more even tone. “This is one of the best moisturizers I've used,” says celebrity makeup artist Dani Parkes. “I have this product in my kit and use the regular version on all of my clients. The green color correcting aspect is a really smart ingredient to add in to soothe the face and neutralize the complexion.”

You may already know and love the OG cream version of Glossier’s Cloud Paint, but we’re here to tell you the powder iteration is just as good, if not better. The powder is a more user-friendly than the cream, as there is less risk of overdosing on pigment, but it has a plush texture that is easy to apply and creates a long-wearing, pore-blurring finish that won’t dry out skin—in fact, it uses powdered ceramides and botanical glycerides to soften and hydrate your complexion.

Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty has been the, well, rare surprise in the cluttered celebrity makeup line landscape. The products are not only user-friendly but they genuinely compliment a wide variety of tones, textures, and habits. This matte powder bronzer is a fab example of wh —it’s easy to layer, has natural undertones that work for a variety of skin tones, and the texture actually looks like skin. It has a cream-like feel that is buttery soft, but is weightless enough to build without getting cakey or feeling heavy. The result is added warmth and dimension that looks like you’re naturally bronzed, rather than wearing a bronzer.

Powder highlighters tend to get a bad rap compared to their cream and liquid cousins, mostly because many relied on chunky glitter to get that same strobed effect, and could settle into any texture on the skin. Innovations in product formulation have helped powders deliver the same pearlescence as the fluid options, with less potential for glitter wrinkles. Kosas’ Shiny Objects took that concept and ran with it, creating a unique “wet” pressed powder that won’t look or feel chalky over top of your liquid or cream-based products. Instead, you get a powder that melts into skin while still holding onto moisture for a glistening (not glittery!) effect.

Blurring primers have become the status quo in recent years as everyone chases that soft-focus finish for their beat. We love what Iconic London has done with this skin-makeup hybrid to join the trend—it does everything a primer should do to keep your makeup in place, while also delivering instant and long-term benefits to the skin. If that wasn’t enough, it blurs pores, uneven texture, and tone for a filtered appearance, and is infused with champagne pearls to visibly illuminate the complexion. All that for just $34? Inconceivable, and yet, here we are. “I love this product,” raves Parkes. “It’s on the cheaper side and is a great alternative to other products with the same benefits that charge a lot more.”

Does this look like pastel matcha? Yes. It is an incredible way to blur, set, and correct? Absolutely. The talc-free powder from makeup legend Laura Mercier is infused with hyaluronic acid to hydrate—giving the skin its signature cooling sensation—as it locks makeup in place for up to 16 hours. The mint version of this pro-staple not only blurs and reduces shine, but also neutralizes redness instantly. “LOVE this powder already, so I'm excited to see it in a green tint,” says Marie Claire contributor Michelle Rostamian. “I typically use a green color corrector for my redness/rosacea, which is mild, but putting this on top of the corrector has made a huge difference—it sets the corrector, makes it long lasting, and makes my skin more even-toned.”

This setting spray went certifiably viral and has reached sellout status at Sephora. Yes, it’s that good. Beloved by makeup artists, beauty editors, and anyone who hates looking in the mirror halfway through the day to see their cosmetics smeared, it really does lock your look in for hours. It mattifies and absorbs shine and oil without drying you out, ensuring skin still looks and feels fresh. Its breathable polymer film formula is waterproof, sweat-proof, smudge-proof and won’t feel sticky or tacky. “This spray is amazing,” says Oquendo. When you want to lock in your this is the one to reach for. “Just make sure that you are happy with everything before you spray this because once you lock it in it is set for a long night ahead.”

Rihanna turned the makeup category on its head back in 2017 with the release of Fenty Beauty’s historic 50 shades of foundation. She brings that same energy to the skin tint category with the Eaze Drop, a lightweight, blurring tint in 25 shades. It maximizes skin comfort without sacrificing on coverage. It’s the epitome of your skin but better, with a barely there feel that still filters out dark spots, blemishes, and dullness. “I love the texture of these,” says Oquendo. “They feel luxurious and also have excellent pigmentation.”

Brow gels are arguably the easiest way to add a little oomph to your arches. This clear setting serum from Privet Beauty boosts your brows by both taming unruly hairs and infusing a blend of growth encouraging peptides, botanicals, and vitamins to help create a thicker, fuller appearance. Perfect for those days when you just want to swipe and go (but still look polished), with the benefit of the more frequently you wear it, the better the benefits for your hair.

There are brow pencils and then there is whatever magic brow queen Anastasia Soare conjured up to create this logic-defying detailing pencil. It’s the absolute thinnest tip we’ve ever seen at just 1.2 mm, meant to mimic the blades used for professional microblading services. It delivers 12 hours of smudgeproof, water-resistant wear and gives you the ultimate precision to craft and build your ideal brow with its easy glide formula. “Love the shape of this brow pencil,” says LA-based makeup artist Sean Harris. “Creating believable hair-like brows has never been easier!”

In addition to being a national treasure (RIP, icon) Dolly Parton knew a thing or two about cosmetics. Her Dolly Beauty line is full of unapologetically girlie (Pink! Crystals! Bows!) products that work as fabulously as they look. Her Dolly Eyes Mascara in Brown Sugar delivers, as Dolly tells it, “lashes that enter the room before I do,” in a warm brown that defines without overpowering your natural coloring. The injection-molded brush grabs, curls, coats, and defines even your tiniest lashes, lifting and lengthening with a long-wearing formula that will take you from your 9 to 5 (sorry, had to do it) and into the night.

Armani debuted its long-wearing liquid eye tint way back in 2015—a simpler time when our biggest concerns were which Snapchat filter to use and why we were all so obsessed with Left Shark—and while we’ve moved on to other deep questions (Heated Rivalry or Off Campus?), our love for Armani’s groundbreaking eye tint remains strong. The crease-proof long-wear shadow, which comes in both shimmer and matte finishes, is lightweight and buildable thanks to a unique that suspends pigments in a water base, delivering high-impact color without the heavy feel on lids.

If you’re looking for an eyeliner that’s waterproof enough it could stand up to a flood’s worth of drama-fueled dating show waterworks, Make Up For Ever has just the tear, sweat, and pool-proof eye definer for you. Tested to last up to 24 hours of extreme wear, it delivers the long-wear you need with an easy glide formula that won’t tug or pull on delicate lids. Available in glitter, shimmer, metallic, and matte finishes, you can choose from subtle neutral hues like taupe and chocolate, or go bold with electric blue or vivid purple. “Make Up For Ever really nailed it with the color intensity, impact, easy application, and longwear,” says Lerma. “This is the type of pencil that you purchase backups of and always have an extra handy. I highly recommend this for the summer months and warmer temps and especially for anyone who is combo or oily skin. It does not move!”

