The 2024 Menu: Skincare Favorites by Consumer Digest
You are what you eat—and what you put on your face.
2024 has been about becoming the chicest version of myself, hence the birth of the “Chic, Conscious, Consumer”. This year, I’ve found that this version of myself has tested and refined taste. I have curated life long friend ships, additions to my closet from The Real Real and of course a killer beauty line up. I bring to you the 2024 Consumer Digest Menu - All of my favorite products I have tested and vetted for months on end and carefully selected. I’ve spent years trying product after product for “fun”, chasing something better than the previous. This year I have found products that have not been topped.
Why a menu?
Well Consumer Digest was created to think about our diets as more than just what we eat—it’s about the fashion we wear, the beauty we indulge in, the skincare we trust, and the media we consume. All of these choices shape our health, just as much as what we put on our plates.
And really, what’s more curated than a menu?
Let’s Digest!
We’ll Kick off with Aperitivo to prep you for your starter.
I think double cleansing is the most important technique K-Beauty has brought to western consumers. Let’s say it together, on 3 “Make Up Wipes Suck!”. Despite my appreciation for oil cleansing I do have some woes with it, primarily when it comes to packaging. I don’t love liquid ones because they’re messier and get in your eyes easier. I don’t love balm ones that come in a tub because I don’t like putting my hands in skincare. I do however love hybrid ones like the Eadem Dew Dream Cleansing Balm, this one comes in a tube. Making it easy to apply without much of a mess. This also makes my skin feel incredibly soft, I haven’t felt the bottom of a baby’s feet in about 10 years, but I would say it’s reminiscent of that.
When I think of love at first wash I think of this cleanser. This brand was a standout brand for me in 2024, they had many releases- some that were killer and some that were ghostly if you catch my drift. Prequel’s Gleanser is my most repurchased and emptied beauty product in a long time. I have finished about 7 of these 13.5oz bottles! This is a 50% Glycerin face wash that lathers to still clean the skin without drying it. Think Naturium’s Glow Getter Body Wash but for your face, this will give you hydrating and nourished skin. It also works well as both steps for double cleansing to remove makeup. I also like that they are now in Target making this more accessible when I run out!
Anua’s Heartleaf Cleanser has been my pores worst nightmare, like this cleanser does what it needs to do. It has BHA’s and cleanses without stripping. I primarily use this at night a few times a week in conjunction with my Gleanser in the am, the dream team. This too was love after first wash.I think this is also great for when I don’t want to use other toners or serums with BHA’s. When I am feeling lazy I may amp up using this more or let it sit on my skin for a little bit longer etc.
I travel a ton and I am constantly stuck in a cycle of try to not overpack but always overpacking. This year I really wanted to change that and I did! Part of my success was truncating my travel skincare. I found the Elta Md Foaming Facial Cleanser and never looked back, it is perfect for both morning and night like the perfect cross between the two. I might want something stronger after a few days or a week or something lighter for the days my skin just needs more moisture this is the perfect happy medium for travel. I also LOVE a foaming cleanser, I just need a lather I don’t know why, it just makes me feel like it’s doing the job.
Can I interest you in some Starters?
I’m very big in no cost skin care tips, one of them is to let your face air dry so your skin absorbs the water and gets hydrated, at some point that merged into apply a facial spray to wet skin so that absorbs. Then I was told that hyaluronic acid only works if applied to wet skin so I started keeping my hyaluronic serum in the shower, it’s a lot I know. I’ve been using the Mixsoon Hyaluronic Serum on my wet face in the shower and it is the best tip ever. I love little things that make existing products work even better. This comes with a lot of product and its quite thin, think more of an essence, so it fully absorbs into the skin by the time I’m done singing act 1 of what ever performance the bathroom is getting that day.
Milky Toners ooof. I am down bad for this category. I have tried them all and let me tell you so many did not disappoint but unfortunately some were giving “concepts of plans”. I love the Rhode one but get a little worried with clogging pores with everyday use and recommending it to others with sensitive or “thinner” skin - ie. more congestion prone. I do however lurv the Ilia Face Base which has an ingredient I love, Lactic Acid. This is the creme de la creme of ingredients, acting as an exfoliant and humectant, hydrating the skin while sloughing off dead skin. I love this is part of my skin prep on days when I’m doing make up, the Lactic acid really allows for my makeup to sit on fresh skin and gets rid of any dry skin my makeup could potentially cling to.
Now that you’re prep’ed let’s get into what you’re here for … The Main Course
It was like a storm quietly building on the horizon, the way it started—subtle, unnoticed, until the air itself felt charged. That storm? My love affair with Glycerin, It all started on Tiktok when The Glow Scout introduced me to Experiments Super Saturated from then I was hooked and there was no way out. Writing this is making me want to do my skincare JUST so I can apply Super Saturated. This serum is 30% Glycerin and trust me when I say it is the only thing that can calm my skin down and get it out of a rut. It’s a great alternative for snail mucin or hyaluronic acid. I truly think I could bounce anything off my skin after using this.
This is where I think I’ve got the cheat codes! These next two are where I’ve become “Sophia the Scientist” sorry Mariah. Also with the last one too but anyways, I’ve started to take notice of what ingredients my skin responds to and focusing on using products with said ingredients. Crazy, I know.
I guess better ingredients, better skincare.
I know my skin LOVES Glycerin, I learned this from the Super Saturated Serum, this prompted me to try the Gleanser. I knew my skin love Sea Buckthorn Oil from previous DIY days that we don’t need to discuss. With this knowledge I landed in the world of Lipid Gold. Or Liquid Gold as it used to be called when I first started using this. I have been using this moisturizer for 3 years and it has helped so much with hyperpigmentation. It’s ceramide and cholesterol packed and restores the moisture barrier (buzz word I know) - but it works trust me. This is the moisturizer that gives plump, dumpling skin.
