Skincare that works…isn’t that all we ever wanted? Well that and world peace, of course.
We at In The Groove spend far too much time chatting about what works and what is just hype and in truth, we don’t always agree. This list is an amalgam of our individual greatest hits—the products that we use and feel really good about spending our own money on and then recommending to you.
Years ago, long before fillers and lasers, a famous dermatologist told me that there are two essential items for maintaining youthful skin and she has never waivered: sunscreen and retinol. Her view has not changed but since that time, chemists have figured out how to preserve the efficacy of topical vitamin c, making it a better bet and exfoliation ,whether manual or chemical with glycolic acid is a game changer for the appearance of brighter skin. The rest is, well, window dressing, some of it might be helping underlying issues but mostly it’s making us feel better about how we care for our skin and if we have learned anything , it is that if we feel good we look even better.
This is what your pals at In The Groove are feeling absolutely good about. Our TOP TEN forever skincare friends and a few extras because we couldn’t help ourselves.
- First and foremost and with a disclaimer because this stuff is expensive Otherwise it is the “dream cream” as it makes our skin look as rich as you might have to be to keep using it ….unless you give up paying the rent. This isn’t called The Rich Creme for no reason and it’s worth it.
- Skin Ceuticals CE Ferulic. Also costly but a little goes a long way to protecting your skin. We’ve come to feel underdressed without it.
- Pixi Tonic Pixi Glow Tonic is the perfect name. Cleanse , glow and go and this is as good as the French stuff that is so hard to find.
- If you like an emollient eye crème that leaves lots of “slip” for applying concealer this is an old faithful from Shiseido Benefiance Wrinkle Smoothing eye cream. We keep coming back to it , which is the greatest compliment.
- Paula’s Choice Clinical Retinol is essential to skin turnover. After years of prescription strength Retin A, we think this both easier on the wallet and it isn’t quite as drying, but start slowly and work up to several times a week.
- When it comes to sunscreen this is our fave Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen as it truly is unseen and we don’t break out from wearing it every day (yes, summer or winter, everyday)
- This tinted version from Elta is another favorite sun fighter ELTA MD Broad Spectrum sunscreen It has the loveliest finish and we’ve even given up wearing foundation except for special occasions.
- We wish we could tell you why we need this neck cream Perricone MD Cold Plasma Sub D Neck but we have come to believe that we do. This slightly stinky stuff is working overtime on the neck crepe and we offer gratitude as it’s working.
- Renova DNA Repair Serum This might be a little confusing because how does one actually repair their own DNA? We aren’t really sure ,but a few doctors told us about this a few years ago and we haven’t wavered. And it feels so good.
- We call this Dermalogica Super Rich Repair “crackologica” because once you start using this, you’ll just have to use more. I’ve taken to stabbing the top after the dispenser stops dispensing.
All of our recommendations are curated by Susan & the In The Groove editorial team. In some, but not all cases, we receive a small commission for leading you to what, how and where to buy all this wonderful stuff.
