Rachel is a journalist, writer, and editor who specializes in the beauty and wellness industry.
She is a beauty expert at Dotdash Meredith, covering the best, safest products the industry has to offer for InStyle, Byrdie, Real Simple, Shape, Health, Travel + Leisure, and more. She is one of the beauty industry's most highly regarded voices on the long-term impact of ingredients in personal care products and cosmetics. She has consulted with leading environmental and reproductive epidemiologists, endocrinologists, and dermatologists to form opinions on the chemicals commonly used in beauty products, in order to only recommend products that shoppers can trust.
Rachel is currently working on a book about the people and ecosystems affected by the loosely regulated ingredients in personal care products and cosmetics, and her interest in epidemiological research and environmental health informs her beauty writing.
She is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a certificate in Integrated Marketing Communications.
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If you enjoy a good deal, it's hard to outdo Amazon Prime Day. Expensive items suddenly duck into the realm of the affordable, if only for a moment, and even products that normally sit in the $20 range suddenly show off deeply chopped prices. Take Lumene's Valo Vitamin C Overnight Bright Sleeping Cream: It's currently marked down 67 percent to $8, a steal for something middle-aged shoppers love dearly.
The Finnish brand tends to fly under the radar, but according to reviewers, its products are great enough to keep them hooked for years. Multiple Amazon customers detailed their long relationship with the brand, writing that they've stuck with the company for almost a decade thanks to the high-quality ingredients and the visible difference in their skin.
The cream has garnered praise like "best night cream ever" from those in their 40s and 50s, with its softening effect on wrinkles especially attractive. As one person wrote, it "noticeably reduced" the wrinkles around their eyes, along with the brand's face oil; another user seconded that the results are so substantial, they have no plans to switch. "Everyone asks me what I use, because at 46 years old, I have no wrinkles."
Shop now: $8 (Originally $22); amazon.com
As you can probably tell from the name, vitamin C is the formula's main attraction — and that brightening power is delivered via a plush, moisturizing foundation of ingredients. Sweet almond oil, glycerin, vitamin E, fatty alcohols, allantoin, and hyaluronic acid make for a hydrating wallop, as cloudberry seed oil and extract amp up your glow alongside sea buckthorn oil, niacinamide, and magnesium ascorbyl phosphate.
It's a yummy mix, and a fast-acting one, too. Per a commenter, they saw a subtle "lit from within glow" come into their skin within a week of starting the moisturizer — and the formula feels so luxurious, the $8 cream compares to $110 buys. They're not the only one who found it rivaled more expensive products; a different person replaced their $70 skincare mainstay with the cream and found the outcomes just as good. As a last person over 50 wrote, one use made them a convert. "The next morning, I woke up to smooth, bright skin I haven't had since my teenage years…I was absolutely amazed."
If you'd like to try it for yourself, get Lumene's Valo Vitamin C Overnight Bright Sleeping Cream while it's $8 ahead of Prime Day.
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