As the editor of Well Spent, I’m always excited to see what products our writers pick as their favorite skincare, fitness tools, and��gadgets throughout the year. Here, we’ve rounded them up for a quick gift guide. From a budget-friendly foam roller to a luxury face moisturizer, these were our seven go-to wellness��buys in 2021.

LuxFit Premium High Density Foam Roller: Extra Firm ($9)

A good gift doesn’t have to be expensive—just ask digital managing director Abigail Wise. Even though owns six foam rollers, this simple��model from LuxFit is the one she reaches for most often when troubled by kinks, cramps, and sore muscles from running. “Its dense EPP foam was made to smooth away aches and pains, and that’s exactly what it does. The roller is hard enough to apply some serious pressure to your problem spots, but not so hard that a rolling session becomes unbearable,” she writes.

Purple Royal Seat Cushion ($79)

While a little extra padding for a loved one’s at-home work setup might not be the sexiest of gifts, it will probably be the most appreciated. Dedicated work-from-homer Molly Mirhashem raves about this thick seat cushion from mattress company Purple, which is made from a “rubber—and yes, purple—gel webbing and features a zip-on cover with a no-slip grip on the bottom.” She credits the pad for helping relieve some pandemic-induced back and shoulder pain: “It successfully upgrades my rock-hard dining chair to at least the level of those comfy office chairs. At the end of a long workday, I no longer feel desperate to book a deep-tissue massage.”

�Ჹ������’s Face Wash ($21 for three)

This wash from �Ჹ������’s is great for people who might be looking to upgrade (or just begin) their daily skincare routine. That’s how senior editor Luke Whelan came to the product a couple of years ago: “for the first time in my life, I thought there might be something to all those grooming products out there. It felt good to take care of my skin at the end of a long day.” He especially liked the wash’s delicate scent, which he describes as “refreshing but not perfumy, with notes of hay and earth that I’d never smelled in a shower product.”

EVA Foam Mats ($1 per square foot)

Gear director Will Taylor had nothing but good things to say about this multi-purpose gift for the whole family. After outfitting his sunroom with these interlocking, 0.4-inch-thick foam mats, the space was transformed into a playroom for his daughter, a gym for himself and his wife, and nap pad for the cat. “Having a safe, comfortable space that’s ready for us at any time, save moving a few toys, means we utilize it that much more. And for two busy parents and one busier toddler, that’s been crucial to staying healthy and in shape,” he writes.

Skinnies Sungel (from $32)

Labeling a product the “first sunscreen I don’t hate,” may sound extreme, but ���ϳԹ��� contributor Martin Fritz Huber is adamant about his disdain for most sunblock in his review of Skinnies Sungel, a concentrated sunscreen. Unlike other lotions that leave white streaks, the sungel is clear��and easy to rub in. “In addition to its discreet application, it dries very quickly, so you don’t have to spend half an hour languishing in the shade while your friends prance around in their vitamin A-infused ecstasy,” he writes. While $32 for a 3.4-ounce tube might be pricey, Huber says it’s worth the cost: “because you really only need a tiny amount, those 3.4 ounces can go a long way.”

Coway Mighty Air Purifier ($230)

Another unsexy-yet-necessary gift: a home air purifier that can help filter dust, fur, wildfire smoke, and other particles. Copy editor Tasha Zemke��loves her model from Coway, which quickly purified her home’s air and helped reduce her and her family’s allergy symptoms during pollen season. “This lightweight model completely turned around the respiratory situation in our household,” she writes. “When I plugged it in the first time, the intuitive air-quality light turned red—the most alarming of the three possible colors, indicating unhealthy levels of allergens. It stayed that way for several hours while the machine vigilantly worked its purifying magic.”

