If We Were Let Loose At The Beauty Counter With Unlimited Funds, Here Are The 15 Things We Would Buy
by The Candidly Team
We are verrrry picky when it comes to any budget we allocate toward beauty products. As far as we’re concerned, anything that doesn’t yield squeal-worthy results is a total waste.
This is why we spend most of our time calling out incredible drugstore discoveries and under the radar products that are nothing short of life-changing.
But the truth is some things are admittedly the best in their category, so when we have the budget, we do decide to spend. These are the things that make our tired, complicated, over-40 skin glowy and taut and smooth and healthful.
There are 15 specific things that we’d buy immediately if let loose at the beauty counter because nothing else compares. These are, without question, those things:
1. iS Clinical Active Serum
Even though we heard about this serum from our go-to skincare expert Candace Marino, who tends to be spot on, we were still floored by how smooth and glassy it left our skin. It’s packed with natural AHA and botanical BHA, both which exfoliate without stripping your skin. The results are a glowy, balanced skintone, diminished blemishes and pores, and ironed out lines and wrinkles. The before and afters speak for themselves. Take a look.
Use our custom code at Dermstore, CANDIDLY, to get 15% off
Price: $142
2. Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare
Alpha Beta® Universal Daily Peel Pads
We’d never seen such a quick transformation in our skin as when we started using these pads. We use them every other night and wake up with bright, soft, smooth skin and way tighter pores. There’s an EXTRA STRENGTH version for even more clarity and an ULTRA GENTLE formula if you have sensitive skin. It’s one of few things that gave us immediate results, and now, we’re addicted.
Use the code CANDIDLY to get 15% off.
Price: $92
3. Charlotte Tilbury Charlotte's Magic Hydrator Mist
This is one of those products you don’t realize you need but once you try it, you can scarcely imagine life without it. We spritz it on as a last step, often AFTER makeup, and it leaves us with a dewy, lit-from-within finish, the kind you usually only see right after a facial. Where so many things take weeks or months to work, this spray leaves us with the best version of our skin the moment we spritz. Sort of like a secret little hack we carry in our back pocket.
Price: $84
4. Furtuna Due Alberi Biphase Moisturizing Oil
Honestly, we feel like we write about this oil weekly. But it would be irresponsible not to. There are just too few things in the world of skincare that are this plumping, replenishing, line-dimishing, and deeply moisturizing. We see its effects immediately and we watch them grow over time. If anything on this list is worthy of the term “magic potion,” it’s this oil. And while the price is not low, it takes just a few drops per use, so it lasssssts.
We also have custom code for you. Use CANDIDLY20 for 20% off.
Price: starting at $100
5. NuFACE Trinity+ Starter Kit
What really ages us isn’t tiny little lines here and there. It’s the texture and tautness we lose in our skin. So having a tool we can use at home to lift and tone is sort of surreal. Just look at the results it gave our own Editor-in-Chief...
Before and After
Price: $277
6. Chanel Rouge Coco Flash Lipstick
For years, we have been writing long-winded, totally unsponsored testimonials to this lipstick. It’s the color that looks good on everyone - the one that even non-lipstick people love. It’s called “boy,”and it gives us that our-lips-but-better look we’ve dreamt of finding our entire adult lives. No real surprise it’s Chanel. Or that we have yet to find any other color we love as much.
Price: $48
7. Clé de Peau Beauté Concealer SPF 27
This concealer is for those of us who need real coverage but don’t want to look like we’re wearing concealer. It renders our darkest spots and reddest blemishes beautifully and blended-ly invisible. It doesn’t budge all day, and it doesn’t make our skin look dry or caky or unnatural. There’s no concealer quite like it, so we spend a little more. Plus, it takes forever to run out.
Price: $75
8. Dyson Airwrap™ Multi-Styler Complete Long
We don’t like to admit it. We’d rather direct you to a drugstore dupe. But yup, this is the best of the best of the best styling tool out there. It’s unrivaled at the moment. Owning it makes good hair days feel endless and entirely in our control. We justify the spend by the fact that we stopped getting blowouts. But let us know if you need us to come up with an excuse for you. We have others lined up.
Price: $499
9. True Botanicals Phyto-Retinol Advanced Clinical Cream
At last, a retinol alternative that works all the magic of retinol without us having to worry about any redness or flaking or sensitivity. Our skin is smoother, bouncier, more youthful and more radiant from adding this to our regime. And we’re telling you all this, because we desperately want the company to keep making it so we can buy it for the rest of our lives.
Use our custom code at Dermstore, CANDIDLY18, to get 18% off
Price: $110
10. 111 Skin Cryo De-Puffing Eye Mask
We have tried a stupid number of things on our under-eyes. Creams, serums, and a dizzying line up of concealers to hide what we cannot change. But the bags remained … until we tried these patches. They’re so effortless and yet, they make us look like we drank all the water and got all the sleep and haven’t experienced an ounce of stress over the past decade. If you’re someone who isn’t thrilled about their eyes aging them 17 years, try these patches.
Price: $110
11. Le Labo The Noir 29 Eau De Perfum
There are vanilla scents. There are clean scents. There are warm scents. And then? There are tea scents. And they are like no other fragrance in the world. We are sick with obsession for tea scents, and therefore have tried them all; this one is the best by far. There is such depth to the black tea leaves, enhanced by an almost musky, leafy dry down, with a tiny hint of fig popping up here and there. It’s soft and cozy, and it is the only fragrance we reach for when the air turns crisp. And unlike some other Le labo perfumes, the longevity is unmatched. We recently had a woman run down the street while we were walking to say she could smell this intoxicating scent in our wake and needed to know what it is. We refused to tell her. Just kidding we did. But don’t let it get out too much. It’s kind of our secret.
Price: $107
12. Augustinus Bader The Rich Cream
This is another thing we mention on repeat because in the overcrowded world of high-cost beauty things, this is the moisturizer we’ve really seen results from. The price isn’t close to easy, but we predict it will replace about 3 not so great things you’re using, while giving you 3x the hydration. We look younger and more luminescent exclusively because we use this cream.
Price: $300
13. Solawave® Bye Acne 3-Minute Pimple Spot Treatment
As people who type the word “anti-aging” into every beauty product search, it’s pretty disheartening that we still also get acne. A pimple atop a smile line is honestly one of life’s great slaps in the face. This little guy uses blue and red light therapy to target breakouts, pimples, and inflammation. It feels both gentle and like we’re going to war against blemishes - which is the perfect combo as far as we’re concerned.
Use the code CANDIDLY15 for 15% off.
Price: $69
14. Furtuna Olive Lip Butter Balm
We had no idea how much dry lips would play a part in our post-35 lives. Or frankly how much they can age us. Enter this beautiful wee concoction from Furtuna. It’s the best, most buttery balm we’ve ever smeared across our lips. The results are immediate but also replenishing over time, so we don’t get that dried out after-effect that so many chapstick-type products leave us with.
Price: $45
15. Dior Lip Glow Oil
We buy gloss after gloss in hopes of getting that certain healthy, plump, lit-up look that’s so lovely it gives us an immediate hit of serotonin. This is, quite simply, the one we’ve been searching for.
Price: $40
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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