There’s a reason we can’t shut up about these eye pencils from Victoria Beckham Beauty—they really are that girl. They’re longwear but ridiculously easy to smudge before they set, allowing you to manipulate the shape and intensity of your line before it locks in and will. Not. Budge. The secret to its glide and its high-impact pigment is its kohl base, which allows the formula to be creamy and easy to spread without smudging off. We’re also obsessed with the range of colors that include the continuously sold out Cinnamon, a shimmery warm brown, and the platinum sheen of Silver Glaze. Between pastels, nudes, brights, metals, and jewel tones, it’s hard to pick a favorite. Celebrity makeup artist Emily Gray agrees, saying, “[I'm] obsessed with these liners. The color payoff and the unique colors, it’s easily put in the waterline or blended out on the lid. These liners are perfect and I love them.”

Many of us learned the hard way (during the height of the Naked palette craze) that there is such a thing as too many nudes. But, thanks to celebrity makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic and his ultra-popular Ethereal Eyes palette, we’ve recovered from our nude eyeshadow palette aversion. That’s because this 12-shade stunner features a ridiculously flattering mix of nudes for every mood. They skew more neutral than cool or warm to help flatter all tones, plus contain a mix of wet-effect shimmers, sueded mattes, and true metallics to customize your eyes to whatever vibe you want to create. “The eyeshadows in this palette are formulated so well that even a novice can master a gorgeous eye look,” says Marie Claire contributor Danielle Jackson. “I found myself grabbing this for a pop of glitter, which is so special and unique to Makeup By Mario. I also really love the buttery matte nude shades.”

Bobbi Brown’s Cream Eyeshadow Stick is one of the handful of classic products that have hit legendary status for makeup lovers. The formula debuted in 2013 and has been going strong ever since. The color payoff is intense enough to use as a liner, but creamy enough to be blended out into a soft shadow that still packs a pigment punch. The color palette is more on the natural side, with a range of pinks, taupes, browns, greys, and purples in shimmer and matte finishes.

We’ve tried myriad ways to make our lashes fuller, but after countless growth treatments, we can say this lash enhancer by Grande Cosmetics is the clear winner. In just four weeks it adds noticeable length and thickness to existing lashes for an overall plusher fringe. But what really seals the deal is that it has 11 safety studies and is opthamolagist tested, so we know it won’t irritate even the most sensitive eyes. Combine that with a formula that can be used with contacts, extensions, lash lifts, and false lashes and you’ve got the making of a hall of fame lash serum.

From the moment you pull it from the tube, you can tell Pradascope mascara is not like its competitors. Instead of cylindrical lash distribution, Prada Beauty opted for a one-sided comb made from nylon-fiber bristles. This allows it to sweep through your lashes to fully separate (like a hairbrush) and coat even the tiniest hairs. It spreads the hylauronic-infused, micro-film formula evenly and without a clump in site, building without caking or weighing down the lashes. Even the sparsest lashes will experience a gravity defying, fluttery fringe.

Settle in and let me tell you the story of the days when liquid liners tormented all of us oldsters. There was a time, long ago (the ‘90s) when those of us who loved liquid liner were forced to use brush-on applicators, which, if you had shaky hands, led to a lot of fixing with cotton swabs dipped in makeup remover. Then Stila released their now iconic Stay All Day Liquid Liner, one of the very first liquid definers with a felt tip applicator. Suddenly, we could draw on smooth, even lines without poking ourselves in the eyes or getting it all over our lids. Stay All Day continues to be the gold standard for liquid liners, delivering smudge-proof, budge-proof, waterproof, pigment with the precision application of a marker. “This eyeliner allows you to draw a thick or thin line, and the formula comes out highly pigmented,” says Marie Claire contributor Brooke Knappenberger. “It delivers on its ‘stay all day’ name with a finish that doesn't budge or smear until I go to remove it at nighttime.”

Boasting a whopping 14x more volume, UD’s Tube Job will deliver the kind of before-and-after photo that will have people thinking you got lash extensions. According to the brand, the formula took four years to perfect, resulting in a lash-nourishing blend of peptides, castor oil, and hyaluronic acid to keep hair soft, not stiff as it lifts, defines, and plumps your lashline. It also uses bristles that are two times thinner than standard brushes, for an ultra-precise application. Available in five shades, it coats each hair to extend and thicken, but can be easily removed with just warm water. “It is one of the few non-waterproof mascaras that truly keeps my lashes lifted, curled, and lengthened throughout the day without smudging or transferring beneath my lashline,” says Parkes. “Whenever I wear it, I’m frequently asked what mascara I’m using, which speaks to how well it performs and how noticeable the results are.” Pro tip: The Platinum Blonde shade can be used on your arches to create a low-fuss bleached brow look—a good way to try the trending style without the long-term commitment of full-on bleaching.

The original Diorshow has been a constant in our makeup kits for as long as we’ve been wearing makeup. But when we want a high-impact look that is as dramatic as it is plush, we reach for this ultra-volumizing iteration. It magically combines mega volume with precise definition, so you get thicker lashes but don’t lose that fanned-out look. Waterproof for up to 48 hours (but please don’t wear it that long), it’s the wand you reach for when you want your eyes to do the talking. “The formula delivers instant volume upon application and separates lashes nicely,” says Harris.

We’re not sure if Tarte knew they had a juggernaut of a franchise on their hands when they launched the Maracuja Juicy Lip Balm back in 2020, but that’s exactly what the Maracuja Juicy Lip family has morphed into. With everything from a lip oil to a pencil, there’s an MJC for everyone. Our favorite version is the click-pen Lip Gloss, which delivers a mirror-like shine alongside 12 hours of hydration with its peptide-packed formula. Available in three endlessly wearable nudes, it’s giving early aughts shine mania without the sticky, tacky feel of lip glosses past. “I love how glossy it leaves the lips while hydrating them as well,” says Dresher. “The shade range is great and the little charms are so fun!”

Just as there’s no such thing as a universal skin tone, there’s also no such thing as a universal nude lip. We’ve all got different undertones and shades in our lips, meaning if you want to match your natural hue, you need a liner that has an option that actually matches. Yves Saint Laurent hit a homerun with this sculpting liner—its creamy glide formula glides over lips with ease, but won’t smear or feather into lines. It comes in 10 shades from espresso brown to a light pinky nude, allowing you to line, overline, and fill in your pout without creating a too dark or too light base. It has jojoba oil and vitamin E to condition and despite the buttery texture, is transfer-resistant, so you don’t need to worry about it slip sliding off your lips.

Does this lip oil cost $365? Yes, it does. Is it the best lip oil to ever caress our lips? Without a doubt. It features Chanel’s premium Sublimage L’Extrait formula, which uses polyfractioned vanilla planifola from Madagascar and Himalayan swertia to create a supercharged strengthening peptide that not only hydrates, but visibly restores and regenerates the lips. It has a custom sculpted metal applicator that hugs the curves of your pout to deliver exactly how much you need, leaving lips smoother, plumper, and glowier. It’s a true luxury experience for the lips.

