skin-care

109 Famous People on Their 149 Favorite Drugstore Products

Including the cold remedy used by a poet, a designer, a Kardashian, and three others.

Photo: New York Magazine/Portraits from Getty Images/Products courtesy of the retailers
Photo: New York Magazine/Portraits from Getty Images/Products courtesy of the retailers

When we started reporting on the stuff that famous people can’t live without, we wanted to know about the hand sanitizer and deodorant that they add to their carts. And boy, did we learn about a thing or two — or thousands. For Drugstore Week, we combed through all the products that celebrities told us they can’t live without to surface the drugstore buys that populate their medicine cabinets and bathroom shelves. So whether you’re looking for the cold remedy that a poet (Cleo Wade), a fashion designer (Jenni Kayne), a Kardashian (Kourtney), and three other celebs swear by, or a mouthwash that one celebrated academic (Walter Isaacson) says will kick you into a new “quantum orbit,” or the sweet-and-sour candy that Golden State Warriors player Steph Curry treats himself to, read on for our entire list of 149 drugstore products that 109 famous people always stock up on. To make it easier to shop, we’ve organized products by the aisles you’d find them in, including the face-care aisle, the cosmetics aisle, the hair-care aisle, the body-care aisle, the oral-hygiene aisle, the cleaning aisle, the health and wellness aisle, the vitamins and supplements aisle, and the snack aisle.

From the face-care aisle

“As a pale person of Irish descent, I have to be aware of sun protection at all times,” says actor Matt Walsh, who told us he slathers on this moisturizer with SPF multiple times a day.

Performance artist and model Amanda Lepore claims to have the “most expensive body on earth.” This SPF 55 sunscreen is what she uses to keep her skin “like a baby’s, or a 14-year-old girl’s.”

“I do feel it sort of eliminates some lines that you don’t want,” cookbook author Corky Pollan says of this anti-aging cream that she uses before bed.

Good Morning America co-host Michael Strahan, Architectural Digest’s Keith Pollock, and actor Noah Schnapp all count on this balm to keep their lips moisturized, and Pollock also uses it to calm his nerves. “Because the Burt’s is a yellow tube, it’s sort of disguised in your palm. It’s a good trick,” he told us. “If you’re ever speaking at a wedding or something, put something in your hand. So this is essentially a lip moisturizer and a fidget spinner in one.”

Actress Sutton Foster also loves Burt’s Bees, but told us that grapefruit is the flavor she uses on a daily basis.

Actress and television host Vivica A. Fox is another Burt’s Bees fan. She opts for the brand’s peony-toned lip shimmer: “Even in my everyday look, which is a warm-up suit and baseball cap, I’ll put this on and instantly feel done up.”

Strategist columnist Buzz Bissinger’s “illicit pleasure” is lip balm, and this $5 lip shimmer is what he recommends for some “non-sexy” nourishment.

At first, Rebel Wilson balked at her makeup artist’s ChapStick recommendation. But now the actress always keeps it in her handbag. “This keeps your lips moisturized, but with a bit of tint, so it looks like your lips but just extremely enhanced rather than like makeup,” Wilson told us. “And if I lose it, I can just go to CVS and get another one, which is my favorite part.”

Novelist Celeste Ng never travels without this Dr Pepper–flavored chapstick, which she says is always in her carry-on for “moisturizing and just a hint of color.”

Actresses Ellie Kemper, La La Anthony, and Skai Jackson, along with Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown, all swear by Carmex. “It’s just better when you’re talking to people or kissing people,” says Brown.

In addition to hydrating her lips, actress Megan Good says this tinted Vaseline plays an essential part in her makeup routine. “When I put lipstick or gloss over it, it holds without it coming off,” she told us.

Both Sutton Foster and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne say Aquaphor’s lip-repair ointment is for more than just lips. Foster uses it on chapped hands, and Jayne says, “I use this daily on my lips and sometimes on cuticles, my hands, feet, and even on the elbows.”

“The thing everyone teases me about. It’s the only thing that works on my lips, honest to God. It has to be the Walgreens store brand of lip balm. On set, they call it my special sauce,” says actress Susan Kelechi Watts.

$13 for 2

“I use it on my lips as a lip balm because it has a pinkish tint to it, but also in a pinch for ashy ankles or elbows. I’m addicted to it and feel okay with that,” says writer, television host, and activist Janet Mock of this salve.

Similarly, Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen has been using the minted version of the very same salve for 15 years. “It’s perfect, not too thick or goopy, and definitely not medicated, which is good if you’ve ever lived through the dark times of a Carmex habit,” she adds.

