ROSIE: I’m Rosie Guerin, and you’re listening to The Wirecutter Show.
Hey, it’s Rosie. At Wirecutter, we love finding products that punch above their weight for price and performance. It’s actually kind of a foundational piece of the job, and many of my colleagues are always on the lookout for quality, budget, and dupe skincare products. So, we couldn’t resist testing skincare products at Trader Joe’s.
We know Trader Joe’s as a grocery store chain that sells your favorite snacks with silly names and frozen meals. Over the years, they’ve expanded into the budget beauty realm with Trader Joe’s branded moisturizers, cleansers, serums, sunscreens, and more that are often under $14 and appear to be dupes of more expensive brands.
I particularly love the sunscreen, and I’ve walked past the TJ’s Beauty aisle looking for it, and I’ve wondered about some of these other items. Maybe you have too.
Wirecutter writer Neha Tandon did the work for us. She tested a selection of Trader Joe’s beauty products to find out which ones are worth recommending and which ones maybe you want to skip. Neha’s on our beauty team and once tested 24 lipsticks in a day. So, she’s got the chops. She’s with me now to discuss her TJ’s findings.
Neha, welcome to the show.
NEHA: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
ROSIE: I’m happy you’re here. This seemed like a very fun assignment for you. Some of these jobs at Wirecutter. I’m like, “You should not be allowed to have that much fun at work.” It’s a little bit different than some of our other beauty product testing where we’re comparing drug store cleansers to designer ones, what have you. I’m wondering what this testing looked like for you. Where did you start?
NEHA: It was very organic because it was things that fit into my routine very organically. And then I also referred to some of my colleagues who wrote guides to some of these products. For example, Rory Evans wrote the guide to Our Best.
ROSIE: We love Rory.
NEHA: Face moisturizers and the best exfoliators. And so, I brought her in to give her input on some of those. And then Abbie wrote our guide to the best serums. So, I brought her in to test some of those and get her expertise as well.
ROSIE: Abbie Kozolchyk has been on the show. She’s also amazing. It’s an incredible team. So, what products did you decide to look at?
NEHA: We looked at the core product offerings because same thing with their snacks. A lot of their skincare offerings are seasonal and they’re not widely available. So, I wanted to make sure that these were products that are most highly likely available at all locations and also have been around for a long time. So, there’s a low chance of them going away sometime soon.
ROSIE: Where did this idea even come from originally?
NEHA: The idea came from the fact that as I travel, I’m always carrying some Trader Joe’s skincare because when you travel, you don’t want to lose the $100 face cream or whatever. And then I found myself continuing to use these things.
ROSIE: So, you didn’t test every beauty product because some cycle through the snacks you see at Thanksgiving that are here today, gone tomorrow. I want to know about these products that you’ve seen that have gone viral. What do you think that’s about in terms of personal care and beauty?
NEHA: I think there’s the surprise element of it. It’s very exciting to think that a place you go for your favorite snacks could also have a product, like a toner that is also really great, actually good quality.
ROSIE: Yeah.
NEHA: I think the dupiness of all of it is also really exciting to know that you can get a Marula oil that feels exactly like Drunk Elephant’s.
ROSIE: Yeah, the intrigue and the…
NEHA: Exactly.
ROSIE: Okay, so let’s get into it. You loved some of these products. Which do you think were the absolute, absolute best?
NEHA: The Rose Facial Toner. I couldn’t go five minutes in this interview without talking about it.
ROSIE: What do you like about it? Tell us, describe it.
NEHA: It feels refreshing. It has a light rose scent. And what I will say is I love fragrance, but if you don’t like fragrance, maybe this isn’t for you. However, it’s refreshing. You can use it right after cleansing. You can use it after you’ve put on your makeup as a setting spray. I use it to refresh my curls. My sister does too, and she has type four curls. So, very curly and thick hair. So, she was using this on island vacations and stuff like that. So, it just is like every skin type can use this unless you’re sensitive, of course, like I said, it has fragrance in it.
ROSIE: I love the multi-use. How much is this? This is going to be the question I’m going to ask you for every product and there’ll be a drum roll because Trader Joe’s is famously affordable relatively. So, how much is the Rose Toner?
NEHA: $4.
ROSIE: $4. That’s wild.
NEHA: Yeah.
ROSIE: Okay, so you love that. Anything you didn’t like about the Rose Toner? You mentioned fragrance. Some folks might not love the fragrance piece of it.
NEHA: Yeah. If you’re asking me personally what I didn’t love about it, I mean, I like all of it.
ROSIE: You love it.