Youth to the People Superberry Overnight Mask ($48)

While assistant video producer Evan Grainger tended to lean towards a minimal grooming routine, his introduction to Youth to the People’s line of skincare changed all that. “‘Game changer’ doesn’t do this experience justice,” he wrote. “My skin felt cleaner than it had in months.” His favorite product from his revamp is the Supperberry Overnight mask, which is packed with moisturizing and redness-reducing ingredients. “It provides a rich, hydrating experience that leaves your skin feeling plump and nourished in the morning,” he writes. “Almost immediately after starting to use it, my skin tone was more even and my face less puffy.”

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I usually believe that our bodies need fewer things than we put on them. In the past, I approached my skin-care routine with a similar mindset: for both my face and body, Dr. Bronner’s was for cleaning, Lubriderm was for moisturizing. This made me feel like a true pragmatist: I was saving money, I was bucking the trend of using hyper-specific products to solve made-up problems, and I was constantly coated with a thick layer of emollients.

My skin, however, was not happy. Or at least, it could have been happier—it was often uncomfortably dry and unnecessarily red and inflamed. Then one day, as the story often goes, I tried my partner’s��face wash: . “Game changer” doesn’t do this experience justice. My skin felt cleaner than it had in months. But I needed more.

Within a few days, I was the proud owner of a proper skin-care routine from Youth to the People. This included not only its Superfood cleanser but its��, , and, most notably, its�� ($48). All of the products were great, but the latter resulted in the most notable improvements. The mask is really a thick, water-based overnight cream, made with moisturizing squalene, redness-reducing prickly pear, and maqui berries, which the company says support cell regeneration. It provides a rich, hydrating experience that leaves your skin feeling plump and nourished in the morning. Almost immediately after starting to use it, my skin tone was more even and my face less puffy. With the Superberry mask, I was finally taking advantage of an overnight treatment. In fact, it’s actually the best period of the day to .

Having a skin-care routine—particularly one that I’ve invested some money in—has prompted me to take better care of myself in general. It forms the foundation of a more holistic bedtime routine: I’ve started stretching before bed, avoiding screens at night, and thoughtfully reflecting on my day. The sum of these parts is greater than one product alone. You can see the proof on my face.

The post The Hydrating Vegan Mask That Soothed My Unhappy, Dry Skin appeared first on ���ϳԹ��� Online.

As someone who suffers from asthma, I’ve been told by various physicians to get an air purifier. But when spring and its overabundance of pollen arrived each year, I always reasoned that I had plenty of tissues, over-the-counter drugs, and my inhaler as backup if things became dire.

But this spring, things did become dire. For ten consecutive nights, I could barely breathe from all the juniper pollen, which was visibly caked on the branches outside my bedroom windows. Twice I nearly worried myself into the ER—I’d never been so scared my inhaler might fail me. Then one morning, I woke up with my eyes stuck together. In Santa Fe, where a low-to-moderate number is five (on a scale of zero to twelve), the index rose above ten and hovered there for two solid weeks. My daughter and our cat went outside for a few hours in the windy, yellow-hazed world that day and returned wheezing. Trips to urgent care and the vet resulted in a general consensus: both had suffered asthma attacks.

That was all the news I needed. I got online, did some quick research, and bought the ($230). This lightweight model completely turned around the respiratory situation in our household. When I plugged it in the first time, the intuitive air-quality light turned red—the most alarming of the three possible colors, indicating unhealthy levels of allergens. It stayed that way for several hours while the machine vigilantly worked its purifying magic, ridding the air of 97.97 percent of irritants (including dust, fur, tobacco and wildfire smoke, mold, and particles as small as 0.3 microns). I couldn’t believe how quickly it made a difference. But because one lone purifier can’t effectively clean the air of an entire home—Coway suggests a maximum space of 361 square feet—arguments broke out over whose room the Mighty could remain in for the night. The cat took to sleeping in that room.

It’s another sad sign of our times that so many of us need machines like this one to breathe normally in our homes and offices. My cousin, who lives in the Bay Area, runs two or more air purifiers in her apartment 24/7 just to make it through . And according to by a team of Columbia University environmental-health scientists, pollen season in North America now lasts three weeks longer than it did 30 years ago. Texas and the Midwest are being especially hard-hit.