Another fan of Smith’s Rosebud Salve is model Imaan Hammam, who has been using it in tube form daily since she was a teenager because “it’s easy to carry and apply.”

From the cosmetics aisle

“You know how sometimes mascara makes [your eyelashes] look like spider legs? It’s not cute. These don’t do that. They also make eyelashes ten times longer and darker,” says Skai Jackson of her go-to mascara.

Drag queen and RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Aja told us she buys six or seven of these glittery primers at a time. “Sometimes you’re running late, and you need to put a little glitter on your face to distract everyone from how much time you didn’t take on your makeup because you were rushing, because you woke up at 8 p.m., and the gig was at 9 p.m. So you just put glitter everywhere,” she explains.

Model Martha Hunt says this long-lasting eyeshadow palette from L’Oreal “really makes the blue in my eyes pop.”

Actress Sanaa Lathan learned about this mascara while working on The Affair and says “it puts all the other expensive mascaras at the department stores to shame. It stays on forever and almost makes you look like you have false eyelashes on.”

“So this stuff is not waterproof; it’s water-resistant–ish. But I like it because of the way the felt tip distributes the pigment,” says author Mary H.K. Choi, who told us she’s used this L’Oreal liquid eyeliner to do a cat’s-eye every day for the past six years.

Similarly, in her pamphlet “How to Look Like Me at 70” (which she purports is circulating Park Avenue), publicist Peggy Siegal revealed that she uses this L’Oreal pencil eyeliner to achieve a smoky eye. “I put it under my eyes and my eyelid, and I take a little brush and smudge it in, and then clean it up with a Q-tip,” she says.

La La Anthony and actress Julia Fox say these wipes are the only products they use to remove makeup, with Anthony calling them her “favorite product ever” and Fox admitting that she also uses them “if I don’t have time to shower in the morning or wash my face.”

“I love the fact that they’re not heavy on the face; a lot of wipes overdo it with fragrance, or even the cloth itself can be a bit rough. I think makeup wipes should be clean and straight to it — that’s why I love the Simple ones,” says model Duckie Thot, who has been using these wipes morning and night for the past six years.

Model and actress Amber Rose says that she keeps her fast-growing eyebrows at bay with these tweezers: “I’ll get them waxed on Friday, and two days later, it starts growing back; so I try to keep up with them with these tweezers until I can get my eyebrows done again. It’s crazy.”

“I wore this at my wedding on my toes. I always got crazy polishes, like purple, and one of my friends said, ‘Can we class it up with just a nude?’ And I found this. Some nudes can make you look like a corpse, but this is beautiful,” says actress Casey Wilson, who notes that the polish’s name is “insane.”

Buzz Bissinger also appreciates the “marketing imagination” that goes into Essie’s polish names, like this pink hue (“inexplicably called ‘Around the Bend’”) that he wears in the summer.

Of OPI polishes, meanwhile, Bissinger says that they “last up to three weeks.” He calls this: “A shade of crimson bold enough to shock the shit out of my straight white male friends.”

Comedian Reggie Watts and publicity maven Lizzie Grubman both can’t live without this black nail polish from OPI. “I literally only wear black nail polish on my fingers and toes,” says Grubman, who calls the look a “phase” she’s been going through for several years.

Reggie Watts — who only paints his pinky nails — isn’t as steadfast in his use of black polish and sometimes mixes thing up with this lavender-toned pick. “The Late Late Show paints my nails for me with OPI polish — they’ll repaint them maybe once a week or once every other week depending on what condition they’re in,” he says.

From the hair-care aisle

“I have them on deck in different containers around my house because my hair is always getting in my face. I’ll just twist it up and put on a clip — I feel like I instantly look cuter. And it’s so ’90s,” says Instagram cool-girl Devon Lee Carlson of these hair clips she buys at the drugstore.

The final step in Peggy Siegal’s legendary beauty routine is this L’Oreal hairspray, which she only buys in travel size: “I use the travel size because I hate picking up a big heavy bottle,” she says. “I go through them fast, but a little one looks so much better.”

Foodgod — the person formerly known as Jonathan Cheban, who incidentally cut his teeth working for Siegal — says that this Revlon hot-air brush changed his life completely. “It’s like someone doing your hair, without having to have someone do your hair — like somebody with a brush drying it out at 100 miles per hour,” he says.

Photo: Retailer

This detangling brush is another product that Casey Wilson — who says she is blessed with “plush, thick hair” — can’t live without. “I feel like it gets through your hair and doesn’t hurt. It’s great for combing through thick hair, and my son loves it, too,” she adds.

Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors keeps a hair pick on hand at all times in order to maintain his mini-’fro. “It’s gotta be strong because I have some pretty nappy hair,” he says.

In addition to being known as a financial guru, Suze Orman says she is known for her hair, and credits this shampoo (which she buys at CVS) for keeping it “absolutely frizzless.” She adds: “When I travel now, I can blow out my own hair because of this shampoo. I don’t need to travel with a hair person. You know how much money I’m saving?”

Actress Teresa Palmer describes her hair as “terribly knotted,” and says that these ethically made products from Alba Botanica are “affordable and easy to find, and the conditioner is so potent that I don’t need to use half a bottle per wash. My hair is left feeling soft, completely replenished, and like I’ve slept with it cling-wrapped in coconut oil,” she adds.

Accessories designer Lele Sadoughi began making hairbands in her quest for more voluminous hair, a search that also led her to this Kérastase shampoo. “It gives me added texture; my hair doesn’t look quite so sparse or flat after using it,” she says.

Research professor Dr. Brené Brown — a self-proclaimed “Texas girl” who was “raised believing the higher the hair, the closer to God” — also depends on Kérastase products for volume. “I reluctantly let go of my big ’80s hair, but I still love hair spray. This one is medium hold so your hair can move, but it keeps the body and style,” she says.

Compared to products that give your hair a too clean feeling, Keke Palmer says the shampoo and conditioner from Cantu makes your hair “actually feel moisturized. Cantu makes a deep conditioning one and a light conditioning one — I use both of them and alternate throughout the week,” she says of her three-times-a-week routine.

Using natural products is important to actress Fran Drescher, which is why she is a “longtime fan” of this sulfate-free Paul Mitchell shampoo made with awapuhi. “It’s a wild ginger from Hawaii that’s been used as herbal medicine and has great softening qualities for hair,” she says. “Sulfates truly do dry out your hair. Not a good look.”

“I head-bang all the time onstage, so yeah, conditioner finds its way into my beard,” says Kerry King, the lead guitarist of the band Slayer, who opts for Pantene because he’s found it to “detangle well.”

After trying about 20 curly-hair products over the course of the last decade, actress Logan Browning told us that DevaCurl is the only one that moisturizes all the way to the follicle. “I can style my hair and it’s not crunchy and still manageable,” she says.

From the body-care aisle

One day, when hugging her husband, Ellie Kemper told us she realized “something smelled really good. It turns out it was this deodorant. I believe it to be unisex, though some users have described it as a men’s deodorant. It doesn’t matter,” she says of the stick that she now buys in bulk.

When it comes to celebrities’ favorite deodorants, Schmidt’s and famous people seem to go hand-in-hand (or product in armpit?). Actress Ana Gasteyer and Grammy Award winner–slash–talk-show host Eve both swear by the rose-and-vanilla scent. “A unicorn product. I’ve worn it for years. It’s just a non-aluminum-based, earthy, artsy-fartsy deodorant that fucking works,” says Gasteyer. “The rose one is just great because if you sweat in it, you smell like a rose instead of cat urine.

In Buzz Bissinger’s great deodorant test of 2019 — when he sampled new deodorants for a week and his wife, Lisa Smith, smelled his armpits twice a day — he determined that this apricot-scented deodorant from Tom’s was his favorite. “Tom’s felt light and applied smoothly. Lisa reported that it smelled pleasingly fruity, and ten hours later the scent was still strong,” he says.

This deodorant didn’t get as high praise from Buzz Bissinger or Lisa Smith (“Lisa said it smelled like soap, and I already have enough bland in my life”), but Bissinger still posits that “everybody should have at least one Old Spice product in their lives, given the longevity of the brand and that great seaman’s whistle.”

Apparently, writer Lesley Arfin and dancer Derek Hough agree with Bissinger, because both can’t live without Old Spice Fresh deodorant. Hough has worn the deodorant since childhood and says it smells “clean, fresh, and also a little bit nostalgic,” but to Arfin, whose husband wears the product, it smells like “a free ticket to the bone zone.”

Shop owner John Derian says he’s been using this unscented, aluminum-free deodorant “for a million years” and has “never had any problems with it. I appreciate that it’s a roll-on,” he adds. His boyfriend, who he says “sweats a lot,” uses it too.

“Obviously, I’ll use it under my arms, but I’ll also spray it under my boobs, and between my thighs. It keeps me really dry, especially if I’m working out, or if it’s a really hot day,” says Amber Rose of this fresh-smelling deodorant spray.