It's a surprise to no one that Lady Gaga’s Haus Labs would be behind our favorite bold lip stain. Mother Monster gives good lip, after all. The Atomic Shake blends high-pigment with a vinyl finish, delivering intense color without the dried matte look. It’s got all the impact you want from a stain, but a vinyl shine that would make your glosses weep. Flexible film-forming polymers give it a weightless feel while marine algae extract smooths and conditions. It’s got an ultra-thin feel and is transfer-resistant for up to eight hours. “I'm someone with very dry lips and love a gloss, but they're not long-lasting and I hate the way liquid lipstick feels,” says Rostamian. “This product gives me the best of both worlds—a long-lasting gloss with incredible color payoff and longevity. I wore it through eating, drinking, talking, and I put it through multiple tests of blotting with a tissue, drinking from a water bottle, kissing my hand and it lasted.”

Celebrity makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury is the woman to go to if you want a lush, full-looking pout. Her Matte Revolution Pillow Talk is a unicorn of a lipstick that suits an expansive range of skin tones. It’s both nude and pink, the very definition of “your lips but better.” Due to its extreme popularity, Tilbury expanded the Pillow Talk range to include Fair, Medium, Dark, and Deep spin-offs of the original. The matte formula gives a sueded finish to your lips but softens and hydrates with vitamin E and lipstick tree extract (yes, that’s a real plant). “One of my favorite lipstick formulas ever,” raves Gray. “I’ve had these in my kit for years. Charlotte just does lipstick so well, and I’m especially partial to her nude shades. The matte formula is light and thin on the lips, while still delivering the best color payoff. My lips feel hydrated, which is hard to do with a matte formula!”

Having a lip wardrobe of hues you can choose from to fit the occasion, your outfit, or your mood is one of the many fun parts of wearing makeup. Pulling together the right mix of colors, however, can be a trial-and-error process that takes many years, a few frustrated tears, and a lot of wasted money. Which is why we’re so obsessed with this curated lipstick palette by Bodyography—not only does it have one of the best satin-finish formulas we’ve ever had the pleasure to swipe across our lips, but it contains eight gorgeous shades that can be worn as is, or mixed up to create a hue that is uniquely you. Inside you’ll find everything from hot pink and classic red to an earthy nude and soft mauve, all featuring the brand’s hydrating squalane- and sodium hyaluronate-infused formula to keep lips soft and smooth.

Makeup artist Danessa Myrick’s Yummy Skin Balm Powder has a cult following due solely to how this unique product blurs and perfects your complexion. Whether you’re dealing with blemishes, dark spots, or acne scars, the balm-to-powder formula spreads across the skin to apply an IRL filter that blurs like no other. Available in two translucent shades (one with shimmer and one without) and 20 skin hues ranging from ultra-fair to deep, it uses an ingredient called upsalite to absorb sweat and oil as it blurs. Hyaluronic acid keeps skin hydrated while vegan squalane nourishes and conditions skin. Use it as a primer, a foundation, a contour, or all of the above. “Skin looks clean, feels incredible, and that blurred but not flat finish is exactly what I'm after,” says Kim Wileman, CEO and co-founder of No Makeup Makeup. “It controls oil all day without ever looking dry or overdone. It's the kind of product you stop noticing because it just works.”

This Gel Mani System from Olive & June is not only a time-saver, but a smart financial decision. We’ve tried plenty of at-home kits over the years, but this one is by far the most convenient and provides the closest to in-salon results. The compact lamp can fit all five of your fingers at once, so you don’t have to do multiple cures on each hand. The kit packs a salon’s worth of tools into the box, including a cuticle pusher, nail clippers, file, remover, buffer, and clean-up brush. There’s a gel base coat and top coat, as well as a peel-off coat that takes away the hassle of gel removal by literally peeling the color off your nail—with no damage to the nail itself. “I love this kit,” says Marie Claire contributor Danielle James. “It's the perfect kit for beginners who want to DIY a gel manicure at home. You do have to give yourself a chance to adjust to a learning curve—because the polish is thick, you have to apply an extremely thin layer or it won't dry. I used the QR codes to optimize my use, and it was informative and helped for a better application.”

Cuticles have always been one of the trickier aspects of at-home nail care attempts. It's why we appreciate this hybrid exfoliating and softening formula from celeb manicurist Jin Soon Choi. The silky balm is infused with eight types of hyaluronic acid to hydrate, allantoin and arginine to soothe, camellia flower petal extract to brighten, and natural cellulose to lift away dry, dead skin. It’s gentle enough not to irritate sensitive skin, but powerful enough to keep those rogue cuticles in check. “Innovative to have both exfoliation and hydrating benefits in one,” says Marie Claire Beauty Director Hannah Baxter. “It leaves my hands super soft and my cuticles look great.”

Your base coat can make or break your entire manicure. You need something that is going to give your color something to grip so it has longevity, but also protects your nails from the damage that can come with your love of gel manicures. The LED-cured formula helps lock your color of choice in place and ensures it goes on smoothly for a professional-level look. It’s also 10-free, HEMA-free, and has a high-shine finish if you just want to go for the bare-but-glossy look.

Sometimes the things we love don’t love us back. If you’ve parted ways with gel manicures because they’re just too much for your nails, this LED-cured gel top coat can give you a glossy finish, plump look, and long-wear performance without sacrificing your nail health. Removal takes 10 minutes with an acetone-free remover; it simply peels off, leaving your nails ready for your next color application. “I stopped using gel polish because the removal process was damaging my nails,” says James. “This polish is longwear, but because there is no drilling or 100% acetone removal process, it feels healthier for my nails. This takes a bit to get the hang of it—you must apply a thin layer for easy removal or else you will have to soak longer to remove.”

Honestly, we’d put OPI at the top of any list of nail polishes based on the creativity of the names alone. Fortunately, the shades are just as inventive as their names—it makes it easy to vote them to the top. OPI’m a Bubble Bunny is a sheer, milky pink—a creamy pastel perfection. It was created as a response to OPI stans layering Funny Bunny over Bubble Bath (hence the name) to get the same creamy look, and they really nailed it with this one. It gives you a week of wear, goes on smooth and glossy, and has the brand’s signature Pro-Wide brush to make application (even when painting with your non-dominant hand) a cinch.

You know it, you love it, you may already own it. Essie's Ballet Slippers is the ultimate barely-there sheer nude—it’s been a nail staple for over 40 years, it’s a favorite of everyone from Kate Middleton to Emma Stone, and it’s the brand’s bestselling shade. The hue works with all skin tones and nail shapes and is endlessly versatile—wear it alone, mix it with chrome, use it as a base for your nude nail art. As far as manicures go, balletcore will never go out of style as long as Essie keeps making this beauty.

