We’ll level with you. We test a lot of products here at the Daily Dot, and most of them have us feeling a little… meh?
And then there are the ones that truly surprise us, the real “why didn’t we think of that?” moments. It’s those guys that we’re compiling for you today – the best of the best from the last year+ of product reviews.
From skincare must-haves to entertainment favorites, your shopping cart will be full in no time – sorry! Here are the 20 best products of 2021, as chosen by our editorial team.
Staff pick: 20 best products of 2021
1) Quip Smart Electric Toothbrush
It’s not your typical electric toothbrush. The quip Smart Electric Toothbrush actually tracks and helps you perfect your oral hygiene habits. With this sleek, Bluetooth-enabled electric toothbrush, you can track how much time you spend on top and bottom teeth, the number of strokes you perform, and the intensity of the brush.
The best part? The free quip app provides awesome rewards like free brush heads, products, gift cards, and more as you brush better and track your progress. The set pack comes with an electric toothbrush, a standard soft-bristle brush head, and a free large mint anticavity toothpaste.
Price $65 $60
2) NuDerma Clinical Skin Therapy Wand
The secret to the most radiant skin starts with a spark. The NuDerma Clinical Skin Therapy Wand is a high-frequency treatment for a safe and natural boost to your entire skin profile. The wand turns back the clock by amplifying cell turnover for anti-aging, blemish control, skin tightening, acne reduction, and wrinkle reduction. You’ll see a difference after just a single session.
Price $159.95 $99.95
3) LVARA Smart Mini Skincare Fridge
This revolutionary mini cosmetic fridge will elevate your skincare routine. The LVARA smart skincare fridge helps you care for your favorite products and cosmetics via an app. The fridge keeps your products at 54°F to deliver a refreshing and cooling effect for an instant skin perk up. Extend and record the shelf life of your makeup products, while reducing oxidation.
Price $199 $179 (Save $20 with Amazon coupon)
4) DAVIDsTEA Cold Survival Kit
Fighting a crummy cold? Relief is only a cup of tea away. The Cold Survival Kit includes four soothing loose leaf teas, 10 throat-soothing organic honey sticks, a lip butter infused with eucalyptus-scented Cold 911 tea, and 10 tea filters. It’s everything you need to bounce back!
Price $29.50
5) The Dewy Duo
As seen on Tik Tok, this duo features the two viral glowy skin favorites from Glow Recipe. The set includes the Watermelon Glow PHA and BHA Pore-Tight Toner and the Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops for dewy, glowing, hydrated skin with a radiance like none other. Plus, you get two free samples with every order.
Price $49
6) Peter Thomas Roth Hydrating Gel Eye Patches
There’s no time to be sporting baggy under eyes. Put your best face forward with Peter Thomas Roth’s hydrating gel eye patches and combat eye aging and sagging. With 24K Gold and Colloidal Gold to help lift and firm the delicate under-eye area, you’ll be greeting a new radiant and youthful you in no time.
Price: $75
7) Olaplex No.5 Shampoo and Conditioner
If you’re anything like us, you’ve probably experimented with your hair more than a handful of times. When you start to feel the consequences of your experiments adding up, don’t panic, we have a solution.
Olaplex No.5 Bond Maintenance shampoo and conditioner is a highly moisturizing and reparative duo that repairs damaged hair, fixes split ends, and smoothes frizz by re-linking broken bonds. By working this duo into your daily hair care routine, you’ll see a serious change in your hair health in no time.
Price: $56.00
8) W&P Ceramic Lunch Bowl with Silicone Lid
Homemade lunch lovers, have we got a great product for you. W&P’s ceramic lunch bowl with a silicone lid makes meal travel a cinch. The beautiful bowl has been covered in high-quality BPA-free protective silicone with a silicone snap-strap to secure the plastic lid.
Its roomy, one-liter capacity can pack everything from big salads to fluffy grain bowls, and everything in between. Never travel without a healthy home-cooked lunch again, thanks to this W&P bowl.
Price: $40
9) Dyson Air Purifier
If you don’t have some kind of air purification system in your home, the reality is that you’re probably breathing in polluted air. From dust mites to pet dander and even smoke from scented candles, your lungs are constantly working overtime.
Treat yourself to clean air with this Dyson air purifier. With three sensors that detect pollutants in real time, 350 oscillation, top-of-the-line filtration, and high-quality cooling systems built in, you’ll be breathing in a whole new world.
Price: $545.77
10) W&P Glass Wide Mouth Bottle
Kick single-use plastics to the curb with the cutest reusable glass bottle you’ve ever seen from W&P. With a wide mouth for easy cleaning, pouring, and filling, this sturdy silicone wrapped bottle is a durable one. Non-slip and non-scratch, the silicone wrap does a great job of protecting the bottle from any potential damage.
The next time you reach for a drink, make sure it’s in the W&P reusable bottle, and say bye-bye to harmful plastics.
Price: $25
11) Lavender Eye Pillow
This lightly-weighted beanie pillow adds a little luxury to an afternoon nap or a meditation session. It’s filled with organic flaxseed and perfectly shaped to drape across the face without slipping.
The pillow is also filled with natural lavender buds. It can be cooled or warmed, depending on your desires, but warming it up releases the most relaxing aroma. It’s an under-$20 indulgence that I use pretty much on the daily.
