I've Been Testing Beauty Products for 3 Years—These 39 Are My Absolute Favorite

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(Image credit: @erin_jahns)

Even though I'm still fairly green in beauty editor years, the number of products I've tested in my time at both Byrdie andBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing falls just under (give or take) 3000. How did I come up with that number? On a slim week, I receive at least 20 products from brands to try and review. Multiply that by four weeks in a month, then by 12 months in a year, then by three years, and you'll land at a whopping 2880. Folks, that's a lot of beauty products. And honestly, I really try to test it all. Even if I can't use a product myself (for instance, if a serum has an ingredient my skin is sensitive to), I'll enlist my mom, a trusted friend, or someone else at the office to give the formula a test-drive for me. Despite the gazillions of product and brand launches that seem to occur on a weekly cadence, it is possible to stay on top of the beauty industry's ever-pumping pulse. Not surprisingly, that territory comes with lots of highs (products that are legitimately wonderful) and lots of lows (products that are scarily inept). Here atBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing , we always keep it real and only recommend the things we really truly tried, wore for more than two minutes, and loved. 

That said, there is only a select collection of hair, skin, makeup, and body products I'm so extremely satisfied with that I would happily use them for the rest of my life with zero FOMO. And here's the real kicker: I was using a hearty helping of said beauty products before I was a beauty editor and just a super nitpicky consumer. When you're trying so many products every second of every day, it can be easy to forget what's really, really amazing and what's just mediocre. So in an effort to get back to the basics and highlight the true, best-of-the-best beauty products I'm obsessed with, I've created a list. After three years as a beauty editor and after having tested roughly 3000 beauty products, here are my top 39. Keep scrolling! 

Things to keep in the shower and bathroom:

1. Goop G.Tox Glacial Marine Clay Body Cleanser

2. Nécessaire The Body Lotion

3. Flamingio 5-Blade Razor With Replacement Blade Cartridge

4. Boy Smells Candle

5. Quip Copper Metal Electric Toothbrush

6. Byredo Hand Wash in Rose

7. Verb Ghost Oil

8. Unite 7 Seconds Detangler Leave-In Conditioner

9. Amika Perk Up Dry Shampoo

10. Olaplex Hair Perfector No. 3

11. Slip Small Slipsilk Scrunchies

12. Aquis Lisse Emerald Limited Edition Hair Turban

13. Bondi Sands Liquid Gold Self-Tanning Foam

Things to put on your skin:

1. Koh Gen Do Cleansing Spa Water Cloths

2. iS Clinical Cleansing Complex

3. Renée Rouleau AHA/BHA Blemish Control Cleanser

4. Facile Essence

6. M-61 PowerGlow Peel 

7. 111Skin Space Defence Bright Eye Lift Gel

8. PCA Skin Hyaluronic Acid Lip Booster

9. Fresh Sugar Advanced Therapy Lip Treatment

10. Joanna Czech Facial Massager

11. Joey Healyt Brow Renovation Serum

Things to keep in your makeup kit:

1. Tarte Sea Quench Hydrating Primer

2. Lash Star Supreme Lash Curler

3. Physicians Formula The Healthy Foundation With SPF 20

4. Beautyblender The Original Beautyblender

5. MAC Cosmetics Studio Fix 24-Hour Liquid Concealer

6. Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder

7. TheBalm Mary-Lou Manizer

8. Armani Beauty Fluid Sheer

9. Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush Collection

10. Tarte Tarteist Double Take Eyeliner

11. Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer

12. Glossier Lash Slick

13. Urban Decay All Nighter Long-Lasting Makeup Setting Spray 

14. Victoria Beckham Beauty Lid Lustre

15. Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat Lip Liner

16. Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick

Beauty Director

Erin has been writing a mix of beauty and wellness content forBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing for over four years. Prior to that, she spent two and half years writing for Byrdie. She now calls Santa Monica home but grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and studied writing, rhetoric, and communication at University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. She studied abroad in Galway, Ireland, and spent a summer in L.A. interning with the Byrdie andBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing family. After graduating from UW, she spent one year in San Francisco, where she worked as a writer for Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen before moving down to L.A. to begin her career as a beauty editor. She considers her day-to-day beauty aesthetic very low-maintenance and relies on staples like clear brow serum (from Kimiko!), Lawless's Lip Plumping Mask in Cherry Vanilla, and an eyelash curler. For special occasions or days when she's taking more meetings or has an event, she'll wear anything and everything from Charlotte Tilbury (the foundations are game-changing), some shimmer on her lids (Stila and Róen do it best), and a few coats of the best mascara-type product on earth, Surratt's Noir Lash Tint.