I am SO excited to be writing this post for you guys. If there’s one thing I absolutely love to talk about, it’s skincare and this year has been a damn good year for skincare. So, I went through and thought about each category of products that I tend to use on my face every day (which seems to be excessive, but they’re all essential, I promise you) and picked my favorite of each! So here is my no-nonsense overview of my favorite skincare products of 2017!
Favorite Cleansing Products
- Favorite Makeup Remover: Dior Micellar Water &Eraser Cloth
I have totally gotten into that whole double cleansing trend, except technically I cleanse my skin not once, not twice, but three times. And boy oh boy, has it made a difference! I start by removing both my face and eye makeup with the Dior HydraLife Micellar Water. For years, I have stuck by the Bioderma micellar water, but the Dior one has definitely got it beat. I never liked using the Bioderma one on my face because it sometimes made me breakout (I have no idea why), but the Dior one works perfectly with my skin. Then I wash my face with the cleanser that I will talk about below and then I’m still not done! I use thisMakeup Eraser cloth (review here) to pick up any last bits of makeup I may have missed in the process!
- Favorite Cleanser: Neostrata Acne Clear Clarifying Gel Cleanser
I am a huge fan of Neostrata cleanser. In addition to this one, I also love the Glycolic Acid cleanser but I wanted to use this Acne one up and I ended up absolutely loving it! I made the decision a couple years ago to cut all acne skincare products out of my routine because they seemed to be making my acne worse rather than better (read about that here). However, this cleanser has such a low concentration of salicylic acid (2%) and you’re washing it off immediately so I find my skin doesn’t even notice it. The real reason I love this cleanser is because it cleans super deep and makes my skin feel instantly fresher and less clogged.
- Favorite Tool: Clarisonic Smart Profile &Luxe Cashmere Brush Head
I have used my Clarisonic Mia for years and it’s definitely something I’ll never stop using. I recently upgraded to the Smart Profile (review here) which is the big daddy of all Clarisonics and makes me feel so boujee. I use it once a day at night with the Neostrata cleanser mentioned above, but I think the real winner is the Clarisonic Luxe Cashmere Brush Head. On top of having acne-prone skin, I also have extremely sensitive skin. I found all of the other Clarisonic brush heads to irritate my skin rather than make my skin better. They just aren’t soft enough. But the Cashmere brush head feels like you’re rubbing a newborn kitty all over your face. It’s pretty great.
Favorite Creams:
- Favorite Day Cream: Reversa Radiance Cream SPF 30
For years, I stuck to my Clarins Hydra-Essential Geland while it was an exceptional moisturizer, there are definitely better ones more suited to my skin type. So I started to branch out and try more and more creams. And then I stumbled across this Reversa Radiance Cream and fell in love. It contains Vitamin C and is specially formulated to reduce the appearance of brown spots and acne marks. It evens out skin tone and restores its radiance, while offering protection against the sun. It was AMAZING at how quickly it started to fade my acne marks.
- Favorite Night Cream: Clarins Multi-Active Cream
As mentioned, I used to love the Clarins Hydra-Essential Gel, but now that I’m an old lady (AKA 22), it was time to start looking into some anti-aging products. And the Clarins Multi-Active cream was a great place to start! It’s thicker than the normal gels I used to use which made a huge difference for my skin. Apparently I was wrong all my life and I don’t actually have oily skin. My skin was just overproducing oil because I wasn’t putting enough moisture on my skin! Ever since I started using a thicker, more moisturizing cream, my skin has stopped producing excess oil and I don’t breakout as frequently. Read the full review here.
- Favorite Serum: Sunday Riley CEO Rapid Flash Brightening Serum
This isn’t just my 2017 favorite serum. This is my favorite serum of my whole life (even though I’ve only been using it in 2017). Like the Reversa Cream, it also has Vitamin C in it so it was amazing at fading my acne marks and scars (that was definitely a theme with my skincare in 2017). It also helped with preventing any lines and wrinkles (especially from all that stress this year) and it smells like oranges. Oranges! What could be better? Read my full review on it here.
- Favorite Eye Cream: Rodial Dragon’s Blood Eye Gel
I have a huge love-hate relationship with eye creams. I know how important they are and how you should use one every day and night. But for the longest time, every eye cream I tried gave me those little bumps under my eyes. Milia they’re called!They are blocked pores where oil gets trapped under the skin and form a small cyst. Mmm, that sounds lovely. But anyways, that was because every eye cream I was using was just too rich for my skin. So when I finally found this Rodial Dragon’s Blood gel that was so lightweight and thin and didn’t give me those lil’ bumps, I was ecstatic. I can finally be a good skincare user and wear an eye cream every day.
Favorite Treatments:
- Favorite Skin Perfector: Dior Capture Totale Dream Skin
I never understood the hype behind the Dior Capture Totale Dream Skin until I started using it every day and noticed how great my skin feels when I use it. The Dream Skin does exactly what it’s name says. It’s makes your skin into your dreamskin. It blurs imperfections, reduces the look of fine lines and wrinkles, visibly tightens pores, and increases radiance; what more could you want?! Plus it gives you instant benefits as well as helps perfect you skin over time which is something I always love in a product. I can’t live without this thing. Read the full review here.
- Favorite Exfoliator: Dior HydraLife Time to Glow Exfoliating Powder
It was a hard choice narrowing down my favorite exfoliator. I was undecided between the Clarins Gentle Exfoliating Cleanserand the Dior Exfoliating Powder! Both are extremely exceptional and I will continue to alternate between the two but I’ve come to the conclusion that I like the Dior powder slightly more. It’s super gentle because you mix this fine powder with a little bit of water to turn it into a paste and then gently exfoliate your face with it. It gets rid of all my patches of dry skin and leaves my skin feeling so soft and smooth.
- Favorite Peel: Neostrata Brightening Peel Solution
This is another one of those products that has helped me so much with fading my acne marks. This peel is highly concentrated with 10% glycolic acid,gluconolactone, fruit enzymes and 2% Genowhite. The acids remove the build-up of dead cells on the surface of the skin, while the Genowhite (a new technology of brightening peptides from Asia) quickly helps to reduce any dark spots! I try to use this peel three times a week for only five minutes and I find it instantly brightens my skin and keeps any blemishes away!
- Favorite Mask: Fresh Black Tea Instant Perfecting Mask
I can’t say enough good things about this mask. It’s the one mask that I can use that totally revamps how my skin looks the minute I wash it off. It brightens and moisturizes and makes my skin look so glowy. Just like the name states, it’s instantly perfecting. Before I had a boyfriend, I used to use this mask before every first date of mine because I knew it had the power to make my skin look amazing! That’s when you know a product is real good 😉 Read the full review here.
- Favorite Lip Balm: Dior Creme de Rose Lip Balm
As you know, I have the driest lips ever and I’ve tried almost every lip balm out there (including a $50 Chanel one because I was desperate). But this is the lip balm that has all the others beat. Not only is this lip balm so so so moisturizing but it’s also plumping so it makes your lips looks so smooth and full! It’s the perfect lip balm for wearing under a lipstick. And I also love to apply a thicker layer of this right before bed so my chapped lips are gone by the morning!
Wow, so those are all my favorite skincare products of 2017. It’s quite the list, but I attribute the success of my skin getting better to every single product mentioned above. And if you noticed, many of these products photographed are actually empty. If that’s not proof that I loved all these items, I don’t know what is!
