Some things — peanut butter and jelly, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Mulder and Scully (what?) — just work better in twos. The same can be said of beauty products. Granted, using multiple products at once is hardly a new trick, but certain treatments, when combined, really pack a punch. Be it the way their ingredients invisibly interact to better shield your skin against sun damage or, on a more superficial level, the lewk they achieve when applied in direct succession, the skin care and cosmetics world is full of game-changing duos that should be as ingrained in your neurons as the aforementioned condiments/fashion designers/FBI agents.
Get acquainted in the slideshow above.
Beauty Products That Work Better Together
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Antioxidants + SPF
If you have skin, sunscreen is a nonnegotiable. But to really get the most out of your SPF, you'll want to team it with a powerful antioxidant like vitamin C, which zaps free radicals and is incredible for brightening skin. Per New York dermatologist Dr. Patricia Wexler: “In serums, [vitamins C and E] have been shown to enhance the function of SPF formulations when used in combination, reducing the incidence of sunburns and increasing the SPF’s stability.”
As far as SPF goes, we're partial to Supergoop's latest formula, which protects against UVA rays, UVB rays and the infrared and blue light emitted by your electronic devices. Couple it with The Ordinary's ultra-lightweight, ultra-affordable ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate/vitamin F serum. (Ascorbyl tetraisopalmitate is "an oil-soluble derivative of vitamin C that can be used in higher concentrations without drawbacks"; vitamin F equals essential fatty acids.) Either pat the oil on first or add a few droplets to your daily sunscreen dollop.
Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 40, $32 at Sephora
The Ordinary Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate Solution 20% in Vitamin F, $17.80 at The Ordinary
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Moisturizer + Full-Coverage Concealer
For a naturally glowy finish and soft, bouncy skin, combine two cult favorites: Nars' creamy Soft Matte Complete Concealer and Weleda's ultra-moisturizing Skin Food. (The concealer-to-lotion ratio depends on the level of coverage you require. Also, don't let the blend's rich texture deceive you — it'll melt right into your skin.) It's like whipping up your own custom BB cream.
NARS Soft Matte Complete Concealer, $30 at Sephora
Weleda Skin Food, $9.89 at Target
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Matte Lipstick + Setting Powder
When using a highly expensive, highly esteemed lipstick (i.e. one of Pat McGrath's Best of Beauty award-winning MatteTrance tubes), you want to make it last as long as possible. Enter Laura Mercier's Translucent Loose Setting Powder. Just as it does to the rest of your makeup, the powder will mattify your lipstick and keep it in place. Here's what you do: after applying your color, place a single-ply tissue over your lips, then lightly brush the setting powder over the tissue using — what else? — a big, fluffy powder brush. Next, remove the tissue and continue on with your life, unplagued by the nagging desire to check your face in the mirror.
Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder, $23 at Sephora
Pat McGrath Labs MatteTrance Lipstick, $38 at Sephora
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Glycolic Acid + Hyaluronic Acid
Those who suffer from acne and dryness, meet your skin super-duo. Kate Somerville's best-selling cleanser re-texturizes and de-gunks skin using natural fruit enzymes, lactic acid and glycolic acid (the teeniest and most efficacious of the alpha-hydroxy acids, due to its ability to deeply penetrate skin). Follow up with Peter Thomas Roth's light, airy, water-vapor-trapping cream. Hyaluronic acid, which we've written about at length, is a lightweight but heavy-duty moisturizer — each molecule can retain up to 1,000 times its weight in water — found in just about every anti-aging product. It quenches and plumps your skin without adding any oiliness to the equation, which, if you're pimple-prone, is more than ideal. Neither it nor Peter Thomas Roth can do any wrong.
Kate Somerville Exfolikate Cleanser Daily Foaming Wash, $38 at Sephora
Peter Thomas Roth Water Drench Hyaluronic Cloud Cream, $52 at Sephora
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Musk + Your Go-To Scent
Musk is designed to be an erotic fragrance. (Case in point: the formula for Kiehl's best-selling "Original Musk" was originally discovered at the Kiehl Apothecary in a vat labeled "Love Oil.") Layer it over any other scent and that scent instantly becomes a fuller, warmer, more complex version of itself. We like the way the aforementioned Kiehl's musk mingles with the floral, amber and woody notes in Narciso Rodriguez's "for her." Of course, scent is a deeply personal thing, so feel free to conduct your own experiments.
Narciso Rodriguez for Her Eau De Toilette, $56 at Sephora
Kiehl's Musk Eau De Toilette Spray, $42.50 at Kiehl's
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Sea Salt Spray + Smoothing Oil
The problem with products that promise to add texture and volume and get rid of shine is that they tend to be rough on your ends, which, by default, are drier than the rest of your hair. The solution? Divide your head into zones. Spritz Drybar's lifting sea salt spray on your grease-accumulating roots, then squirt a tiny amount of this African galanga, ama and Asian borage oil blend onto your palms and work it through your ends. (You can also saturate your hair in the stuff for an overnight mask treatment.)
Ouai Hair Oil, $28 at Sephora
Drybar Mai Tai Spritzer Sea Salt Spray, $25 at Sephora
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Lip Stain + Lip Conditioner
Even with buildable lip tints like this RMS fan-favorite, it can be hard to achieve that perfect pseudo-natural flush. Breaking up your layers with a coat of this antioxidant-packed lip conditioner will not only lighten things up, it'll keep your pout pillowy and flake-free.
RMS Beauty Lip2Cheek, $36 at Sephora
Caudalie Lip Conditioner, $12 at Sephora
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Fluid Foundation + Primer Serum
Same principle. For a dewy, your-skin-but-better look, sheer out your buildable liquid foundation with a primer serum. Using the back of your hand as a palette, mix a rice-sized dollop of foundation with two pumps of primer. Buff it onto your skin using a face brush; look as natural as one possibly can whilst still wearing foundation.
Kevyn Aucoin The Sensual Skin Fluid Foundation, $65 at Kevyn Aucoin
Hourglass No. 28 Primer Serum, $22 at Nordstrom
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Hydrating Face Mask + Brightening, Skin-Soothing Oil
SK-II's Pitera juice, with which the above mask is soaked, is the stuff of legend. Yes, it's kind of insane that a single sheet costs $20, but it does give you the freshest, dewiest, softest skin of all time and even helps cure dark marks from blemishes. For an extra-luxe experience, after about 20 minutes, remove your mask, massage the remaining serum into your face and then, once all the product is absorbed, massage a few droplets of Korres' wild rose oil cocktail into your skin. You'll look and feel reborn.
SK-II Facial Treatment Mask, $17 at Sephora
Korres Wild Rose Vitamin C Active Brightening Oil, $54 at Sephora
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Lash Primer + Drugstore Mascara
An effective but inexpensive mascara is hard to find. But with a truly great lash primer, any drugstore mascara is indistinguishable from the pricey, high-end stuff. Benefit's doesn't clump, stays put and has an incredible lengthening quality that makes your eyes look brighter, more open and more alert. If you're going for more of a no-makeup makeup look, try it solo. Otherwise, layer it under whatever meh mascara you've been meaning to get rid of. (But if you're in the market for a solid drugstore option, Kardashian go-to makeup artists Mario Dedivanovic and Ariel Tejada swear by L'Oréal's Voluminous Carbon Black Waterproof Mascara.)
Benefit Cosmetics They’re Real! Tinted Lash Primer, $24 at Sephora
L'Oréal Voluminous Carbon Black Waterproof Mascara, $7.99 at Ulta
