I tried 300+ anti-aging skin care products this year: Here’s my Black Friday shopping list

Since we lose moisture and elasticity as we age, the humectant hyaluronic acid, an ingredient which binds to water — and can hold a whopping 1,000 times its weight in water — is key to any quality anti-aging skin care regimen.

You’d be hard pressed to find a better hyaluronic acid serum than this award-winning version from Grace & Stella, especially at this discounted Black Friday price. 

If your under-eyes are looking puffy, dark and tired, we’re happy to report that there’s an easy — and tres affordable — fix. These eye masks are formulated to reduce the appearance of dark circles and puffiness while making you feel like you’re getting a spa treatment in your own home. 

Made with real gold and ingredients like tea tree oil, glycerin, castor oil and collagen, these patches promise to revitalize your skin and reduce puffiness in 20 minutes.

If your skin is dry and dull, look no further than this near-perfect, Tik-Tok famous overnight face mask which works to deeply penetrate and hydrate skin as you sleep so you wake up with a dewy glow. At this super-low Black Friday price, you can pick up a few to give as gifts. 

Stubborn blackheads weirdly don’t discriminate — they’re often prevalent no matter if you’re old or young. But these truly revolutionary patches help solve the problem fast, all while you sleep. Just apply, shuffle off to bed and let it do the hard work of clearing your pores while you sleep. In the morning, you’ll be astonished when you see all the grime that was trapped inside.

“Amazing” and “miraculous” are common themes among five-star reviewers.

One happy reviewer said, “I was amazed! It was slightly annoying to have on at night, but when I woke up, all of those problem blackheads on my nose were either gone or loosened up. … The patch is easy to remove and doesn’t hurt at all, like some of the other nose strips. I’m so impressed!”

Another reviewer called it “Seriously an unexpected miracle. … Pore strips have always pulled a few [blackheads] out, but mostly just left a white film behind. I applied this clear plastic patch and went to sleep. [In the morning] I could see that about 75% of my blackheads/sebum were gone.”

My beloved snail mucin from CosRx is excellent for evening skin tone and making your face look softer and brighter overall. It’s won multiple awards, has over 55,000 five-star Amazon reviews and impresses most beauty editors I know.

After using it the first time (here is my full review), my face was noticeably dewier and other users have boasted about its ability to hydrate, repair and improve dullness in the skin — all of which helps wrinkles look less deep and crepey. When I tried it again this month, after a medi-spa laser treatment, I found it soothed and calmed my skin as it healed, lending a healthy sheen. 

While we’re talking retinol, this Sarah Jessica Parker-favorite brand is a drugstore skin-care legend for a reason: It’s proven. In a clinical study, 97% of those who tried RoC’s Retinol Correxion night serum reported smoother skin after just a single night. Users said their skin was 63% more hydrated after a week and visibly firmer after a month. 

RoC’s retinol serum is also recommended and tested by dermatologists. And, it’s among Amazon’s highest-rated skin care products with more than 13,000 five-star reviews. 

If your lashes have become fine and thin due to aging or hormonal changes, it’s worth checking out the wildly popular Grandelash, which has been a favorite of aestheticians and makeup artists since it appeared on the scene in 2008.

Since, both Grandelash (and Grandebrow) have become the go-to for those looking for reliable, efficient, affordable hair-growth solutions. The “lash enhancing serum,” which is 30% off for Black Friday, has racked up more than 35,000 5-star reviews, all along the lines of “This product works GREAT for me — and FAST!!!” and simply “Wow!!!!“

Martha Stewart is a lady who loves facials. In fact, according to her website, she’s been getting the same one, at the same place — the Mario Badescu Spa in New York City — for 40 years. So it should come as little surprise that most all of her favorite skin care products are from the high-quality Mario Badescu line. Martha’s faves include this mega popular collagen mask, which is specially formulated to work for both mature and sensitive skin. The award-winning product is made from collagen and kaolin clay and is meant to tighten, firm and bring moisture to parched faces, necks and even decolleté. 

There are loads of pricey treatments and potions meant to decrease facial puffiness, promote collagen growth and improve the texture of aging skin, but the ancient art of face rolling is the easiest, least expensive and arguably the most relaxing. 

This high-quality jade roller and face massager tool set has over 27,000 five-star reviews and, right now, it’s more than half off.

This skin-soothing, color-correcting cream is made specifically for disguising angry, red post-blemish skin (essentially the period between when you pop a pimple and it heals), but I find it works well for any redness or dark spots on my face — especially broken capillaries around my nose, my weird red chin and brown-ish sun damage too. 

It has the texture of a lightweight, silky serum, absorbs fast and leaves areas where you want a “color correction” primed for your normal foundation or concealer. I can’t guarantee it will work for your skin as well as it does mine, but at $6 (half off!) it’s certainly worth a try.