Another product that Amber Rose swears by is Nivea Lotion, which she uses to “lotion up my arms real quick, and make sure I’m not dry.”

When it comes to body moisturizer, both La La Anthony and Duckie Thot use Palmer’s Cocoa Butter. “It just stays on all day, and your skin looks so glowy. It’s not too thick,” says Thot, who uses the lotion every day after showering.

Podcaster Phoebe Robinson and Janet Mock also use cocoa-butter-based lotion, but their go-to is this pick from Vaseline. According to Mock, “it moisturizes without being greasy — it also gives you a sheen without looking wet. It makes my skin so soft and smells a little cocoa buttery, but not overpoweringly so like a perfume.”

Opening Ceremony co-founder Humberto Leon says this healing balm is what his daughters use on their eczema-prone skin. “It’s like a Chapstick or a really good moisturizer. It dries without being oily, seals everything in, and makes anything rough immediately soft,” he says.

Last year, Imaan Hammam picked up this Eucerin body lotion at a Duane Reade in the hopes of moisturizing her dry, winter skin. “I’m so happy with the results,” she said. “My skin is just so much more hydrated.”

Dr. Sandra Lee, who is also known as TLC’s Dr. Pimple Popper, also loves Eucerin, and uses the brand’s inexpensive, fragrance-free hand lotion because other “hand lotions out there are supposed to be very moisturizing but contain fragrances, which actually will dry out the skin.”

$18

“I am cursed with extraordinarily dry hands. So the Aquaphor is the most intensive and effective potter’s balm I could find. Leave studio, wash hooves, apply Aquaphor,” says potter and home-décor designer Jonathan Adler of his go-to hand ointment.

Actress Lucy Liu and poet Morgan Parker are also Aquaphor fans, telling us they use this to-go size tube to moisturize everything from baby’s bottoms to impulse tattoos. “I call it Aqua-for-everything,” says Liu.

Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-1 pure-castile soap is a perennial favorite among famous people, and actor Adam Scott and comedian Bridget Everett swear by the peppermint scent. Everett told us, “I first tried the wash when I was dog-sitting for someone. I know you’re not supposed to use other people’s products when you’re in their homes, but it was so inviting. I was really taken aback by the minty fresh shock it gave my downstairs neighbor, if you know what I mean.”

Phoebe Robinson also uses the multi-purpose Dr. Bronner’s soap, but she prefers the lavender scent. “I love it because it’s lavender-scented. It leaves my skin clean and smooth because there’s just not a lot of junk in it. It’s like a massage and pedicure and a getaway every day,” she says.

Dr. Bronner’s eucalyptus-scented soap is model Anwar Hadid’s go-to shampoo, but he notes that “you can do a bunch of different stuff” with it.

Nutritionist Daphne Javitch is also a Dr. Bronner’s fan, calling the brand no less than “the Patagonia of soap.” She told us that she “really love[s] the bar soap,” which she “somehow finds less drying.”

Two decades ago, after giving birth to her son Michael, television host Kelly Ripa received a bar of this baby-friendly soap that she told us she’s used ever since. “Every time I use it, I have this scent memory of bringing home Michael. Even if I’m staying in the most luxurious hotel that gives you all the fancy soaps and shampoos, I bring my own bar of Dove soap. It just sets my mind right,” she says.

From the oral-hygiene aisle

“They say if you don’t floss, it’s like not wiping your ass. Take your vitamin D, listen to Poison, and floss,” says actor Dylan McDermott, who told us this is his preferred floss.

Ever since his dentist turned him on to Tom’s floss, Pressed Juicery CEO Hayden Slater says he “can’t use any other type of floss. It’s made me weirdly obsessed with flossing,” he adds.

Designer, photographer, and collector Jean Pigozzi also learned about these toothpick-brushes from his dentist, and “highly recommends” size No. 3 (“the best size”) for “cleaning between your teeth.”

“I use these for so many things — more things than one would think a floss pick is capable of,” says actress Debby Ryan, who told us she uses roughly four picks a day for flossing, chewing, and even fluffing her eyebrows.

At the behest of his dentist, Buzz Bissinger purchased the Waterpik-662 in 2018. “It is not my style to get excited over oral hygiene, but the flosser works and feels great, and after a lousy day of writing, provides me with a surprising feeling of accomplishment,” he says.

Corky Pollan is also a Waterpik fan, going so far as to describe herself as “excited” about her preferred flosser from the brand. She’s been using it for several years, and says it is “very, very good for gums. I always get this comment from my dentist that they love the condition of my gums, and I think it has a lot to do with the Waterpik.”

