What Deena’s Loving: Our Beauty Director’s Picks of the Month

Let me be clear. If your body-care routine stops at “whatever lotion is closest to the bed,” Sol de Janeiro’s Rosa Charmosa is about to change your life. This new super thick cream delivers facial-grade skincare benefits for your body, meaning peptides, rose water, Brazilian yacón essence throughout and a texture that gives you the kind of gleamy finish normally reserved for red carpets. Yes, it’s dewy, and no, it won’t transfer onto your favorite cashmere sweater and silk top.

Fragrance girlies, gather round. Matiere Premiere just launched its first candle collection, and the scent that stopped me in my tracks is Omani Incense. Imagine the dry season in Oman (I know because I was there this time last year!) The sun hitting stone and sand. Freshly harvested resin waiting in coarse jute sacks. The air is thick with white-and-gold drops of incense that harden as they cool. That’s this candle. Smoky and extremely woody. Light it while decorating the tree, or in my case, whenever I need a quick reminder of vacations past.

Crafted in France and powered by peptides and ceramides, this lotion feels like the long-awaited marriage of science and sensorial pleasure. It’s a formula I’ve applied while rushing out the door and didn’t think about it again until I realized my skin still feels soft at 10 p.m. Here’s the trick: it’s laced with AQUAXYL™, a proprietary ingredient designed to optimize water balance, reduce moisture loss and boost hyaluronic acid and ceramide synthesis. In a press release, founder and lead formulator Teyma Touati put it perfectly, “Bodycare has long been treated as secondary to skincare. With this launch, we’re proving it can deliver the same level of clinical results and refinement as face care. It’s a full-body act of restoration.”

Let me confess something. Most natural deodorants don’t work for me. I’ve tried the chic ones, the minimalist ones, the ones that come in jars you scoop with a tiny spatula—I’ve tried them all. But Salt & Stone always nails it. It’s one of the rare natural deodorants that doesn’t crumble on your pits or melt away. But, here’s the real headline: the scents are fresh without being perfumey, and they actually keep me feeling dry and very confident that I won’t smell questionable after a few hours. If you’re deo-curious or deo-skeptical, consider this your gateway set. The minis let you try everything without feeling like you’re committing to (or spending on) a full-size product that may or may not work for you.

I love December because it’s filled with beauty kits everywhere you look, but this time, one actually caught my attention. The Healthy Hair Delights gift set from Briogeo is exactly the kind of hair care treat I need right now: a reset for scalp and strands in the middle of the chilly season. It pairs a Rosemary pre-wash oil, a micro-exfoliating shampoo and a deep conditioning mask, which is everything I need to make my hair care that feels like self care.