38 Beauty Products To Make You Jealous Of Yourself
Lumify Eye Drops, a product so beloved by TikTok that despite being more $$ than other brands, it's the number one selling brand on Amazon right now. Reviewers swear by this for instant reduction in redness in their eyes, with visible differences within a minute of use.
A delightfully affordable instant foot peeling spray for anyone ready to go full YEEHAW!! on a pedicure, without the big salon price tag. This not only helps gently remove dead skin, but moisturizes dry and cracked heels, so you'll really get some refreshing bang for your buck.
Lottabody's Coconut Oil Foaming Curl Mousse designed for all hair types to give you satisfyingly hydrated, volumized, frizz-free curls at a FRACTION of the price of its competitors.
A "Birthday Cake Stick" lip balm that earned its place as a cult-fave — not only is this super nourishing on your lips, but it tastes like vanilla cake, buttercream icing, and rainbow sprinkles, so now you can have your cake and moisturize with it, too.
Gold Bond's firming neck and chest cream your skin will be SO happy to soak up — this is formulated with aloe, salicylic acid, and jojoba oil to help hydrate, tighten, and gently exfoliate your skin so effectively that you should be able to see early results in two weeks. (For some reviewers, it only took a few days!)
A cult-favorite Creamy Coconut fragrance rollerball reviewers compare to the pricey Sol de Janeiro version. 👀☀️ This is from TikTok-famous small business brand Kuumba Made, known for its luxury scents at ridiculously affordable prices, so you know they're on their game — reviewers especially love how ~beachy~ and long-lasting this sweet but elevated fragrance feels and how nicely it plays with other scents!
Monday Haircare Dry Shampoo with all the oil-absorbing, refreshing power of its competitors, *plus* added keratin for protection against frizz and breakage. The subtle gardenia scent is just extra extra credit after all that.
A tinted lip balm that's eerily close to the same magic as "Black Honey," TikTok's beloved $25 ~universal shade~ from Clinique, that it will genuinely startle you — especially when you see the price. This is a perfect, non-sticky "go-to" lippie that's just a step above the "no makeup makeup" look, giving the perfect subtly polished effect.
Laneige's Neo Blurring Powder absorbs oil and blurs pores so effectively that you'll be like, "Oh ... witchcraft??" Might be the only explanation for how this can matte-ify your complexion while still keeping it radiant and glowy. ✨
Mise En Scene Perfect Serum, a beloved K-beauty staple reviewers compare to the $46 Gisou version for MEGA hair hydration and heat protection up to 450 degrees, so you can style your hair without sacrificing on ✨shine✨. This unique blend of seven-oil blend Moroccan argan, olive, coconut, apricot, Marula, jojoba, and camellia oil not only protects hair, but helps correct damage from dryness, *and* reduces drying time.
The Ordinary Caffeine Solution for the *ultimate* in eye-depuffing relief — this serum works over time to brighten dark circles and tired eyes so you can look fresh as a daisy, even on nights when you're Liz Lemon-ing and ~working on your night cheeeeese~ a little later than you planned.
And Catrice "Instant Awake" Under Eye Brightener, which became the internet's holy grail — now in four shades! — for concealing and brightening dark circles under your eyes so fast that everyone's old concealers are doing double takes. This lightweight color-adapting formula is designed for truly ~invisible~ coverage that makes a drastic difference.
A coconut-scented, ridiculously cooling after-sun body lotion to rehydrate and replenish your skin after long days in the sun or soaking up the drying chlorine of the pool. The whipped texture and delightful scent will have you feeling like a whole dessert 😋.
Olay Super Serum Body Wash makes anyone with dry summer skin REJOICE — this is packed with niacinamide, shea butter, and collagen peptides for 24-hour hydration that will make you feel as ~luminous~ as the sunshine. (Psst — this is the body wash version of their TikTok-famous, super effective facial Super Serum, so you KNOW they mean business.)
And Olay's Firming Body Lotion full of collagen peptides and a Vitamin B3 complex for *ultra* hydrating relief that's also designed to visibly plump, firm, and moisturize your skin — all at a fraction of the price of other firming lotions, like the internet's beloved $48 Elasti-Cream.
Color Wow's "Raise The Root" thickening and lifting spray gives your hair some instant ~~VAVOOM~~, no teasing or heat styling gymnastics required.
A "flossing toothbrush" with two layers of bristles — regular firm bristles, and longer ones that are 10 times thinner to clean deep in between your teeth and gums to mimic flossing. Reviewers love how deep the clean feels, and also how soft it is on sensitive teeth!
