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.

We independently research, test, review, and recommend the best products—learn more about our process. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.

There aren't enough miracles in this world. There are those brief flashes of beauty that restore your faith in goodness, like the rain clearing up just before an outdoor wedding, a street cat deciding you're worth trusting, or running up to a bus right before it pulls away and leaves you stranded for 28 minutes. In the beauty realm, dubbing a skincare product a miracle-maker is the highest compliment — which is why we've compiled all the Amazon purchases that shoppers say give religion a run for its money.

The resulting mix is a hit list that can tackle any skincare issue of the day, whether it's hands so dry they look like they touched the sun, or a smattering of dark marks that won't move for love or money. Anti-aging treatments also represent in the form of serums and moisturizers so effective, they might as well be time in a bottle. Everything comes with the assurance that multiple people were so impressed, they felt drawn not only to leave a glowing review, but to compare it to a godly touch of unearthly wonder — so yes, we'd say it's worth your money.

Intrigued? Take a scroll and hear it from the shoppers themselves. Their finds might not guarantee you'll win the lottery (that's a miracle of a different color), but they'll definitely give you happy skin.

If you're not familiar with the lore of French pharmacies, allow me to explain: Picture your corner deli, but brimming with over-the-counter skincare that you'd need a prescription for in the U.S. and stewarded by wise chemists. The French system might be 99 percent unattainable without overhauling our healthcare system, but brands like Avène and La Roche-Posay are the 1 percent we can get our hands on.

"Let me tell you, this product will straight-up reverse age you," an Amazon shopper writes of LRP's Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturizer. "My face is so smooth, my fine lines are less noticeable, my acne has improved. My face is no longer dry and has a nice glow to it. I am in love with this product. Look no more for your miracle moisturizer!" Even a shopper going through chemotherapy says that after trying it at the behest of a nurse, they felt instant relief — and saw their face turn soft, smooth, and a spitting image of its former self.

Next up is a virtual detour into Greece, this time for an Ancient Greek Remedy face oil that over 17,000 Amazon shoppers have rated five stars. The reason? It's made from a blend of olive, almond, grapeseed, lavender, and vitamin E oil, a five-ingredient mix that delivers wild results for your skin and hair.

"I have sensitive skin and psoriasis, [and] this is truly a miracle," a shopper writes of the solution that's seen them ditch all other body products. They use it after showers, on their elbows, knees, heels, and hands, as deodorant, on dry patches and flaky skin, and on stretch marks, and say that their skin has never been better. Another person asserts that it's a "liquid miracle" for their hair, giving their strands a natural shine without any hint of grease.

Given the hundreds of thousands of skincare options on Amazon, when a product ranks as the site's best-selling neck and chest moisturizer, that's a high compliment indeed. So while you may not have seen Bloomy's push-top jar of retinol cream in drugstores, take it from the 10,000+ shoppers who rated the product five stars: The formula is gangbusters for tightening skin and leaving it smoother in just five minutes.

Dozens of shoppers dub the cream a miracle. "You simply have to try this 'miracle in a jar.' Try it and watch the years melt away right before your eyes," one person writes. Another shopper, 49, says that the "miracle product" has left them looking like they're in their mid-thirties again, their skin feeling 15 years younger after a few weeks of daily use.

Shop now: $20 (Originally $22); amazon.com

Not to be outdone, Cosmedica's hyaluronic acid serum takes the cake with dozens of reviews speaking to its miracle status. An 81-year-old with deep wrinkles around their mouth and fine ones on their cheeks says that using the serum so effectively tightens their skin that it takes 10 years off their age. Those in their 50s say that the serum's helped plump up their skin so much that they've seen no need for fillers, and people with acne, eczema, and milia see likewise fabulous results.

"It's a miracle. I just love it," another person writes. "I can't believe what I see in the morning. It plumps my cheeks immediately, made my smile lines disappear, [and] brightens my face. Thank you, inventor." Within two weeks, a different shopper adds that they watched their eyebrow area wrinkles disappear, and didn't see a single breakout in the time span. "Dream skin. Miracle in a bottle, my babes."

Shop now: $13 (Originally $15); amazon.com

Finding a good cleanser can be the difference between skin that's dehydrated and irritated and a face that feels like smiles, and Vanicream's Gentle Facial Cleanser lands your skin firmly in the second category. Cerave's formulas might have TikTok under their thumb, but the Vanicream is more eco-friendly without any added parabens and is just as dermatologist-recommended.

If we didn't know any better, we'd think the formula's taken a "do no harm" oath — it's just that gentle, yet easily removes makeup, sunscreen, and grime without stripping your skin or aggravating contact dermatitis. End result: Clear skin, shrunken pores, and reviews extolling praise for the "miracle in a bottle" cleanser.

