The Real Girls Guide Obsessions List
No sponsors. No kickbacks. Just the stuff we’ve written about, you’ve shared, and we all keep coming back to.
Because when we find something that makes midlife skin glow, sleep deeper, or feel like a tiny miracle in a jar, we spread the gospel.
Skincare + Skin Saviors
Orgaid Organic Sheet Masks – Organic sheet masks that don’t piss off your skin.
SKINN Dermappeal Microdermabrasion – Baby skin in a tube.
Peter Thomas Roth Instant Eye Tightener – Magic trick for under-eye bags.
Solawave Red Light Wand – Because midlife glow > midlife gloom.
Medicube Masks – K-beauty meets menopause skin.
Kopari Caffeine & Niacinamide Eye Cream – Coffee for your face.
YSE The Overachiever Brightening & Depuffing Eye Masks – Midlife undereye pick-me-up.
The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG – A de-puffing, brightening under-eye serum that fakes eight hours of sleep.
Shebang – Thoughtfully designed pleasure products that feel confident, grown-up, and refreshingly normal.
Tweezer Guru Pro Illuminating Eyebrow Tweezers – Lighted tweezers that reveal everything you didn’t ask to see but absolutely need to fix.
Omnilux Red Light Mask – The steady one.
Beauty Staples We Swear By
Sun Bum Mineral SPF 50 – Because fried skin is not a vibe.
NARS Radiant Cream Concealer – Hides a multitude of midlife sins.
Jones Road Miracle Balm – Dewy without looking desperate.
Saie Skin Glow Duo – Glowy skin in seconds.
Summer Fridays Lip Products – Hydrating, non-sticky balms that give effortless, grown-up gloss.
Thrive Causemetics Liquid Lash™ Extensions Tubing Mascara – Dependable, no-smudge lashes that hold up in real life and come off clean at night.
REFY Face Primer – Smooth without suffocating.
Youth to the People 15% Vitamin C - Actually works, layers well, and doesn’t require a second mortgage.
ROC Retinol Correction Eye Cream AND CeraVe Eye Repair Cream - A completely unscientific left-eye/right-eye experiment that noticeably softened the raccoon-eye situation.
ROC Glow Stick Eye Balm - The fastest way to look slightly more awake than you feel.
Dr. Melaxin Dark Spot Cream - One of those “wait… why does my skin suddenly look better?” products.
ANUA PDRN - Amanda got us again. Remember Amanda from Part 7?
Yep… She got me again. This time it was ANUA PDRN, and I completely understand the hype.
Wellness + Sanity
Teal Chinoiserie Lavender Eye Pillow – Weighted nap magic.
Supergut Pro Gut health without cardboard taste.
Colony Co. Canvas Bags – Grocery chic > plastic shame.
Dr. Mary Claire Haver (The Pause Life) - OB-GYN and menopause expert delivering science-backed education, practical tools, and products for navigating midlife with confidence.
Rosy Rings Candles – Botanical, slow-burn candles that turn any room into a calming ritual.
Melt For You and Good Vibes by Womaness - Feel-good midlife body products that actually understand the assignment.
Aloha Collection Tote - The tote that somehow carries my entire life. And that is saying a lot!
Books + Voices That Keep Us Bold + Binge-Worthy Shows
You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero – Midlife pep talk in paperback.
All Fours by Miranda July – Weird, raw brilliance.
Claire Casey’s Had Enough by Liz Alterman – Your permission slip to say “nope.”
A Widow’s Fire: An Intimate Memoir of Heartbreak, Survival, and Moving On by Diane Pike Heiler – A raw, beautiful memoir of heartbreak, survival, and rebuilding.
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed – A decade-old classic that still hits with deep, necessary truth.
You Shouldn’t Have Done That by Liz Alterman – Sharp, addictive suspense with a wink.
A Different Kind of Poison by Liz Alterman - Audiobook fans, this is my current listen and I’m fully hooked.
@justbeingmelani – Instagram truth serum.
@peachesanddiesel104 – Real talk, real life.
@menopause_the_truth – Kat Taylor cutting through the hot-flash bullshit.
@drjengunter – The OB-GYN we trust with everything.
@bigtimeadulting – Caitlin Murray; motherhood uncensored.
@dunnewithmenopause – Menopause myth-busting with clarity, compassion, and humor.
@midlifers_ – Hysterical and unfiltered midlife stories that feel like a group chat with your ride-or-dies.
@the.vag.doc – Science-backed, stigma-free education about all things vaginal health.
The Midst (@the_midst_life) – Thoughtful, grounded reflections on identity, ambition, and change—without the panic or the preachiness.
Mitchell Little (@mitchlittleacademy) – Relatable humor and real-life habits that feel achievable, not aspirational.
Colleen Landry (@colleenlandrycomedy) – Deadpan midlife comedy that hits hard because it’s painfully accurate.
Geezer Magazine – Smart, funny writing about aging that examines it instead of softening it.
Life Branches by Ellen Scherr – Quiet, precise essays about change and self-trust that linger long after reading.
20 Minutes with Bronwyn – Smart, grounded conversations about work, confidence, and leadership, including sharp insights from Patty Azzarello who wrote Why Is SHE Still Here? that reframe fear as proof you’re doing something meaningful.
