The best beauty products of 2026

Skincare fans with stressed or sensitive skin: This is the sheet mask for you. The Bionassay Cytogen Masque is expressly designed for recovery. The biocellulose material sits comfortably and closely against the skin, allowing the active ingredients, including niacinamide, resveratrol, and bovine milk secretome (the protein molecules that cells secrete, such as cytokines and growth factors), to hydrate, heal, and strengthen the skin barrier. We found that even 15 minutes with the mask made a noticeable difference in our skin: It felt plump and looked hydrated and dewy, and the effects lasted through the night and into the next morning.

If you're serious about great skin, you don't want to waste your time—and you certainly don't want to waste your nights. Overnight masks are designed to be worn for extended periods, even while you sleep, so the active ingredients have plenty of time to soak in and take effect.

K-beauty brand Arocell's Super Collagen Mask 2.0 has won raves for its thick, easy-to-apply, gel-like formula that delivers powerful actives, including intensely hydrating hyaluronic acid, elasticity-boosting elastin, and ultra-low-molecular-weight collagen, which absorbs dramatically better overnight. If you're looking for that signature glass-skin look, the Super Collagen Mask 2.0 is your secret weapon.

There's a reason LED face masks have exploded in popularity: What once was a treatment you could only get at a dermatologist's office is now widely available for at-home use, giving skincare buffs a chance to get the collagen-stimulating, fine-line-reducing powers of light therapy on their own time.

We think the well-fitting Megelin Duo-Lux Laser & Light Therapy Mask offers the best of all worlds: Rather than the 200 LEDs and two or three light wavelengths most masks offer, Megelin has 334 emitters and five wavelengths, letting you fine-tune your therapy to address pigmentation, collagen production, fine lines, wrinkles, and deep rejuvenation. We liked it so much that we named it the best mask for people with multiple skincare concerns.

Read our full Megelin Duo-Lux Laser & Light Therapy Mask review.

LED masks aren't a novelty anymore, but they're still expensive. Plenty of the marquee names sit north of $400. The Dreame Chrona Photon does the opposite, packing 280 LED chips in a full-face matrix and five wavelengths into a cordless silicone mask that typically sells in the mid-$200 range.

The spec sheet holds up next to devices twice the price, with five treatment modes covering fine lines, acne, redness, and uneven tone, roughly an hour of battery life, auto-recall of your last settings, and a 10-minute daily cycle short enough that you'll actually stick to it. It's FDA-cleared and SGS-verified, and its flexible body conforms to your face rather than hovering over it. We liked it enough to hand it a Reviewed Award at IFA 2026.

There's nothing quite as satisfying as peeling a good pore strip. If you're a sucker for marveling at both the gunk that came off your nose and the clean, clear skin underneath, we think the Lift Off Pore Strip from Starface is the one to try.

Starface is best known for its tween- and teen-beloved bright yellow, star-shaped pimple patches, but the brand has packed serious skincare ingredients into the cheerful, dermatologist-tested yellow strips that users of any age can appreciate. With witch hazel to calm irritation, aloe vera to moisturize, and allantoin to hydrate, the strips are made for breakout-prone and sensitive skin.

We found the strips gentle yet highly effective, leaving our pores open and our skin soothed—and a satisfying result to stare at afterward, too.

Vitamin C is a powerful skincare weapon, combining cosmetic effects like brightening the skin and fading discolorations with protective effects like defense against sun and pollution damage. But all those benefits tend to come with a downside: Some users experience redness, irritation, dryness, and stinging, especially with more potent formulations.

We love that the Aveeno Positively Radiant Vitamin C Serum is designed for sensitive skin, making it gentle enough for new vitamin C users, and that it's fragrance-free and non-comedogenic to boot. We have sensitive skin and plenty of vitamin C experience, and we found the serum lightweight and easy to wear, with no accompanying tightness or dryness, and just as much brightening effect as similar serums priced twice or even three times as much.

As we age, our skin produces fewer growth factors, the signaling proteins that trigger cell turnover, cell renewal, and collagen production. The result for most people is more fine lines, less elastic skin, and other visible signs that say "getting older." Treating aging skin with growth factors has been part of a dermatologist's bag of tricks for years, and now skincare brands are incorporating growth factors into their formulations to leverage the same anti-aging benefits.

FactorFive's Regenerative Serum uses growth factor signaling derived from human stem cells (ethically sourced, the brand notes). It delivers it in a light serum that targets what the brand calls the five signs of aging: wrinkles, sun spots, skin laxity, skin thickness, and uneven texture. We like that the serum includes copper peptides, niacinamide, and a growth factor, and what it leaves out: parabens, phthalates, and animal testing. Our skin drank it up, leaving us smooth, hydrated, and, dare we say, more youthful-looking.