Shop now: $9 (Originally $10); amazon.com

Without fail, the most spectacular skin transformations (outside of the doctor's office) are thanks to vitamin C. The era before vitamin C infiltrated medicine cabinets across the nation might as well have been filmed in black and white, because after Skinceuticals dropped its groundbreaking CE Ferulic serum in 2005, nothing was ever the same. The brand's $166 serum encapsulates 40 years of groundbreaking research, and it's fully worth the price tag — but if you can't afford both it and rent, InstaNatural's Vitamin C Serum with hyaluronic acid and vitamin E delivers phenomenal brightening and anti-aging results.

"Once I started using this, my skin absolutely started to glow and my tone looked so even and peachy," an Amazon shopper writes of the under-$20 formula. "Plus, I have stopped having any sort of acne whatsoever. The smell is also heavenly — like fresh oranges. I feel like it took five years off of my face, and even [my] skin seems a little tighter and firmer. It's nothing short of a miracle."

Amazon's best-selling eye treatment gel features peptides aplenty, which are specifically-engineered proteins that communicate with your cells to up their collagen production (thus paving the way for under eyes that bounce like an inflatable castle). And it's not just marketing copy: According to over 100 shoppers who name-dropped the "miracle" compliment, the puff- and line-reducing gel isn't messing around.

"At age 52, I've been on a two-year search for something to repair the damage I likely did in the sun when I was younger," one shopper writes of the eye bags that they felt made them look perpetually ill. "After 30 days of this eye gel, I'm completely in love! It actually works, and some days I look in the mirror at 10x magnification and am pleasantly surprised. It's like a miracle."

Another reviewer says that using it before bed makes their dark circles wholly disappear, and the treatment is so potent, one more person says they've taken to using it across their entire face. "This has changed my skin! I used this on my eyes and saw dramatic results," they write. "The crepiness under my eyes is completely gone. It's taken 10 years off my appearance! As a 45-year-old woman dealing with vanity issues, fine lines, and wrinkles, this is my new best friend."

The minutes after you coat your body in lotion and are waiting for it to dry are a special kind of annoying, since you're incapacitated yet more often than not, cold and damp. Not fun! If that sounds familiar, Nivea's gel cream is the next-generation formula you have to try. It's loaded with all the long-lasting moisture you'd expect from the brand, yet comes with a light-as-air consistency that sinks in within a few blinks to deliver miraculous tightening.

The combination's won the formula over 9,000 five-star ratings on Amazon, where shoppers delight in how soft, firm, and smooth their skin looks after a few days of use. Those with an innovative streak even use it on their face and under eyes, to remarkable effect: The tightening is so pronounced that one person's coworker asked if they'd had work done, jowls-in-the-making disappear, and jawlines tighten up like they went to military school.

Shop now: $9 (Originally $13); amazon.com

Tea tree, mint, and aloe — who knew the trio of plants could create such a stir? Yet 13,000+ Amazon shoppers wouldn't lie, and that's how many have deemed Truremedy's $15 bottle of body wash deserving of a full five stars. Its abilities are awe-inspiring: According to reviewers, it dispels itchiness, rashes, eczema, and acne, whether pimples or cystic. Discolored skin clears up, pores shrink, dandruff leaves town, and even scars fade.

Take it from a love-struck shopper: "My intention for this soap was to have an antifungal foot wash, but instead I've discovered a self esteem booster. It has me feeling so much more confident." Their face doesn't "look like a war zone anymore," deodorant in frequently chafing spots is no longer necessary, their pain from varicose leg veins is solved, and the soap banishes sore muscles and feet. "I have never in my life believed in a product so much and so fast," they continue. "It has brought me to tears when looking in the mirror and starting to recognize myself again. My elbows look unbelievable. My pedicures last longer. Where has this been all my life? Thank you, Remedy soap, for remedying my soul."

If you can believe it, this $8 tub of hand cream bests even the Baebody for "miracle" praise. Of the recipe's 21,000+ five-star ratings and 8,500+ glowing reviews, a square 300 people call the cure a miracle. Shoppers starting from hands bleeding from cracks write that a week of use leaves their skin crackless, younger-looking, calm, earning it an A++++ in their book. Even people with seemingly permanent peeling skin around their fingernails and cuticles say it's banished the problem, while shoppers with severe eczema explain that it gives them hands that look like the 25-year-old they are, rather than a 100-year-old myth.

"I have had this awful section on my thumb that cracks and develops this skin that looks like a callus, a miniature Grand Canyon that I get to carry on my thumb," a shopper describes of their painfully cracking skin. "I have tried everything, except this. Wow, wow, wow, wow!!!! I wish I took pictures. For the first time in almost nine months, my thumb is almost back to normal. I was to the point that I was just guessing it was some crap I had to deal with as I got older. Thankfully I was not disappointed."

By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.