10 products you’ve seen all over Instagram that are actually good
Don't buy anything from your feed before consulting this list.
Credit:
Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser, Rachel Murphy & Naidin Concul-Ticas
Recommendations are independently chosen by Reviewed's editors. Purchases made through the links below may earn us and our publishing partners a commission.
We at Reviewed are just as curious about those flashy products we see in our Instagram feeds as you are. For our 'As Seen On IG' series, our writers buy them and put them through their paces to find out if they're actually as good as they look online—or too good to be true. Spot one that we've missed? Email us at AsSeenOn@reviewed.com.
Social media ads—especially the ones in your Instagram feed—have a way of drawing you in and making the mundane seem extra appealing. They’re the 21st century’s infomercials, in miniaturized form on a loop, showing you exactly the thing you were just coveting.
We tested a lot of those “As Seen on IG” products in 2019. Nearly 50, in fact. Most fell in the “just fine” category, with some run-of-the-mill busts, and the occasional total scam. But these top 10 are our cream of the crop—and the ones we think you’ll love, too.
1. Allbirds shoes
Allbirds shoes wash, look, and feel great.
The runaway hit of social media ad campaigns, Allbirds has stepped (or is it flew?) off the internet and into actual brick-and-mortar stores in 14 locations worldwide. All puns aside, the original wool sneakers and newer tree-based ballet flats really are that good and worth every penny of their $95 price tag, according to our testers: The shoes are washable, durable, and above all insanely comfortable.
Shop shoes from Allbirds for $95
2: Away luggage
While the company caters to millennials' sense of corporate responsibility, the design of Away luggage caters to all travelers' needs.
A sleek monogrammed suitcase that packs a phone-charging battery produced a company that partners with a charity promoting world peace. Away couldn’t be more millennial clickbaiting if it tried (and, well, it most definitely did). But luckily for them, and our tester, the trendy luggage delivers on its promises of thoughtful design and long-lasting durability to suit all frequent fliers, regardless of the generation with which they identify.
3. Billie razor
Billie cuts out the pinkwashing and weird pricing schemes to streamline shaving.
As far as personal care items go, disposable-cartridge razors had quite a racket going in the ‘90s and ‘00s: Get an often-discounted “starter kit” with handle and blade for a few bucks, pay about a zillion more for the refills. Billie smoothes the whole body shaving process with its straightforward, reasonable pricing and automatically shipped refills—and lubricant-surrounded blades.
Get the Billie razor subscription starting at $9
4. Buffy comforter
Yes, the Buffy comforter is as inviting as it looks.
Ordering bedding from the internet is hardly a novel idea (hello, mattresses in a box). What’s (relatively) novel about Buffy comforters is the company’s commitment to creating a sustainable product: the fabric is comprised of eucalyptus fibers (rather than cotton or wood, which is what rayon is made from) and the fluffy filling comes from recycled plastic bottles. And while neither of those materials sounds inviting to curl up with, the Buffy most certainly is.
Get a Buffy comforter for $130+ and save $15 with the code REVIEWED
5. Ruggable
Ruggables look (and feel) great, and are machine-washable.
There’s something so too good to be true about the ads for Ruggable, showing a tidily decorated room with a colorful carpet that peels off its backing and fits into a standard washer to be laundered clean in one easy load. And yet, our reviewer—a mom of two human and three fur children—attests: Yes, Ruggable is that good.
Shop for washable rugs at Ruggable
6. Imperfect Foods ugly produce
Imperfect Foods serves up "ugly" produce that's a pretty great deal.
Bringing home bruised, blemished, or otherwise ugly fruits and veggies is usually a cause for complaint. But with Imperfect Foods, that’s the whole point—and it’s wonderful, according to our tester. By signing up for the subscription produce service, you get a great deal on a box of organic or conventionally grown produce delivered to your door, with the knowledge that you’re keeping this fresh, otherwise nutritious food out of a landfill. And because of the convenience, our tester found herself eating healthier than she otherwise would shopping at a store for picture-perfect fruits and vegetables.
Sign up for an ugly produce box at Imperfect Foods starting at $16
7. MasterClass online courses
MasterClass offers a window (screen?) into how celebrity experts reached the peak of their games.
Celebrities at the top of their fields are hardly known for their reticence in talking about who they are and how they got there in front of rolling cameras and their adoring public. And yet MasterClass—the pay-to-play platform that promises exactly that—is totally worth the price of admission, with the likes of Gordon Ramsey, David Lynch, and Annie Leibovitz espousing about the lessons they’ve learned getting to the top of their respective crafts.
Get a MasterClass subscription for $180
8. Lovevery Play Kits
Lovevery helps parents streamline the mess of toys through subscription play kits for a young child’s specific age.
A lot of baby and toddler toys are, well, junk. Plasticky tchotchkes that get lost and underfoot or loud, electronic noisemakers that lose their play value faster than parents lose their patience with the incessant midi-music plinks they expel. All of that makes Lovevery’s play kits a breath of fresh air, with their beautiful skill-building toys and books crafted from (durable, quiet) wood, silicone, fabric, and card stock, tailored to a baby or toddler’s exact age to the month.
Get a play kit subscription for babies or toddlers at Lovevery starting at $80
9. Summersalt swimwear
Summersalt delivers adorable, comfortable swimwear right to your door.
Shopping for swimsuits. Whether that phrase elicits pre-vacation excitement or dread, the prospect of stripping down to try on the tiniest of skin-tight apparel under the never-flattering fluorescent lights of a department store dressing room has no one jumping up and down with glee. Thanks to Summersalt and its easy-breezy bathing suits shipped to your home (with free return shipping, if needed), the process gets a little friendlier.
Shop for swimwear at Summersalt
10. A4Box induction cooktop
The A4Box consists of a heating base and interchangeable pots and pans that cook food using induction.
Some shiny new kitchen appliances quickly earn their countertop real estate (we’re looking at you, Instant Pot). Our reviewer submits the A4Box as the next big thing in compact multicooker appliances. The easy-to-clean nonstick griddle heats up quickly using induction and the cooktop has interchangeable pans for grilling, frying, and even slow cooking.