A dermatologist reveals the one Trader Joe’s skin-care product she’d never put on her face

Over the last few years, certain Trader Joe’s beauty products have emerged as cult favorites in skin care. There’s the $9 moisturizer that is pretty much a dead ringer for La Mer, the hyaluronic acid serum that skin slurps up like tall glass of water, and the Açai Blueberry Scrub that Reddit went wild for back in 2018. Our editors have tried—and loved—a whole lot of them. But what does a dermatologist have to say on the subject?

To find out, we had board-certified dermatologist Mona Gohara, MD, put an entire roster of serums, scrubs, and moisturizers to the test over the course of a month for our latest episode of Dear Derm. And while she was generally impressed by some of the offerings (“this is so cosmetically elegant,” she says about one SPF product),  there was one product in particular she says she’d never put on her face (click the video above to see which one!).

As beauty products become less expensive and more effective, it can be helpful to know how to shop like a derm. The first thing Dr. Gohara does? Checks out the ingredients. You don’t have to be a beauty whiz to know how to do this, either: The ingredients towards the front of the list are found at the highest concentrations and those towards the back are found at lower concentrations. As far as the ingredients themselves, if a word looks intimidating, don’t drop the tube and run for the hills. Search for it on Google Scholar to see what scientific studies say about it and then test and try from there to see if it’s good for your skin.

Or ya know: Let us (and Dr. Gohara) do the hard part for you. To find out which picks she endorses (including the one product combo she gives an A+ for treating dry, winter skin), watch the video above. And maybe make some room in your cart filled with cauliflower gnocchi for a beauty buy or two.

Take a peek at some of the other affordable products in Dr. Gohara’s skin-care cabinet, right this way. And here’s everything she wants you to know about combination skin, which you may not even realize you have.