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Last year, there was a TikTok trend of boyfriends who can’t wait until their girlfriends leave the house so they can use their products. I thought it was the most hilarious thing. To my surprise, a few weeks later, I got in my boyfriend’s car and reached over to give him a kiss and immediately asked, “Why do your lips smell like watermelon?” His response? “Oh, it’s my Rhode lip-balm product. It’s good.” Rhode Skin barely stays in stock. The audacity!
I’m a beauty writer who has a dedicated shelf with hundreds of products on it, and he sashays his way over to sift through them all whenever he can. Of course, La Mer is one of his favorites, but after learning the cost, he’s also learned that he must keep his hands off of my La Mer.
Gone are the days of Vaseline, Jergens lotion, and Dove soap. If this sounds way too familiar and you too have a partner who has sticky fingers like mine (or you simply want a beauty gift for your partner, a friend, or a family member), the products below are the ones that I’ve slowly seen being moved off my shelf to his. Plus, they double as great Valentine’s Day gifts.
Best Beauty Valentine’s Gift Ideas
While the rose-gold shimmering finish of Fenty’s Valentine’s Day Butta Drop wasn’t for him, I introduced him to the OG Butta Drop with the same moisturizing formula but sans the glow. Both melt right into your skin, and now he can’t keep the mini-cream out of his sight. It’s another product that stays in the car.
Most Loewe scents are unisex, but this one wasn’t for me, so I let him try it. He’s claimed it as his signature scent ever since. The blend of guava contrasted with musky notes combines for an enticing aroma that can work from day to night.
Everyone’s go-to lip product since it dropped is Rhode Skin’s peptide lip treatment. It nourishes the lips while leaving them plump and soft with its blend of peptides and shea butter. This lip product doesn’t leave his car — unless, of course, I steal it back.
While Rhode stays in the car, Cay Skin stays in his pocket. Winnie Harlow wouldn’t stop raving to me about her lip mask, so I caved in and fell in love with its nourishing sea-moss formula, too. A little goes a long way, and he hasn’t complained about dry lips all winter. It’s safe to say Blistex will never see him again.
Ever since he’s been introduced to body oils, he hasn’t turned back. My Sol de Janeiro’s body oil has almost been completely used by him and when I asked why, he said, “I get the same moisture as I do from some of the other oils, but it smells better than any other one.” He’s onto something. The oil has the brand’s signature warm scent infused in it and it’s not only moisturizing but also firming to the skin.
His other body oil of choice? Tatcha’s Hinoki body oil, a lightweight oil that locks in moisture with a stress-easing essential-oil blend scent.
Another favorite is oSea’s algae body oil, and he isn’t alone with this one. The cult-favorite body oil deeply moisturizes the skin while simultaneously giving it a glow. He claims his skin is softest when using this oil.
When he’s turning to body lotion, he always reaches for Nécessaire’s fast-absorbing, vitamin-packed lotion. Not only is he obsessed with the texture, but it also lasts all day long so he doesn’t have to worry about becoming ashy. My response? “Wow, something other than Vaseline makes sure your skin’s not ashy? What a surprise.”
This cleanser is my absolute favorite. I restock it every two months. It’s one of the few products I always return to. After seeing me pick it up daily, by habit, he started reaching for it too, especially after working out because he feels like “it really cleanses the sweat off of his skin.” As the beauty-expert girlfriend? I can confirm it does. The cream deeply cleanses everything off the surface of the skin while keeping it nourished.
This one made me laugh. While writing this story, I randomly asked him, “Out of all of my products you used, what’s your absolute favorite?” His response? “That Dr. Sturm stuff.” He was referring to her hyaluronic serum, which is a plumping yet extremely hydrating serum that is beloved by celebrities and editors alike.
I admittedly have always kept Boy de Chanel products around to use for myself when I want more lightweight formulas. From its foundation to moisturizer, its products for men are just as good as its women’s products. He loves this gel moisturizer because of how smooth it makes his skin feel post-shave.
And when it’s not a shaving day, he likes Humanrace’s moisturizer. Formulated with snow mushroom and hyaluronic acid, Pharrell intentionally created this genderless line for everyone to be able to take care of themselves.
Although it is off limits to him, he does love La Mer’s gel cream because of the instant moisture it provides to the skin and the effortless appearance it leaves the complexion with.
Hand creams went out the window when he discovered this African hand and body butter that eliminates dryness with its unique blend of shea butters and oils.
I keep mists around, especially for a post-workout glow. He loves the refreshing and soothing feeling that Laneige’s mist gives.
For pre-workout smoothies, he loves Golde’s immunity-boosting powder. Not only is it packed with antioxidants that go directly into the body, but it also blends well with his protein, and for a gym rat, that’s golden.
We both grew up in Vaseline households, so when it launched a Radiant X collection for melanin skin, we both immediately fell in love with the entire collection. He loves the body cream especially because of its buttery smooth texture that leaves him with a nourishment that reminds him of the OG Vaseline. He layers it with the Radiant X oil, and after trying it myself, it’s become a wintertime staple.
Safe to say, men don’t like being ashy just as much as women, because the body butters are a favorite. This quickly disappeared off my beauty shelf, and whenever I’d hear people rave about it, I always wondered where it went — until I found him using it when it was nearly empty. According to him, no other body butter melts into his skin as good as this one.
As a chess lover, he was naturally intrigued by the Mind Games bottle, inspired by chess pieces. He was even more intrigued once he smelled the compelling scents. J’Adoube’s boldness quickly became his favorite, because although notes like patchouli oil make the scent quite intense, it’s balanced with fruity notes like pomegranate. It’s the perfect date-night scent.
Like most of TikTok, he’s obsessed with Naturium’s Glow Getter body wash because of the way the oil cleanser lathers the skin. He was once someone who would only touch Dove bar soap, so this shocked me, but it’s a testament to how great the product is and how much it hydrates the skin.
I started using this powder in my protein shakes post-workout for the taste and soon started feeling the stress-relief effects from the ashwagandha. After raving about it, he followed suit. Now the powder runs out twice as fast, but it’s fine because I always know what to gift him.
My body-products obsession has obviously transferred over. Hanahana’s thick shea butter is blended with raw shea and oils that transforms the driest skin. He often takes this from me post-shower and layers fragrances over it to maximize the amber scent. The mini size is also great to travel with.
Originally, it was a hassle to get him to wear eye patches with me (admittedly for selfie moments), but I promised him there were benefits to wearing them. Now, as soon as he’s realized he has bags under his eyes from fatigue, he’ll reach for these patches himself to de-puff the under eyes.
If he can’t find Topicals eye patches laying around, he reaches for my Chanel ones. These too are off-limits, but he likes the application of the eye serum, so sometimes I’ll let it slide.
I’m a Parfums de Marly obsessive. The warm vanilla notes of its latest parfum balanced out by the orange-blossom notes creates a crisp musk that would land me compliments everywhere I went. I was eager to see how it smelled different on a male, and safe to say, that was the quickest way to lose my first bottle of it. He gets more compliments on it than me, and now it’s the No. 1 gift I tell my friends to get their partners because they can use it too and it’ll smell completely different on them.
I’m not always a fan of multiuse products. I enjoy separate products for different reasons, but as someone who is always on the go, my boyfriend doesn’t mind them. Lately, he’s fallen in love with this oil and dubbed it the best oil he’s ever used, mostly because he uses it on his face, beard, hair, and body for ultimate nourishment. I must admit, his beard has been super-moisturized as a result of this oil.