NEHA: I love it. I’m a sucker for packaging, so I feel like if it could be a little bit more elevated, I would love that.
ROSIE: Aesthetics.
NEHA: Aesthetics. Also, it’s in a plastic bottle. I would love glass or something. That would be nice.
ROSIE: What other products did you really love?
NEHA: The Marula Facial Oil. It’s a one ingredient product.
ROSIE: What is Marula oil?
NEHA: Great question. Marula oil comes from the marula fruit, and it has this composition that’s very similar to the skin’s natural lipid complex. And so, it feels very light. So, I think if you have oily skin, you could probably use a couple of drops of this and still be okay. I have very dry skin, so I just drank it up. In fact, I put on a moisturizer and then this on top of it.
ROSIE: Wow.
NEHA: But it’s lightweight enough for me to wear in the daytime even. And also in a pinch, you can use this on your hair. This also has a really pretty glass bottle that looked so elevated. It looked like some hundred dollar face oils that I’ve tried in the past.
ROSIE: Does it have any fragrance?
NEHA: It’s fragrance-free.
ROSIE: Wow.
NEHA: Yeah.
ROSIE: Okay. And how much does this cost?
NEHA: This is $7.
ROSIE: $7. Which you mentioned earlier is likely a dupe for a Drunk Elephant product.
NEHA: I hesitate to call it a dupe because it’s just a one ingredient product. So If you want to, you can. And yeah, drunk elephant sells theirs for $42.
ROSIE: Oh, boy. We already recommend a couple of Trader Joe’s products in our beauty guides, specifically retinol and the sunscreen. I am a Trader Joe’s sunscreen evangelist. Did you agree? Where were you on the retinol and the sunscreen?
NEHA: Great question. So, I mentioned this in the article that with the retinol, it’s a low percentage. Now, some people may get triggered even by a low percentage of retinol. So, just if you’re a super beginner and you have sensitive skin, be wary and start slow.
ROSIE: And this is one of the lowest doses of retinol you can get?
NEHA: Yes, it’s 0.3%.
ROSIE: Retinols can be expensive. What does this one cost?
NEHA: This one is $10.
ROSIE: So, again, it’s a fairly low barrier to entry, particularly if you haven’t used a retinol before.
NEHA: Exactly. It feels great on the skin. It’s hydrating. Now I have the opposite of sensitive skin, so I use a prescription strength retinol.
ROSIE: So, that might not be the one that you reach for.
NEHA: It’s not for me. But I’m also very in the beauty space, and I’m obsessed with products, and I have been for a very long time. So, this is the kind of product I recommend to my mom or my sister or even my dad, who’s just getting started with his skincare routine in his 60s.
ROSIE: Hey, listen, never too late.
NEHA: Never too late.
ROSIE: Never too late.
NEHA: He looks great.
ROSIE: What about the sunscreen… I think it’s called the Daily Facial Sunscreen? What did you make of that?
NEHA: The facial sunscreen has a primer-y texture. You’re a fan of it, right? What do you think?
ROSIE: Are we talking about the one that’s like the dupe for-
NEHA: Supergoop Unseen.
ROSIE: The Supergoop Unseen. Yeah.
NEHA: Yes. So, if you like that texture, that siliconey kind of texture where-
ROSIE: It’s specific.
NEHA: It’s specific, yes. And so, this is a little divisive, right? You’re going to love it if you love a primary texture. And I think it’s great for putting makeup on top of it for that reason. It’s not for me personally. However, I do still highly recommend it because it is such good quality for the price.
ROSIE: I have boxes of it around because I’m trying to build really, really good sunscreen hygiene for myself, but also my family. I want it within arm’s reach and it’s $9, which is just so much more affordable than so many other facial sunscreens you see.
NEHA: Yeah. And for something like sunscreen, I don’t know about you, it’s something I have to do for my protection. I don’t really want to spend much money
ROSIE: Yeah, exactly.
NEHA: It’s like medicine.
ROSIE: And if you like Supergoop, you might want to check out the TJs.
Okay, we’re going to take a quick break. When we’re back, Neha will tell us which Trader Joe’s beauty products kind of maybe missed the mark. We’ll be right back.
ROSIE: Welcome back. I’m here with Neha Tandon, writer on our beauty team. She tried a selection of Trader Joe’s skincare products to separate the best from the not as best.
NEHA: Well said.
ROSIE: So, before the break, we talked about the four standout products, the Rose Toner, that Marula oil, the retinol serum, and the facial sunscreen that I personally love. I want to talk about the others, the stuff you tried that didn’t impress you. Yes.