Like lipstick, a red mani is a bold statement. It’s classic and trendy, bold and feminine. Finding your perfect crimson can mean spending way too much time staring at the polish wall at your nail salon—or you can just grab this poppy red from SSONE and call it a day. The bright hue is universally flattering and extremely hot—it has the sex appeal of sitting behind the wheel of a bright red sports car. We’re partial to this polish not just for the bold shade, but because the polish itself is vegan, 21-free, and cruelty-free, and glides like liquid silk across the nails. “While the packaging certainly sets this polish apart, it's what's in the bottle that really wowed me,” says Marie Claire contributor Lisa DeSantis. “Not only is it the perfect, poppy red shade, but the polish applied smoothly and left behind an impressive high-shine finish that lasted on my chip-prone nails. A feat—especially for a 21-free formula! The brush was also the perfect width, and the top felt ergonomic and the perfect weight, even when painting with my non-dominant hand.”

A lot of attention goes to what you put on your nails—but not how you get it off. The wrong remover can leave your nails stranded with streaks that just won’t wipe away or make them dry and brittle. Fortunately, we haven’t had to deal with those pitfalls since we added the Zoya Remove+ to our manicure toolkit. It works on everything from moody navy nails to weeks-old glitter polish to fully remove every last trace without taking your nail’s moisture with it. In fact, it actually hydrates the nail with a concentrated dose of glycerin to pamper and prep your digits with each swipe. “I'm a long-time fan of this formula and the fact that it comes in a pump,” says DeSantis. “It makes the otherwise mundane and chore-like task of removing nail polish feel a little more legit, like I'm at a salon. It gets my stamp of approval for ease of use and multitasking—it not only removes polish, but hydrates the nail, too, prepping it for what comes next, whether that's fresh polish or a lacquer-free buff job."

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, nail damage happens. This is especially true if you are a frequent gel mani user. Still, your nails are not doomed to suffer the dryness, weakness, and splitting that can come with frequent gel applications. This repair serum from Sally Hansen lives up to its name by providing rehab for gel lovers with a blend of vegan keratin and samphire extract (a type of salt-tolerant sea vegetable, go figure). Applied twice daily to nails and cuticles for six days, it'll improve breakage, splitting, and cracking to revive your tips and reverse the effects of your gel mani habit.

For how much we use our feet, we really don’t give them enough attention. Unless, of course, something goes wrong and suddenly you’re up at two in the morning frantically Googling what to do about cracked heels. Save yourself the trauma and pick up a tube of this ointment from Kerasal. It has a potent blend of urea and salicylic acid to smooth, exfoliate, and moisturize even the most hopeless of heels and toughest of calluses. “I admittedly suffer from extremely rough, cracked heels and soles, and I'm always on the hunt for products to soften the skin on the bottoms of my feet,” says Marie Claire contributor Isabella Sarlija. “This really did that for me—in less than a week, I went from having a white cast of dryness on my heels to looking like I just had an intense foot exfoliating treatment.”

Finding the right press-on nails can be like Cinderella’s glass slipper—you’ve got to try on a lot that don’t quite fit before finding one that looks like it was made for you. Or, you can just skip all that and grab this sparkling option from Glamnetic. Not only does it provide a salon-quality look that lasts for up to two weeks, it provides 30 nail options in 15 different sizes to guarantee you find the right press-on for each and every nail. With its oval shape and short length, these iridescent lilac tips are so mesmerizing, don’t blame us when strangers stop you on the street to ask who your manicurist is. “I have been doing my own manicures for over a decade now, during which time I've also tried on my fair share of press-ons,” says Sarlija. “These are the best I've ever tried, period. They stayed on for two weeks, did not fade AT ALL, and came in sizes that actually fit my very tiny fingernails. I've received many compliments on these nails, and whenever I'd answer, ‘Thanks, they're press-ons,’ people wouldn't believe me.”

Dazzle Dry helps take the pain out of painting your nails with its synergistic five-step system. Designed to be used together to create stronger, healthier nails, it features a nail prep to clean and balance your digits in preparation for polish application; a base coat to protect the nail and bond the color; a quick-drying lacquer; and a top coat to lock your look in place and provide a glassy shine. It has a clean formula, is easy to remove with non-acetone remover (no soaking required), and your nails actually look and feel stronger after application. It also saves you time that’s typically spent waiting for coats to dry so you avoid the dreaded smudging—Dazzle Dry takes legit under a minute to fully apply, so you can do your whole mani in 15 minutes flat. Plus, unlike other fast-drying formulas, it doesn’t leave behind bubbles or chip minutes after it goes on.

Air drying your hair can be a bit of a roller coaster ride—sometimes it’s got that off-duty model vibe and other times it just kind of limply hangs there like it gave up midway through the drying process. Jonathan Van Ness’s brilliant Air Dry Cream is how we ensure its more of the former than the latter. It conditions and softens your strands with moringa seed oil as it enhances texture with a botanical blend of chia seed and linseed extracts. Delivering an ultra-light hold that gently coaxes your hair into the best version of your natural texture, this MVP cream also eliminates frizz and keeps it away. “It truly delivers the most beautiful soft hold, keeping my waves structured but never crunchy,” says Marie Claire Beauty Director Hannah Baxter. “It’s been a staple in my hair routine for years.”

We’ve been fans of blow-dry brushes for so long, we’ve almost forgotten what it was like struggling with a round brush in one hand and a blowdryer in the other. These days, there’s a brush for every hair type and length, but the tool that won our hearts did so by being the easiest one to use at home and on-the-go. The Wavytalk Jet Brush has a compact size and auto-sensing dual voltage, which automatically switches to the correct voltage for the country you are in, so there’s worries about overheating or shorting. The two-inch oval barrel works well on short-to-medium hair, effortlessly grabbing your shortest layers and getting close to the root. Its smaller size and light weight means that you don’t have to sacrifice performance for travel-friendly size.

We put a lot of products in our hair to get it to do what we want and, over time, all those conditioners, texturizers, shine serums, and curl controllers can start to build up on the strands. This clarifying shampoo from Biolage not only helps remove all that residue, it gently balances the scalp and your natural oils using exfoliating glycolic acid and a fermented blend of teas. It gets the gunk out and revives your hair from all the excess to rebalance and revive without stripping away essential moisture or dulling your color.

Anyone who has ever colored their hair knows that it’s a love-hate relationship for the ages. We love how great fresh color makes us look and feel, but we hate how quickly the hue fades. Whether you’re a blonde that goes brassy or a redhead that can’t figure out how to keep the shade past your first wash, this leave-in mask from Wella needs to be in your post-color routine. It has glycine (a purifying amino acid) and vitamin B5 to extend your color vitality as it protects against everything that can dull your color: heavy metals, hard water, UV rays, heat damage, and dryness. Hair is shiny, soft, hydrated, and your color remains salon-fresh for up to 10 weeks.