Sally Hansen's iconic Insta-Dri nail polish perfect for anyone who wants quick touch-ups on their fingers and toes but has ZERO time to spare. If you're looking for a reliable, long-lasting, fast-drying polish to save not just time, but big bucks at the salon, I cannot recommend these enough!
Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hyaluronic Acid Face Moisturizer with SPF 50 (!!) designed to deeply hydrate your skin, help repair its moisture barrier, *and* protect it from UV rays all at once. Reviewers also love that it's truly ~~invisible~~ and acts as a lovely primer for makeup (and is easy to reapply on top of it!). It's also sensitive-skin friendly, with reviewers on tretinoin swearing by it for extra protection. Did someone say ... HOLY GRAIL??
And Hawaiian Tropic's SPF 30 Mineral Powder Sunscreen Brush, aka your scalp's BFF this summer — reviewers don't just swear by this for face coverage and a protective setting powder, but for protecting their hairline without their hair getting goopy from sunscreen scalp sprays or regular sunscreen lotion. Bonus — this is a heck of a lot cheaper than its competitors, like the $35 Supergoop and $36 Brush On Block!
E.l.f's Lash XTNDR Tubing Mascara, a GODSEND for anyone with thin or fragile lashes. This uses lightweight ~tubing~ technology to wrap around lashes and give them a natural-looking, smudge-proof extension so good it almost looks fake. The real boon, though, is how easily the "tubes" slide off in clean, easy swipes at the end of the day when you're washing your face — absolutely no smudging, over-scrubbing, or special eye makeup removal products required.
Eos' Cashmere Skin Collection Shave Oil — yes, that's right, the astronomically TikTok-famous Eos "cashmere" body lotion now comes in shave oil form, so you can lock in that ridiculously compelling whipped vanilla, musk, and soft caramel scent *and* protect your skin from razor burn. Reviewers are notably impressed by how close of a shave they can get with this, particularly in sensitive areas!
First Aid Beauty's KP Bump Eraser Body Scrub Exfoliant helps exfoliate and smooth skin by dealing with rough patches or dry bumps — a lot of reviewers with keratosis pilaris and similar skin textures swear by this for relief, with many noticing a difference after the very first use.
A set of super affordable hydrocolloid nose pore patches (compare to the $16 Mighty Patch equivalent) that will make you go "boy HOWDY" when you see how much gunk collects on them overnight. Reviewers swear by these for gently lifting out sebum from pores and pimples and minimizing their appearance!
Medicube Turmeric Overnight Wrapping Peel Off Mask, which has already made itself a TikTok sensation — unsurprising, since the K-Beauty brand Medicube knocks it out of the park again and again. This mask goes on before bed and uses hydrolyzed collagen, vitamin C, and turmeric to help even out skin tone and improve elasticity.
Maybelline Superfluff Volumizing Brow Mousse gives your brows all the professional-level ~~vavoom~~ they deserve. This easy-to-use, buildable brow applicator lightly fluffs and tames brows to give them a fuller, softer appearance, giving them that laminated look without the expensive treatment.
MagicMinerals AirBrush Foundation, which lives up to its name and THEN some — one quick spray of the foundation on the included brush, and it glides so smoothly and subtly over your skin texture that you'll feel like a makeup artist did it for you. Reviewers in their thirties, forties, and up especially swear by this lightweight but effective formula, and love that it's ridiculously easy to use.
Boldify Hairline Powder for anyone who's like, "Hmmm. Wasn't there ... a lot more hair there before??" when they're styling their roots. This "makeup for hair" helps effortlessly fill in the gaps in your hairline so you don't have style around it. Reviewers also swear by this for touching up their roots between appointments!
Essence Loose Setting Powder Trio for three handy products for less than $5 — it's sectioned into different powders for brightening, color-correcting, and mattifying, so you can mix and match the shades to personalize your coverage based on your skin's needs.
Dae's Hair Cactus Fruit 3-In-1 Styling Cream & Taming Wand, which is basically the brand's "holy grail," TikTok-famous styling cream in the form of a mascara wand. This versatile lil' tool helps you carefully target flyaways, style edges, and smooth frizz.
Mario Badescu Drying Lotion for anyone who has had their fill of acne stickers and wants a more effective solution for overnight zit care. Just dab a constellation of this over your blemishes to help dry them out and reduce redness while you snooze. This gets extra points for being sensitive skin-friendly and easy to use!
A painless, mint-flavored teeth-whitening pen reviewers swear by as an alternative to pricey professional treatments and strips. This gets results from the very first use, lightening up years' worth of stains from coffee, tea, wine, or just, you know, existing as a human with teeth.