Price: $17.99
12) Leather Multi-Function Waist Bag
Okay, a purse is too big and burdensome, but what about a somehow mean fanny pack.
This little bag has zippers and pouches for everything. It’s also made of gorgeous, genuine leather, giving it that edgy look and feel with a soft touch and beautiful aroma. This is the ultimate bag for someone with an active lifestyle. And it’s no-hands carrying is insanely convenient.
Price: $33.99
13) Bamboo Burner Cover
Apartment living is just a reality for many of us living in metropolitan areas. And apartments are often known for having a more compact kitchen space. Small kitchen struggles are real, y’all. Or they used to be anyway. Thanks to this gorgeous bamboo stove-top cover, I’ve practically doubled the amount of counter space in my kitchen.
It’s a beautiful, sleek level-up for any kitchen, and draws compliments anytime someone comes by for a cup of tea. It also doubles as a cutting board, freeing up precious cabinet space. Bamboo is also easier on your knives, bacterial and water-resistant, and eco-friendly. It’s a double score for both form and function, and now that I have it, I can’t imagine my meal prep days without it.
Price: $69.95
14) Naked Lady Neon Sign
This beautiful neon lady adds an air of fun to any room. The rosy glow that emanates from this neon glass sign warms up any room, and is a great way to spice up the evening vibes in your home.
The sign is lightweight and durable, making it easy to handle on moving day. But if the light goes faulty anytime within the first year, the manufacturer will replace it for you. This babe’s got lights bright enough to light a room on her own, but it’s never overly bright. This neon sign is a whole mood, and it gives me living room a saucy feel when it’s time to put on my night moves.
Need I say more? I mean, she cute.
Price: $89.99
15) AeroGarden Harvest XL
Sometimes it feels impossible to buy fresh herbs and actually use them all before they go bad. But I live in an apartment, so my small kitchen doesn’t get any sunlight. No problem– if you like fresh herbs and want to garden in a dark kitchen, this thing is amazing.
Less than a foot wide or tall in each direction, the AeroGarden fits wells on countertops, bars, and wire storage racks. A 25W LED provides the optimal environment for plant growth, so your little green babies will shoot up pretty quickly after planting. There’s space for 6 different herbs or veggies to grow, and adjusts up to 18” tall to give your plants room to stretch their stalks.
The Harvest XL also comes with an arrangement of seed pods. Get ready to cut down on your food waste with some delicious, home-grown basil, parsley, dill, thyme, and mint in a matter of weeks.
Price: $215.00
16) Slay the Spire (PlayStation 4, Switch, Xbox One)
There is no better casual game on the market right now than the gloriously brilliant Slay the Spire. Combining elements of collectible card games and roguelike combat, Slay the Spire is an addictive joyride. Players are given a handful of attack, magic, and defense cards. They use these to fight battles as they climb the Spire.
But that simple description ignores the wonderful and ever-evolving quirks of this gem. Health is hard to come by, but you can find it by taking riskier paths. You’ll almost never have the same weapons, so you need to learn each’s quirks to flourish. Even better, as you play the game slowly unlocks more surprises.
Buy this now, no matter what system you have.
Price: $9.99-24.99
17) Boka Coco Ginger Toothpaste
American toothpaste kind of sucks. Even our best brands don’t really do much but keep your teeth as they are, rather than helping heal existing damage. That’s why I adore Boka Boco Ginger Toothpaste, a miracle paste that’s the first oral health product to make me say wow.
Boka Cogo features nHa, a mineral that naturally makes up enamel. With regular use it helps remineralize teeth, the first natural toothpaste to do so. Reduce your sensitivity, rebuild your enamel, and help fight microcavities, all while enjoying a sweet and subtle ginger flavor. It even whitens while it works.
Price: $125.99
18) Safeplus Top Loading Water Cooler
The number one best choice I made for my health during the pandemic has been getting a water cooler. For the price of one fancy dinner for two you can have fresh, delicious, ice cold or hot water in your home at all times. You will drink more, save your ice cubes, and have hot tea all the time.
Best of all, refills are cheap and available at most major grocery chains and drugstores. Seriously, treat yourself to the best
Price: $125.99
19) Friday the 13th boxset
Friday the 13th fans have lived with an ocean of re-releases, low-quality cash-ins, and half-ass Blueray boxsets for years. Thankfully, the fine folks at Shout Factory crafted the Friday the 13th collection to end all collections. Featuring brand new transfers of the first four films, along with every other movie in the series, this is a must-have for horror hounds.
You also get hours and hours of amazing special features, from lost gore effects cut to get R rating to interviews and commentaries. After months of owning this set, I’m still finding new treasures to discover.
Price: $123.39
20) Dr Dabber Boost EVO
In the world of concentrates, there is no electronic dab rig that does it better than Dr. Dabber’s Boost EVO. Its ingenious design makes loading and vaping your favorite cannabis concentrates simple and delicious. Just remove the magnetic bubbler top, drop in your favorite wax or rosin, and hold the power button until it vibrates. Then inhale your delicious clouds.
Featuring six heat settings, an easy-to-clean bubbler, and a handy carrying case, the Boost EVO is the best traveling dab rig around. Bring it with you on Vacation for hotel dab sessions that won’t get you kicked out of your room. But even if you just use it at home, the Boost EVO makes dabbing a joy. Drop the torch, and see the Dr. today.
Price: $329.95
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