Reading: 3 Best Anti-Aging Beauty Products of 2017

Everyone wants to find the next fabulous skin cream, the one that will make your skin as smooth as the proverbial baby’s butt. But who to trust to tell us the truth? We asked independent cosmetic chemist Ni’Kita Wilson, who has worked on the research and development of beauty products for 17 years (and has tested countless products at home on herself), to find the three top products from 2017 that offer the best bang for your buck.

Best In Class
Biologique Recherche P50 PIGM 400, $61 (for the 5.1 oz and $94 for the 8.4 oz), biologique-recherche.us
The P50 toner franchise from the French brand Biologique Recherche is a cult favorite among beauty editors and A-listers for good reason: each bottle contains a heavy—but precisely balanced—dose of exfoliators and brighteners, such as lactic acid, salicylic acid, and niacinamide to turn over skin cells faster. It can even help clear up adult acne. The newest version targets pigmentation (hence the PIGM in its name) with ingredients such as red algae and fruit extracts. “I think of this blend of acids as similar to a peel and I’m a peel junkie,” says Wilson. “Our skin naturally renews on its own on a 28-day cycle, but as we get older that renewal slows. Skin becomes duller and products don’t work as well because there’s a coating of dead skin cells.” That’s where this toner comes in—its acids break the bonds among the lagging cells, allowing them to slough off. “Your skin feels tighter, less dull,” she says. “Very fine lines that are usually accentuated by dry skin should be reduced, and you should have a glow almost immediately. Over time you’ll notice your skin feels plumper.” For best results, use the product after your cleanser and before your moisturizer and/or daily sunscreen. Insider application tip: Pat, don’t wipe, it onto your skin with a cotton pad.

Best Splurge
La Prairie Line Interception Power Duo, $350, laprairie.com
With its latest anti-aging cream, La Prairie targets three different types of wrinkles at once: expression lines, sun-induced fine lines, and creases and folds due to, sigh, time and gravity. It’s a steep order (hence the steep price tag), but keep in mind, this bottle is dual chambered, offering two separate treatments: a wrinkle-reducing night cream and a wrinkle-preventing day cream with SPF. “The fact that this cream incorporates SPF is wonderful; it means you’re protecting your investment,” says Wilson. “If you are not wearing SPF every day it does not matter how much money you spend on anti-agers; the sun is undoing whatever else you’re doing.” As for the wrinkle-reducing aspect: “There’s more than one way to get a wrinkle, so you always want a blend of bioactives,” explains Wilson. “They are using a blend of peptides in this formula and, from what I know about the brand, they typically use ingredients at a very decent level.” That may be why La Prairie says you can expect to see results after just two weeks of use.

Best Steal
L’Oréal Paris Revitalift Triple Power Intensive Skin Revitalizer Serum +Moisturizer, $25, lorealparisusa.com
Like the La Prairie Power Duo, this drugstore anti-ager uses a dual chamber bottle – but in this case it’s to make sure ingredients are activated just when you need them. The two chambers dispense a blended product containing both vitamin C and a serum with the French company’s proprietary anti-aging molecule Pro-Xylane, which is derived from beechwood and, according to L’Oréal, helps deliver anti-aging ingredients into the skin more effectively. Wilson particularly likes the vitamin C. “It helps with melanin transport for skin brightening,” she says. ”As an antioxidant, it quenches free radicals [which can damage skin cells and DNA]. And it helps stimulate collagen production for wrinkle reduction.” Adds Wilson, “And two percent is a nice hefty amount in a cream.” Just don’t forget to top it with your daily SPF.