This time of year sees all sorts of countdowns, top so-and-so lists, and looks back. Of course, my blog is no exception. I don’t write about beauty products too often unless I am writing about travel bits but I had such a great year of products, each of which actually do something, that I felt compelled to share with my readers. As always, your mileage may vary and what works for me may NOT work for yours. This is not a paid or sponsored post and I am not a doctor or aesthetician so do your own homework and research before using anything on yourself.

Without further ado, let’s go! In order of “wow”…

5. AHA body lotion – This was recommended by Nadine Baggott via her YouTube channel and it is a remarkable moisturizer. It has 12% AHA so it may sting your skin if you are sensitive. Available on Amazon, the price is good and one bottle lasted me 5 months with least daily usage..

4. Cactus Blossom Sugar Scrub – An impulse buy because I needed something to prep my winter legs for an event where my legs would be visible. The cactus blossom scent isn’t too strong and it givesa nice vigorous exfoliation and leaves my skin with a waxy coating which sounds awful but is great! I follow the scrub with the AHA body lotion and WOW does my skin feel amazing. None of that winter tightness. I especially like that there is no palm oil in this and that for each scrub purchased, the company donates one bar of soap and one month of clean water to a child in need.

3. Paula’s Choice BHA – Another recommendation via Nadine Bloggett. Since using a bottle of this, I have become a huge fan of Paula’s Choice products and have been recommending them to friends across the US. This smells a bit like super/crazy glue so I assume it has salicylic acid in it. It is a liquid and a little goes a long way. I use this every night with my HOLY GRAIL product of 2019……

2. Paula’s Choice AHA lotion – If I could only use one product on my face (besides cleanser and sunscreen) it would be this! The lotion is very silky and a tiny bit covers my face and neck with product to spare. I noticed a difference in my skin overnight. No joke, overnight. It stings a bit when applying, likely due to the concentration of AHA. It took me about 5 months to get through one bottle (and I still have about a week of that bottle). They sell travel sizes of this formula (and lots of other products) in a gel which is fine when I am on the road but the lotion is best for me.

1. Activated You Advanced Restorative Probiotic – This was my number 1 for 2018, too! I bought this on a whim about 2 years ago and, now, can’t be without it. I believe that all of my supplements benefit me and this is no exception. It took a few months of daily use but I quickly noticed the texture of my skin went back to what it was before age 45 and my stomach was flatter. I can tell when I miss more than two days of taking this as I start to feel sluggish and overly full even when not eating.  I like this so much, I actually added a line item into my budget to account for the expense each month.

There you have it, dear reader. The 5 beauty products that I used and loved in 2019. I hope you enjoyed the post and I have to give a MASSIVE shout-out to Nadine, who has a great YouTube channel full of excellent beauty content and, without whom I would not know about 3 of my top 5 products. As stated previously, these are my opinions and reactions to each product listed above. The links are direct to the products and I do not/did not receive any compensation or consideration for my endorsements.

Now, I want to hear from you. What are your top beauty products from 2019? Let me know in the comments below and thanks for stopping by!!