Fortunately, the Coway Mighty is an effective filter powerhouse. There are three speeds, the lowest of which makes next to no noise (24.4 decibels, the equivalent of a whisper). But I tend to keep it programmed on the energy-saving eco setting, which kicks on automatically when the particle count increases to a moderately high level and turns off when the surrounding air is once again clean. It’s a cinch to pop open the unit and change the four air filters (one of which can be rinsed under the faucet and left to dry before reinserting), and it resembles a smooth, sleek guitar amp. I place it next to my side of the bed or adjacent to my work chair and it blows cool (but not cold) ionized air up toward my face.

The only real downsides to owning the Mighty have been a nominal increase in my electricity bill (about $10 a month), the expense of (which range from $25 for the pre-filter to $57.50 for a set of two odor filters, to be changed every six months, and a HEPA filter, to be changed once a year), and, my biggest complaint, the brightness of the color-coded air-quality indicator at night. I tend to cover that up with a small notebook. And although Coway does pitch the Mighty as effective at reducing odors, I’ve often wondered why it can’t do a better job diffusing my husband’s gas or stinky socks. But, really, if I can smell both of those next spring during the peak of the juniper bloom, I guess I’ll count it as a blessing.

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One of my best friends during adolescence was a Swedish guy who��had a tanning addiction. He was traumatized by the dark Nordic winters of his childhood and would overcompensate by doing all the things that��dermatologists tell��you not to do.��He actively avoided the shade. Sometimes, when riding in the backseat of a car, he would roll down the window, close his eyes, and angle his face into the light like a turtle, risking decapitation for a quick blast of UV exposure. I must have been impressed by his dedication, because, alas, I also picked up some of his tanning��enthusiasm. I’ve always hated sunscreen��and was willing to let my friend convince me that the stuff was secretly bad for me. But while he had the advantage of a swarthy complexion, I’m at the mercy of my Irish genes. When we’d hit the town after a day of languid roasting, we’d roll up as Charles Bronson and Lobsterman.

Two decades later, I’m pleased to say that I’ve outgrown such folly. These days, I’m fairly good about lathering up when��outside for an extended period of time. I guess the skincare die hards��have finally gotten to me with their about how excessive sunlight can damage my hide in ways that are undetectable early on but will come back to haunt me later in life. Or maybe it’s just that I’m more aware of��the fact that, despite what the skeptics say, sunscreen is a valuable form of melanoma prevention. And after��recently discovering��, I now��hate wearing it��a little bit less.

The big selling point with , which was launched in New Zealand in 2010, is that you do not need very much of it.��The product is, in essence, sunblock in concentrated form: the company claims that a mere “pea-sized blob” is sufficient to protect your face, neck, and ears. (I usually go with a marble-sized dollop; after my misspent youth,��I’m hedging my bets.) Unlike your traditional SPF lotions, which tend to be white and runny, Skinnies has a firmer, paste-like consistency and goes on clear. Most of the time, I’ll have a few days’ worth of beard stubble, which acts like Velcro��when I’m trying to schmear on regular sunblock. Part of my longstanding antipathy towards the stuff comes from the fact that, even after several minutes of diligently massaging it into my face, I’ll still have white streaks. Skinnies is virtually invisible.��In addition to its discreet application, it dries very quickly, so you don’t have to spend half an hour languishing in the shade while your friends prance around in their vitamin A-infused ecstasy.

Skinnies comes in an ��(water-resistant for up to 40 minutes), as well as an (reef safe, water-resistant for up to four hours).��It’s on the pricier side:��the SPF 30 version retails for $32 for 3.4 ounces, while the same size tube of the SPF 50 product goes for $49.95. That might seem exorbitant, but because you really only need a tiny amount, those 3.4 ounces can go a long way.��While it can obviously be used for full-body protection, I would recommend saving Skinnies for your face and neck and bringing an additional (cheaper) product along when hitting up your local nude beach.

