By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Photo-Illustration: The Strategist; Photo: Retailer
October Prime Day is here. To find the best deals in every category, follow all of our Prime Day coverage.
It’s Prime Day, again. This one isn’t unlike the first one back in July and lots of the products I wrote about then are on sale again. The L’Occitane Shower Oil, which I bought while on sale and have since used religiously, is currently cheaper than normal, as is French pharmacy staple Bioderma micellar water, another go-to. Other popular products that were previously on sale are discounted again, like the celebrity favorite Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask and the entire CosRX line. It’s a great time to grab the product you might have missed out in July or test out something new. It’s also a good opportunity to get a head start on holiday shopping and chip away at your gifting list.
My strategy for October Prime Day is the same as it was earlier this year—I’m still using our deals editor Sam Daly’s guideline that a good deal is a price cut of at least 20 percent and cross-referencing it with products we’ve written about before. I’m also combing through the site with a fine-tooth comb, checking hourly to see if anything new pops up. And if you’re in the market for non-beauty things, like an artificial Christmas tree or kid’s toys, we collected all the best deals in our big Prime Day hub.
Prime Day is a great time to stock up on viral beauty essentials—the retailer tends to offer deep discounts on stuff you’re likely seeing on your For You page, like the Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask and COSRX Snail Mucin Essence. I’ll be buying both, along with the L’Occitane Shower Oil, another product I found during a late night scroll.
This moisturizer is a favorite of our beauty columnist Rio Viera-Newton, who likes that it contains soothing colloidal oatmeal and is rich without being comedogenic and irritating. I’m also a big fan of this moisturizer, and reach for it whenever my skin is freaking out.
One of the benefits of mineral sunscreen is that it is sensitive-skin friendly (chemical formulas can be irritating for some) and one formulated specifically for babies is even more so. This one from Pipette has an SPF of 50, fragrance-free and contains sugarcane-derived squalane for added moisture.
This beauty-editor favorite exfoliant is a perennial Prime Day deal, and for good reason. It’s incredibly effective at unclogging pores and helps prevent breakouts.
Another perennial favorite: the Foreo Luna. It helps to achieve a deeper clean and thanks to hypoallergenic silicone bristles, it won’t collect the same amount of bacteria as a nylon bristle. It’s also gentle enough to be used twice a day and doubles as a facial massager thanks to transdermal pulsations, offering some slight sculpting benefits.
And for the occasional pimple, there’s Starface hydrocolloid patches, which keep grubby fingers away from the pimple and help heal the spot at the same time. The stickers also look cool and make breakouts a little more stylish.
Our favorite affordable body scrub for treating keratosis pilaris is even cheaper. A blend of glycolic and lactic acid, along with pumice buffing beads, offer physical and chemical exfoliation and vitamin E soothes the skin.
I will be taking the opportunity to snag my favorite micellar water at a discount. This makeup-artist favorite beauty staple is a consistent feature in my routine because, like other formulations I’ve tried, it doesn’t leave a film behind or sting my eyes. It’s great at breaking down makeup and the day’s detritus and doesn’t irritate sensitive skin.
I’m also buying another bottle of the L’Occitane shower oil, which starts moisturizing skin while in the shower. I was generally skeptical of the shower moisturizer before I started using this body wash, but now I can’t imagine a day without it.
We’ve been raving about the Klorane dry shampoo for years because like other formulations, it doesn’t have that weird synthetic-y scent and neutralizes shine without causing lots of build-up on the hair.
Another beloved dry shampoo, and Rio’s favorite, is the Living Proof Perfect Hair Day, which she says has revolutionized her hair routine. “There’s zero stickiness or tackiness, and my hair feels just as it would if I had showered that morning,” she says.
Our favorite body oil is also up for grabs. It tops our best-in-class list because of its consistency (fast-absorbing, non-greasy), and vitamin-rich formulation. It contains 11 botanical oils that help to enrich the skin and fortify the skin’s barrier and has an earthy, slightly citrusy scent.
Retinol can be tricky: the benefits are numerous but so are the challenges. Dryness and peeling can be the norm as skin adjusts (or becomes “retinized”) but some formulas, like this one from Avéne, helps to offset dry skin with gentle, moisturizing ingredients.
There are so many celebrity fans of the Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask I wrote an article about it, and it often tops our Prime Day best-seller list. It’s a cocktail of nourishing ingredients — hyaluronic acid, coconut oil, shea butter and murumuru — and has a candy-sweet scent. It also gives lips a glowy-but-not-extremely-glossy sheen.
For something with a higher shine factor I always recommend the Laneige Glowy Lip Balm, which has a thinner texture and comes in an array of sweet-smelling scents.
Tizo makes our favorite sunscreen for acne-prone skin because it has light, liquid consistency, has a silky texture, and has antioxidant properties that help to lighten dark marks over time.
