The serum so hydrating, you’ll ditch your moisturizer (even in the dead of winter)

I don’t ask for much. When the holidays come around and my family asks what I want, nothing ever comes to mind. “Barry’s Bootcamp classes?” I inevitably shrug. But this year, I’m taking a stand. To whomever is looking to buy me a gift: I really, really want—nay, need!—the Monastery Flora Botanical Cream Serum ($118).

I’ve written about my love of multitasking beauty products plenty of times, because I am a relatively low-maintenance kind of gal. The faster I can get ready, the better. So when I discovered a serum that could also serve as a moisturizer—knocking out yet another step of my streamlined skin-care routine—I immediately put it on my wish list. It’s literally a cream and a serum, which would whittle my regimen to a commendable three steps. Three!

As we all know, a serum is meant to bring real changes to skin: It’s the product filled with the active ingredients such as vitamin C, retinol, niacinamide, and the list goes on and on. The Monastery Cream Serum contains a skin-care cocktail of multiple weights of hyaluronic acid (that plumps both the skin’s surface and deeper layers of the epidermis), fruit and floral extracts to calm and nourish skin, and ellagic and ximenynic acids to brighten.

Thanks to the creamy texture, the serum hybrid can also stand in as a moisturizer, helping to build the barrier of skin while also giving it multiple active ingredients. When you swipe it onto your complexion, the phytosterols in the serum work to amp up collagen levels as they soften skin. Basically, Santa et al., getting me this product won’t only give me joy, but you’ll also benefit by seeing the radiant complexion it gives my skin. Plus, the multitasking aspect gives me more time back into my day, which I henceforth promise to spend with the lucky person who purchases this for me. Thanks!

Read about the Lipstick Queen Black Lace Rabbit lipstick one of our other editors wants for the holidays, or about this makeup mirror that provides the best light ever.