(I also wouldn’t get too hung up on the labeling. I know it sounds radical, but you actually don’t need the sport-edition sunscreen to do sports. I’ve used the SPF 30 version for several sweaty outdoor workouts and haven’t had any issues with stinging eyes or accidental burning.)

In case you’re wondering, my Scandinavian friend was eventually cured of his habit after another sun-worshipping zealot gave him a salve that was supposed to accelerate the tanning process, but which ended up temporarily turning him into a raisin. Thanks to��Skinnies, I hope I can avoid a similar fate.

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Finding the motivation to exercise this past year—when gyms were closed, childcare was spotty, and most of us were trying to accomplish the bare minimum without collapsing in a pile of existential dread—was��a challenge. I love my daily dose of endorphins, but as the��father of a toddler, I am also just as likely to fall face-first into a nap when I have a free moment��or to choose��playground time over a circuit workout. I savor those moments��with my daughter and appreciate��my rest days, but I find that it’s all too easy to let one day become two, then three, and pretty soon I’m off my regime and feeling lethargic.

To minimize excuses that might get in the way of sweating, I place as few barriers between myself and exercise as possible. If I’m going for a big run on Saturday, I pack my vest the night before. I keep my mountain and gravel bikes ready to ride, with repair kits attached to each. And just on the other side of my home desk is a multipurpose space my family uses��as a sunroom, kid play area, and��workout zone. Beneath the wooden blocks, yoga mat, counting books, pillows, and cat hair, the floor is lined with (roughly $1 per square foot), which keep��the room��ready for whatever our��bodies need at any time of the day.

The mats—you’ll probably recognize them from your high school gym or a yoga studio—come in 24-by-24-inch��squares with puzzle-like edges that fit together, so you can fill floor spaces in your home as needed, and we like the��straight edge on the pieces, because��the border looks neat. Our room��is four feet by eight feet, which is a great size for spreading out a yoga mat and having extra space off the sides for floppy knees or elbows. We inherited our mats from my in-laws, who, much to this gear editor’s chagrin, were using them as camping pads before they made a much needed upgrade to cots. They’re a mix of blue, red, yellow, and green, which our 21-month-old daughter loves. But if I had bought them, I would have stuck to a more refined palette of black.

The 0.4-inch-thick foam is high density, but not so much that it hurts your feet when standing for long periods of time, or your joints when you’re��in kneeling poses. Our daughter has her ��in there, as well as various books and toys. The padding ensures that when she takes a spill—which is often—the damage��is minimal.

When our daughter’s��not using it as a playroom, my wife and I��use the area to tend to our bodies. This is where we do circuit workouts, yoga flows, and foam-rolling sessions. If I’m feeling stiff during the workday, I step in and perform��a few quick dynamic stretches. We have dumbbells, , , , and kettlebells on a high shelf that our daughter can’t reach��but are still accessible to us.

Thanks to these mats, our whole family uses this area daily—including the cat, who loves lying��on the pad, baking in the sun, and coughing up the occasional hairball (the mats easily wipe clean with disinfectant). Having a safe, comfortable space that’s ready for us at any time, save moving a few toys, means we utilize it that much more. And for two busy parents and one busier toddler, that’s been crucial to staying healthy and in��shape.

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When it comes to my morning and evening bathroom routines, I’m a man of habit. It took years of getting pestered by my dental hygienist—and a couple of cavities—before I ditched my cheap analog toothbrush for an electric one. I’ve been using the same deodorant since I was 14 (!).��And��until a few years ago, I washed my face every night with the bar of hand soap next to my sink.