A strengthening hydrator that also keeps your color vibrant? Say less. Schwarzkopf’s Color Protect Conditioner uses bond-building technology to reinforce and rebuild bonds as it seals and protects the hair cuticle. It prevents fading as it repairs damaged bonds, so hair looks and feels softer and maintains that fresh-from-the-salon hue for up to 12 weeks. It’s so good, you might even be able to go an extra week (or two) between your next color appointment. Tell your colorist we’re sorry…

Curly girls know that you can’t just grab any conditioner off the shelves and call it a day. A conditioner is great at providing the moisture that your more porous hair desperately needs, but because your follicles are more open than straight hair, it also means you lose that same moisture faster. Plus, if you heat style, color, or chemically treat your hair, you’ve also got to deal with the damage and breakage that comes along with it, leaving your curls frizzy, dry, and poofy. Olaplex’s hydrating conditioner for curls has patented bond building technology that helps to both strengthen and define curls of all types, from waves to coils, as it delivers a lasting dose of moisture via plant oils that also enhance shine and softness. Curls have more slip and better manageability without the weight.

It feels like there are legit a million curl creams to choose from these days (which we’re not really complaining about, since there was a time not very long ago when our options were extremely limited) and it can be confusing to figure out which one is going to deliver the hydration, hold, and definition your strands desperately need. This cream jelly from TRESemmé does all that and then some, with the added bonus of eliminating frizz and ensuring curls are soft and touchable. It’s two products in one, with the moisture of a cream and the sculpting and shaping of a gel. You get bouncy, shiny, structured curls without the crunch.

Forget the gel, these days we’re all about jelly. Lighter and more fluid than a traditional gel, curl jellies like this one from Bounce Curl deliver a medium hold and more slip, creating definition and softness with lots of shine. Made with strengthening ceramides and a blend of bioactives to lift curls and waves while adding movement, we’re obsessed with the Ceramide Jelly’s ability to reduce frizz and keep our strands from inflating in humidity.

If you’ve experienced the dreaded mid-day curl flop, you are intimately familiar with the power of a good curl refresher. If your hair is more curly or coily, you also know that it’s not easy to find a refresher that will both breathe life back into your spirals without shellacking them into place. It’s a delicate dance of hydrating, defining, detangling, and making it a breeze to restyle. Which is why we love this refreshing curl milk from Being haircare. It does all of the above in a formula light enough that it can be used on the daily. It’s got coconut oil and shea butter—curly hair MVPs—to nourish and soften, smoothing out knots and kinks as it enhances your natural curl pattern in a formula that won’t create annoying build-up on your strands. So you can go longer between wash days, which is always a plus for curly and coily hair.

If you’re going through the trouble of curling your hair, you want to ensure your strands look better than when you started, which means a tool that won’t fry your hair in your quest for curls. This Hot Tools iron has a titanium-coated barrel that heats up in just 30 seconds to minimize frizz. With a heat range up to 430 degrees, it can be used on hair types ranging from fine to coarse and comes in five sizes, so you can customize your curl. “One of the best styling tools in the game,” says Beauty Director Hannah Baxter. “It gives you even heat distribution and consistent curls.”

If there’s anyone’s advice we’d trust for our curls, it’s Shakira. Her spiral mane has been on our mental beauty vision board since she first gyrated into our collective consciousness 20 years ago. It's why her isima hair-care brand was one of our most anticipated brand launches—if it’s got the Shakira seal of approval, it’s bound to be a slam dunk. This detangler is a prime example of what makes the line so fantastic. It not only helps eliminate snarls and knots, it protects against heat styling damage up to 450 degrees, nourishes and softens, and boosts shine without weighing down your spirals. Ceramides help reduce breakage while the line’s proprietary FiberSeal complex helps smooth down and seal the cuticle, smoothing rough texture and creating a glossy effect on the hair. “I LOVE that it can be easily used on dry hair,” says Marie Claire Beauty Writer Ariel Baker. “It was fab for a pre-poo detangle.”

Our love of this unique drying diffuser has been well documented—there’s simply no other hot tool that coaxes curls and waves to be their springiest like the Bellissima Diffon. It has a ceramic heating element infused with argan oil to protect hair and infuse curls with moisture as infrared heat and ionic technology cuts down on drying time for even the thickest curls without frizzing you out. The real star is the shape—it’s a diffuser bowl attached to a dryer in an hourglass design, which allows more airflow for faster drying while making the tool easier to handle than the traditional blow dryer with diffuser attachment. The diffuser itself has 48 air outlets and 12 finger-like prongs to honor your natural curl pattern, be it loose waves or tight coils. Bellissima is an MC favorite because they care about how we care for our curls—the brand just released a new digital model of the Diffon boasting faster drying times and two interchangeable diffusers that looks to be yet another game-changer for how curly girls style their strands.

OUAI didn’t have to go so hard when it created this viral dry shampoo, but we’re awfully glad they did. It does all the things you need a dry shampoo to do—absorb sweat, dirt, and oil—without leaving your strands looking powdery or feeling sticky. And the scent! We have to restrain ourselves from spraying this from head to toe because the rose, bergamot, lychee, white musk, and champagne aroma is that dreamy. Fresh, lifted locks and a scent we can’t stop sniffing—Super Dry Shampoo is the total package.

Baby hairs are one of those little quirks of the body that you don’t really give much thought to until they start becoming a problem. Which is usually when you’re running late for work and attempting (and failing) to slick back your hair into a sleek ponytail. This buildable wax comes in a convenient stick that you can swipe into your hands or directly onto your hair to tame unruly edges. It’s extremely buildable, so you can start small and work your way up to how locked in you need your ‘do to be. “This product is also great for sculptural [styles],” says Ryan Kazmarek, a stylist at IGK Salon in NYC. “Smells fantastic and I even used it on my eyebrows to hold them in place.”

We legitimately don’t know how we straightened our hair before this flat iron hit the scene. It’s a wet-to-dry iron that takes your hair straight from the shower to silky, sleek strands—no blow dryer required. It works on all hair types and textures and includes multiple attachable combs to detangle and prep hair as it dries. The secret to its glassy results is that it not only uses auto-sensing ceramic plates that adjust the heat but also a high-velocity fan that forces air around the plates to work as a mini blow dryer. Clamp the plates together and lock it for a targeted dryer that you can use to rough dry your strands to that 70 percent dry the brand recommends before engaging the plates. Ensure it's in “wet” mode, then run the plates through your hair and let the combo of the direct heat and the forced air create your glossiest, sleekest hair ever.

