Summer’s officially behind us, and if the last few weeks are any indication, we spent most of it in motion — family visits, summer weddings, a Hawaii trip, and a stretch of travel through Europe. More time spent between spaces than settled into one. It ended up being a month leaning hard into self-care almost by necessity, and a handful of products kept us through all that movement, the kind that make travel days easier and coming back home feel a little more grounded. As we ease into fall, here’s what got us through September, and what we’re bringing with us into the next season.
01
CLEARSTEM Glass Effect Face + Neck Sheet Mask — $38
This one is built around eight forms of hyaluronic acid and bakuchiol, a plant-based retinol alternative that supports collagen without the sensitizing effects retinol can trigger, all in a formula made for acne-prone skin. The set comes with separate masks cut just for the neck — a step most sheet mask lineups skip entirely.
What we think: The neck is so easy to forget in a skincare routine, and this mask fits it well — put it on and go about your night (or day) as usual, and it stays put instead of sliding down. Twenty minutes in, and the difference is visible — skin looks smoother, feels tighter, and fine lines are softer. We’re working through the rest of the CLEARSTEM lineup next.
02
Skims Everyday Cotton Boy Short — $20
Everyday Cotton is a newer line for SKIMS, and it marks a real shift — after building its name on smoothing, compression-based fabrics, this collection moves into premium natural cotton instead, cut in the brand’s signature silhouettes and extended sizing. It’s SKIMS’ answer to the plain cotton underwear drawer staple, with the fit tuning the brand is already known for.
What we think: These have fully taken over our underwear drawer. They stay put, the cotton breathes, and the cut hits everywhere it needs to — nothing shows under clothes. They also come in some of the prettiest earthy tones we’ve seen from the brand, including new limited colors like burgundy and soft pink that just launched — we’re already restocking.
03
Blue Air Mini Restful Sunrise Clock & Air Purifier — $149.99
Blueair built this around its HEPASilent filtration, which pairs mechanical HEPA filtering with an electrostatic charge so it can pull allergens and particles from the air with less noise than a standard HEPA fan setup. It bundles that into a sunrise alarm clock and nightlight, clearly designed to replace the phone most of us reach for first thing, with app-set schedules and sounds built in.
What we think: We’re a little dependent on this one now, in the best way. Turning over and checking the time on this instead of grabbing a phone first thing has changed the mood of our mornings — a small design choice doing a lot for how calm the day starts. It looks good sitting in the room, too, which doesn’t hurt.
SHOP BLUEAIR MINI RESTFUL SUNRISE CLOCK & AIR PURIFIER
04
Ursa Major Brighten Up Vitamin C Serum — $56
Instead of leaning on vitamin C alone, Ursa Major built this serum around a mix of ascorbic acid, gently exfoliating lactic acid, and rose and rosemary extracts for added antioxidant support, all in a vegan, cruelty-free formula. It’s the kind of plant-driven approach the brand is known for — clean skincare that still performs, which shows up here in a serum light enough for daily use without skipping the actives.
What we think: We love this brand start to finish — the packaging alone (colorful, thoughtfully wrapped, never arrives damaged) sets the tone before you even get to the product. The serum itself is light but absorbs easily and still feels rich, which is a hard balance to strike. It’s earned a permanent spot in our routine, morning and night. Their full bundles are impressive too, and we’re excited to report back after spending more time with them
SHOP URSA MAJOR BRIGHTEN UP VITAMIN C SERUM
05
Betterway Natural Brown Bamboo Toilet Paper — $69.99
Betterway swaps trees for bamboo, which matures in three to five years instead of decades, so there’s no old-growth forest being cut down to make it. Bamboo also regrows from its own root system after each harvest instead of needing to be replanted, which keeps the cycle running without the same strain on land that traditional paper production creates. The rolls are left natural and undyed too, so there’s nothing extra added — good for your skin, and good for the planet from start to finish.
What we think:This was an easy switch to make and an even easier one to stick with — the rolls are soft, durable, and feel clean and easy on the skin, and each roll lasts a while too, so daily use feels like a small upgrade rather than a chore. We’ve also started using their paper towels and are just as into those.
