This is a new addition to my routine, and a much-needed one. Some context: One of my favorite compliments is when someone tells me I have the softest hands, and unfortunately, this winter has been exceptionally cruel to my skin. Seriously, my knuckles are looking downright scaly as of late, and I’m simply not here for it. I’m somewhat sensitive to scents, and don’t love anything too strong when it comes to lotions, but I recently started slathering on this vanilla hand cream, and I’m obsessed. Yes, it’s hydrating and softening, but perhaps most importantly, it’s also very fast-absorbing, because some of us don’t enjoy feeling like there’s a film on the top layer of our skin for hours after application. And the fragrance? Utterly delicious.
Let’s be so for real: The Cell Rejuvenating Power Serum is not cheap. With a price like that, it better be one of the best things in your makeup bag—and it honestly is. The serum comes in a gorgeous dropper-line glass bottle that feels rich when you dab it onto your complexion. You only need a few drops (which is great, because the product comes out of the bottle very slowly). I have super dry skin, and this lightweight oil took care of that in one application, leaving my complexion buttery soft without a glossy, greasy slick.
It’s enhanced with a yeast ferment complex to clarify the skin and improve the skin barrier, resulting in more supple-looking skin. Additionally, it contains bio-peptides for their anti-inflammatory properties and rebalancing powers, as well as black crowberry fruit for its antioxidants and skin-toning benefits. It also features triple-weight hyaluronic acid and niacinamide, which work together to calm and reduce redness, target fine lines and wrinkles, and give your complexion a radiant glow.
While it is expensive, I think this is the hero product of the collection, and a little goes a long way (I used maybe two drops to cover my entire face).
When it comes to cult skincare, there are few brands more hyped than Augustinus Bader. Despite only launching in 2018 with just two products—the now-iconic The Cream ($290) and The Rich Cream ($290)—Augustinus Bader has amassed an impressively devout following of celebrities, makeup artists and beauty editors who all swear by the glow-boosting, skin-smoothing benefits of this covetable moisturizer. It seems almost every A-lister, from Alexa Chung and Naomi Campbell to Hailey Bieber and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, has a bottle of Augustinus Bader in their skincare rotation—and if they don’t, then their makeup artist does. But at $290 a pop for a bottle of moisturizer, it’s impossible to offer up a truly unbiased review of Augustinus Bader without mentioning the cost. Because, let’s be real, skincare with a three-figure price tag just isn’t a realistic purchase for the vast majority of us. So what makes Augustinus Bader worth the hype, and is this luxury skincare line really worth the splurge?
Welcome to “Splurge/Save,” a series in which we quiz beauty obsessives about the top luxury (“splurge”) and drugstore (“save”) products in their routines.
Amy Chang — the Los Angeles-based digital content creator known to her many followers on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok as @bondenavant — has some opinions when it comes to beauty products. She’s tested just about everything worth trying, and her fans know they can trust her for honest takes on formulas, treatments and trends. It’s Chang’s grounded, relatable presence, on social media platforms that can often feel overwhelming, that keeps fans coming back.
Born in South Korea but raised in Minnesota, Chang says her passion for beauty stems from her “Sicilian and French Canadian” mother.
“She always has a full face, even if we’re outside in the woods hiking,” Chang tells Fashionista. “She always has lipstick on — she reapplies it throughout the day, even when she’s home alone. This I still don’t understand, but she says, ‘Amy, I just apply it for myself.’”
At 19, Chang temporarily dropped out of college and got a job working at a Shiseido counter, where she recalls first falling in love with skin care. “That little seed of passion was there, it just needed another push,” she says. “When I went back to college, I got an internship at L’Oréal, at Shu Uemura in their PR department, and thought that this was going to be my path.” She spent years working in beauty and then hospitality public relations in New York City before experiencing burnout.
“My boyfriend at the time — now husband — asked me to move to L.A., and I was like, ‘Sure, let’s do it. Let’s go on another adventure,’” she says. “I knew I didn’t want to go back to an agency life, so I started a blog about beauty and wellness, things that I was exploring in this new world of L.A., like Botox and fillers and lasers and smoothies and juice cleanses.”
What initially began as a “passion project” eventually grew into a full-time career as a beauty content creator.
“I think I was just always searching for connection with other women, and my blog allowed me to have that,” Chang says. “I met so many interesting women along the way, and I had the best time talking with them and sharing what I’m exploring and what works and what doesn’t.”
Chang’s product vetting process is thorough and practiced, though it differs depending on the formula: “Cleansers, I can get a pretty good sense after the first couple of uses of how my skin is going to respond, so I feel like I’m switching out much more frequently than any of the other products. Serums, I give at least a month to see, ‘Okay, what is this doing?’ If I’m not seeing anything after a month of consistent use, I’m kind of like, ‘Okay, this is not happening.’ I need to be seeing something there, even if it’s just a little improvement.”
