The 20 Products a Veteran Beauty Writer Uses (Almost Every Day)

This is my favorite morning exfoliating face wash. I use it several times a week, letting it sink in for up to two minutes before rinsing it off. That way, it clears away dead skin, tightens the pores, and leaves my complexion with a mild buzz. If you’re new to chemical skin exfoliants/AHAs (which are shorthand for alpha hydroxy acids, such as this formula’s glycolic acid), here is the perfect gateway slougher. New York City–based dermatologist Whitney Bowe agrees, saying this cleanser’s short-contact application makes it a twice-weekly “stepping stone” on your way to more concentrated AHAs.

A recent find, this USB-charging, six-speed cleansing brush with its tiny silicone bristles is a must-have. Running it over my skin for the first time, working the above cleanser in, I vowed never to lose it — or its charger. It effortlessly smooths and velvetizes my skin with 12-second pulses that let me know it’s time to shift to a new cleansing zone, and the three-minute auto-shut-off keeps me from getting carried away.

A couple of mornings a week, I paint on a layer of this physical exfoliant, let it sit for, say, 90 seconds, then peel it off with my fingertips. Its built-in slither quotient prevents me from applying too much pressure in any one area, and the exfoliant dries into a deliciously clingy film that takes a full two minutes to remove. But I suspect the way my fingers dance around my face as I peel it off just adds to the glowing complexion the product gives me (which lasts pretty much all day).

None of those moisturizing toners that’ve cropped up in recent years make sense to me. Toners are supposed to be the residue-removing finale to cleansing. I dislike it when they pile on anything new. I want them to purify. That’s just what this SkinCeuticals toner does, leaving my complexion desirably taut and so ready for what comes next.

My skin loves high-grade serums. And since I couldn’t choose among my three favorites, I’m including all of them. Each has its own unique mix of ingredients and takes a different pathway in improving the skin — so for ongoing benefits from all of them, I rotate them from day to day. The Citrix active vitamin-C formula, in its airtight pump container, I’m convinced, really does what it claims to do: build new collagen and reduce brown spots (after using this serum exclusively for a few weeks, I noticed brown spots fading and my complexion becoming more even toned). It also leaves a warming sensation that Pavlovian conditioning has taught me to crave like a zealot. Right at the top of the ingredient list, along with vitamin C, are not one but four silicone compounds, allowing this serum to ease onto my face like magic. If you’re new to potent C, start with one of Citrix’s lower, 10 or 20 percent, formulas.

Deciem, the Canadian cosmetics company that’s partly owned by Estée Lauder, has a wide range of products whose infuriating names only chemists can understand. But all is forgiven when I use this second-generation powerhouse copper potion from Deciem’s Niod subdivision. It instantly firms up my cheeks and leaves a glow on my skin and, if I use it at night as well as in the morning, my face remains skating-rink smooth for a couple of days.

This one, part of a pace-setting product line from the New York dermatologist Ellen Marmur, I always use on mornings when I’m going to wear foundation. My very choosy makeup-artist friend Brigitte Reiss-Andersen introduced this wrinkle-tackling, inflammation-reducing antioxidant formula to me as a superlative makeup primer — but, if I’m pressed for time, it also works as a moisturizer for my eyes, throat, and face.

If my post-serum skin still feels dry, I pat on a dollop of this recent non-gooey discovery, based on a formula smuggled in from Uzbekistan. One of its oddball ingredients is hops, which is supposed to give the skin the same soothing effect it has in beer. Another is moisture-binding pea peptide. I can’t swear that they make a difference, but I do love the way this cream sinks in immediately, leaving zero oil slick.

Nowhere is my complexion drier than on my lower eyelids. This pump-dispensed cream delivers instant but long-lasting dewiness and — I realized after a few days of use — plumps up and helps disguise the under-eye hollowness.

I finally found a titanium oxide–zinc oxide sunscreen that doesn’t produce a ghostly white glow. Instead, with its translucent color spheres, this liquidy, serum-y UV protectant leaves my face with a slight even-toned glow. It’s weightless, too, and feels like silk gliding onto my face, ears, and neck. Tiny pinging blender balls added to the formula remind me to shake the bottle before applying.

When I don’t feel like wearing makeup, the routine ends here. But when I do, read on for the products I use.

I apply all my eye makeup first, so I can clear away any liner and eyeshadow soot that might otherwise fall onto my foundation-covered cheeks. I start with a concealer. This one goes on as if self-propelled, and not only covers the haunting darkness under my eyes but disguises the circles that’ve been forming beneath each lower lid. Plus it’s got UV protection. Brilliant.

A prime goal on my first trip to Paris, back in the 1960s, was to get a Jean Seberg–in–Breathless pixie haircut at the Carita salon. I did. Divine. Back at the hotel, my friend Nicki took a long, caustic look, pounced on her makeup bag, and pulled out the not-yet-opened liquid eyeliner she’d bought that day. An eyeliner virgin, I urgently needed black-rimmed eyes, which Nicki painstakingly applied, despite all my blinking. Ever since, I haven’t had an eyeliner-free day in my life. Eventually, I switched to softer pencil liners, and for the nuanced look I now desire, I combine two different colors. For starters, Armani’s classic Smooth Silk Eye Pencil (which has a sponge smudger at the opposite end) in medium-brown Shade No. 2.

After drawing the brown base line, I trace on the wondrous E.L.F. pencil liner in Golden Olive, a shade that had to have been devised to bring out the murky green in my hazel eyes. Despite the rock-bottom price, it glides on effortlessly. Bonus: A sharpener is built into the lid. Genius!

Much as the new generation of weightless liquid foundations impress me, I keep reverting to my Face Stockholm cream formula in shade E (the fifth out of 23). Taking up mere specks of this thick, high-pigment cream with my fingertip, I dot them onto my nose, cheeks, and forehead, then blend them in like crazy. Discolorations and texture irregularities vanish, yet my face doesn’t look done.

I know — using face powder dates me. But when I don’t use it, I find my nose develops an undesirable shine every five or six hours like clockwork. So on goes this colorless, ultra-ultra-light loose powder (which I find far superior to cakey pressed powder).

With my pale skin, I need a very light, almost imperceptible petal-pink blush. I stay away from powder formulations, which can go on too heavily; my current choice is this liquidy formula from Peripera, in shade No. 4 (which Riley Rose calls Shy Pink, but I’ve seen other retailers call Pleased Pink). I ignore the cushion applicator on the cap, instead squeezing out a smidgeon with my fingertip and apply it gingerly above the apple of each cheek, sweeping it beneath my lower eyelids.