Best Women-Owned Skin Care
Best Face Mask
Best Face Wash
Glow Recipe Papaya Sorbet Enzyme Cleansing Balm
Best Serum
Dr. Barbara Sturm
The Good C Vitamin C Serum
Whatever holdups you might have
from your past bad relationship with cleansing balms, we're happy to report that Glow Recipe Papaya Sorbet Enzyme Cleansing Balm ($32) is the exception, not the rule. The sorbet-like balm melts into a milky cleanser that rinses off clean and takes every bit of makeup — yes, even your toughest waterproof mascara — with it. All
you're left with is superfresh, supersmooth, and superhydrated
skin, thanks to the combo of fruit-derived enzymes, oils, and extracts.
If we had to guess why Hailey
Bieber's skin looks like she dragged
the Instagram brightness filter waaaay to the right, it's this serum. Formulated by her go-to aesthetics doctor, Dr. Barbara Sturm The Good C Vitamin C Serum ($145) features a potent dose of vitamin C and kakadu plum with none of the artificial citrus scent you often get with others (this stuff is totally fragrance free).
Best Acne Treatment
Hero Cosmetics Rescue Balm
We don't fully understand the
blemish-healing magic behind
Hero Cosmetics Rescue Balm ($16), but it cleared our skin so fast, we don't even care. After using a pimple patch (or post-picking, if we're being real here), a tiny dab of this balm — made with moisturizing panthenol and shea butter, plus brightening vitamin E — stopped our breakouts in their tracks and kick-started the healing process.
Best Moisturizer
Naturopathica Marshmallow & Microalgae Sensitivity Soothing Crème
When you keep coming back
to something even as you're testing
hundreds of skin-care submissions,
you know you have a keeper. For us, it
was Naturopathica Marshmallow & Microalgae Sensitivity Soothing Crème ($84). This simple, no-frills moisturizer contains soothing microalgae and marshmallow (the kind from a flower,
not a plastic bag) that calmed any
redness, and the lightweight Cool
Whip texture meant it layered expertly
with the rest of our routines.
Leave it to Gwyneth Paltrow to
create the wellness retreat of eye
creams. Goop Goopgenes All-in-One Nourishing Eye Cream ($55) uses schisandra berry, a mainstay of traditional Chinese and Kampo medicine; illipe butter from the Borneo rainforest; and arjuna, an astringent popular in India, to keep the undereye area smooth, firm, and bright. It quickly became a staple in our skin-care routines — and we see no conscious uncoupling in our near future.
Best Eye Cream
Goop Goopgenes All-in-One Nourishing Eye Cream
Mara Volcanic Sea Clay
Detox Masque
Don't let the lightweight feel and
thin texture fool you, Mara Volcanic
Sea Clay Detox Masque ($54) does
some serious work on clogged pores.
It's packed with power players in the deep-cleaning game, like kaolin clay
and volcanic ash, but thanks to the
addition of soothing ashwagandha, green tea, and honey (which is
ethically sourced, BTW), it didn't
leave our skin feeling dry or tight.