Whether she’s choosing to cover a product on her channels organically or deciding to partner with a brand, Chang always asks herself three questions: “Is this a product that I would spend my own money on if I didn’t already, if it was gifted? Is this a product that I would re-purchase? Is this a product that I would recommend to my sister, my mom, my best friend? If it’s yes to all three, then I bring it to my audience.”
Ahead, Chang shares her top “splurge” and “save” beauty picks across a wide variety of categories.
Photo: Courtesy of Amy Chang
Mascara: “I have non-existent eyelashes. You can’t even see them. This is just the byproduct of being Asian. They’re straight, thin, limp, short. My budget-friendly one that I love is No. 7 360 Waterproof Mascara in Dark Brown ($10.99). It does such a great job of lifting and providing a little curl. It doesn’t smudge. And dark brown is the thing — I feel like this past year, I’ve really opened myself to brown eyeliner and brown mascara, and it has been a game-changer. It’s such a soft look for daytime, and it makes me look like I don’t have anything on my eyes. Black is more dramatic; I wear that for nighttime.
“For high-end, I love the Tower 28 MakeWaves Mascara ($20). I don’t know if it’s because the founder is Asian and so she probably was creating this product for herself, but I love it. It builds up really well. It gives a nice curl, and it holds and lengthens my short lashes.”
Cleanser: “The ‘low’ is an OG in my household: the CeraVe Cream-to-Foam Cleansing Face Wash ($14.99). It works for everyone in my family. I’ve dealt with dermatitis. My kids have dermatitis and eczema patches. I use it on them, on myself, on my husband. I even use it as shampoo on my kids, and it’s phenomenal. I love that product.
“For ‘high,’ I really like the Philosophy Purity Foaming Cleanser ($27). At first, I was kind of like, ‘I don’t know about Philosophy brand.’ There’s something about the bubble baths. It seemed very… not serious skin care, right? But then I tried this cleanser, and it’s so good. I have sensitive skin, and it has salicylic acid in it. It’s extremely gentle. It helps to clear up clogged pores and blackheads. It’s one of my favorite cleansers now.”
Sunscreen: “Beauty of Joseon ($10.29) is a Korean SPF that went viral last year for a reason. I mean, it’s $10. It has the lightest texture. There’s no white cast. It’s just a beautifully crafted SPF. The only hesitation I have with it personally is that there’s no tint, and for someone like myself who’s dealing with melasma and pigment, wearing tinted SPF is really essential because it protects against that blue light which can stimulate the melanin production of pigment.
“On a day-to-day basis, I really do reach for the EltaMD Tinted SPF 41 ($36.50) for sensitive skin. I’ve been using it for years. I love it because it’s formulated to be used post-laser and chemical peel. That’s actually when I first got introduced to it — I had a Fraxel laser done, and my dermatologist recommended I use this SPF. I also really like the SkinCeuticals Fusion SPF 50 ($36). It also has a tint, so I feel good that I’m getting that extra protection from the blue light. It has more of a watery texture to it.”
Shampoo and conditioner: “The luxury one almost pains me a little bit to recommend it because it’s so expensive. Well, I love it. It’s the Augustinus Bader Shampoo ($55). The thing is that it’s a shampoo that the more you use it, the better your hair will get. Typically, shampoos are like a face cleanser: You want one that’s not going to be damaging, that’s going to be gentle — yeah, it can contribute some benefits, but because it’s a wash-off product, it’s not going to be as dramatic as a hair serum, so you really just want to find something that’s gentle that works for your hair type. But this, I actually notice improvements in my hair with continued use.
“For the budget-friendly one, I’m a really big fan of Kristin Ess Extra Gentle Shampoo ($11). I think there are five or six different surfactants in it. When you shop for a shampoo, one of the best indicators if it’s good or not is how many detergents they use, because if there’s two different types of detergents to get a foaming action, they need a lot of each of those two detergents. But if you have five or six different kinds and you just need a little bit of each one, there’s less possibility that you’re going to get an irritation or a reaction to that detergent. It also has a lot of film-forming humectants, which add moisture to the strands. When people think about hydration for hair, they’re always thinking butters and oils, which, yes, are great, but you really need things that will bind water to the strand, too. Butters and oils can really weigh down strands. It’s the film-forming humectants that really give that moisture that makes hair kind of flexible and bouncy.
“For conditioners, I love the accompanying conditioner for the Augustinus Bader [shampoo] ($55). I also really like the Briogeo Mango Cherry Conditioner ($30). If you have fine, thin hair, you want one that doesn’t have too many of these rich butters and stuff, because it’s going to weigh it down.”