Adam Scott says that using a Waterpik is “like going to the dentist every night in your bathroom. You feel well taken care of when you put your head on the pillow, so I love that,” he adds.

When model Elle Macpherson’s dentist recommended the Waterpik for oral hygiene, she went out and got this water-flosser, spin-brush combo for “a hygienic and efficient way of keeping the gums healthy.”

“This is great because it’s alcohol-free, so it’s good if you have sensitive gums. If I don’t use this before I go to bed, I can’t sleep,” says drag queen, RuPaul’s Drag Race alum, and winner of All Stars 3 Trixie Mattel.

Of this mouthwash, author, professor, and Amanpour & Co. contributor Walter Isaacson says: “Not for the faint of tongue. With every use you are kicked into a new quantum orbit of alertness.”

$6 for 2

“I carry it with me all the time. And although just one spritz will do the job, I never do just one. Two gives you overwhelming confidence; you know you’re okay,” says legendary boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, who told us he learned the importance of good breath from his parents.

Pop singer Hayley Kiyoko keeps these no-water-needed disposable toothbrushes in her car, and uses them for a “quick little refresher” when she’s on the go. “I also use them before I go onstage,” she says. “You need to be fresh for the ladies in the audience, even if you’re 50 feet away.”

Matt Walsh, a self-described junk-food aficionado, calls this vibrating toothbrush “a revelation in my life. I find it makes your teeth cleaner and it feels like you have technology on your side, running around inside your mouth killing all those cavities.”

Photo: Courtesy of the vendor

“I’ve used other battery-operated toothbrushes — Brauns and things — but I like Arm & Hammer because I trust the brand,” says Vogue contributing editor André Leon Talley, who told us he buys one of these spin brushes every month (“That’s what you’re supposed to do”).

From the cleaning aisle

When it comes to keeping things clean at home, André Leon Talley uses a couple of Seventh Generation products, including “this liquid for washing dishes by hand” because “it’s better for the environment.”

Self-proclaimed “compulsive cleaner” Dylan McDermott also uses natural cleaning products at home, including this nice-smelling glass cleaner from Method that he says “won’t damage your lungs if you’re breathing it in all day.”

“Everything with drag is kind of gross. I come back from a gig and my vanity is a mess. Or if I’m working on a wig, the table just gets a film on it from all the hairspray. So, I use these to clean everything,” says Trixie Mattel.

Kim Kardashian’s makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic isn’t sponsored by Wet Ones, but wishes he was, calling them his “most heavily used product.” He says that the wipes keep his hands clean without leaving a residue or drying them out, and that “there’s also something about the smell that I really love.”

Novelist Andrew Sean Greer says he is known to drop things on his “fancy pants” while on book tours, but that these wipes “will save your clothes,” which is why he keeps one in “every jacket pocket.”

Hayley Kioyoko calls herself a messy eater, and stylist Vanessa Traina lives with a messy eater (her son, whom Traina says comes at her “with something like raspberries on his fingers when I’m probably in a white coat”). Both told us they use Tide To-Go to remove stains from clothes fast.

Actor Tituss Burgess loves candles and potpourri, but says that he stocks up on these “delish” linen-scented air fresheners because he has “two dogs and need[s] to make sure my home is nice and fresh.”

“As much beauty goes into drag, a bunch of ugly comes the fuck out of it,” says drag queen and winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 11 Yvie Oddly, who told us that this air freshner is somewhat of a drag-queen status item for smelling “like a lady” on the road.

“This soap is simply not fucking around in terms of being lavender-y. It smells fantastic; it makes you feel like your hands are incredibly clean after you use it; and I’m not going to lie — I like a hand soap with a label that references the famous carpenter, Jesus Christ. I’ve tried secular hand soaps, and I’m not going back,” says Difficult People creator and co-star Julie Klausner.

Mary H.K. Choi and model Karlie Kloss also use Dr. Bronner’s products, specifically this lavender-scented hand sanitizer, which both told us they carry around with them. “It smells heavenly and feels light on my hands,” says Kloss, who always keeps the spray in her bag.

On the other hand, La La Anthony uses Purell “multiple times throughout the day,” and has bottles attached to all of her son’s bags. “I think being a mom, you just get in the habit of having it everywhere you go,” she adds.

Actress and model Molly Sims agrees that keeping hand sanitizer easily accessible is “important when you have the kids running around” but prefers EO to Purell, saying “this is a nice bluish purple that looks good and works well and smells good, too.”

Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar also uses EO hand sanitizer — but in spray form — and loves the product’s calming, lavender scent. “I was on a bus trip recently with a bunch of people and everybody kept coming to use some of mine. The whole bus smelled really good. When you’re in a dirty, grimy situation, a beautiful smell is always an added bonus,” she says.

Here’s another essential-oil-based sanitizing spray beloved by many famous people — Logan BrowningVivicia A. FoxHayden SlaterKelly Ripa, and comedian Aidy Bryant, to name five — who have told us it can double as a makeup-brush cleaner, deodorant, and stress-relieving aromatherapy spray. “Sometimes, it’s the closest thing I can get to a shower,” adds Bryant, who keeps the spray in “every room, and also my purse, my office, and my dressing room at work.”

From the health and wellness aisle

Vivica A. Fox finds it hard to fall asleep with the demands of her busy schedule, so she depends on Aleve PM for easier shut-eye. She adds that the medicine “helps with my aches and inflammation from running around or working out too much.”

“I have a family history of headaches — my dad used to get migraines — and will get them often, so it’s good to have Advil around. Even when I don’t have a headache, I like having it near,” says InStyle editor-in-chief Laura Brown.

“This will change your life. I saw it on an infomercial and ordered it and it’s literally the best thing I’ve ever found in my life for when I have a cold or allergies,” says Foodgod (né Jonathan Cheban) of this saline nose cleaner, which he calls “a freaking game-changer.”

After using this natural nasal spray for five minutes, actor Glenn Howerton promises that “you’ll blow out an outrageous amount of snot” and that your sinuses will be “totally cleared.”

Interior designer Ken Fulk is a pet-parent to four dogs and a cat, and thinks he is “mildly allergic to all of them.” After going through a bunch of other drugstore eye drops, he found these ones, which he says “actually lubricate. I can’t leave home without them.”

“My eyes get really dry from staring at a laptop or phone all day, so rather than use eye drops from Visine that take out the red (which is actually very damaging), I’ll use these instead to hydrate them,” says Tamara Mellon, the Jimmy Choo co-founder who went on to create of her own eponymous footwear line.

Similarly, actress and artist Jane Seymour is wary of most no-redness eye drops, but says that Naphcon-A, which she learned about through her doctor, is “safe and works very, very well.”

Sutton Foster started wearing Hearos ear plugs because her husband snores, but now she uses them to decrease flight jitters. “I’m not the best flyer, but I do better when I can’t hear all the engines and the noise. I just put them on and I’m good to go,” she says.

“I’m a hardy, big-boned Korean girl, but when it comes to my hearing, I’m more like delicate rose petals,” says author Min Jin Lee, who told us she has been known to “march right out of fascinating parties because my ears start ringing.” That’s why she never leaves home without at least two pairs of these earplugs.

Bridget Everett has been using Q-tips to clean out her ears since she was a child. “I’m not trying to puncture my ear drum, but I do like to get in there and get my work done,” she says. “You have to keep those ears clean so you can hear your dreams coming true.”

Vicks VapoRub is supposed to relieve cold symptoms, but Tituss Burgess, actress Retta, and author Gillian Flynn also use it for everything from falling asleep to stress relief. “Whenever I realize I’ve just spent a week writing absolute trash and I know I have lost my mind and will need to retire to the woods, I rub Vicks under my nose and the calming scent brings me down,” says Flynn.

Jonathan Adler may be a celebrated potter, but he is also a self-proclaimed “drug-store queen” and a recent member of the “orthotics cohort.” He says that “you should just buy a fuck ton of them because one has so many shoes.”

Emmy Award–winning television star Guy Fieri first learned about Superfeet orthotics when he was working long hours on his feet (in the meat industry) during college, and continues to use them to this day. “I rip the insoles out of all my shoes and use a different version of Superfeet in all of them,” he told us.

“When you’re in drag, you can’t eat, you just can’t,” says Trixie Mattel. To avoid skipping meals on the road, she has one of these chocolate-flavored shakes. “It’s crazy, it’s a small bottle, but you drink one and five minutes later you’re not hungry anymore. I don’t know how they do it,” Mattel says.

From the vitamins and supplements aisle

“We all need vitamin D. Even if you live in a sunny area, people are still vitamin-D deficient,” says Dylan McDermott.

With a nonstop schedule, K-Pop star Jackson Wang depends on supplements, including a daily dose of Vitamin C, to stay healthy. “I’m just trying to be healthy because I want to survive longer as an artist. I want to go longer, and in order to do that you need a good body and good health conditions,” he explains.

Eve told us she can’t sleep through the night, which is where liquid melatonin comes into play. “I take three-to-five milligrams no more than three times a week and find I don’t wake up as much,” she says of her regimen (which is also an expert-recommended approach).