NEHA: So, the first would be the natural facial cleansing pads. They’re tea tree oil. And again, I think these are pretty divisive. Rory and myself tested these. She was the writer to our guide to the best exfoliating products. We both were not fans of this. However, a lot of people like it.
ROSIE: What are these for? What do you use them for?
NEHA: So, these are little individual pads in a jar. You take one out and you’d probably use it either as a refresh maybe after the gym, keep it in your gym bag, or to use anywhere on your body, even though it says facial cleansing pads. But really the traditional use would be after you cleanse your face, you would use this as a way to make sure you get all the gunk out.
ROSIE: Got it.
NEHA: I feel like it left gunk on my face. It felt like it left a film on my skin and Rory described it so well. She called it Pine-Sol-esque. I didn’t like that.
ROSIE: That’s divisive.
NEHA: And it felt really rough on my skin, and that’s me as somebody who doesn’t have sensitive skin.
ROSIE: Tea tree oil I think can rub some people the wrong way in general because it’s a pretty strong scent.
NEHA: That’s true.
ROSIE: So, I can understand that. What else didn’t wow you?
NEHA: Well asked, because it was a lot of products after that were not ones we hated. There were a lot of things that were just fine, but not good enough for us to go out of our way to recommend. And if you’re passing the Hyaluronic Moisture Boost Serum and you really need some moisture, go ahead, pick it up. It’s not going to hurt you. But it has a little bit of a sticky texture that Abbie Kozolchyk, writer to our serum’s guide, very nicely put as unpleasantly snotty.
ROSIE: That’s hard to un-hear. What about the facial serum? I think in your piece, that also wasn’t one that necessarily impressed you.
NEHA: That has a texture that’s a lot like the sunscreen. It’s primer-y.
ROSIE: Okay.
NEHA: So, if you like that, go for it. But the thing with this is that it’s a serum. It’s supposed to sit ideally under a moisturizer.
ROSIE: Right.
NEHA: And that it just felt way too thick. I felt it on my face and I hate that feeling. I want something to feel weightless.
ROSIE: I almost think of that primer feeling, putting it on like you’re putting a coat of Vaseline on your face. And I genuinely don’t mind that, but I can imagine some people hating that feeling. Really just not liking that.
NEHA: Absolutely. Yes.
ROSIE: So, what do you recommend instead?
NEHA: Okay. So, we have a few serums we recommend, especially because this one highlights vitamin C in it. We recommend the Timeless Skincare 20% C + E Ferulic Acid Serum. It’s also quite hydrating.
ROSIE: Okay.
NEHA: And it has C and E in it. So, the E is nourishing.
ROSIE: And then how about for facial cleansing pads? I didn’t ask you if you’re not reaching for the tea tree ones, what do you guys recommend?
NEHA: Yes. So, if you feel like you’re gravitating towards like a pad, you want that disposable something to put on your face. When you’re-
ROSIE: Portable. Yeah.
NEHA: Then reach for the Pacifica Glow Baby Brightening Peel Pads. They do have an exfoliating feel. I must admit I haven’t tried them myself, but Rory oversaw our exfoliants guide, and she thoroughly tested those, and people really liked them.
ROSIE: Yeah, that’s a whole panel testing. That’s our regular rigorous testing for the guides. Any other products we should talk about before we wrap?
NEHA: I’ll just say for the moisturizers in general, I tried all of them and I think they’re just fine.
ROSIE: Yeah. Again, if you’re in a pinch.
NEHA: If you’re in a pinch, I’m going to finish using the ones that are on my vanity, but also I just have other things I’m more excited to use.
ROSIE: These are your picks, Neha’s stuff that you tried out and liked, your colleagues tried out and liked. As with anything at Wirecutter, someone out there is going to like something that you didn’t like and vice versa. That’s how it goes.
Neha, thank you so much for joining us. This was really fun.
NEHA: Thank you.
ROSIE: If you want to find out more about our beauty coverage or read Neha’s Trader Joe’s review, you can find links in our show notes or on the Wirecutter website. Thanks for listening. The Wirecutter Show is executive produced by me, Rosie Garon, and produced by Abigail Keel. Engineering support from Maddy Masiello. Today’s episode was mixed by Katherine Anderson. Original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, Elisheba Ittoop, Rowan Niemisto, Catherine Anderson, and Diane Wong. Cliff Levy is Wirecutter’s deputy publisher and general manager. Ben Frumin is Wirecutter’s editor-in-chief. And I’m Rosie Garon. Thank you for listening.
