20 Makeup and Skincare Products We Love

From left to right, Too Faced Better than Sex Volumizing and Lengthening Mascara, EltaMD UV Broad-Spectrum Sunscreen, Lit-Up Highlighter from Westman Atelier, CeraVe Skin Renewing Day Cream, YSL Touche Éclat All-Over Brightening Concealer Pen and Ilia’s Multi-Stick for lips and cheeks.

By Janet Kelly

MYLITTLEBIRD COLUMNISTS are great resources for solutions mental and physical. But we worry that sometimes their recommendations, gathered from dermatologists and makeup artists and doctors, and products they have tried and loved themselves, can get lost from week to week.

Here, then, is a compilation of products and remedies that our writers and their  knowledgeable sources have mentioned approvingly recently. Remember, these are not random items taken from the Industrial Beauty Complex’s eternal publicity machine; these are items that have been tried and found to be effective. Think of it not as a shopping list but as a list of things to contemplate trying, considering the independent pedigrees of those recommending them.

MAKEUP

Concealer/Highlighter

YSL Touche Éclat All-Over Brightening Concealer Pen ($40, Sephora) dispenses the right amount of sheer liquid that blends easily into the skin. It camouflages shadows in the eye area, while a few dots on cheek and brow bones reflect light.

Westman Atelier Lit Up Highlight Stick is a jelly-like highlighter from makeup artist Gucci Westman that imparts a subtle shine to cheekbones and tear ducts by adding moisture to dry spots. It sells for $48 at Violet Grey.

Cheek and Lip Color

Ilia Beauty Multi-Stick has a creamy consistency, which makes it easy to blend and apply and add to the color or tone it down for both cheeks and lips. Available in a ton of colors, it sells for $36.

Mascara

Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara has a cringeworthy name but gets everything else right, such as accentuating and curling lashes, making them look fuller in just a few coats. It’s $29 at Ulta.

Chanel Inimitable Mascara does it all well—separating, lengthening and curling—leaving you with well-defined lashes without clumping. Available in black or brown, it sells for $40 at Chanel.

Brows

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz Ultra-Slim Precision Brow Pencil has a very fine retractable tip for filling sparse areas—where arches may be over-tweezed— with hair-like strokes. And it doesn’t smudge. It sells for $25 at Ulta.

SKINCARE

Cleansers

Valerie Monroe of How Not to F*ck Up Your Face renown came up with a great riddle: What’s the difference between washing your face and cleansing it? Around $45! She has a point. But not all cleansers have to be expensive.

CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser (with ceramides and hyaluronic acid) is a go-to for dermatologist Mary Lupo. A wash and a rinse with warm water will clean your  face well enough to get on with your day (or your makeup). The 8-ounce pump bottle is $16.99.

I prefer LaRoche-Posay Toleriane Hydrating Cleanser to the more ubiquitous Cetaphil. It’s much gentler on my skin than the other two, removes makeup just as well and costs about the same. A 13.5-ounce bottle is $17.99.

Moisturizers

CeraVe Skin Renewing Day Cream with SPF 30, often recommended by dermatologists, contains retinol to smooth fine lines and ceramides to reinforce the skin barrier. It can run around $30.

Cetaphil Daily Oil-Free Facial Moisturizer with SPF 35 is another dermatologist recommendation. No fragrance or oil. It will cost around $16.

Weleda Skin Food Original Ultra-Rich Cream is manna for dry skin, which drinks it up. Some people quibble about scent, but it hasn’t dimmed my affection for it in the eight years I’ve been using it. It’s $19.99 for 2.5 fluid ounces.

Vanicream Moisturizing Ointment is dermatologist-recommended for sensitive, extra-dry skin for using all over the body—legs, arms, elbows, etc. It’s $17.99 for 13 ounces at Walgreens.

Val Monroe mixes the ultra-sheer Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer Light Revealer one-to- one with Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair (see below).

Sunscreen

EltaMD UV Physical Broad Spectrum SPF 41 comes in 3-ounce tubes and is tinted, helping to do the sun-kissed job that’s too dangerous to let the sun do. Currently it’s $44.

Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch Sunscreen Lotion has a serious broad-spectrum SPF 70. It’s non-greasy, with a matte finish. About $16.

ISDIN PHOTO Eryfotona Actinica ultralight mineral sunscreen (SPF 50)—a recommendation from my Pittsburgh-based dermatologist, who’s also a Mohs surgeon—feels whisper light on my skin and goes on smoothly over a moisturizer. I’ve been using the tinted version lately.

Wrinkles

Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Moisturizer, $27.99, SPF 30 with retinol and hyaluronic acid helps to visibly reduce the look of stubborn wrinkles & dark spots–including crow’s feet and cheek wrinkles.

Differin’s adapalene, an over-the-counter 0.1% retinol gel designed to combat acne, can also tackle the lines and texture of “more mature” (ha!) skin. A 30-day supply could cost about $20, maybe less.

Altreno (tretinoin) Lotion, 0.05%, is a retinoid, a prescription-strength skincare product; a retinol is a type of retinoid found in over-the-counter products.

For rosacea, topical creams/gels work best, but these would be prescribed by a physician/dermatologist.

OFFICE TREATMENTS

Photodynamic therapy (ouch! but effective) can help sun-damaged skin, hyperpigmentation, even tackle pre-cancerous (and some cancerous) lesions.