This styling milk from Davines has been in our hair routines for so long, we don't think our hair knows what to do without it. That’s because it’s truly the GOAT for managing frizz, especially on wavy and curly hair. It’s the perfect blend of smoothing frizz while also maintaining touchable, natural texture. It offers heat protection up to 446 degrees and uses regenerative apple extract to smooth strands, enhance shine, and repel frizz for up to 72 hours. Extra bonus points for the scent, which blends citrus, florals, and musk to create a delicate aroma that you’ll catch subtle whiffs of but not so overpowering that you (and everyone around you) can’t escape it.

At first glance, this tiny dryer from Bio Ionic looks like a very fancy tool you’d find in a hotel bathroom. It’s luxe, but it’s small, and that might have you believe that means it can’t give you the power and versatility you need for your ‘do. That couldn’t be further from the truth—it has all the power of a full-sized dryer in the compact shape of a travel version. That means three speeds, three heat options, cool shot, a digital LED screen, dual-voltage for international travel, a foldable handle, and a concentrator and diffuser attachment. All of that, plus the brand’s signature ion mineral technology to seal the hair cuticle and lock in shine and moisture. “I love how lightweight this dryer is while still providing maximum power,” says New Jersey-based colorist and stylist Jennifer Korab. “The design makes it comfortable to hold. My hair dried quickly while maintaining shine.”

If you’ve been avoiding hair gels because you think it means an express ticket to a shellacked look with a sticky texture, it’s time to reacquaint yourself with the category. This extreme hold gel from Camille Rose is the perfect way to experience just how far gel formulas have come in the last decade. It helps create structure and maximum definition for curls and coils, taming frizz while also bestowing moisture and slip. All of that and somehow it doesn’t feel tacky or crunchy. That’s because it has guava fruit essence to hydrate and smooth, plus kakadu plum extract to give your curls bounce and control frizz.

There’s shine and then there’s whatever Swedish sorcery this spray from Maria Nila is practicing. It’s a heat-activated formula that smooths the hair follicle, adding mega-shine alongside frizz control and shielding hair from humidity as it protects the hair strand for up to 450 degrees. It delivers the kind of glossiness that would make a Disney princess weep, deeply hydrating and adding bounce thanks to amino acids, provitamin B5, sunflower extract, and pomegranate extract. Not to mention that the shine and frizz-free finish will last up to four days after styling, giving you long-lasting protection against the elements actively trying to mess up your mane.

From postpartum to perimenopause to GLP-1s, there are myriad reasons why you might start shedding your strands at an alarming rate. Not only is it scary when it happens, it’s frustrating to try and figure out how to fix it as doctors are still discovering the causes around hair loss in women and what can be done about it. That's why we appreciate Nutrafol’s serum for hair growth—formulated with the help of physicians, they’ve invested in third-party clinical research to ensure that the ingredients chosen and the formula as a whole can measurably help reduce breakage and replenish lost thickness and fullness. The highly absorbable formula has ashwagandha exosomes, Irish moss peptides, and pea spout extract to help replenish lost nutrients at the scalp and minimize breakage as it reduces hair shedding. “As a clinically backed brand, Nutrafol does have a stamp of approval based on available clinical research,” says Bridgette Hill, a trichologist, colorist, and scalp therapist. “The synthetic fragrance free formulation is ideal trichiologically.”

Hair oil is one of those products that sounds good in theory, but oftentimes people wind up abandoning it because they aren’t using the right oil for their hair. While you might think that you need one that feels thick to get the shine and conditioning you’re seeking, you can actually achieve both gloss and hydration and avoid the limp locks and potential grease that comes with those too-heavy formulas. Case in point: Chris McMillan’s signature hair oil—which dispenses via spray, rather than dropper (yes, it’s that light)—has a water-light, buildable texture that can impart instant hydration and shine, taming frizz and delivering heat protection up to 450 degrees. The mix of Japanese tsubaki, blackcurrant, wheat, and moringa oils won’t weigh down even the finest of hair as it absorbs on contact, leaving your hair glassy, soft, and protected against the elements.

One of our favorite things about Beyoncé’s Cécred collection of products is that she’s been known to field test the formulas during her high-energy shows. Her hairspray lived up to our high expectations and then some—anything that can hold up to the Texas heat and the legendary Bey hair fan is definitely a product we want in our routine. The hairspray earns its moniker by creating the type of flexible hold that will lock a style in place without glueing the hair itself down. Instead, your ‘do stays put but your hair still has the natural movement and bounce of, well, hair. It has a complex of shape-forming polymers to maintain your style, plus panthenol to moisturize, desert plant oils to create glossy shine, and plant stem cell lipids and black honey fermentation to protect against heat damage, humidity, and pollution.

You could spend an hour with a curling iron or flat iron, trying to shape your strands into that perfect undone-yet-done beachy wave, or you could make your life easier and get more consistent results with this uniquely shaped hot tool from ELLA BELLA. The triple barrel head makes it a snap to press your hair between the plates and reveal loose, off-duty model waves. It heats up in 90 seconds and has ionic technology to increase shine and ensure a smooth result. It’s a frizz-free, shiny style in just minutes—no tutorials, awkward twisting, or contortion acts needed to get the look. It’s great for beginners, but also good enough to wow the pros: “I was impressed by the consistency of the wave formation from roots to ends,” says Korab.

If you’ve ever been subjected to the childhood torture that is your mother ripping a brush through your snarls, you know how important a good detangler can be. This Korean brush is the kind of tool we wish moms had at their disposals in our formative years. It has both boar bristles (to more evely distribute oils through your hair for increased shine) and nylon bristles (to detangle without the yanking or pulling). It’s gentle enough to use on extensions and delivers a smooth and frizz-free finish with every stroke.

Whether you’re doing daily blowouts or you’re more of a low-maintenance rough-dry kind of girl, a heat protectant is a non-negoitable if you want to keep your hair looking and feeling healthy. Applying heat to your hair without some type of protective product is the hair equivalent of walking outside without putting on sunscreen—you’re going to see the immediate and long-term effects of that damage. We love this versatility mist from Milk_shake because it's lightweight enough that you won’t feel it in your hair but it has powerful protective properties. You can spray it on damp hair before styling, or to dry hair before you apply heat from your flat iron or curling iron. It has the brand’s signature milk proteins to condition and strengthen, plus quinoa to safeguard your color and silk proteins to protect and restore your strands from heat damage. You get shine, hydration, and protection in a weightless spray that makes drying easier and your hair look shiny and soft.