The latter habit changed a few months into dating my girlfriend, when I started spending��several nights��of the week at her apartment. Before bed��I’d steal a dollop of her fancy face wash,��and��gradually, I began to notice that my face was getting less dry and more clear. I kept using it when she wasn’t looking,��and for the first time in my life, I thought there might be something to all those grooming products out there.��It felt good to take care of my skin at the end of a long day.��

Soon after this revelation, I learned about ��($21 for a pack of three). is best��known for its hipster shaving box that sends subscribers��refill��razors every month. I’ve had a beard since college, so I never needed that sort of thing, but the company also sells grooming products��such as�� and face wash. I decided to give the face wash a go—the branding didn’t look too��douchey, like a lot of men’s skin-care and shower products, and I knew �Ჹ������’s��had a good reputation for its��quality. It seemed��like the perfect fit for my evening routine. (I’m generally��too harried in the morning for more than a splash of water on my face.)

That instinct paid off. I’ve always hated the musky scents of most male hygiene products. The labels tout��sandalwood��and tobacco,��but I just smell my high school locker room and the desperate attempt to cover up teenage body odor. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that �Ჹ������’s face wash had no hint of Axe-brand��odors. It was��refreshing but not perfumy, with notes of hay and earth that I’d never smelled��in a shower product. After rinsing it off, a pleasant tingle remained on my skin, thanks to essential peppermint and eucalyptus oils. After a week of using it each evening, my beard hair began feeling softer, too, perhaps due to the small amount of shea butter in the formula.

The wash��features��little��bits of volcanic rock. That sounded awesome (exfoliating��your face with lava!)��and, it turns out, also felt awesome. While rubbing the foam in, the particles would gently lift the layer of sunscreen, sweat, and dirt on my face after a��day’s hike or bike ride. The best part? I didn’t have to worry about��harming any��critters in the sea, because��, volcanic rock isn’t toxic to��marine life.

After using up my first bottle of �Ჹ������’s, I saw it at Target and threw it in the cart. The next time I passed by it in the store, I threw three bottles in my basket so I’d never run out. The timing was perfect, because my girlfriend was catching on to the fact that her face wash had begun disappearing at an alarming rate.

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When the pandemic set in��a year ago, there was no shortage of articles telling us��which gear we needed��to work comfortably from home. Scrolling my Twitter feed, it often��felt like every online publisher (including ���ϳԹ���)��had��weighed��in on the best home-office products: standing desks, fancy stools, mousepads, extra monitors. I smugly ignored all of these stories. Pre-pandemic, I worked from home three days a week and had no extraordinary aches and pains. My setup was sparse—I usually edited��from my kitchen table, seated in an Ikea dining chair, with my laptop elevated on a stand—but I had no complaints. The people who needed these product recommendations were somehow different from me, I was sure. Maybe they’d gotten soft from all those days relying on comfy, ergonomic office chairs while I’d been unknowingly training for our work-from-home apocalypse. But several months into the pandemic, the aches and pains arrived.

I must have been demonstrating��terrible��posture at my computer��before I actually started complaining about my back and shoulder pain.��I only know this because very soon after the aches arrived, my boyfriend received��a stream of packages at our apartment that were full of work-from-home gear. I hadn’t asked for any of this, but he had ordered it��all for me. (Some gestures can be thoughtful and vaguely insulting at the same time. I cringe thinking about how hunched over my laptop I must have appeared to have prompted the unsolicited gifts.) There was a back cushion, a seat cushion, and a pillowy footstool, all from different companies. Out of desperation (and an attempt to be grateful), I outfitted my Ikea dining chair and got back to work.

I soon realized that I’d tried to implement too many changes too soon. On day one of my new setup, I felt restricted and uncomfortable at my workstation, but I couldn’t pinpoint which item was to blame.��Over several weeks, I tested out different arrangements to see what felt best: I reintroduced the items in different combinations and tried to take note of any changes to my overall achiness.