On her press tour for Bridesmaids, actress Wendi McLendon-Covey started using Dream Water for insomnia, and has sworn by it ever since. She describes the product as “a mild sleep helper” that feels akin to “having a nice long workout and then dozing off. The sleep comes so easily,” she adds.

Actress Amy Sedaris has a Strategist-esque particularness about stuff, and among her 50 favorite things are Epsom salts: “I’m obsessed with Epsom salts, obsessed with them. I take Epsom baths all the time,” she says.

Actress Busy Phillips, Spanx founder Sara Blakely, and Vanessa Traina also love Epsom salts — specifically, lavender-scented Epsom salts, which they use in the bath to help them relax. “It helps you sleep; it helps you feel better; it relaxes your muscles,” says Phillips, who buys her salts at the drugstore.

Designer Zac Posen also unwinds by soaking in an Epsom-salt bath, but he opts for the eucalyptus scent, saying it is “incredibly soothing, especially when the seasons are changing.” Posen adds: “It clears your sinuses, and I think the Epsom salts are supposed to pull out toxins.”

Duckie Thot describes Metamucil as an “inside cleanser” and says that she has it every morning “with breakfast, and it just gets you going for the day.”

Gay culture is knowing what Metamucil is for. Honey, I don’t leave the house without two capsules. I take two before bed, and it keeps you ready for when duty calls,” says former Out Magazine editor-in-chief Phillip Picardi.

These squeeze-packets of vitamin C are among the most celebrity-endorsed products on the Strategist — Hayden Slater, poet Cleo Wade, Girlgaze founder Amanda De Cadenet, fashion designer Jenni Kayne, jewelry designer Irene Neuwirth, and Kourtney Kardashian all say the packets help them ward off sickness and that they can’t live without them. “I never take those sugary, to-go vitamin C — I think this is, like, the real deal,” says Kardashian, who also notes that they’re good for your skin (Kayne agrees, saying that the “antioxidant and collagen” in the product makes her “glow from the inside out.)

Sugar content aside, Yvie Oddly says that one way she and RuPaul’s other girls stay healthy amid their constant travel is by taking a packet of Emergen-C “every single day.”

Similarly, Celeste Ng says that she has a two-part process for fighting off colds while traveling on book tours. The first step: “Taking an Emergen-C packet every morning.” (She opts for the raspberry-flavored variety.)

The second step in Celeste Ng’s cold-fighting routine is taking a Zicam pill when she feels a cold coming on. “It really does seem to shorten the length of the cold, or knock it down to just a few days — I swear by it,” she says.

From the snack aisle

Of all the brands of coconut water, Ken Fulk and author Rebecca Makkai both say that Harmless Harvest tastes the best. “Everything else tastes synthetic in comparison. I buy it by the caseload,” says Fulk.

Listen. Crystal Light is everything. For those of us who are always dieting, it makes you feel like you’re cheating,” says Tituss Burgess, who told us he these fruit punch-flavored packets everywhere he goes.

Actress Anna Camp is “always looking for healthy drinks that quench my thirst.” Camp says she is so “obsessed” with this green tea that she has one a day.

Another green-tea obsessive is Imaan Hammam, who claims she drinks somewhere between two to five (“Are people going to think I’m crazy?”) of these every day for “a little wake up.”

Similarly, Anwar Hadid loves having tea on the go, but prefers this peach-flavored black tea. “If I’m at a gas station or a corner store, I’m getting a bottle of Pure Leaf. It’s a classic,” he says.

“I drink Coke Zero like I drink water,” says Artforum Editor-in-Chief David Velasco, who goes through “a two-liter bottle in a day — not always but sometimes.”

Diet Coke is the “cocktail of choice” for “sober alcoholicCassandra Grey, the founder of Violet Grey. “I am particularly fond of the packaging. I like the way it looks on me. I drink it with a chic straw, which makes the aesthetic even more alluring,” she adds.

According to Jean Pigozzi, “Pellegrino has the best bubbles. I never take it with lime, though. You don’t want to spoil it.”

Grapefruit-flavored LaCroix, however, is the sparking water of choice for Amanda de Cadenet and YouTuber Tyler Oakley. “Maybe it’s the hype, maybe it’s the beautiful can, whatever it is, I’m hooked,” says Oakley.

Derek Hough is also hooked on sparkling water (“It’s all I drink now”), but he prefers cans of Bubly. “It just tastes fresh and delicious. I easily drink five cans a day,” he says.

