People Magazine is doing that thing they do every year with their Most Beautiful issue where they get celebrity women to go without makeup. Women are beautiful with and without makeup, but when People does this it seems gimmicky. We can wear makeup if we want, and go without if we want. It just bothers me when it veers into sanctimonious territory like there’s a superior position on it. One person who is not haughty at all about going without makeup is Kathryn Hahn. People posted a brief interview with her where she laughed her ass off about being told she was “brave” for being out in public with messy hair and without makeup. She also said that she’s really into skincare, which is what I wanted to talk about! I’ve embedded the interview below and here are some quotes.
I [had] lunch with a friend and someone came up to us and the woman [said] “I love your work so much and I think it’s so awesome that you go out of the house looking like that.” My hair was a disaster, I had my workout clothes on. I am who I am.
I rarely wear makeup in my real life and a lot of the roles I have done recently I wear little to no makeup. I wore more makeup in my 20s. I wear less and less the older I get. I love clothes, I love fashion, I love putting on makeup for special events. Day to day, I’m just not that bird. I don’t have the time for it.
In high school I had a goth period and there was a lot of makeup. I tried to do the wing eyeliner. I had the lipstick that was so pale it made your lips invisible. Foundation that was so thick and then so much powder on top. I had [hormonal cystic] acne until my 40s. Once that started clearing up I felt more comfortable not wearing makeup.
Nutrition didn’t really start happening until I became a mom and I felt the responsibility of my kids. Same with everything. Hydration, working out has become an important part of my life. I use a sunscreen, I stay out of the sun. I have a skincare routine. I wash my face, I have a toner, I have a bunch of serums, I love a face oil. The older I get, that’s where I’ve been investing is in skincare.
If you follow our Amazon posts you may have followed my evolution into skincare. I’m Katherine’s age and have been able to really transform my skin with affordable skincare! I think retinol made the most difference, as has niacinamide, hyaluronic acid and recently I’ve been using lactic acid too. I don’t think it matters too much exactly what products you use as long as you’re consistent. If you want more of an introduction on skincare check out this post I did late last year. It’s for doing a full facial but in the second to last paragraph there is an explanation of how to adapt it into a daily routine.
I like wearing makeup because that’s my default but a lot of women are the opposite and feel most comfortable without it. Just let us be us! This is why I love Kathryn, because she’s just herself, plus she killed it on Wandavision. I so wish we were getting more Wandavision. I know that it would be hard for them to replicate how damn creative and clever the last season was (I have to credit my friend Ashley for that idea) but I grew to love these characters and I so want Wanda to get her happy ending. Plus I want more Agatha too of course. She could still come back! They could magic a way to make that happen.
Photos credit: Avalon.red and via YouTube
FINE. I will drink more water today if Kathryn tells me to.
I love make-up! I really like doing my makeup, playing with the colors, with the styles, with the effects, but I’m also very lazy so most of the time I don’t wear it. Since I don’t wear makeup very often I started investing more time and money into my skincare routine and it has been extremely rewarding. I have oily skin, with visible pores, a few pimples here and there, and acne hyperpigmentation. I have been using an affordable salicylic acid cleanser, niacinamide, and hyaluronic acid serums, a lightweight moisturizer, SPF, and drinking more water. My skin is looking and feeling great!
Lauren I started using Tretinoin – after a life of skin like yours. I just wish I had started it 30yrs ago.
My skin is like some other persons now.
I had spent £££ on everything over the years from cheap to far more than was right.
Now a basic cleanser, the Inkey hyluronic acid, plus a pea of Tret and I have beautiful glowing skin.
I’m a thousand yrs old now but it is worth it for anyone. Two of my daughters are using it now and it has been a miracle
These are the tried and true, science backed, real work horses of good skin. Retinoids, antioxidants, niacinimide, alpha and beta hydroxy acids, ceremides, hyluronic acid. I’ve been using Paula’s Choice for 20 years for this reason: all science, no bullshit.
I also LOVE prescription metrogel in the day for evening skin tone. It’s truly magic (even if you don’t have rosacea it eliminates the slightest traces of redness—it seriously makes your bare skin look like you are wearing the worlds most elegant foundation because your skin color becomes so even).
at Gruey–meanwhile, I’ve been prescribed metrogel forever and never noticed any diff
Azalaic acid is great for rosacea and hyperpigmentation
@GRUEY I have used Paula’s Choice since its inception (I bought it up late 1 night on QVC) and have never looked back. I use it for the same reason. All science and no BS! Also most have no fragrance. Great stuff!
I’m all about reading others’ skin care routines. It’s especially helpful to read and hear from the CB-ers about their routines.
Same, so much. I almost never wear makeup because, frankly, I’m just too lazy. But ever since post pregnancy melasma and an extended hospital stay wrecked my skin, suddenly I’m needing to take MUCH better care of my skin.