Gen X Juggler Podcast with Deb Foster – Warm, honest discussions about resilience, reinvention, and navigating the next chapter.
@lacycounts – Everyday chaos, zero polish, all truth.
@erinjoneswesley – Pop culture, daily life, and media feels all in one place.
It’s Not Her by Mary Kubica - Psychological tension without theatrics.
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg – Behavior, decoded.
Cake for Dinner Podcast with Keesha Scott (IG follow is a must) - (I love a good video pod so here’s the YouTube link and the Apple pod link) – No filters. No performing.
I’ve mentioned author Liz Alterman and her fantastic books here before, but her blog is just as entertaining and she recently featured me!
@brandypeacocktraylor - Smart, grounded, and saying the quiet parts out loud.
@anasbubble – Hysterical midlife observations that somehow double as a nervous-system reset.
Unapologetic Midlife with Mindi Lobuzzetta – The kind of conversations you have with your besties over wine.
Women Mastering Midlife with Victoria Byrd - @msvictoriabyrd) – Strategy, reinvention, and real talk about starting again on your own terms.
Coming Into Focus with Helen Tansey – Conversations that help things make sense again.
Dr Abby Medcalf – Boundaries that are practical, direct, and actually usable in real life.
Your Friends & Neighbors - Easy-entry drama that pulls you in before you realize you’re invested.
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (+ Erin Wesley Jones’s Like Us podcast) - Dinner-table tension, side-eye energy, and now a relatability leaderboard.
Freida McFadden - Thriller plots that make you cancel your own bedtime.
If You Give a Cat a Hot Flash by Alexis Dunne, MD - Tiny menopausal cat chaos with massive emotional support energy.
Strangers by Belle Burden - This book got under my skin in the way the best memoirs do.
TMI Aunt Tammi on IG - Menopause, marriage, exhaustion, wine, lipstick on her teeth, and the mystery of Harold.
Amanda Midlife Finds on IG - Midlife product finds, beauty rabbit holes, and tiny things making life feel slightly more pulled together.
Matt Hyams on IG - Perimenopause reenactments so accurate they should qualify as documentary footage.
Lauren Rubin on Cake For Dinner — journaling, anxiety, gratitude, and practical ways to get unstuck.
Cat & Nat on Instagram AND Cat & Nat on Substack - The realities of marriage, motherhood, and being needed by everyone constantly.
Substack as a Platform - Not in a “build your creator business” way. In a “holy shit, real humans are still capable of honest thoughts on the internet” way.
Chelsea Waterwall on IG - (For me) Nostalgia, car dancing, and the soundtrack to raising my three boys.
Unapologetic Midlife with Mindi Lobuzzetta - Honest conversations about what comes next.
Victoria Byrd on Substack and on her pod - Proof that reinvention doesn’t have an expiration date.
Beeanca on IG - So many things to love! She says exactly what you’re thinking… only funnier.
Yellow Bird Books in Aurora IL - Exactly the kind of bookstore every community deserves.
Talking Animals Books - The bookstore that believed in me before most people knew my name.
The Finlay Donovan Series by Elle Cosimano - Fast, funny, wildly entertaining, and proof that ordinary women can become absolute badasses.
Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry - The kind of book that stays with you long after you’ve finished it. I’m reading this one for the second time.
Real Girls Guide Midlife Workbook - Because sometimes you need somewhere to put all the thoughts swirling around in your head.
Creepy Book Club - Started by two best friends (including Ashley Desanno at lotsamiles on IG - a personal fan fav and Emily Reeder), this is a book club for people who like their stories a little darker. Plus, their companion podcast, Reconsidered: Unsolved, takes a thoughtful, research-driven look at cases which should be required listening.
BONUS: Independent Bookstores (Bookshop.org is a great way to support them) - Because algorithms will never replace a bookseller who says, “You have to read this.”
Bronwyn Saglambeni and her Flip Flop Recommendation Featured in Substack - She somehow knows exactly what we need before we do.
Bonus Faves
Basics by B Liquid Glow Drops – Instant vacation face.
Holme Beauty Base Primer – Smooth operator.
Charlotte Tilbury – Magic in a bottle, across every product.
Tower 28 – Sensitive-skin savior.
Rhode Beauty – Yes, even Hailey’s line made the cut.
Mamavation – Investigating toxins so we don’t have to.
Womaness – Midlife wellness products that actually understand midlife women.
Michaels of Brooklyn Pasta Sauce – The vodka sauce took the crown.
Doich Foods – Clean, delish, and apparently teenage-approved.
And Finally, From The Pros
Microneedling, BBL (BroadBand Light) and IPL (Intense Pulsed Light), and radiofrequency. Think of them as jumper cables for your skin, giving tired cells a little spark. Pair with retinol, and you’ve got the closest thing to a midlife glow recipe. Ask your dermatologist, doctor, or esthetician about treatments like these.
Your Turn! I’ve spilled my list - and what you’ve shared so far - so let’s keep growing this thing. The more we crowdsource, the better we all get at living on our own terms.
So… what’s your latest obsession? DM me, drop a comment, or forward this to your ride-or-die with “you need to see this” in the subject line.