Eventually, I settled on the winner: the ��($79) from Purple, a brand mostly known for its mattresses. The “cushion”��is made from a grid of firm, rubbery—and yes, purple—gel webbing��and features a zip-on cover with a no-slip grip on the bottom. Unlike a regular cushion, the material is supportive and pleasantly solid. (You don’t sink into it.) It successfully upgrades my rock-hard dining chair to at least the level of those comfy office chairs. At the end of a long workday, I no longer feel desperate to book a deep-tissue massage.��It’s a bit pricey��but still much cheaper than a high-quality��ergonomic��chair.

I’ve mostly ditched the other add-ons, and I have to admit that I still have work to do to perfect my setup. (For starters, my large monitor has been gathering dust at my office for a whole year while I work from my laptop each day.)��But I still can’t quite stomach the idea of putting a full-blown ergonomic office chair in my kitchen—it feels so final, like I can no longer pretend that we’ll be back to our normal office lives soon enough. Until I get over my denial, this seat cushion is an excellent stopgap.

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As��every race I signed up for��in 2020��got canceled, I thought my daily running routine might disappear. But I own two Lab puppies, I value the state of my chew-mark-free home, and��I’ve learned my lesson: a tired dog is a good dog. So I run most days—sometimes a few miles, sometimes much more—through the sandy arroyos of my backyard in northern��New Mexico. This occasionally��leads to cramps, but while a weird kink in my hamstring once may have earned me a rest day, try explaining an exercise-free morning to a puppy.

Now��every time I feel a tight IT band coming on, the����($9)��saves my life—and the longevity of my chair legs.

My partner, Will, and I��are both long-distance runners, and��we own four to six��foam rollers between us. We have soft ones, firm ones, and ones with ridges. Our fanciest roller features “pressure points,” lime green ribs, and costs around $35. But the real beauty of the LuxFit is��its simplicity. This thing has no bells or whistles, not even an intricate color scheme—it’s plain black. But it’s��the roller we reach for most.

The cylinder��measures��in at a foot long and six inches wide, and it weighs next to nothing. Its dense EPP��foam was made to smooth away aches and pains, and that’s exactly what it does. The roller is hard enough to apply some serious pressure to your problem spots, but not so hard that a rolling session becomes unbearable. (Don’t be fooled by the “extra firm” in the name; I’d rate this a medium softness on the scale of a fluffy pillow to a rock.)��It also comes with a three-year warranty, but even after two and a half��years of near daily rolls, ours is almost as good��as new.

The LuxFit is also helpful��for relieving back pain that crops up in the course of daily life. I find it’s��the perfect way to undo the hours I spend slouched over my keyboard during the workday. Sometimes I don’t even roll it around: I just place it horizontally on the yoga mat beneath��my upper spine��and let it stretch out my tense shoulders and neck. Will, who’s a small-scale farmer, uses it before bed to massage his muscles after long days hunched over weeds and seeds.��On more than one occasion, we’ve bickered about who gets to use it first in the evening��or��snapped at each other to hurry up and hand it over.

This humble foam roller has become a household favorite,��transported��from the living room to the bedroom to the kitchen throughout the week to be��put to work.��We pick it up as soon as we get back from the trails,��and it slowly smooths��out any knots and tightness we picked up along the way.

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Exercising in the high desert of New Mexico is a dusty, dry affair. Even when you’re not sweating, the sun feels unfiltered and harsh, like it’s sucking moisture from inside your body. As someone who prioritizes sweaty aerobic activities every day in this climate, I try my best to stay hydrated. But if I don’t drink enough fluids, the��aridity makes it challenging to catch up: no matter how much I chug, I’m often still thirsty.

I employ a rotating cast of beverages to achieve my hydration quotas:��SodaStream��sparkling water with lime, 100 percent juices cut with��sparkling water, fruit smoothies with protein powder, and my favorite:�� ($25��for four tubes).

These magic disks��are easy to use. Fill a pint glass with water, drop in a��tablet, and in a few minutes the tab will completely dissolve, leaving you with a slightly sweet, effervescent beverage that I find endlessly refreshing. Dripping sweat post-run, I often stand holding��the cup, watching the disintegrating��tablet��float to the surface of my��cold filtered water in anticipation of that first, most satisfying hit.

