There is a specific kind of question that sounds simple until it detonates in your brain.
“What beauty products are you loving right now?”
It’s the beauty equivalent of being asked, “So who are you, really?” on a third date. You can’t just answer quickly. You can’t be honest without oversharing. And if you try to explain properly, you’ll end up talking for forty-five minutes, gesturing wildly, and referencing at least one formative childhood memory you did not plan to unpack.
Because beauty, if you’ve been doing it long enough, stops being about mascara or moisturizer and starts being about systems. Rituals. Control. Comfort. Nostalgia. Identity. The fantasy that this time—this serum, this towel, this vaguely expensive oil that smells like rain on a ghost’s jacket—you will finally transcend being a person who occasionally wakes up with a mysterious new blemish and a sense of low-grade dread.
So when people ask what I’m loving right now, my mind doesn’t go blank because there’s nothing there. It goes blank because everything rushes in at once.
The hair dryer that turns five minutes of arm strain into a controlled blast of competence.
The body wash that convinces my nervous system we live in a spa and not a society.
The lip product that makes me feel like the most put-together version of myself even when I am wearing sweatpants that have emotionally given up.
Beauty isn’t one product. It’s a constellation.
Which is why narrowing it down to twenty-five felt both indulgent and mildly unhinged.
The Origin Story We All Pretend Isn’t an Origin Story
I fell in love with beauty young—young enough that my earliest memories involve lip gloss applied by someone else and the feeling that something magical had just happened to my face.
There are photos of me at four or five, post–birthday-party makeover, staring into a mirror like I’ve just been handed state secrets. That look—that quiet awe—is still the feeling I chase now, decades later, when a product actually delivers.
By my teenage years, beauty became less about fun and more about survival. Acne has a way of turning curiosity into obsession. I didn’t just use skincare; I studied it. Blogs were devoured. YouTube tutorials were memorized. Sephora trips became pilgrimages, with my best friend dragged along as moral support and occasional voice of reason.
Beauty wasn’t frivolous. It was armor.
And even when the acne faded, the fascination never did. It simply matured. These days, what really gets me is a fragrance that smells like skin but better, or a perfectly brown ’90s lip that reminds me of old photos of my mom looking effortlessly cool while the decade did its thing.
Beauty became less about fixing and more about curating. About choosing how you want to feel when you walk out the door—or when you decide not to.
So when I finally sat down to make this list, I realized something unsettling: I have loved a lot of formulas. I have tried so many. And the difference between “favorite” and “almost made it” can be painfully slim.
These twenty-five are the ones that stayed. The ones I reach for even when I’m tired. The ones that survived both hype and reality.
Welcome to my beauty closet. It’s organized emotionally, not alphabetically.
Hair: The Products That Save Time, Texture, and Sanity
Crown Affair The Hair Towel
The Hair Towel That Doesn’t Cause Frizz
If you think a towel is a towel, you have not spent years undoing the damage caused by aggressively rubbing your hair like it owes you money.
This towel understands restraint. It absorbs water without starting a fight. It doesn’t rough up the cuticle or leave you looking like you lost a bet with humidity. It’s the kind of product that quietly improves your life and then lets you take all the credit.
Rōz Milk Hair Serum
A Fine Hair–Friendly Leave-In Conditioner
Fine hair exists in a constant state of betrayal. Too much product and it collapses. Too little and it revolts.
This serum threads the needle. It hydrates without heaviness, smooths without grease, and somehow manages to make hair look healthy instead of styled. Which is the actual goal, even if we pretend otherwise.
Emi Jay Angel Wings Aura Hair + Body Mist
The Hair Mist That Smells Like Me
This doesn’t smell like a product. It smells like a person—specifically, a person who has their life together and maybe owns linen sheets.
It’s soft, intimate, and impossible to overdo. The kind of scent people lean into instead of asking about.
Dyson Supersonic r
Use This for a 5-Minute Blowdry
Yes, it’s expensive. No, I didn’t want to love it. And yes, it genuinely changes how long it takes to dry your hair.
Five minutes. That’s not marketing copy; that’s reclaimed time. Time I will immediately waste doing something else, but still.
Body: Where Luxury Pretends It’s Self-Care
Nécessaire The Body Wash Santal
A Body Wash That Relaxes My Muscles
Some body washes clean. This one convinces your shoulders to drop.
It smells warm, grounding, and expensive in a way that makes you pause mid-shower and think, Maybe I’m doing okay.
Kate McLeod Daily Stone
An Ultra-Nourishing Body Stone
This feels like moisturizing via ritual. You warm it up, glide it on, and suddenly the act of applying lotion feels intentional instead of obligatory.