E.l.f.'s Holy Hydration! Thirst Burst Drops, another home run from the brand's moisturizing "Holy Hydration" line that reviewers are comparing to the $35 Watermelon Dew Drops from Glow Recipe. This lightweight formula is designed to brighten and plump skin for a dewy effect, whether you're wearing it alone, applying it under your makeup, or mixing it with your foundation.
A reviewer-beloved (and makeup artist–beloved!) beauty sponge blender that rolled up and ate up all the expensive name-brand versions for breakfast. This is firm and smooth when you use it dry for powder applications, and soft and flexible when you wet it for creams and liquids, making it the ultimate versatile sponge in your beauty trove ... for a mere $4 (!!) compared to the $20 BeautyBlender version.
A shockingly affordable "Glow Up!" Vitamin C Face Serum that packs a punch as powerful as the $30+ versions — reviewers swear by this for reducing dark spots, brightening skin, restoring tone, and giving skin a more radiant, firm look. This particular serum's secret is the 3-O Ethyl Ascorbic Acid, which helps boost ~radiance~, in addition to the hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, and vitamin E to help with hydration.
The Face Shop's Rice Water Bright Foaming Facial Cleanser, a gentle, cult-fave Korean beauty product reviewers swear by as an alternative to the pricey Tatcha Rice Wash. This hydrating cleanser removes waterproof makeup and sunscreen with ease, has an ohhhh-so-satisfying lather, and leaves skin moisturized after use.
A deliciously soothing, super gentle Briotech spray reviewers compare to the pricier Tower 28 SOS Spray. It's similarly designed with hypochlorous acid, which targets bacteria that causes acne, skin irritation, and blemishes *without* drying your skin. Reviewers swear by this handy little spray for helping not just with acne, but rosacea, eczema, dryness, dermatitis (scalp included!), and even toenail fungus.
E.l.f. Glow Reviver Melting Lip Balm for all the ultra fans of Summer Fridays, Rhode, and Laneige whose bank accounts are begging them to put a stop to the lippie madness. These new deliciously tinted, moisturizing, buildable glosses are just as buttery and decadent as the balms that inspired them, for a fraction of the price. (Brb, drowning myself in the "Strawberry Shortcake" and "Vanilla Toffee" flavors.)
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The Alters review: philosophical sci-fi carries this fascinating survival game
The Alters MSRP $39.99 Score Details 'The Alters' strong concept and philosophical choices carry a standard survival experience.' Pros High-concept sci-fi premise Deep moral choices Amazing performances Strong characters Cons Boilerplate survival mechanics Gameplay becomes routine Buy for $39 at Amazon 'Why you can trust Digital Trends – We have a 20-year history of testing, reviewing, and rating products, services and apps to help you make a sound buying decision. Find out more about how we test and score products.' We've all had those moments where we lose ourselves in thought, pondering the big 'what ifs' of our lives. What if you had followed your childhood dream of becoming a musician? What if you had mustered up the courage to ask out your high school crush? Trying to predict the butterfly effect of those possible scenarios on your life is impossible, but always an interesting thought experiment. The part we tend to focus on in these scenarios is how our choices would change our external circumstances, but rarely do we contemplate how those decisions would have changed who we would become. Recommended Videos That's the exact premise The Alters looks to explore in its high-concept sci-fi survival format. In it, players scour a small map for resources, balancing time and materials against a ticking clock and conflicting goals to please a safehouse full of clones. It doesn't break new ground in its survival loop, but the situations that arise from one man trying to live with a group of alternate versions of himself are more than engaging enough to carry a memorable experience. Me, myself, and I The premise of The Alters is a perfect blend of simplicity with deep implications. Jan Dolski is the sole survivor of Project Dolly after landing on an unexplored planet rich in a material called Rapidium, which has the unique properties of accelerating growth. With no way to survive on his own, and his corporate overlords not wanting to pass up the opportunity to extract this valuable resource, he uses it to create Alters: clones with memories from alternate life paths the original Jan didn't take. The Aters isn't afraid to do more than scratch the surface … Jan's entire life can be viewed on the ship's quantum computer to see all the key moments in his life where there would be potential branches. The first Alter, Jan Technician, is the result of a life in which he didn't go to college and stayed home to care for his mother. As soon as an Alter is created, that branch is fleshed out with a full timeline of their lives leading up to them joining the Dolly Project. That detail isn't just background flavor, either. Despite the utilitarian names for each Alter based on their profession, each Jan has a nuanced personality that you can see hints of in the original Jan that make it all the more believable that he could have been them in another reality. Bonding with each clone is where The Alters shines brightest. Each Jan will respond differently to events and how you speak to them, as well as clash with the others in natural ways. Each handles the stress and world in believable ways for the unbelievable