The Products Our Beauty Director Can’t Live Without in a Week

In Bustle’s new video series 7 Days of Skin, tastemakers take us through seven days of their skincare routines—the products they count on to keep their skin looking 10/10 through work, rest, and play.

Demanding, difficult, unpredictable—yup, my skin is as high-maintenance as I am. Oily and occasionally acne-prone, my visage is the equivalent of a dormant volcano—calm on the surface, but always on the verge of erupting without notice. Blackheads and large pores are my most reliable friends (lucky me), and I’m constantly trying to find products to bring my finicky skin to calm, smooth, dolphin-like status. My job as BDG’s executive beauty director allows me to try every product in existence, and that’s not a hyperbole (just look through my bathroom, living room, and bedroom and you’ll seriously consider submitting me to Hoarders). After dousing myself with vats of serums and masks over the past 10+ years, I consider my face as the ultimate testing ground for every new skincare formulation. Snail slime? I’ve put it on my face. My own platelets? I’ve spun them into a cream and used as my nightly moisturizer. But there are some products—or rather, types of products—that I know my skin will always rely on in the revolving door of my medicine cabinet: a milky serum, glow-boosting toner and exfoliating mask, to name a few.

Ahead, get to know my skincare essentials through a week in my routine—the products I rely on through thick and thin to hydrate, brighten, and smooth my complexion (at least for now).

Monday: A Serum That Feels Like a Hug

Monday mornings are my time to undo all of my weekend shenanigans and start anew. Thus, I’ve been dousing myself with Dieux’s Deliverance Serum, a milky, hydrating serum filled with a soothing cannabanoid complex, brightening niacinamide, and plumping peptides. It feels like a cushiony hug for your skin, and I love that it layers well under any makeup or moisturizer.

Tuesday: On-the-Go SPF

Any beauty editor will tell you that sunscreen is the most essential part of her skincare routine. Currently, I’ve been loving the Live Tinted Hueguard in the morning, followed by frequent spritzes of Supergoop’s Defense Refresh Resetting Mist SPF 40. It has a slight cooling effect, and it makes applying throughout the day enjoyable and easy.

Wednesday: Milky Glow

If a skincare product has the word “milk” in it, chances are high I’ll try it. Maybe it’s because my mother made me drink a glass of whole milk every morning as kid, or maybe there’s just something comforting about the texture it implies—creamy, light, and good for your bones (okay, maybe not the last one). My current favorite toner is a milky version from my friend David Yi’s skincare line Good Light, which lightly exfoliates and adds hydration. I follow with another milky product—Eadem’s Milk Marvel Dark Spot Serum—and my skin immediately turns into a bouncy cushion.

Thursday: Peel It Off

My skin needs a powerhouse chemical or physical exfoliator once or twice a week to really gleam, and I love Alpyn Beauty’s Huckleberry Peel because it’s made with eight different acids to gently slough off dead skin cells, but also bamboo powder to physically exfoliate. I’m impatient when it comes to masks and peels, and this mask makes my skin look noticeably brighter and more orb-like every time I use it.

Friday: Shine Bright Like a Glazed Donut

Let’s just say that I had, ahem, one too many margaritas Thursday night. When I wake up and my skin looks parched as I am, I immediately reach for my Isla Beauty Face Base Priming Moisturizer. It’s a moisturizer/primer hybrid that douses my skin in hydration, thanks to hyaluronic acid, rosewater and glycerin; plus, it protects my skin from damaging blue light (aka HEV light). If I really want to reach glazed donut status, I add a few drops of Glow Recipe’s Watermelon Glow Dew Drops, which give an instant dewy, super-hydrated glow.

Saturday: Soothe and De-Puff

When I wake up with puffy eyes, I reach for a hydrating eye mask and massage it in with the extremely luxurious Gold Bar by Jillian Dempsey. The Japanese-made product promises to lift and sculpt, but I would use it for its therapeutic benefits alone (and because it makes me feel rich and fancy). It’s great for gliding over sheet mask or eye masks to help push ingredients deeper into the skin, and the vibrations instantly help relax any tension around the eye or jaw area.

Sunday: LED Therapy

My Sunday night ritual involves a book (okay, fine, Love Island) and a face mask. Currently, I’ve been scaring my boyfriend with my new CurrentBody Skin LED Light Therapy Mask, which straps on over my head and makes me look like a character out of a horror movie. The LED light helps boost collagen production and the slight warmth wards away my impending Sunday Scaries.