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Even with what I would call an above-average amount of beauty knowledge rattling around in my skull, I still find putting together a cohesive skin-care routine a little daunting. It's hard to hit the sweet spot where you're doing enough without doing too much — and without wrecking your skin in the process. Enter: curated skin-care lines.
Beauty Bakerie has been on the Allure radar for years — we're talking multiple Best of Beauty Awards, glowing reviews, and general office-wide excitement when the brand clued us in about a new category launch. So naturally, when we heard that the brand was delving into skin care we knew we had to get our hands on it and see if the Beauty Bakerie does skin as well as it does cleverly branded, cutesy color products.
Each product is sold separately at Target and the brand's site, or you snag the Groceries Bundle — which contains all five products — exclusively on beautybakerie.com. The set includes:
When I first opened the jute tote the bundle comes in (which I have since used as a farmers' market shopping bag because, I mean, look at it) the food-themed packaging and product names made me a little nervous. Although I love a quippy product name and the packaging is pretty damn cute, but food-adjacent beauty branding always sets off an alarm bell in my brain that my nose is about to be assaulted with overbearing, artificially sugary scents. But when I opened and sniffed the lineup, I was happy to discover that all of these products are fragrance-free — a huge plus in my mind.
My first priority was checking out the formulas to see how these products could work together as a routine. The Milk, Sleep, Repeat Cleanser contains glycolic acid, a chemical exfoliant that sloughs away dead skin cells, improves skin texture, and treats dark spots and hyperpigmentation. It's pretty powerful stuff, which is why it's such a popular ingredient in exfoliating treatments.
I tend to shy away from cleansers with too much extra stuff going on because my skin is fairly sensitive and hates being overstimulated. I reached out to NYC-based dermatologist Morgan Rabach, MD, to get her take on glycolic acid and how she thought my whiny, reactive skin would fare. "Glycolic acid is great for removing dead layers of skin on the very top layer without the need for mechanical exfoliation," she said. She advised that a low concentration of this alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) is easier to tolerate, so she recommended trying it once a week at first — then working up to everyday use. She also suggested following up with a gentle moisturizer to soothe skin and combat potential irritation.
Keeping this in mind, I started using the cleanser and the Don't Be Chai Tea Toner (which also contains glycolic acid) every other day to avoid stressing out my skin with more exfoliation than it's used to. When I found on days when I used either product, my skin looked even and bright with no irritation in sight, so I took a stab at trying them together.
This combo, plus a dollop of the Better Half My Creamer Hydra-Rich Facial Moisturizer, made my skin feel clean and soft, which is a rarity during the sticky summer months. Even though the moisturizer is packed with hydrating cocoa butter and other hard-working ingredients, it doesn't feel too heavy on the skin or make the routine feel too busy.
Despite my initial hesitation vis-à-vis exfoliating cleansers, the Milk, Sleep, Repeat Glycolic Facial Cleanser ended up being my personal standout from the collection. I'm about as boring as it gets when it comes to facial cleanser (Vanicream, I love you, and I'll never leave you) but over the last couple of weeks, I found myself reaching for this cleanser over my usual ones. The cleanser feels extremely soft on the skin while tackling excess oil and grime.
I wasn't the only one who spotted some stars in the collection. "I always take exfoliating treatments with a grain of salt. I've been burned — ok, just irritated — by many in the past so I'm wary of strong acid concentrations," wrote Allure commerce editor Sarah Han. When she first tried the Coffee Break AHA + BHA Exfoliating Facial, she accidentally left it on for longer than the recommended two to five minutes and was pleasantly surprised that the extra time didn't make her skin tingly or angry.
"I love coffee (as you can tell from the left photo), so incorporating coffee beans is such a mood boost," she said. "And because there's also lactic acid, salicylic acid, Moroccan lava clay, and rice extract present to suck all of the gunk out of my pores and sweep away dead skin, my skin feels so thoroughly clean but not stripped." Dr. Rabach also noted that the beta hydroxy acids (BHA) in this formula are particularly good for oily skin and targeting acne.
Allure senior commerce writer Angela Trakoshis's favorite from the collection was the Better Half My Creamer Hydra-Rich Facial Moisturizer. She highlighted the cocoa butter and niacinamide in the formula, which work together to hydrate and target dark spots. "I cannot bake at all, but what I can do is maintain a hell of a skincare routine," she wrote. "With the help of Beauty Bakerie's new skincare line, I can finally do both. Not only is it the most adorable, well-thought-out concept — but it actually works thanks to skin nourishing ingredients."
With a little something for everybody, Beauty Bakerie's skin-care line is well-rounded and likely to work for a variety of skin types. You can get the bundle at beautybakerie.com for $124, or mix and match the individual items below for $18 to $30.
More skin-care treatments you'll love:
Now, watch Kim Kardashian answer beauty questions from the Internet:
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