It’s deeply nourishing and oddly satisfying, like you’re participating in an ancient practice that just happens to come in chic packaging.
Tronque Firming Butter
The Most Luxurious Body Cream
This is not a casual purchase. This is a commitment.
But if you want your body cream to feel like it belongs in a private villa bathroom somewhere far away from your inbox, this is it. Rich, indulgent, and unapologetically extra.
Fulton & Roark Cloudland Formula 5 Oil
A Body Oil That Smells Like Rain
There are very few scents that actually smell like rain. This one does.
It’s atmospheric without being dramatic. Subtle without being forgettable. The olfactory equivalent of standing outside just long enough to feel something.
Skin: Where Hope Goes to Be Bottled
Guerlain Abeille Royale Youth Watery Oil
A Serum That’ll Make You Glow
This sits beautifully between oil and serum, delivering hydration without shine and radiance without effort.
It’s the kind of product that makes people ask what you’re doing differently—and then look disappointed when the answer involves bees and money.
Tatcha The Dewy Skin Cream
The Dry Skin Savior
When your skin feels like it’s been personally offended by winter, this is the peace offering.
Rich, comforting, and instantly soothing, it makes dryness feel like a solvable problem instead of a personality trait.
Sophie Pavitt Face Omega Rich Moisturizer
A Great Overnight Moisturizer
This works while you sleep, which is exactly when I want my skincare to do the heavy lifting.
You wake up looking like you made better choices than you did.
Tata Harper Calming Crème
The Cream That Helped My Rosacea
When your skin is reactive, “gentle” isn’t enough. It needs to be actively reassuring.
This cream delivers calm in texture, formulation, and effect. It’s not flashy. It’s reliable. And sometimes that’s the most luxurious thing of all.
Krave Beauty Beet The Sun SPF 40
A Weightless Sunscreen
If sunscreen feels like sunscreen, I will not use it.
This feels like nothing. No cast. No drama. No excuses.
Base & Glow: The Art of Looking Like Yourself on a Good Day
Refy Brightening and Blurring Serum Concealer
A Concealer That Makes People Compliment Your Skin
This doesn’t hide your face; it refines it.
Lightweight, forgiving, and oddly flattering, it does what concealer should do without announcing itself.
Pat McGrath Sublime Perfection Under-Eye Powder
A Great Blurring Powder
Under-eyes are delicate. This powder understands that.
It blurs without settling, sets without drying, and somehow makes you look rested even if you absolutely are not.
Dior Backstage Glow Maximizer Palette
A Viral Highlighter Palette
Yes, it’s viral. No, it’s not overrated.
These shades give glow without glitter, light without aggression. It’s flattering in real life, which is still the highest compliment.
Color: Subtle Drama, Carefully Applied
Merit Flush Balm Cream Blush
The Blush That Looks Like Watercolor
This melts into skin in a way that feels effortless and forgiving.
It’s the kind of blush that makes you look like you naturally flush at the exact right moments.
Make Infinite Brow Nano Pencil
A Fine-Tipped Brow Pencil
Brows should look like brows. This pencil gets out of the way and lets that happen.
Precise, natural, and impossible to mess up if you have even a vague idea of where your eyebrows live.
Kulfi Badi Lash Tubing Mascara
This Will Make Your Lashes Look Fake
In the best way.
Length, volume, definition—and it comes off without a fight. Which, frankly, feels revolutionary.
Lips: Where Personality Lives
Anfisa Skin Ân-Gloss Ceramide Lip Treatment
The Lip Treatment That Actually Works
This isn’t shiny hope in a tube. It’s real hydration with staying power.
Your lips feel better the next day, which is the actual test.
Chanel Rouge Coco Flash
A Classic Lipstick
Glossy, comfortable, and timeless. It’s been around forever for a reason.
This is what you reach for when you want polish without pretense.
Victoria Beckham Beauty Lip Definer
The Perfect Nude Liner
The right nude liner changes everything.
This one enhances shape without harshness, definition without drama. It quietly does its job and lets the rest of your face take the credit.
The Closet, Closed—for Now
This list could have been longer. Painfully so. There are products that just missed the cut, formulas I still think about, and things I’ll probably fall for next week.
But these twenty-five represent something more than trends or hype. They’re the ones that earned their place through repetition. Through mornings when I was tired and evenings when I needed comfort. Through real use, not fantasy routines.
Beauty isn’t about perfection. It’s about how you show up for yourself in small, tactile ways. How you choose scent, texture, and ritual in a world that often feels loud and rushed.
So yes, this is my beauty closet.
You’re welcome to browse. Just don’t touch anything without asking.