If a Cashmere Sweater and a Nancy Meyers Kitchen Had a Skincare Baby... (2025)

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Firming Plant Peptide Serum

"While our brand truly offers something for everyone, we know our customer is the sophisticated, mature woman, a group we feel is often underserved in the category," says CEO Lauren Harris. "With her in mind, we develop products and shape our messaging to offer a purposeful assortment of skincare essentials that blend efficacy, experience, and results." And while this is certainly true of the full suite of products, the Firming Plant Peptide Serum is the pinnacle of this sentiment. Amidst the massive peptide wave we're seeing across skin and hair, Oak Essentials offers something new: a plant-based firming serum that harnesses the power of stem cells.

Dew Body Oil

Dew Body Oil is one of the brand's top-sellers, and a personal favorite of mine as well. (It even won a Byrdie Beauty Award in 2024.) It's fast-absorbing, non-greasy, and smells absolutely divine. "I love Dew Body Oil," adds Kayne. "I use it in the shower every day and by the time I’m out, my skin has fully absorbed it, and I look super glowy."

Ritual Oil

This is a product I never travel without. Whenever my skin feels irritated, over-exfoliated, or supremely dry and dull, a few drops of The Ritual Oil always gets me back to a good place. Featuring anti-inflammatory blue tansy oil as the hero ingredient, it's also a lovely formula for facial massage, so feel free to use it in conjunction with your gua sha or ice rollers.

Awaken Body Wash

Featuring a mix of lavender and cedarwood oils, this elevated body wash scents my shower (and skin) with an herbaceous, warm, woody fragrance. It's such a treat to end my day sudsing up with this product, and I find that it even doubles as a lovely addition to the bathtub.

Renew Face Polish

This is the most gentle face exfoliator I've ever tried (notice the word polish in the name, not scrub). This formula features ultrafine, biodegradable beads to give the skin a gentle buff without scraping or micro-tearing. I use this once a week in place of my usual chemical exfoliator and find that it leaves my skin baby-smooth and primed for skincare.

Moisture Rich Balm

According to the brand, the number one bestseller—since day one—has been the Moisture Rich Balm, which Harris describes as, "A luxurious melting balm-to-oil facial moisturizer that gives you a truly unmatched glow and is great for all skin types, especially sensitive skin." Kayne adds that if she was absolutely forced to choose (and I did in fact force her), this would be her favorite face product from the Oak Essentials line. "I can’t go a day without it—it leaves your skin looking and feeling so hydrated and dewy. It truly is a skin savior," she says.

Moisture Rich Body Balm

Iterating on the success of the original Moisture Rich Balm, a supersized formula for the body was created to provide deep moisture all over, but I prefer to use it where I'm extra dry (like my shins, knees, elbows, and decollate). I apply it straight from the shower—while my skin is still damp—and find that it practically erases cracked skin, and dehydration lines. Because this is such a rich, balmy formula, be warned that it does take some time to settle into the skin (and enjoy the glow in the meantime).

Violet Santal Eau de Parfum

"Nature has always been my greatest source of inspiration, so I designed each fragrance to ground you in the present and enhance the overall experience of using the product," says Kayne. "Each product is created with specific scents that strike a balance between feminine, natural, and timeless, and my hope is that each time you use these products, you experience a feeling of connection and beauty." It's this exact feeling of connection and beauty that's bottled in the brand's Violet Santal Eau de Parfum, a woody fragrance that doesn't trigger a sneeze attack every time I spray it. (Pro tip: The same scent is also available as a candle.)