I recently started using the Peach and Lily glass skin regimen. It’s four steps, which seemed excessive to me at first, but the results… oh my gosh. And now, despite my extreme laziness, I actually look forward to doing it twice a day because the great results keep motivating me.
I also bought their lazy skin pads, which are so genius. it’s a little tub of serum soaked pads you keep in your nightstand, so when you have those nights where you get in bed and go, “crap, I forgot to wash my face,” and you’re just too drained to get up, you reach for one of these pads and just swipe your face clean and it has some moisturizer or serum or something in it, too. It’s better than doing nothing, and DEFINITELY better than getting back out of bed once I get comfy.
I’ve never worn much makeup since high school in the 80s, but I really appreciate people who put an effort into their makeup. It can be so pretty but I just don’t have the patience. I started a fairly regular skin care routine when I turned 30 with toner and moisturizer and have always been a freak about drinking a ton of water since I get bad headaches at even a hint of dehydration. The only problem is having to be near a bathroom, so if I’m out or traveling I sort of resign myself to suffering from headaches until I can be safely home and able to guzzle again.
I thought hitting 50 wasn’t so bad but the real changes started coming about 2-3 years later. I am super consistent with my skin care – I use Origins and Neutrogena products – and don’t mind the few wrinkles I have on my face, around my eyes, but my sagging neck is turning into a real source of angst. Not sure if I would hate it so much if I hadn’t been seeing myself on Zoom so much this year. Somehow Zoom makes it way worse than the mirror, lol.
I’ve asked my dermatologist what I could do about my sagging neck and she just shrugs and says I have the type of skin that’s more prone to sagging. I wish I could embrace it. Instead I wear scarves and turtlenecks as much as I can. Sigh.
Hi Esmom! It’s been forever since I posted but I love the skincare related posts for any info to add to my anti-aging arsenal. I think we’re around the same age so I’ve really stepped it up recently and one of the products I read about was Gold Bond Neck and Chest Firming cream. It’s cheap and the reviews on Amazon make it seem like a small miracle! Also, facial exercises have helped me fend off too much neck sagging (I’m 58). Hope you don’t mind my reply but I can’t stay quiet when it comes to helping a sister out!
Hi GingerCrunch, So nice you see your name again in these parts. Thank you so much for the recommendations, I will give them a try. Scarves and positioning my head to make my neck look better in Zoom calls are the only tricks I really have so I need to expand on that, stat. Stay well.
GingerCrunch and Esmon – I’ve been using a Strivectin product for sagging neck issues and it’s quite good. I’ve noticed a reduction in those long crescent-shaped wrinkles around the neck, and freckles and spots have been disappearing. I also use a combo retinol/vitamin C/ hyaluronic acid serum too. Strivectin is quite expensive but I wait until it goes on sale and grab up a bunch.
Thanks guys for the recommendations! I’ve been freaking out over how old my neck and chest look and I’m 45! I’m gonna try the gold bond and maybe keep an eye out for the Strivectin?
I just asked the question about sagging neck on a GOOP post the other day and got 2 recommendations – 1 is a plasma pen procedure which one reader said worked for her eye area and that she was going to be doing her lower face soon. 1 was for the nuface microcurrent machine but the reader advised you have to do it every day.
Wow I just looked up plasma pen for the eye and that looks like something I might want to look into! I had never heard of that.
I spoke to my derm about my neck–and I’m 44–and he told me to try something with hyaluronic acid (he specifically recommended olay age defying advanced, which seems to be really hard to find). My mother has a very droopy neck and I am petrified of getting one too, I already told my husband to not be surprised if I announce that I’m getting a neck lift someday. I’m not there yet but am already unhappy with how it looks. I will def look into the goldbond
Thanks, Kate, great info.
Manda, my old business parter and I use to fret about our emerging “turkey necks” (hers was barely discernible and still is) when we were in our 40s and joked about getting neck lifts. I’m surprised my dermatologist hasn’t suggested it but I guess she’s not really into cosmetic procedures like some of them are.
Esmom–Some derms are very withholding it seems, lol. Mine does a lot of beauty stuff that I just found out about! I’m like, why aren’t you trying to make any money from me?? I’m going to look at this positively and say we both are probably over scrutinizing ourselves on zoom, which is easy to do because it’s also so easy to get a bad angle! You mentioned the zoom thing and I too noticed that my neck within the last year or so
Same to you, Esmom!!!
I’ve had really good luck using a microcurrent device on my jowls and saggy neck! I have the nuface trinity.
Thanks!
I like wearing makeup, but not too much. I can’t do full face of makeup like Nikkie Tutorials lol
I also had to dive more into skincare since moving into a different city and discovering how damaging the water was to my skin. I can’t wash my face with water anymore and I had to adapt to a whole new routine
Oooh, what do you use instead of water to wash your face? I’ve heard some people say skipping water really helped their skin.