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Retinoid: “I just recently got back on the retinol train after a very long hiatus. I’m using the SkinCeuticals 0.3 Retinol ($70), which I think is just one of the best if you have sensitive skin. It’s a targeted delivery system.
“For the budget-friendly one, I like the CeraVe ($20.99). I find that it’s a little intense. I go slower with those budget-friendly ones. I think they try to pack a little more punch into them.”
Eye cream: “For the ‘low,’ I’ve loved The Inkey List Caffeine Serum ($13.79) for years. The only drawback is that it doesn’t have anti-aging benefits to it, but it gives you that immediate payoff of helping with dark circles because that’s my problem. Caffeine is a vasodilator, so it helps with improving blood flow. And it’s $10 and it just brightens it right away.
“On the higher end, when I’ve been using nightly, I love the Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye ($70). It’s so funny because I feel like this product has been around forever, but they recently reformulated it and added in this technology that has this antioxidant blend that helps block the blue light. With studies coming out and finding that blue light damages collagen and elastin and helps to stimulate that pigment, I think about all the time in the day I spend in front of a screen — I wake up, grab my phone, go to the Peloton screen, to the TV screen, to my computer screen, back to my phone screen at night and then I go to bed. There literally is no break. It’s very sad.”
Body scrub or wash: “The Kopari KP Volcanic Ash Scrub ($26) is hands down my favorite body scrub. That’s really good.
“I’d say on lower end for body wash, I really love the Raw Sugar Body Wash in Watermelon and Fresh Mint ($7.99). It’s really gentle, it smells great, it’s only $10 and you get this huge bottle.”
“I really love the Rare Beauty Eyeliner ($22). It’s really wet, so you have to be careful, but it’s amazing at getting that really sharp winged eyeliner look.”
Blush: “The one that I’ve used the longest and really stayed true — I feel like I always come back to it — is Nars Orgasm ($32). That’s just an OG. I love that one.
“For the ‘low’ pick, I like the W3ll People Stick Blush ($22). I just tried it the other day and it’s really nice.”
Foundation: “Kosas Revealer Foundation ($42). I like that it’s really hydrating. On days that I use it, I don’t use any moisturizer. I’ll just put my SPF on and then I’ll put my foundation on. I really like the Summer Fridays Skin Tint ($42). It’s super sheer. That’s for the days where I feel like my skin is looking great and I don’t actually want that much.
Essence or toner: “I love the SK-II Pitera ($185). That’s really great because it has that fermented yeast that has the B vitamins. It’s so expensive. And for the longest time, I was like, ‘Come on. Really? Why is this so expensive?’ But then I used it and actually noticed a huge difference in the redness on my face, especially around my chin and nostrils. And it did help with my pigment, oddly. I can’t deduce exactly what’s causing it, which really perplexes me because I’m like, ‘How could just the B vitamins and this fermented yeast do this?’ But I think it helps with the skin barrier, really strengthening it. That’s how it helps with the pigment and the spots and the redness.
“I really like the Cocokind Rosewater Toner ($17.99). I’m a big fan of rose water. I constantly spray it on my scalp, on my face; when my girls get itchy, I spray it on them.”
Highlighter: “Everyone is just obsessed with the Charlotte Tilbury Flawless Filter ($46). I use it in a shade lighter than what they recommend for my skin because it really gives a lot of brightness to the face.
“There’s the viral dupe, and it works just as well — it’s called the L’Oréal Lumi Glotion ($15.99). It works just as well at giving that same kind of high beam, strobe light, really big brightness to the skin. The difference is the consistency: The Lumi Glotion is very thin and lightweight, and the Charlotte Tilbury one is thicker.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Please note: Occasionally, we use affiliate links on our site. This in no way affects our editorial decision-making.
We know it’s hard to find the right gifts for your loved ones, so we’ve compiled a ton of fashion and beauty-focused gift guides tailored to a range of interests and budgets. Check out our latest below and find more right here.
When it comes to beauty gift giving, there are plenty of routes to go. But allow us to suggest venturing down the path of skin care: Plenty of people in your life will appreciate any excuse to indulge in a little extra ritualistic pampering and self care — and everyone has skin.
But the realm of skin care doesn’t exactly have a reputation for being straightforward; it’s easy to get confused and overwhelmed. A little advice? When in doubt, go for a pre-organized set.
These bundles — which range from curations of trial-size minis to fully comprehensive treatment routines — cover a wide range of complexion preferences and needs, and they’ll also suit just about any budget. Plus, some of them are so well packaged, you won’t need to do any wrapping.
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In the gallery below, we’ve rounded up 21 skin-care sets that are basically begging to be gifted. Click through to see (and shop!) them all.
Please note: Occasionally, we use affiliate links on our site. This in no way affects our editorial decision-making.