Firming serums are where skincare gets expensive fast, which is what makes Bioelements Firmwear such a welcome find: It delivers a biotech ingredient list that reads like a much pricier product.

The formula works on three tracks at once—a first-in-class biomimetic mini-protein, a retinol alternative that pairs peptides with bakuchiol, and concentrated bioactive exosomes—to target expression lines, sagging, and dullness by supporting the collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid networks. Bakuchiol is the notable inclusion here: It's the gentler stand-in for retinol, which makes Firmwear an option for people whose skin can't tolerate the real thing.

It's also vegan, gluten-free, and cruelty-free.

The Ordinary has won a legion of devoted fans for its ingredients-first skincare line, which offers proven, effective formulas without filler or fluff, and straightforward pricing that puts most of the industry to shame. The brand's Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5 (with Ceramides) serum is a perfect example: Suitable for all skin types, this intensely hydrating, quick-drying serum delivers five types of hyaluronic acid (a molecule naturally produced by the skin that can bind 1,000 times its weight in water) to help plump and hydrate multiple layers of skin. Ceramides help strengthen the skin barrier, and pro-vitamin B5, which supports the production of fatty acids, makes this a game-changer for dry skin—and you get it all for under $10.

Worth clearing up before you reach for this: The Collagen Booster Face Oil contains no collagen—the name refers to its support for your skin's own production. Unlike serums, which are designed to drive actives into the skin, oils are designed to nourish and seal, and they go on last.

We love Anima Mundi's $60 oil blend, which contains a dense mix of antioxidant-rich botanicals and adaptogenic herbs. It also behaves the way a good oil should: A few drops sink in, soften, and leave skin looking lit from within rather than slick and slimy.

If your routine is missing its final step, or if you want a plant-based alternative to the growth factor and peptide crowd, this is where to start.

It can be difficult to find a tinted moisturizer that both tints and moisturizes as well as a product with a singular purpose. FarmHouse Fresh's Tint-Sational Sheer Skin-Perfecting Serum manages both. This is a real serum with a firming peptide, retinol in the gentler retinyl palmitate form, brightening vitamin C and niacinamide, and antioxidant-rich hyssop grown on the brand's own Texas farm. And it happily carries a sheer pigment in one of four shades, from ivory to cocoa.

Its finish is dewy and light enough that freckles still pop, and thin enough that it doesn't settle into fine lines the way heavier tinted formulas do. Wear it alone on a bare-faced day, or blend it into your moisturizer to sheer the coverage out even further. It's also vegan.

Read our full review of FarmHouse Fresh skincare.

Under-eye patches usually pick a lane: hydration, cooling, or actives. K-Secret's Seoul 1988 Retinal Glow Eye Patch, which launched in September, targets all three.

The hydrogel is formulated to drop skin temperature on contact, which is the immediate de-puffing effect anyone reaching for eye patches at 7 a.m. is after. They cling to the contours of the eye area instead of sliding down your cheek, so you can stop worrying about one landing in your lap and ruining your pants.

The eye patch's actives are the interesting part of the formula: RetiNAD pairs liposomal retinal, the more potent and faster-converting cousin of retinol, with NAD to work on fine lines, elasticity, and radiance. Turmeric is in there to take the edge off, calming the redness and irritation that retinoids so often cause in the thinnest skin on your face.

Your skin barrier—the outermost layer of skin—is what stands between you and the world: the wind, the cold, the sun, and every product that touches it. It works hard, and it can show the results: sensitivity, itching and burning, dryness, and even acne can all be signs that your skin barrier is damaged and stressed.

The Intensive Moisture Basic Cream from K-beauty brand Dr. Brid C uses shea butter and collagen-signaling peptides to create a rich moisturizer that works hard to heal and rebuild your skin barrier. The creamy, silicone-free formula went on smoothly, absorbed evenly, and left our skin feeling soft and supple, even on dry spots and irritated areas. We think this is a great daily moisturizer for dry skin, and an excellent addition to the routine for anyone whose skin barrier needs some love.

Let's get it out of the way first: Anthony skincare products are designed for and marketed to men, but the All Purpose Facial Moisturizer deserves wider adoption. We think it's an excellent facial moisturizer for all users, thanks to a lightweight, easy-to-wear formulation that feels good on the skin and an ingredient list packed with useful actives like AHAs, lactic acid, and panthenol.

