I don't film for beauty brands. I'm a registered nurse — 11+ years in the cosmetic & skin space. So consider this the list from someone who's watched a lot of expensive things get sold on very little.
My bathroom does not look like a content set. It looks like a place where five people get ready and exactly one of them cleans up.
So when someone asks what I actually use, the honest answer comes in two halves: a serious backbone I don't mess with, and a surprising amount of stuff I bought off Amazon at 11pm while I was meant to be doing something else. Both are true. Neither cancels the other out. Let me be clear about the hierarchy first, because it matters.
What actually runs my skin
SkinCeuticals. Every single day, no exceptions — not even the mornings I'm already late and can hear someone yelling about a lunchbox.
That's the part I don't experiment with. The boring consistency is what does the heavy lifting: a good antioxidant every morning, used religiously, will out-perform whatever's trending this week. It's the one line item I'd never move to Amazon, and I wanted to say that plainly before I hand you a list of things that cost less than lunch. Everything after this is the supporting cast. But the supporting cast is good.
The one I've never once skipped
The gua sha. Plain jade, cost me almost nothing, and it's the single most-used thing in this entire post.
Every morning, before anything, while the kettle's going and I'm already halfway through an argument in my head with a supplier who hasn't emailed yet. A few minutes along the jaw, up the neck, out toward the ears. It's less skincare than it is the ninety seconds where I'm not doing anything for anyone else.
On the mornings I do it, I look like I've been awake for a reason. On the mornings I don't, I look like the day already happened to me. Cold from the drawer is better — that's the only tip I have and I stand by it.
Shop: jade gua sha
Every night: neck and chest only
The ANUA Collagen Retinol firming cream — every night, and only on my neck and chest. It's the one that's literally made to be used with a gua sha: the cream goes on first and the stone glides over it, so I'm never dragging over bare skin (that's how you tug, not sculpt). It doubles as the actual treatment step — collagen and a sensible amount of retinol, the kind of thing that does quiet work over months rather than overnight. The neck and chest get forgotten by everyone and they show it, so this is the ten seconds I give them. Then I sculpt.
Shop: ANUA Collagen Retinol on Amazon AU
Also every day, considerably less romantic
The dry body brush — bamboo handle, boar bristles, the kind of thing the packaging insists will do wonders for your "lymphatic drainage" and "toxins." I make no claims on behalf of my toxins. What I know is it takes two minutes before a shower, my skin feels like it woke up, and there's something satisfying about it I refuse to overthink. Long strokes, toward the heart, then get on with your life.
And the hair clips. Possibly the least glamorous thing I've ever recommended to anyone. But I use them every day — clipping the front back to do my skin, twisting the lot up for a school run, pinning it out of the way to answer the emails I've been avoiding. They live everywhere and I lose them constantly. Buy more than you think you need. This is the natural order.
Shop: dry body brush · hair clips
The PDRN corner
Here's where I'll admit I've fully bought into the moment. PDRN is everywhere right now, and yes — professionally curious, personally in.
The VT PDRN daily mask — Korean, big flat tin, thirty sheets. I don't do it daily despite the name; I do one the night before a filming day, so about once a week. And I'll be honest about the PDRN, because the nurse in me won't let me not be: the research is still thin. I'm not going to pretend it's rewriting anyone's skin. What I can tell you is it leaves me genuinely glowy, and for fifteen minutes that's reason enough.
While we're here — "glass skin" isn't a real thing. It's a marketing word. What's real is the boring, consistent work you put in over months, and that's what actually shows up on your face. A mask the night before just gives it a nudge in the right direction.
The Abib PDRN eye patches — the little pink jelly ones. I keep them in the fridge. Fifteen minutes under the eyes the morning after a bad night, or before anything I'll be photographed for. They don't erase the 2am. They just keep it between us.
And the newest one — the Dr Reju-All Advanced PDRN + Copper Peptide serum. This one's not Amazon; it's a K-beauty find. And the nurse in me will say: the formula is genuinely sensible — PDRN at 1,200ppm and 1% copper peptides, backed up with ceramide, panthenol, hyaluronic and hydrolysed collagen. Not a trending acronym on an empty base, which is more than I can say for a lot of what crosses my path. (Worth noting it sells out — check stock.)
Shop: VT PDRN daily mask · Abib PDRN eye patches · Dr Reju serum (K-Beauty AU)
The list
- SkinCeuticals — every day, the non-negotiable, the part I'd never swap. (Not Amazon — and that's the point.)
- Jade gua sha — every single day, cold from the drawer.
- ANUA Collagen Retinol firming cream — every night, neck and chest only, with the gua sha.
- Dry body brush (bamboo, boar bristle) — two minutes pre-shower, toward the heart.
- Hair clips — deeply unglamorous, used constantly, buy extra.
- VT PDRN daily sheet mask — once a week, the night before filming.
- Abib PDRN eye patches — fridge, deployed after a bad night.
- Dr Reju PDRN + Copper Peptide serum — the newest addition, a sensible formula.
So no — Amazon doesn't run my skin. Eleven years and one very consistent morning habit do that. But the cart plays a bigger part than I'd admit at a dinner party, and I've stopped pretending otherwise. Everything expensive I own is for the days I want to. This is the list for every other day.
What's the one under-$40 thing you'd buy again without thinking? I collect these — it's the only kind of shopping advice I actually trust.