Do These Insta-Famous Skincare Products Live Up to The Hype?
It’s easy to get sucked in when highly anticipated products launch and beauty influencers, celebrities, and the rest of your Instagram feed is buzzing about how they are #everything. But we all know that social media can be a little shady sometimes, with brands paying top dollar to sponsor posts, and so we are firm believers in always doing our research before adding them to our cart – especially when it comes to skincare. Everyone’s skin is totally different, and unfortunately, there’s no magic potion that leads to universal #skingoals. So, we decided to take matters into our own hands (well, faces) and see if some of the latest famous Instagram skincare stars live up to their glowing reviews.
Summer Fridays Jet Lag Mask
Unless you’ve been on a serious vacation from social media, you’ve likely heard about this travel-inspired mask created by beauty influencer Marianna Hewitt and her bestie Lauren Gores Ireland. Within weeks of it hitting the new beauty brand’s site, nearly every major magazine and website began singing its praises, leading to it hitting Sephora stores… and almost immediately selling out (don’t worry, it’s back in stock). So, what’s packed inside this buzzy blue tube that’s caused it to take a fast trip to the top of the beauty ranks? Though the name may imply that its primary use is for a post-flight perk-up, the hydrating treatment – made with chestnut extract, vitamin C, E, shea butter, and cucumber extract – is ideal for anyone with a busy, on-the-go lifestyle. The lotion-like formula transforms dull stressed-out skin in minutes, although you can totally leave it on longer since it almost instantly absorbs, so you forget you have it on. We especially love that the product doesn’t have any parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances, or dyes since the ladies created the formula when Lauren was pregnant. It needed to be free of any icky ingredients.
Drunk Elephant T.L.C. Sukari Babyfacial
For those days when you really need your skin to come through, this at-home facial with a super-potent cocktail of acids is no joke. A combined 27% of AHA and BHA’s (we told you it was no joke), including glycolic, tartaric, lactic, citric, and salicylic, this treatment truly lives up to its name by breaking down any build-up of dead cells on skin’s surface leaving it, well, baby soft. Scared that the crazy-high level of acids is too strong for your reactive or sensitive skin? The good news is that it’s formulated at an ideal pH Level (3.5-3.6) and balanced by soothing ingredients like matcha tea, milk thistle, non-fragrant plant oils, and chickpea flour to help prevent irritation. While a slight tingly feeling means it’s working, and some residual redness afterward is totally normal (it’s basically like getting an in-office peel at a derm), if you start to notice an instantaneous reaction that looks like hives or a rash, you should wash it off ASAP. Another disclaimer: this product should not be used in conjunction with retinol.
Sand & Sky Brilliant Skin Detoxify + Brighten Purifying Pink Clay Mask
Similar to the success of the Summer Fridays Jet Lag Mask, this brand from Down Under sent the beauty world spinning with another social media sensation, a pore-purging mask made from pink clay (kaolin). Featuring other ingredients native to Australia like aloe vera, Kakadu plum, kelp, and witch hazel, the congestion-clearing treatment also has skin soothing and brightening benefits. After applying the mud-like mask with its included brush, it quickly dries and goes to work (read: sucks out all of those impurities and blackheads lurking under the skin’s surface). While its pretty pink color makes for a good ’gram, we have to say we were more impressed with how soft and rejuvenated our skin felt after wearing it for just ten minutes. We’re just grateful that thanks to the internet, we don’t have to travel halfway around the world to get it.
Ole Henriksen Banana Bright Eye Crème
It’s no secret that makeup artists have been using banana powder for years to bake and set concealer so it stays crease-free on their celeb clients who spend full days in front of the camera. But the yellow-tinted powder is also great for the undereye area because it gives a brightening boost to counteract dark circles. Now, the insider ingredient is hitting the skincare shelves inside this orange pot of eye cream from Ole Henriksen. Infused with banana powder-like pigments, three forms of powerful vitamin C, and collagen, the creamy formula immediately illuminates undereyes and smooths fine lines, making it the perfect base for your makeup application. Oh, and the crispy, citrusy scent will help wake you up, too.
Let us know what other hyped-about products you’ve seen that you want us to try in the comments below.
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