I want to look like a baby whose mother took a tub a vaseline and went to town on them, but sometimes thats a bit much. I say all of this to say I love a good ointment and the Retrouvé Intensive Replenishing Moisturizer is the chicest version of that moment. I’m someone who often wakes up with dry skin around my nose of mouth but not when I use this, gosh do I love this moisturizer. I love to layer this on top of the Lipid Gold at night in the winter.It feels like a moisturizer version of the Dr.Loretta Replenishing Serum if you have tried that!
This is one of those products that takes a while to love.Luckily my second bottle was gifted, halfway through this product SHINED., I have finished about 3 bottles and I am on the fourth. Im a girl who believes that the right amount of trauma is rewarding…for your skin that is — ie. chemical peels, micro-needling, micro-puncturing etc. Dieux Deliverance is a gift from Dieux (God en Français, how fitting?) after those treatments, it also pairs incredibly well with the other actives I like to attack my face with. When I think of intentionality this product is it, I don’t need to have the million serums I once did - Deliverance and Super Saturated are it!
My esthetician friend did a post on Urea a while back and talked about how it can help with closed comedones and fungal acne. Urea is a skincare ingredient, so just ignore what you’re thinking it is not that! Urea can be a humectant, drawing water in at lower concentrations and an exfoliant when at higher concentrations. Its like a magic ingredient so I of course wanted a skincare product with urea in it! I found nothing interesting. I did try a moisturizer but I found it to be too thin and quite honestly a waste of time. Then Prequel launched the Urea Moisturizing Milk this has a 10% concentration, which increases cell turnover while being incredibly moisturizing and still giving an incredibly finish and feel to my skin. I’m a Tretinoin gal, so I need light exfoliation and to get some of that dead skin off, I like to do that with moisturizer when I want to be more gentle and this is great for that. I also love that this is doubles as a face and body product which, a former version of myself would side eye. I have since found Urea in so many other things I love (tell me why I just typed I love you?)You’ll see more of my love affair with urea in next weeks Consumer Digest Menu: Body Care Edition.
Does it go without saying that I love face oils? Well I do if you couldn’t tell. There’s just something about a face oil from a chic indie brand. This is reminiscent of Vintner’s Daughter before its big break or Supernal before it closed down. A face oil that does more than that, this French Farmacie Élixir Exfoliant is an AHA oil based serum that can be used as a mask or a serum. I also love to cloth it comes with to slough off dead skin when masking.
Now we’ll quickly go through the Sides
The Matrigen Collagen Peel Off Mask - This doesn’t get enough credit. This before an event trust me. That is all I have to say.
Bloomeffects Royal Tulip Nectar & The Outset Botanical Rescue Balm
I LOVE an Ointment as we’ve already established. I feel like they just add an extra layer of love, and allow my skin barrier to flourish. This way I can maintain the benefits of acids, exfoliation or treatments without the side effects of a banged up barrier. These two have been my go to’s, I love the Bloomeffects year round and gravitate towards the Outset in the winter as its thicker.
Prequel Solar Shade - Okay, this may be subtle shade but I wasn’t going to get this. As a consumer I was SO disappointed in Prequel’s first SPF launch, which I bought - it was a waste of time as it left a caste despite being marketed differently.I wish it had been clearer that it may not work for me because that was annoying. It has to be said as many of their products are on this list, including the second sunscreen they released later in the year. I wish Solar Shade had been their first SPF release so that all consumers could have had Prequel SPF options to chose from the start.
Hyper Skin Hyper Daily Spf- Competes with Korean Spf’s in every cosmetic way- from finish, to texture. The best part is it’s much easier to get as it can be found at Sephora!
Volufiline and The Beauty of Joseon Ginseng Eye Cream
I spoke about my topsy-turvy relationship with eye cream in November’s Consumer Digest and how discovering the concoction of eyecream + volufiline made me a believer again.
My go to sunscreen has been the Beauty of Joseon for a few years now, but I saw many BOJ lovers switch to the Numbuzin Sun Essence. When I finished my somewhere in the double digits tube of the BOJ I decided to see if the Numbuzin one lived up to the hype. Long story short it did. I also found this to be quite calming on my skin on the days when I did too much.
Let’s get into some fun - Desserts
Lip balms, treatments, glosses and butters just don’t cut it for New York’s brick winters. We need some thicker options, even if they aren’t tinted, sparkly or scented, especially since lipcare has become part of the skincare category.Luckily the Lanolips does have scent options, I LOVE the donut scent and have finished about 3 tubes in two months. This is cute and it does the job.
Now I love this one for bedtime, it holds moisture in and I find it to be better than most other options. I prefer this slightly thinner formula to the Lanolips for bedtime, since I’m not interacting with windchill or the outside elements this does just what I need.
This is more of a telehealth virtual check up than a Doctors Visit. This mask is a quick 2 minute AHA mask that just does what needs to be done- nothing more, nothing less.
Then I Met You Rosé Resurfacing Mask
I’ve started to lean towards acid masks over clay masks and masking less frequently. I love to use AHA masks in conjunction with my Tretinoin, however I am not recommending this as everyone’s skin is different - if you use Tret ask your Derm what actives you can use and at what percentages. I’ve been using Tret since 2016 or 2017, like since I was a baby so my skin is very used to it! This mask is gentle enough to use frequently and just gives an even tone glow.
A Visual Menu if that floats your boat.
I hope you enjoyed your meal!
I found many forever products this year and couldn’t help but share. I’ll be sharing more favorites for body care later this week.
Best,
Phia
Each Day Gets Better