Mara Roszak’s RŌZ line is quite possibly one of our absolute favorite things happening in hair right now. From the must-have for all hair types Milk Hair Serum to our newest obsession for defined curls, the Milk Styling Mousse, it’s the rare case of a line that’s all bangers. Even something as simple as a conditioner is elevated to a next level hydrator when Roszak gets her hands on it. According to the celeb stylist, she created her Foundation Conditioner because she couldn’t find a clean version that created the results she needed and that works for all hair types. With peptides and ceramides, Foundation detangles and hydrates as it minimizes breakage and delivers essential fatty acids and vitamins that restore moisture, de-frizz, and strengthens the hair without leaving behind a heavy feel. “It leaves hair soft [and results are] better when a heat cap is applied,” says celebrity stylist Kiyah Wright.

Curly, coily, and textured tresses will love this nourishing shampoo from Cantu. It’s sulfate-free, providing a gentle cleanse that won’t dehydrate your strands. Instead, it infuses your curls with essential hydration with batanu (a.k.a. palm nut) oil and Jamaican black castor oil. It not only fortifies your mane, but replenishes lost moisture and retains that hydration for up to five days. Wash day is already enough of an ordeal—the longer you can go between washes without sacrificing your style or manageability is a win in our book.

There are very few people on this planet who can achieve super-long hair that is also naturally full, lustrous, and bouncy. Gravity tends to pull your strands down and can make them look more limp and lifeless as you add on inches. Which is why we love hair extensions—you can add length and body to your natural strands with ease. While they’ve been standard operating procedure for celebrities on the red carpet, in the past few years we’ve seen more brands start to offer pro-level extensions that can be attached at home. Our favorite option by a mile is the Halo Pro because it’s both the easiest to apply and blends the most seamlessly with your natural strands. It features what the brand calls RootReplica technology, which mimics how hair grows naturally from the scalp. Made of 100 percent Remy human hair, it’s available in 25 shades and four lengths. When we say this is dummy proof application, we mean it: Simply section your hair, place the “halo” wire halfway down the back of the head and adjust to fit. It comes with detachable combs that you can use for additional security and two single pieces that you can use to fill in gaps or blend for a final look that’s so natural, you might forget your hair doesn’t grow out of your head like that.

This Redken overachiever is the one leave-in to rule them all. It’s a conditioner, heat protectant, strengthening treatment, anti-fade, frizz tamer for high-maintenance hair. So if you chemically process, heat style daily, or are just dealing with damaged and brittle strands, this formula is the resuscitator your mane needs to unlock a glossy, soft, smooth, and strong finish. It works by restoring hair from within the cuticle, with citric acid to reinforce weakened bonds and improve hair’s overall strength for a 10 times smoother look and feel. “One of my favorite go to’s,” says Giovanni. “I personally love using this as a leave-in after a color service and my clients have also loved how it feels and smells in the hair.”

If we were constructing a Mount Rushmore of hair pros, Jen Atkin would be the first name on our list of mane gurus to include. Not only is she the stylist behind the hair of celebs like Kim Kardashian, Dua Lipa, and Hailey Bieber, she’s also the brain behind two of our all-time favorite brands—Ouai and her newest baby, Mane. If you haven’t yet experienced the brand, we can’t say enough amazing things about the Hydration Hugs mask. It’s the foundation for creating Atkins’ signature effortless style, infusing your strands with hyaluronic acid, glycerin, and plant proteins and peptides. Used weekly, the whipped hair mask formula melts into strands to help prevent breakage and frizz as it drenches hair in weightless moisture, then seals it all in. “This mask is great for hydration, leaving the hair soft and smooth without feeling heavy,” says Kazmarek. “It’s perfect for dry or over-processed hair that needs a quick refresh.”

We know collagen is in literally everything these days, but a collagen mousse is actually low-key brilliant. Infused into this texturizing mousse, hydrolysed collagen plumps up hair as it supports your strands’ elasticity. So instead of drying out your mane and leaving behind a sticky residue, MONDAY’s mousse gives you weightless texture, lift, and body while actively boosting hair health. The collagen also makes it a great pick for fine hair, says celebrity stylist Jennifer Yepez, because it adds instant volume and a touch of natural texture.

We ask a lot of our hair tools, enlisting them to do everything from dry, straighten, smooth, and curl our locks. That's what makes a multi-styler such a smart investment—instead of forcing your flat iron to try and create volume at the root, a multi-styler like this affordable option from Revlon is literally three tools in one, each with a specific function that can address everything from frizz to body to waves. Revlon’s Multi-Styler features a base with three interchangeable attachments that can be used to blow out your ‘do, smooth unruly strands, add body to limp locks, and shape soft curls. There’s a Root Booster attachment, flat Paddle Brush attachment, and Volumizer Plus round brush, so you can mix and match to get your desired style without having to keep switching between your blowdryer, flat iron, and curling iron.

We’re guessing rosemary and PDRN are not two ingredients you’ve ever thought about mixing together. However, K-beauty brand Medicube did, and we’re grateful for it—the combo is the heavy hitter in their reparative conditioner and it provides 360 degree support for your strands and your scalp. Rosemary soothes and nourishes the scalp to create an ideal environment for healthy hair growth, while PDRN reinforces weak and damaged strands. It also has a strengthening and smoothing blend of 19 amino acids for shiny, fuller-looking locks.

Like pastries and wine, the French really know what they’re doing with hair care. This reparative mask from French brand Cair (which was created by the geniuses who brought us the chic La Bonne Brosse brush) addresses total hair health, targeting not just the strands but the scalp, too. Its main ingredient is rice bran water, which deeply restores and nourishes all hair types and textures. Coupled with hyaluronic acid, and veggie-derived collagen and keratin, the mask opens the hair cuticle to directly infuse the follicle with vitamins, nourishment, and regenerating fatty acids. “The formulation is filled with natural plant powered actives that reinforce the broken parts of our hair,” says Hill. “Though formulated as a pre-shampoo mask, I have found it to give beautiful results to coily, and tightly coily hair as an after shampoo treatment.”

This overnight rejuvenating serum from Crown Affair goes to work when you clock out for the day. It’s fast-absorbing, so you don’t need to worry about it leaving a greasy mess on your pillow (or your face) and the mix of rosemary leaf extract, tsubaki, flax, and chia seed creates weightless hydration, shine, and total restoration as you snooze. We wish everything worked this hard for us while we got our beauty rest.

Epres did all of our ‘dos a favor when it released this shampoo. Created by one of the co-founders behind Olaplex, it has a patented biodiffusion technology that ensures the bond-repairing and strand-strengthening formula absorbs deep into the hair follicle. The unique liquid molecule tech continues to work in the hair even after its dried, seeking out damaged areas to help deliver both instant and long-lasting reparative benefits. That means damaged, color-treated, and breakage-prone manes have an in-shower solution to help strengthen and fortify their follicles.

Yes, this scalp scrub has the consistency of a body exfoliator. But it’s statistically impossible not to fall in love with this cult classic once you actually get it on your locks. Once you start working the salt scrub through your roots, it transforms into a creamy, easily spreadable cleanser that you can feel (complimentary) sloughing away build-up and dead skin cells. It reduces oil without drying, leaving you a fresher, lighter, more balanced mane and scalp.