While it’s not exactly meant as a face cream, this ultra-rich moisturizer is used for that purpose by most every seasoned beauty expert I know. It’s extremely hydrating, packed with nourishing plant-derived ingredients and is especially good as a nighttime treatment for faces, hands, feet, necks and even the décolleté.

Incredible deal alert! These gilded, Jessica Alba-approved eye masks incorporate hyaluronic acid, amino acids and sea moss to hydrate the delicate under-eye area, reducing dark circles and puffy bags and blurring fine lines as they go — and right now, they’re 60% off!

They’re also paraben- and sulfate-free, vegan and gentle enough for most skin types. The luxe packaging makes them an excellent gift. 

This Jennifer Aniston-fave serum stick is the ideal delivery system for softening fine lines, prepping skin for makeup and targeting dry patches. Made of 80% squalane — a known skin fortifier — it’s fragrance-free, cruelty-free and dermatologist-tested. We’ve tried this ultra-silky balm and it leaves behind a dewy finish plus it’s beyond-amazing for smoothing the undereye area before applying concealer, to avoid makeup settling into fine lines.

This is the cream you want if you’re, like, “I think tightening creams are BS but I also want to believe they are true because I currently hate my neck.” The Gold Bond firming cream is no frills but gets the job done (the job being tighter jowls and a less reptilian neck). The formula is lightweight and on the thin side, but the product absorbs well and is gentle enough not to irritate sensitive skin. 

Note: You’ll need to use it consistently for about a month to see results, and it won’t, of course, magically make you appear 25, but being able to snag this ample size for less makes this product worth a go.

Albolene’s inconspicuous, no-frills moisturizing face cleanser is one of those in-the-know beauty secrets, a product you’d never think to buy for yourself until a friend says, “YOU MUST GET THIS. IT’S CHANGED MY LIFE.” Well, I am that friend, telling you this lush, velvety, mild, no-fragrance cream is about to transform your entire night skin-care routine and make your face a whole lot softer and happier in the process. 

The gentle, century-old cleansing product removes makeup effortlessly, without water (though you can choose to take it off by using a damp washcloth or cotton pad). It’s particularly effective for older women concerned with damaging delicate under-eye areas and causing fine lines by scrubbing away mascara and eyeliner. It’s also safe for all skin types. Trust me, if you buy it now (for just $10!) it will become a can’t-live-without beauty staple on your bathroom shelves and — if you’re a good friend — those of every woman you know.    

If I could, I’d buy every person I know a bottle of CosRx snail serum — it’s truly a favorite product, one of the most effective skin-care items for complexion smoothing, skin softening and dark-spot lightening I’ve ever tried. But, because handing over a bottle of snail mucus on a major holiday might seem a wee but strange, these sheet masks are a quality alternative. 

They contain the award-winning snail slime, are highly hydrating and work for most any skin type. Users report they help with skin inflammation and even rosacea, and this pack of 10 is a solid entry point into the famous K-beauty line — and you can’t beat the price.

If you’re looking for an all-over tightening, brightening, hydrating, complexion-smoothing night cream for the face, neck and decolleté, you can’t do much better than this clinically proven version by trusted brand RoC — especially at this price. 

The popular cream is nongreasy and noncomedogenic and beloved by both dermatologists and celebrities alike (Sarah Jessica Parker is a fan). And, according to the more than 4,000 five-star reviews, ordinary folks are all over it too: “I’m in my 70s and this cream has been my go-to for years. It works on my skin!”

If you’d like to complement your serum stick with another TRULY AMAZING Tatcha product, this rice polish is a beloved favorite of celebrities and skin-care experts alike. Meghan Markle once told Allure that she loves it because “it just sort of foams on your face and gives you a really subtle exfoliation.”

Every beauty editor I know uses this to cleanse their skin at night — it’s especially good for those of us who are post-50. 

Sunday Riley’s Good Genes is one of the most effective beauty products I’ve ever tried, and this six-month supply will last you. Honestly, I like this skin rejuvenating serum so much, if I had to pick one desert-island beauty product (outside of sunscreen), it would be this. The lactic-acid treatment gently yet effectively exfoliates dull surface skin, promoting cell turnover and giving even the dullest, dreariest complexion a healthy, vibrant glow.

It also smooths and plumps rough texture and clarifies an uneven tone. My skin never looks better than when I use this every night and, while this sale price still isn’t cheap, a little goes a long way.

We know retinol works reliably to reduce wrinkles, but this Swedish brand’s Dark Spot Fix does double duty: It’s a skin-lightening treatment containing retinol 8, a stabilized vitamin A complex meant to be eight times more effective than conventional retinol but half as harsh. There’s no data to support the company’s claim here, but I can tell you this from experience: The formula is creamy and gentle, and it lightened a stubborn brown spot on my cheek I’d been annoyed by for years in just three weeks. 

Though no results will be as effective as a visit to the dermatologist, if you’re dealing with mild hyperpigmentation, this is an at-home skin-care win — especially at this price.