As a longtime EltaMD fan I was thrilled when they released a deep tinted version of their popular formulas. That’s on sale this Prime Day, so if you, like me, were put off by the slightly ghoulish tint but in love with the formula, then now’s the time to try it.
For wiping off the day, Elemis makes a collagen-filled cleansing balm that’s so cleansing and hydrating that The Bear actress Abby Elliot sometimes uses in lieu of a 20-step skin-care routine.
Is this essentially fancy water? Yes. Do I still hoard bottles as if they’re being discontinued? Also yes. This skin mist is packed with antioxidants designed to smooth and hydrate skin. Another bonus: It imparts a noticeable glow.
When I asked estheticians about the best devices for sculpting the face at home, Natalie Aguilar introduced me to the Theraface PRO. “it offers so many different therapies, such as LED light, hot and cold rings, various face massagers, and, of course, a microcurrent attachment,” she says, noting that it’s very easy to use and offers instant results. “It really depuffs and tones.”
If you’re in need of a functional moisturizer that will moisturize and soothe skin, I’m a big fan of the Aveeno Daily Moisturizer, which has become my go-to over the past few months. It hits the sweet spot of being moisturizing but not heavy and is ideal for year-round use.
Our top pick for pimple patches, the Mighty Patch is good at sucking gunk out of a pimple and cutting down on healing time. I’ve been using them since they debuted at Indie Beauty Expo in 2017 and have been a loyalist ever since.
Our second-best pick is the CosRX patch, which is also very good and slightly cheaper than the Mighty Patch. They’re the best value for the money, a deal that just got even better.
We’ve been recommending the Neutrogena Hydro-Boost moisturizer for years, so it’s good news that the eye cream is on sale (and also very good). I’ve previously recommended it as a good moisturizing option because it’s mostly hyaluronic acid and offers an added boost of hydration in the under-eye area.
This moisturizer from acne-zapping brand Differin (their claim to fame is adapalene) works well for oily, acne-prone skin because it utilizes micropearl technology, which absorbs excess sebum and also gives skin a matte finish.
A 60-day supply of adapalene, a topical retinoid that’s particularly effective for acne, is now cheaper thanks to the sale. Adapalene addresses acne at the root and works just as well as pricier products.
This acne-fighting cleanser contains a high amount of benzoyl peroxide and is especially good for stubborn areas or parts of the body with thicker skin, like the butt.
Lots of CosRX is on sale, including this moisturizer, which Rio has said is “one of the best affordable, ultrarich creams for winter.”
This beloved essence is a beauty enthusiast favorite for a reason. It’s mostly made up of snail mucin, which is well-tolerated by most people. The ingredient, which comes from the slime trail snails leave behind, is packed with vitamins and hyaluronic acid, which helps skin stay hydrated and glow.
For snail mucin newbies, Dr. Sam Ellis likes the face cream moisturizer because he says it’s easier to incorporate than an essence.
Self-tanner has a reputation for being messy to apply but this one dries quickly, is non-drying, and gives your skin a just-got-back-from-a-Euro-summer look.
Strategist writer Rachael Griffiths is a big fan of this sunscreen and has been using it for years. “It doesn’t pill — in fact, it’s fast-absorbing and nongreasy, so you can reapply it throughout the day and layer makeup over it,” she says. “It also crucially has never broken out my acne-prone skin.”
As far as blow-dry brushes go, there’s a reason this one consistently tops the list. It’s beloved by curly and thick hair types especially because it creates tension at the root and then smooths the hair.
This water-thin conditioner is a favorite of writer Julie Vandal, who says it made her hair “so shiny and smooth that passersby could practically check their own reflections in it.”
We like this curling iron from BaByliss for thick hair, which goes all the way up to 450 degrees and has ceramic plates, which evenly distributes heat across the hair strand.
If this flat iron is good enough for Michelle Obama, it’s good enough for us.
Billed as a lip gloss for your hair, it’s made up of a blend of safflower oil, sunflower oil, and vitamin C and leaves hair soft, bouncy, and frizz free.
Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Lisa Barlow found out about NYX Butter Gloss from her makeup artist Morgan Fay and has since bought a bunch. She likes the shade Madeleine, which she describes as the perfect pinky brown.
In other Real Housewife beauty product recommendations, Jessel Taank has been using this mascara since she was 15 years old. “I’ve tried everything on the market — Chanel, Saint Laurent, every brand you can imagine — and I always come back to this.”
“Compared to other mascaras, this adds so much more volume, and I find that it lasts all day long,” says model Chanel Iman of the Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara, which we’ve said is the best for achieving a dramatic lash. It’s ultra-dark and buildable, so you can add a bunch of layers without creating clumpy lashes.
The Strategist is designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read about here. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
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