This Skincare Brand is A Sleeper Hit—Here are My 5 Favorite Products (2024)

Cofounders (and now husband and wife) Brad Yim and Jackie Kim started Maelove with the aim of simplifying skincare. Before launching Maelove, Kim was an attorney and startup investor who loved skincare, but felt really overwhelmed by everything on the market. "We set out to obsessively formulate skincare products that deliver, while being stripped free of all the marketing markups and the confusing language and without imposing multi-step regimens," says Kim.

While Maelove is a full line of 17 products (cleansers, serums, dark spot correctors, moisturizers, scrubs, and more), they're adamant you don't actually need everything. "I always advise start with one, see how your skin feels and likes it, and then you can add more," Kim notes. Because each product uses high-quality actives, they're all solution-oriented to address your specific skin concerns, rather than needing to cocktail a bajillion products.

• The formulas are simple and clean yet totally effective, using high concentrations of active ingredients blended in a way that isn't irritating for my skin.
• Every product serves a purpose—they don't just launch new things when something is trending. Instead, each new release is thoughtfully and meticulously studied, tested, and planned.
• Although they feel extremely high-end, almost all products (aside from one luxe facial oil) are under $50.
• The majority of the products don't clog my pores, even though I'm extremely acne-prone.

This was Maelove's first product when the brand launched in 2017, and it remains their best-selling product years later (it's legit sold out a whopping nine times). And I completely understand, because it's my favorite, hands down. Kim explains it as an "elevated version of your typical vitamin C serum." It uses a gold-star-winning trio if 15 percent L-ascorbic acid and ferulic acid to help fade hyperpigmentation and protect my skin, plus vitamin E to moisturize. "But I think what makes it really different is it's enhanced with botanical extracts, so it really has the additional element of soothing, hydrating, and brightening your skin," Kim adds.

For me, I immediately notice how glowy and clear my skin looks when I'm regularly using this serum. The watery texture immediately soaks in and doesn't leave my face tacky, but it still adds a radiant look to my face. I pat it onto dry skin after cleansing and toning in the morning, then layer on any other serums and sunscreen (always, always SPF with this).

Kim's obsessed with this peptide serum that sold out in four days after launching in November 2023. If you think it's just another peptide serum, think again, though. It's got four classes of peptides (reminder: these ingredients encourage collagen and elastin production) to seriously help plump, firm, and tighten skin without any irritation at all whatsoever. Kim actually developed it as an alternative to retinol while she was pregnant.

When I use it, there's an instant smooth look it gives my face, especially my forehead which is starting to get itsy-bitsy lil wrinkles (28, be damned). The blue formula feels v luxe to slather all over my face too, since it's also loaded with hydrating hyaluronic acid and ceramides, plus soothing allantoin, green tea, and bisabolol.

Hyperpigmentation is my cross to bear in this life, and I've tried serums, treatments, in-office procedures, and more to help fade my acne scars and marks from old breakouts. But the one at-home ingredient that's made a big difference in my skin is kojic acid, the MVP of this serum. It helps regulate melanin production in your skin to help quell dark spots, both to reduce the ones I have and prevent new ones from forming. But it's also got alpha arbutin and licorice root extract to further support its fading magic.

Dark spot correctors tend to be full of AHAs and strong actives that irritate the F outta my skin, but this one is surprisingly gentle. I can smooth it on every single morning (after vitamin C and before moisturizer and SPF) without the worry of dryness, because it's also loaded with anti-inflammatory botanicals like glutathione, red algae extract, and aloe vera.