If All My Beauty Products Vanished, This Is What I’d Repurchase ASAP

It's me and my Japanese sunscreen against the world

May 08, 2025

If the phrase “beauty guru” means anything to you, you might be entitled to financial compensation.

In the golden age of the beauty YouTuber1, I was wearing purple matte lipstick with sincerity and spending my weekends attempting the perfect cut crease. Fast forward ten years, and I don’t own a single pot of eyeshadow.

My makeup and skincare regimen has paired down quite a bit as I’ve gotten older and as the beauty world has evolved — a charge led largely by the unparalleled success of Glossier’s “skin first, makeup second” industry takeover. As of now, my main focuses are: maintaining a routine that is as simple and manageable as it is effective; fully finishing my products before buying replacements; and treating my skin gently above all (my face is not an experiment!).

And because I’m a staunch loyalist in the realm of beauty, the real MVPs of my bathroom cabinet have been on the team for years. I’ll always favor what I know works well over a newer shinier serum.

We’ve chatted about what I would replace if my clothes went all Jack Berger on me and I woke up in the morning to find an empty closet — after I had a meltdown, of course — but this is what I’d replace immediately if everything in my bathroom cabinet pulled the same trick. (If you were a fellow Into the Gloss fiend, consider this my Top Shelf.)

Beauty talk disclaimer: I share nothing with the intention of promoting “anti-aging” or the idea that any skincare or makeup is necessary. There’s no right way to wear your own skin. SPF is the only non-negotiable around here, skin cancer is no joke. I highly recommend

The Review of Beauty by Jessica DeFino

for a nuanced and critical look at the beauty industry.

Glossier Lash Slick

Drafted: 2018

I bought the very first drop of this mascara in 2018 and never looked back. While I’ve occasionally branched out to try and see if anything else compares, I’m always disappointed.

Lash Slick stays on without being waterproof yet washes off so easily at nighttime with water or an oil-based cleanser. It’s lengthening, never clumpy, and if you’re in search of a my-lashes-but-better product, this is what you’re looking for. So many of my friends consider this their holy grail, too.

Krave Beauty Matcha Hemp Hydrating Cleanser

Drafted: 2020

Sadly Krave Beauty doesn’t sell these in bulk officially, but I buy them two or three at a time so I’m never forced to use inferior spare cleanser. Water-based cleansers usually leave my dry skin feeling parched and taught to the point of pain. This one only brings joy.

The matcha hemp concoction doesn’t strip my skin to its driest form, and I need only a small dot of product to wash the day away. I genuinely don’t know what I’d do with myself if it ever got discontinued.

OPI’s Big Apple Red

Drafted: 2021

I almost never wear any other polish. My toenails and fingernails are always red, apart from the week or two of bare nails in between paint sessions when I’m putting off the task (I hate not being able to use my hands for that long!).

It’s a perfect shade of true red with cool undertones, which (I think?) matches mine (?) according to one very nice Glossier employee many years ago and about 10 friends who know more about color seasons than I do (they say I’m a winter) (I say choose the red that speaks to you).

Hero Cosmetics Mighty Patch

Drafted: 2020

I suffered from an unprecedented bout of hormonal acne during the summer of 2020 (convenient time for everyone to be inside) and found that keeping a patch over newly forming breakouts was the most effective treatment for my skin. In the five years since, I feel like I’ve tried every brand, but I’ll always come back to these.

The adhesive of Hero brand patches is unmatched — they’ll even stay on in the shower, which I know because I’ve forgotten to peel them off before showering more times than I’d like to admit. My life-changing hack: I buy the surface area patches and cut them into smaller squares according to the size of the breakout. With this method, the pack makes around 5 times as many patches as the pack of individual circles and lasts far longer.

Skin Aqua Super Moisture Essense SPF

Drafted: 2022

I’ve been using Korean and Japanese sunscreen since early college days (non-American SPF filters are far superior), and after a major scandal in 2020 where my favorite brand was found to be lying about the true SPF of their product, I went on a hunt to find the best alternative. This is it.

I love this sunscreen so much I buy it in bulk from Stylevana. I’ve tested different brands in between bottles of Skin Aqua — and there are plenty others I love and would use in a pinch — but I always return to my one true love. (Yes, Beauty of Joseon is wonderful, but this still wins in my book.)

Banana Boat Light as Air SPF

Drafted: 2024

This might be the first time in history a dad has put his daughter onto a skincare product. He called me last summer to tell me he was bringing an amazing new sunscreen on a family holiday (that he discovered via Wirecutter, of course), but I can’t say I believed him fully until I tried it myself.

It feels like regular lotion — but still has that perfect beach-y coconut-y nostalgia-inducing sunscreen smell — and melts into the skin with ease. In my fantasies they release a 70+ SPF and deliver 100 bottles right to my front door. I don’t think I can go back to any other body sunscreen after this one. Wirecutter and dads everywhere win this round.

Dr. Jart Cicapair Tiger Grass Color Correcting Treatment SPF 30

Drafted: 2021

I detest wearing foundation. It looks so stunning on other people, but sensory-wise, I want to rip my skin off when I put on anything thicker than a tinted moisturizer. And even that’s pushing it.

With my pale complexion, this green-tinted redness-reducing cream is an ideal alternative to foundation. This way I can target splotchiness or inflamed breakouts with a little dot of product without having to put on a full face. Major bonus: it’s got added SPF in it.

I certainly can’t personally speak for its efficacy on deeper complexions (I’m naturally the color of a ghost), but for my own skin goal of reducing redness, it works wonders.

La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5+

Drafted: 2022

I first tried the LRP B5 balm when my dermatologist — a stunning Upper East Sider who wore 4-inch stilettos to our first appointment — prescribed me my first retinoid. I knew my dry sensitive skin would need some extra TLC, and I fell in love with this cult favorite product immediately. (The B5 baume is very similar to the B5+, but I prefer the +.)

In more recent times, I use this as my daily nighttime moisturizer post-double cleanse. It’s been especially necessary through this extra dry extra cold extra shitty winter. I go to sleep every night with a glazed face, and by morning, my skin has absorbed it all leaving me with a hydrated base for the day.

Honorable Mention: Dieux Skin Air Angel Hydrating Gel Cream

Drafted: 2023

I worship at the bathroom cabinet of Charlotte Palermino. When she launched Dieux Skin in 2020, I felt as though all my prayers had been answered. The Air Angel moisturizer is another product I purchased the second it launched.

This is my favorite gel moisturizer of all time — for the first 20-ish years of my life my skin refused to accept anything other than a gel cream formula, and this is by far my favorite. I’ve emptied several bottles of this, and every other Dieux product I’ve tried has been incredible too.

The only reason this isn’t an immediate re-purchase is the cost. Realistically, if everything in my cabinet skipped town, I’d first replace the La Roche-Posay double duty cream for a fraction of the price. Air Angel is definitely worth it, though, and you just can’t go wrong when Charlotte’s in charge.

I’d love to hear about your Top Shelf (and where you think your skincare might jet off to if they escaped the bathroom cabinet… mine are headed to the beach, for sure). Leave a comment or reply to this email to let me know.

You can catch me doing other things over on IG too. Talk later! Hope you get a free moment to read in the sunshine today.