situation they find themselves in. A Jan Alter who never got divorced will struggle with the fact that his wife never really existed, and feels jealous that he has to share some of his memories with her. Another who lost his arm grapples with a kind of reverse phantom pain when he suddenly has a new one. What's most interesting is seeing what aspects of each Jan, either shared or branching, bring them closer or create friction. It felt incredibly heartfelt seeing the moments this crew of ragtag clones found common ground, but equally compelling to see how one could hate who another became based on a single divergent choice. The Aters isn't afraid to do more than scratch the surface with all the ripe philosophical questions such a premise can elicit. Whenever an Alter wanted to speak, I would drop whatever I was working on to see what they had to say because I knew it would explore a new angle on the concept that would give me something to chew on hours after I stopped playing. There are a few other non-Jan characters you speak to over the radio that provide some interesting long-term narrative hooks, but the main attraction is seeing how one key choice in a person's life can lead to a completely different outlook. Then, taking those outlooks, putting them in a box in a perilous situation, and seeing whether or not they can survive. I have to give special praise to Alex Jordan, who rides the perfect line of giving each Jan a distinct voice while clearly being the same person. There's even a musical number that is easily the highlight of the game thanks to his performance. Race the sun As a survival game, The Alters has all the familiar trappings of the genre. You need to collect resources, build infrastructure, craft tools and equipment, and upgrade your base. A twist I appreciate here is that The Alters is broken up into acts that change up the location every few hours. Because the sun is so intensely radioactive, you can only spend so long in a given location before needing to move your base to stay out of its rays. This means I wasn't building up a settlement for long-term sustainability, but more of a makeshift situation. That removed a lot of the stress I normally feel to perfectly optimize things in survival crafting games. Instead, the goal is to find the things I need, collect them as quickly as I can, and get out. What it couldn't do was hide the fact that each location had a 'solution,' since resources only appear in set spots, and you can only place your mining platform in one determined spot within that zone. Of course, each zone presents a macro issue that needs to be overcome on top of the spinning plates of your Alter's needs, spending resources on the base, and time management. The further into the game I got, the more plates I had to let fall as time and resources became more limited and the demands only got steeper. At first, you will simply need to keep up with food production, but each new stage of the game adds another weight, like radiation storms, base malfunctions, and injuries. Every task can either be done yourself or assigned to one of your Alters. Some Alters are naturally more skilled at some jobs, such as the Miner being more efficient at mining, but no clone is precluded from doing any task, with the exception of research being exclusive to the scientist. Despite a few handy features like setting minimum amounts of things you want in storage, such as food, radiation filters, and repair kits, there's a lot of micromanagement to be done — and intentionally so. I had to start thinking like a manager over my crew of Jans for what I wanted to delegate and what tasks I would handle. By the third area, the formula does wear a bit thin. The major stressor is the base itself. Built within a giant wheel, adding, moving, and removing compartments from your base is a regular occurrence. It is reminiscent of how Resident Evil 4 and its attaché case works, but with a few more restrictions. It feels intentionally designed to force hard choices on the player, especially when you suddenly have to add a bulky room in order to progress and have to decide between ditching storage space or your crew's social room. This all may sound overwhelming, but The Alters doles out each new wrinkle at just the right pace where I felt like I had almost gotten a grip on everything, only for something new to come in and keep me off balance. It kept me in lockstep with Jan feeling right on the verge of disaster from every angle and just barely managing to hold things together. By the third area, the formula does wear a bit thin. Besides getting more efficient ways to collect resources, you will essentially be doing the same routine of exploring a small zone, uncovering deposits to build mining platforms on, and working to overcome whatever roadblock you've hit while keeping your crew as happy and healthy as possible. It serves its purpose of contributing to the pressure-cooker of a situation where I never had enough time, resources, or space to satisfy everyone, but did start to feel like a chore by the end to keep starting from scratch. There were times I wished The Alters was a pure adventure game without any of the survival elements, but that friction is what makes it work. While the interpersonal relationships and conflicts between the Jans are the heart of the experience for me, and what I can wholeheartedly recommend, I came to appreciate the basic survival loop as a way to add more agency to all the choices I made. Like all the best sci-fi stories, The Alters will leave you with plenty of philosophical questions to chew on. The Alters was tested on PS5.
