Handpicked: 7 Beauty Products I'm Loving for Spring

I never buy saltwater beach sprays, because you can make your own in approximately three seconds: just add water and sea salt, or buy an ocean. But this beach spray is something special. Instead of salt, it uses an algae extract from the North Atlantic sea that creates volume and texture while actually making your hair healthier, using lemon balm, ginger, and aloe. And best of all, this product actually creates waves. I spray it all over my hair post-shower and let it dry naturally, though I think using a diffuser would make me look even more like a girl with a surfboard.

Green & Glam Waves Sea Spray, $25, organicbeautynow.com

I know this cream sounds and looks pretty hardcore, but the texture is like whipped cream, so you won’t feel like you’re drowning in winter grease. I’ve been slathering it all over my poor hands every night (they’ve had a rough winter), but occasionally I’ll use it as a full-body moisturizer after I shower. Apparently we’ll all be wearing shorts at some point in the future, and I’d rather not look like a cracked, peeling painting from the Byzantine era.

First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream, $28, firstaidbeauty.com

I’ve had this goopy bottle of castor oil for about a year now, and I can never figure out how to use it. But I recently stumbled upon a subset of the internet that’s obsessed with using castor oil on their brows and eyelashes — including Michelle Phan — claiming it makes their brows fill out and their lashes grow like crazy. I haven’t been using it long enough to affirm those claims for myself, but I’m nothing if not a believer. And even if your hair doesn’t grow, it’s a great, dirt-cheap conditioning treatment.

Heritage Store Castor Oil, $5.19, heritagestore.com

One day, I will wear a tank top again. And on that day, I would really prefer my collarbone and décolletage to look fantastic. (I know, that was an insanely shallow thing to say.) Obviously, this is one of those products that is fairly indulgent (you don’t need a neck-and-décolletage mask the way you need drinkable water), but it ranks pretty highly on the list of beauty products that are sheer fun. It’s a mask plus a serum, designed to condition, detoxify, and renew your skin, and you literally just press it over your neck and décolletage until it dries. Then you peel it off. (Obviously the best part.)

Karuna Luxe Skin Regenerating Neck Mask (1 month supply), $56, karunaskin.com

Full disclosure: I haven’t actually used this system yet, so I can’t tell you how brilliantly white my teeth are. But if you need to brighten up your smile, what better time than spring to do so, after a long winter of drinking coffee in bed? This system won’t make your teeth sensitive, which is huge, and promises to whiten you up in two weeks if you use it twice a day. P.S. I’m thinking of trying it out on my boyfriend.

GLO Solo Teeth Whitening G-Vials, $45, gloscience.com

I don’t mean to be all “I was shopping at Mountain Rose Herbs before Shailene Woodley mentioned Mountain Rose Herbs in her Marie Claire cover article,” BUT I WAS. I distinctly remember buying bulk horsetail from their website in 2009. Anyway, that’s not the point. If you’re at all crunchy and organic at heart, this website is completely addictive. You can buy enough green French clay for a year of facials, and it’ll cost you $11. You can find rare and carefully-curated essential oils, floral waters, bulk herbs, carrier oils, tinctures, bulk butters (mango butter, anyone?) — in short, everything you need to be obsessively all-natural. I’m getting Bentonite clay for masks, rosemary essential oil for a healthy scalp, and either an herbal tincture that boosts your mood or one that strengthens your immune system. Maybe both.

Bentonite clay, $6 for one pound, mountainroseherbs.com