Scalp care is becoming more widespread in the U.S. but Korean brands really wrote the book on healthy scalps. K-beauty looks at the scalp as an extension of the hair, meaning scalp care is not meant to “fix” a specific problem, but rather serve as daily maintenance—in the same way you shampoo and condition, Korean brands argue that balancing and caring for the scalp’s microbiome are a functional step towards your hair goals. And no brand understands that better than Dr. Groot. This leave-in serum oil has become a recent fave for being both a scalp-spa worthy experience and for the results we’ve been seeing with it. The lightweight formula doesn’t leave behind any sticky or greasy after-effects, and it boosts your roots with biotin, rosemary oil, antioxidants, and amino acids. Both scalp and hair are hydrated, balanced, and strengthened for noticeably fuller and shinier locks.

Dyson had us at “scalp bubbles.” This power-packed foam-to-serum scalp treatment helps address everything from build-up to excess oil and even hair thinning. It combines amino acid-rich barley root, niacinamide, ectoin, and caffeine in a fun, bubbly formula that strengthens your scalp and stimulates hair follicles. “One of the more innovative formats in the category,” says Christina Ross, the head of science and impact at Credo Beauty. “The airy bubble texture creates a unique application experience and it felt lightweight on the scalp.”

The last thing you want to do after spending hours getting your hair just the right shade is immediately wash that covetable hue right down the drain. That’s what makes the right shampoo for color-treated hair so essential—it helps clean your strands without stripping away moisture or color molecules. This French pharmacy staple pulls triple duty by cleansing the hair as it enhances shine and helps soothe a scalp irritated by the harsh formulas used to achieve your signature shade. So all you have to worry about is the best style to show off your soft, shiny, and vibrant hair.

Finding the right shampoo for curls and coils can be a decades-long struggle. There’s always something we wish a formula did better, whether it’s truly preserving our curl pattern or ensuring we’ve got enough moisture that our strands don’t feel like the Sahara. This sulfate-free shampoo from Surface has ended our search, thanks to a formula that gently cleanses without stripping, while simultaneously infusing our curls with mega moisture thanks to cocoa butter and babassu oil. Instead of playing frizz roulette every time we wash our hair, instead we can look forward to consistently soft, defined, and shiny spirals.

While we’re all for embracing the gray, not everyone is ready to rock a silver mane. That's where this shampoo from Nioxin comes in. It’s been formulated to address all signs of hair aging, from thinning and dullness to dry scalp and even pigment loss. And, of course, to thoroughly clean your strands. It’s got niacinamide to support scalp health and nourish your roots, plus caffeine to support thicker, fuller strands and black oat peptides to support melanin production. Hair stays looking lush, shiny, and healthy for longer.

Maybe we’ve seen one too many shampoo commercials, but we fully believe that an extra glassy finish is within our grasp, if only we had the right serum. We were starting to think we might be delulu, but then we found this unicorn of a shine enhancer from Kérastase. Not only does it bestow the type of shine to our hair that would have our stylists dropping to their knees in awe of its luster, it delivers ultimate frizz-fighting power for up to four days. Its lightweight texture is perfection for fine and medium hair types and it keeps humidity out and moisture in. Just be sure you’ve got a good pair of shades nearby after you apply—you don’t want to wind up blinded by that shine.

If your hair tends towards fine and flat, a texturizer can give your ‘do bounce, volume, and hold. This airy spray creates that trifecta without the potential downside of hair that feels sticky or has a crunchy finish. It uses a unique polymer technology that creates an invisible “web” between the hair fibers, creating space so the strands are lifted up and plumped up. No natural curl or wave? No problem—mineral micro-crystals create soft texture, so hair is full but still touchable. Zero grit, zero roughness, and zero worries about your locks going limp by midday.

Bumble’s Thickening line has been a stylist and editor staple for years, but the newest entry to the collection might just be our favorite. It not just thickens, but actually addresses thinning strands and sparse roots so hair looks and feels full of body. It uses rice peptides to add density to the hair, plus what the brand is calling Strand Plumping Technology to expand your strands to create thickness throughout. It’s a heat protectant, so a fab pre-blowout product, and has antioxidants and an energizing complex to treat and protect your scalp. Your hair looks both thicker and fuller while feeling healthier from root to tip.

Styling creams are the real workhorse of your hair care routine and it’s time we gave them the respect they deserve. Many of us scrunch it into our hair and then expect it to work miracles, doing everything from delivering hold to taming frizz. It’s a lot to ask of one product. Maybe we have such high expectations because we started using this overachiever from Blu & Green. After all, not many creams can provide weightless heat protection, control frizz on both blow-dried and air-dried hair, create a non-crunchy hold that sets your style and retains movement, and adds touchable, buildable volume. And yet, this one does all of those things, inflating hair at the root for lifted locks that look good and feel good. No wonder all the other styling creams are jealous.

Voluminous, bombshell hair starts in the shower. If you overdo it with the conditioner or reach for a too heavy formula, you’re sabotaging your strands before you even get to the styling. Which is what makes this volumizing conditioner from Philip B. such a great option for fine, flat hair — it uses lightweight hydrators like glycerin, plus plant extracts to detangle and hydrate without weighing hair down. You get all the gloss and softness of nourishing oils, without the risk of your hair deflating and feeling greasy.

Your scalp has a lot more to do with your ‘do than you might realize. Yes, we all know a healthy scalp equals healthy hair and caring for the scalp generally leads to better looking and feeling hair. But the scalp is also responsible for stealing your natural volume—excess oil, product build-up, and dead skin cells can all flatten out your strands at the root, making it doubly difficult to expand your strands with a volumizer later. This specialized shampoo targets the scalp as it cleans your hair, balancing the scalp microbiome as it helps dissolve build-up and oil. So you start with a truly clean slate that isn’t weighed down by all that (scalp) baggage. “Impressed with how it left the integrity of the hair while also removing build-up,” notes celeb hairstylist Sunnie Brook.

There are some truly awe-inspiring beauty innovations being released in recent months that have us feeling like we stepped into a techno futuristic world. Take K18’s new hair longevity serum—in addition to helping improve your scalp barrier, it also can help prevent shedding and grays. Seriously. Instead of targeting specific symptoms, it uses biomimetic peptides, glycerin, niacinamide, and yeast protein to address oxidative stress, one of the main causes of premature aging. That helps to anchor your strands at the root and boost melanin synthesis to stop grays in their tracks. It’s been clinically tested to retain 19,000 more hairs (so they stay on your head instead of in your shower drain), while 70 percent of the study participants saw fewer grays. “From a formulation perspective, this serum's technology and robust clinical data are very impressive,” says cosmetic chemist Alexandra Arriaga.