We appreciated many of the natural ingredients—AHAs from sugar cane, sugar maple, orange, and lemon, as well as licorice root extract for even tone and texture—and we liked the light citrus scent, which men and women alike enjoyed.

Facial sunscreens are a dime a dozen, but finding one that truly excels is a welcome surprise, and the Antipollution UV Sunblock from Aesthetic Lab ticks all the boxes. Inspired by Korean beauty but made in the U.S., Aesthetic Lab products are built around professional-grade ingredients. The antipollution sunblock offers broad-spectrum SPF 50 protection, along with antioxidants and polypeptides.

We have extremely sensitive eyes (and a graveyard of failed sunscreens to prove it), and this one was a gem. We smoothed the velvety cream over our faces and around our eyes without tearing up, stinging, or a white cast, and it looked great under makeup. If you're looking for a daily sunscreen that protects and nourishes, this is the one for you.

Milk Makeup relaunched its vegan, multipurpose sticks this summer, and we think they're better than ever. And while we like the whole lineup of creamy, easy-to-wear makeup products, the Quick Sculpt Contour Sticks stand out.

The contour color is creamy and dense: You get solid coverage with just one swipe, but the formula never feels sticky or heavy. And we love the matte-but-not-flat finish that looks completely natural (just better).

There are a lot of reasons Marlowe soaps impressed us: They feel good in the shower (we especially loved the gentle but effective exfoliation from the Body Scrub soap), and our skin felt soft and clean afterward. We also liked the light, masculine scents like neroli, pine tar, sage, and fir that made the soaps a pleasure to use without being overwhelming.

But there are even more reasons to like these made-in-the-U.S. soaps designed for men: They're paraben- and phthalate-free, never tested on animals, vegan, and certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), too. Whether you're looking for a moisturizing soap, a polishing bar, or a charcoal soap, these are the soaps we keep reaching for.

When we say there's a lot to like about Lubriderm Daily Moisture Lotion Fragrance-Free, we mean it: The unscented body lotion earned a perfect score during our testing of popular body lotions for its velvety, hydrating feel and undeniable effectiveness. We love that it's fragrance-free as well: Not only is it less irritating for sensitive skin and noses, it doesn't fight with any other perfumes or scents you want to take center stage. The cherry on top? It's one of the most cost-effective lotions on the market.

It's not just your facial skin that can get dry, flaky, and dull—it's all of your skin. Alpha's Renewal Body Lotion with 12% Glycolic Alpha Hydroxy Acid is the solution for soft skin with an even, brightened tone. A slippery consistency means it applies smoothly and absorbs quickly. While AHAs can irritate some users (the company recommends a patch test, and so do we), we found it a seamless addition to our routine.

Body lotion is the workhorse; body cream is the treat. FarmHouse Fresh's Moon Dip Body Mousse is firmly in the second camp—a whipped, dessert-thick mousse you scoop rather than pump, and that melts down into skin with a silky finish instead of sitting on top of it.

There's real credibility behind the indulgence. FarmHouse Fresh grows its own organic botanical extracts through hydroponic farming at its McKinney, Texas, headquarters, and its treatments are used in spas and luxury resorts from Dallas to Dubai. There's a charitable angle, too: Every purchase helps animals in need, and the batch code on your jar tells you which animals your particular jar supported. Bonus: It smells incredible.

Read our full review of FarmHouse Fresh skincare.

Whether it's frequent handwashing, dry winter weather, or just the effects of time, dry hands are all but inevitable. All too often, hand creams miss the mark—we know, because we've tried a lot of them. Kiehl's Ultimate Strength Hand Salve is the best for repairing seasonal and work-related skin damage like rough patches and cracks. (No wonder: Kiehl's has been in business for 175 years.) We loved its creamy yet quick-drying formula, which kept our hands feeling soft and supremely moisturized without being sticky, though it's best used right before bed for maximum impact. Its signature light eucalyptus scent was pleasant without being overpowering. The highest compliment we can pay it? It made our hands feel like our hands, but better.

Read our full review of Kiehl's Ultimate Strength Hand Salve.

Where Kiehl's does the heavy repair work, the Dionis Goat Milk Hand Cream is built for the other 15 times a day you need something: It goes on smoothly, cools the skin, and soaks right in without leaving any greasy or sticky residue behind, which is why we named it the best non-greasy hand cream. Its core ingredient—goat milk—is what makes it feel so unfussy. Its pH is close to our own, so the cream adds what your hands need without disrupting anything.

The scents are subtle; there's an unscented option for the fragrance-averse, and it costs considerably less than our overall winner.