Cheese puffs or balls in a large, multi-gallon container bring me joy, because they imply bounty — cheese puffs for a month or so,” says Matt Walsh, who always keeps a giant jug in his house. When it comes to taste, he believes “the more synthetic-looking and tasting, the better.”

On the other side of the cheesy-snack spectrum, Laura Brown goes for this “healthier” white-cheddar popcorn. “I’ve tried other cheese popcorns and it’s either not cheesy enough or too cheesy or leaves too much residue on your fingers. These still leave residue, but not so much,” she says.

Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran, the founder of the Corcoran Group, says that these chips have “this cilantro and limey tart flavor that’s perfect.” So perfect, in fact, that she told us she could easily eat an entire bag in one sitting, but must limit herself to two bags a week.

“This is the only ice cream that I eat. If I can’t find Häagen-Dazs coffee ice cream, I’ll abstain, but if I find it, I eat a lot of it,” says Jean Pigozzi, who is not a coffee drinker but thinks the taste and consistency of this ice cream is “a masterpiece.”

Julia Fox is so “obsessed” with these double-caramel Magnum bars that she could have “three at a time.” She adds: “Magnums are very popular in Italy and, growing up, I spent a lot of time there. I’m Italian. I just picked one up, and it’s been a lifelong love affair ever since.”

Corky Pollan loves to have friends over, drink a glass of wine, and snack on pistachios. “Everyone slowly opens the pistachios and eats them, instead of gobbling down handfuls of nuts.”

Miss USA Cheslie Kryst also likes having nuts as a snack, but prefers these wasabi-and-soy-flavored almonds that she says have “a very strong smell, but are actually so good.”

These cookies-and-cream-flavored protein bars are a go-to snack for Michael Strahan and actor Daniel Radcliffe. “Put them in the microwave for 20 seconds and crush almonds or pecans on them, and then they’re a delicious treat,” says Radcliffe.

Entenmann’s cheese-danish rolls are one of legendary basketball player Shaquille O’Neal’s go-to snacks. “Ah, I would go to jail for those things,” he says.

When Shaq is on a diet but wants a “cheat-day taste,” he told us he always goes for miniature chocolates, including York Peppermint Patties or fun-size 3 Musketeers.

New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast can’t live without Lindt chocolate. “Dark, with sea salt, is the current fave,” she says.

Sutton Foster is a Lindt fan, too, but prefers its dark chocolate in truffle form. “Those are my favorite. They’re hard to keep around because they go fast.”

La La Anthony’s chocolate of choice is Nestle Crunch. She says, “There’s not a single person who loves Nestle Crunch more than I do. I feel like the company knows this about me, they’ve sent me surprise Nestle Crunch before.”

Anwar Hadid doesn’t “really like chocolate that much” but says that Red Vines are his “favorite candy” of all time.

$23 for 18

Derek Hough, however, is a Twizzlers stan, calling them a “little indulgence” that he always keeps in the house. “I’m not really a candy guy, but then I had Twizzlers, and was like: ‘Oh, these are good,’” he explains.

Unlike Derek Hough, Steph Curry has always had a sweet tooth, telling us that he grew up eating bowls candy at his godmother’s house (“She definitely enabled my habit”). Now, Curry has “a handful a day, if not more” of sour candy.

Lizzie Grubman also grew up eating candy — specifically, these cola-flavored gummies, because she wasn’t allowed to have soda. She still doesn’t drink soda, and still loves the “phenomenal” candy, saying “they have to be Haribo, too — no other brand’s cola gummies are as good.”

Television personality Bevy Smith keeps her breath fresh with Altoids, but also loves the product’s tin: “I used to buy the large-size ones, and I’d put everything in those tins, from safety pins to condoms. But then they released these tiny tins, and they can fit into even the tiniest evening bag.”

Similarly, Noah Schnapp depends on Altoids to keep his breath fresh. But better breath isn’t the only reason Schnapp carries the curiously strong mints: “They give me something to do — if I’m fidgety, I can just chew on one and it keeps me occupied,” he says.

$19 for 14

Dancer Maddie Ziegler of Dance Moms fame says all it takes to keep her breath fresh is one piece of Trident Original. “You know how a lot of gums lose flavor in five minutes? This gum does not. I can chew it for 30 minutes and not even think about it,” she says.

Julia Fox and Phoebe Robinson both love the taste of orange Tic Tacs and buy them in bulk. “Why orange? It tastes great! I know it’s an artificial flavor, but who cares, y’all?” says Robinson, who told us she uses the Tic Tacs to keep from biting her nails.

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109 Famous People on Their 149 Favorite Drugstore Products