There’s no beauty editor’s school; you've got to learn on the job. Rule number one, as Emily Ferber and I have discussed ad nauseum, is to hate mostly everything. Because there are a lot of bad products out there! Products that don't do what they say they are going to do, products that break you out, products that smell like beef jerky and, to add insult to injury, have the audacity to pill. But then comes the light. The sole good beauty find that’s unmasked after heapings of bad—the one really, really good thing. And then (and only then) I pass it along to you.

Right now that really, really good thing for me is Tatcha’s The Silk Canvas. Love it; can’t stop thinking about; included it in this year’s Top 25. I’m such a big fan that after my friends pilfered through my first disk ("hey Ashley, can you bring a little more of that Tatcha?"), I hightailed to Sephora and bought a replacement. It’s the only primer worth buying. Heck, it’s the only primer that primes! Rub in a pea-size amount and everything on top—foundation, concealer, eyeshadow, you name it—glides on smoother, more pigmented, and lasts longer. It is, without a doubt, the best thing I bought this year. Which brings me to you. What’s your Tatcha The Silk Canvas? What’s the best beauty product you bought this year? Give up the goods below.

—Ashley Weatherford

Photo via ITG