Of Nuun Sport’s 13��flavors,��I highly recommend , , and . In fact, this��caffeine variety is my go-to (there are��four flavors with caffeine, and dosage varies, so make sure to read the label). Most lunch breaks I return from a run or bike ride and plop one in some water. The combination of electrolytes, minerals, a single gram of sugar, and��caffeine��helps give me the��boost I need to recover and finish out the day’s work.

The tablets are just as useful on weekends. For rides and runs over two hours, I fill a separate bottle with water and a Nuun tablet and use it��as a��pick-me-up on the trail. I’ve tried countless other during-exercise solutions and found that Nuun products are the lightest and most gentle on my stomach. That counts for a lot when you’re putting in hard efforts that last��a half day or longer.

Nuun also offers instant powder packets, vitamin tablets, and subscription boxes, but for my money, the Sport��tablets are the best, both in flavor and in satisfaction (some of the powder packets don’t totally dissolve and are grainy in the water). You may have to wait a few minutes for your drink to be ready, but I find that only builds my anticipation: that initial chug usually empties about half a pint. It’s that good.

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For years, my skin care routine has consisted of cleansing and moisturizing with drugstore products, applying��the occasional facial mask when I’m��in the mood, and always forgetting to put on sunscreen. I’ve never been a big skin care person—I spent��a few years working at a luxury magazine,��and testing overpriced products left me a bit jaded.��But when the pandemic hit, I waded into the self-care waters, adding “temporarily researching skin care routines”��to my list of coping mechanisms. I wanted to come up with a simple regimen that would be easy to stick to, and I figured adding two more basic steps—toning and exfoliating—would do the trick.

I wasn’t in the market for a face mask. I’ve been slowly making my way through a collection of algae, lava, and silica mud masks that generously came with a resort stay��a few years ago. But then I came across in Amazon’s best-reviewed beauty product list. The one-pound tub consists of just one ingredient,��, a pale-green��powdered substance derived from volcanic ash. The packaging, which features a clipart-style image of an Aztec temple, reminded me of those hilarious, old-school hair gel tubs. While reading through some of the 14,000-plus Amazon reviews, most of which gave five-star ratings, I kept seeing words like “magic” and “lifesaver.” And in place of the typical wellness musings, the label read, in all caps:��“FEEL YOUR FACE PULSATE” and “DEEP PORE CLEANSING!”

The mask’s listing boasts that it helps��solve a strange mix of ailments and can��be utilized in a variety of ways: “Facials, acne, bodywraps, clay baths, foot soaks, chilled clay for knee packs��and insect bites!” If��that wasn’t intriguing enough, it only cost $12.75. I wasn’t completely sold after testing��it the first two times��(as a face mask—I’ve yet to use it for its other functions), but��after giving it a few more tries, this humble mask won me over.

For the past five months, I’ve consistently used it at least once a week, which is more than I can say of other products I bought during that time—a charcoal toothpaste that promised to brighten my teeth just left them��feeling less clean��than when I started. I think part of my commitment to Aztec Secret has to do with just how satisfying the prep is: you mix the powder with equal parts apple cider vinegar until you get a creamy, mint-colored paste��that looks like something you could have extracted straight from the earth. It’s cooling and not overly drying upon application, and unlike more expensive products, you don’t have to think twice about slathering it on. After multiple uses, I started seeing results. My skin feels better than it��ever has: softer, clearer, and firmer.

In the end, I realized I could embrace my lazy-person routine and get away with ditching a few daily steps, like toning, because the after-effects of the mask seemed to last. And the fact that I live in a dry climate and the mask isn’t dehydrating��means that my skin doesn’t revolt if I’m not super on point with moisturizing. After growing disillusioned with $100 serums and the next-best ingredients, the unassuming Aztec Secret made me realize that I was right all along:��when it comes to my skin, less is more.

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