For getting a golden glow without all the sun damage, nothing tops Bali Body Self-Tanning Mousse. We loved how easy it was to apply—and how the Color Guard tint makes sure you don't miss a spot. It smells pleasant, doesn't stain your sheets, and fades with a beautiful, natural evenness. There's a reason it's our top pick for best overall self-tanner: It's the total package.

Read our full review of the Bali Body Self-Tanning Mousse.

People with textured and natural curly hair often wash less frequently because it's a pain to manage, which can lead to buildup and dryness. Bask and Lather's Scalp Therapy System, launched in July, is a four-step routine built for exactly that: prep, cleanse, condition, and protect.

The lineup leans on aloe vera and mint to soothe, niacinamide to support the scalp barrier, and babassu oil, agave extract, and slippery elm to moisturize, soften, and detangle without the heaviness that weighs down curls.

Consistency is key: The products are designed to work together throughout the wash cycle and maintain that hydration afterward.

We like the company behind it, too. Bask and Lather is Black-owned and, based on our research, has grown into a genuine success without taking on debt.

Hair oil is easy to get wrong. Use too little, and it does nothing; use too much, and you're greasy until your next wash. The &honey Deep Moist Hair Oil is the brand's flagship for good reason: Its golden-ratio honey complex, blended with botanical extracts, is formulated to smooth and hydrate dry, damaged, and color-treated hair without leaving residue behind, which makes it as workable for daily use as it is for an intensive treatment on stressed strands.

&honey is a major name in Japanese haircare, and as of September, it's far easier to get here in the U.S.—the brand launched in Target Beauty Studio, Target's prestige beauty destination.

For maximum versatility, it's hard to beat the Shark FlexStyle. The multi-attachment hair tool can curl, blow-dry, straighten, and style hair of all kinds, and, thanks to Coanda technology, which uses a high-speed air stream, it does so with less heat damage. We found it fast and effective, and once we got the hang of it, the intuitive settings let us get the hair we wanted.

And at half the price of the similar Dyson Airwrap, it's an exceptional value.

Read our full Shark FlexStyle review.

Laifen has spent the past few years making a case for itself as a value alternative to Dyson, and the Laifen Swift 4 is its strongest argument yet, especially for those longing for a Supersonic. The Swift 4's brushless motor spins at 115,000rpm and delivers 23 m/s of airflow, which is what gets hair dry fast—and faster drying means less heat exposure, full stop.

Laifen goes further than that: Smart temperature control adjusts up to 1,000 times per second, and a dedicated 58°C (136°F) Nourishing Mode keeps things gentle enough for daily use. At the same time, negative- and positive-ion technology handles frizz and static. The Nourishing Nozzle infuses essential oils into the airflow, so your hair treatment happens as you dry—and we love that.

We've handed Laifen's beauty tech several awards at both CES and IFA in the past, and we think the brand has more room to run.

Between screens, allergies, and not enough sleep, tired eyes are a near-universal complaint. We love Renpho eye massagers for migraines and eye strain because they work. Late last year, Renpho introduced a take on its classic Eyeris eye massager by pairing it with Headspace-guided meditations.

The massager wraps around your eyes and temples to deliver a combination of gentle heat, air compression, and vibration, paired with Headspace audio content that turns a short session into a mini meditation break. We've used it, and the effect is immediate: The pressure lets go, the strain eases, and the hardest part is taking it off at the end of the session.

Renpho has become one of our go-to names in wellness tech, and this collaboration is the best expression of what the brand does well.

The smart ring category has gotten crowded, but Oura still sets the bar, and the Oura Ring 5 is the clearest demonstration of why. It's 40% smaller than the Ring 4—slim and light enough that you forget you're wearing it—without sacrificing anything. In our testing, it was just as accurate as its predecessor, the fit was wonderfully comfortable, and battery life improved to up to 9 days per charge.

What you're really buying, though, is the app, which remains the most intuitive and best-organized in the category, with sleep reporting that's still the best in class. Do note that Oura's insights require a subscription: $5.99 per month or $69.99 per year.

Read our guide to the best smart rings.

When it comes to your baby's comfort and your peace of mind, getting the right diaper is paramount. We think Pampers Pure Protection diapers are the best diaper for most babies: They're soft, exceptionally absorbent, and the well-fitting leg cuffs and secure fastening strips keep the diapers solidly in place on your growing babe.

We also love that the Pure Protection diapers are made without fragrances, parabens, latex, or chlorine bleach, which means they're gentle on baby's sensitive skin.