SHOP BETTERWAY BAMBOO TOILET PAPER
06
Legendairy Milk Mane Event Hair, Skin & Nails — $34.99
The standout ingredient is Lustriva, a patented biotin-magnesium complex Legendairy Milk says is up to 40 times more bioavailable than standard biotin, paired with a five-type collagen blend (types I, II, III, V, and X) for hair, skin, and nail support. The brand points to clinical testing behind Lustriva showing measurable hair-thickness gains within three weeks, which is part of why it’s stood out among the supplements we’ve tried this year.
What we think: As we’ve gotten more intentional about hair health this year, we’ve tried a handful of supplements, and this one stands out for its dosage alone — two pills a day instead of the four to six some competitors ask for. Early to call final results, but at the one-month mark, hair is already looking fuller.
SHOP LEGENDAIRY MILK MANE EVENT
07
Native Pet Clean Breath — $29.99
Native Pet made this for owners who want support for their dog’s breath and plaque buildup, without resorting to harsh chemicals or forcing a toothbrush into the mix. The formula centers on brown algae and zinc to help reduce plaque and neutralize the sulfur compounds that cause bad breath, paired with pre-, pro-, and postbiotics that target the oral microbiome directly rather than masking odor. It’s dosed by weight — one scoop per 25 pounds — so it scales cleanly whether you’ve got a ten-pound dog or a Labrador.
What we think: Dog dental hygiene is one of those chores that’s easy to fall behind on, and this has made it painless. Dosing by weight keeps it simple, the small bite size keeps our dogs genuinely excited, and it’s turned a dreaded task into something closer to treat time — cleaner teeth and fresher breath, with zero fuss.
08
Actiive INTEGRITYrx Repaiir Bio-Enrich Hair Mask — $50
If your hair’s been through a summer of heat tools, chlorine, and general neglect, this is the reset it’s asking for. Actiiv built it around its BioREPAIIR Complex, layering green tea and red clover extracts with coconut and sunflower oils, aloe, and sea buckthorn to target breakage, frizz, and split ends all at once. Actiiv is a professional, salon-grade formula — it’s used in more than 50,000 salons — so this mask brings that same level of formulation home, giving you the luxury of a professional treatment without the appointment.
What we think: We’d fallen out of the hair mask habit until this one pulled us back in. The scent alone is worth it, but the results are what kept us coming back — hair feels noticeably silkier, shinier, softer, and healthier after just a single use. The packaging is a nice bonus too — beauty products fight you on the way out, but this one dispenses smoothly every time.
SHOP ACTIIVE INTEGRITYrx REPAIIR BIO-ENRICH HAIR MASK
09
Tubby Todd All Over Ointment — $22
Tubby Todd’s All Over Ointment is a multi-use staple that started as one family’s fix for a real problem — co-founder Andrea Williams created it in 2013 after nothing worked on her son’s eczema, blending 1% colloidal oatmeal with jojoba esters, camellia leaf extract, and avocado fruit extract. It’s steroid- and fragrance-free (or scented with lavender rosemary, if you want it), which is part of why it holds up as well on adult skin as it does on a baby’s.
What we think: We used this on a spot that was starting to look like eczema and had been putting off dealing with — after occasional use, it’s barely visible now and the itch it was experiencing through the warmer month is completely gone. What we like most is the range of it: made for babies, but also nice enough to reach for on your own skin, with clean ingredients throughout.
SHOP TUBBY TODD ALL OVER OINTMENT
10
Sockerbit — Gelatin-Free Sour Mix
Sockerbit takes its name from the Swedish word for sugar cube, and the shop is built around lördagsgodis — Sweden’s Saturday tradition of picking your own candy mix — which founders Florence Baras and Stefan Ernberg brought to the U.S. in 2010. Everything is sourced from European factories and made without high-fructose corn syrup, artificial dyes, or synthetic additives, which is part of why the gelatin-free sour mix reads more like a candy shop treat than a bag of gas-station gummies.
What we think: We didn’t expect candy to be this good-looking, and we didn’t expect to finish the bag before we even got where we were going. Not usually big sweets people here, but this one didn’t survive the car ride — one bag was gone before we arrived, and the rest didn’t last much longer once they hit the family gathering.