I use micellar water (Bioderma, but there are lots and lots out there) to clean my face and rarely use soap/cleanser with water. I’ve found that it’s helped with dry skin and breakouts (I have combination skin that gets really dry and sensitive on my cheeks and neck).
Micellar water is amazing. I rarely use water on my face unless I’m in the shower.
Hi Lena,
I used to travel a lot for work and the water in some cities would wreak havoc on my skin. I was able to solve the problem by buying some bottled water. After washing my face with tap water, I would soak a cotton pad with the bottled stuff and wipe it over my skin like a toner. You have to be consistent, but it worked miracles for me, hopefully this might work for you?
Thanks for the tip AJ! I will definitely try it
I’ve certainly had evolutions throughout the years. To much goth (but always super red lips lol, not black) in the 80s. Nineties minimal but super red lips. And then something changed. I had had enough of listening to mom (I lost her in 1999), that was a catalyst to everything that followed. I enjoyed getting made up to go out, but never wore anything day to day. The last five or so years, I’ve made skincare my self-indulgent quiet time as well as a hobby lol. I bought these very large cases, one for skincare and one for makeup. I’ve never been able to afford spa prices and procedures so I cleanse, steam, wrap, apply, etc. all by my little lonesome lol. It also serves therapeutic measures. It’s not bravery that took me out in public sans makeup. It’s having zero f@cks to give and it feels better lol.
Vitamin C during the day and retinol at night. Please don’t buy poor quality, tampered with stuff online, especially if you are putting it on your face.
I have always had very oily, cystic acne prone skin that has left me with ice pick scars. No matter how much I love makeup, my skin looks worse with it. And the older I get, the worse it looks, because now it’s starting to settle into fine lines. And because of the oil in my t zone, my makeup starts to dissolve in only a couple of hours. And I’ve tried every kind of primer and setting powder/spray. It just ends up making me look older. And at 44, that’s not what I want.
If there is a silver lining to my cystic acne scarring, it’s that I have had a bunch of skin treatments offered to me by my derm, like fraxel, co2 laser, retin-a, microneddling, peels, etc., and I get them regularly. They also love giving me samples of high end vitamin c serums and B5 HA’s, and I’ve managed to keep my skin looking a lot younger than most people my age. I notice that when it comes to makeup at this point in my life, less is definitely more. I look so much younger without it. I just apply sunscreen and then some matte baremineral powder for the oil control, lipstick or a tinted balm with hyaluronic acid, blush, fill in my brows, and a lil mascara after curling my lashes. That’s my 15 min morning routine.
Drinking more water immediately changed my skin for the better. Depending on the weather and my running, I drink about 100oz a day. That made the toilet paper shortage a real nail biter in my house. And SPF! I found NARS primer with SPF really helps blur out the fine lines even on days that I don’t wear makeup.
Yeah, now that I’m in my 30s, I invest way more in skincare than I do in makeup. I used to buy tons of makeup in my 20s, but now I know what products work for me and spend more time and money and making my skin look good. Besides, makeup looks best and is easiest to apply when you’re putting it on beautiful skin.
I still wearing makeup regularly (mostly for Zoom calls so I don’t look dead on camera), but I don’t wear it when I’m going out and putting on a mask. Foundation on my mask really grosses me out, so I’ll do just a little eyeliner and mascara and leave it at that.
For skincare, I’m a recent convert to niacinamide. Good molecules has a great niacinamide serum that’s super affordable–I use it every night. I also like a glycolic acid serum during the day to keep breakouts at bay and some over the counter retinol a couple of nights a week. Plus lots of moisturizer and sunscreen!
I havent worn makeup in nearly 20 years other than the days when I need a photo taken or I go somewhere special and thats not that often. At the start of lockdown I discovered Caroline Hirons and have since spent a small fortune on skincare products. Mornings are cleanse, toner, Vit C, serum and spf, Im lucky that at 50 I still have a fairly oily skin and can get away with no moisturiser under SPF. Evenings are double cleanse, toner, retinal/azelaic acid/lactic acid and moisturiser. At least one night a week I just cleanse & hydrate, thats it.
I had to get photos taken for my residency card and I compared them to my photo from my passport thats 9 years old and I look better now than I did then, cant say that I look years younger but my skin looks healthier so I know Im doing something right even when I baulk at the price I pay for my products.
I just love Kathryn Hahn. I only wish they’d asked her about something more interesting!
I made that evolution as well. I wore pretty much a full face of makeup for decades. I go much lighter these days (although I don’t leave the house without eyeliner and filled-in brows). I still have a ridiculous amount of lipsticks. But now my drawer is packed with retin-a, niacinamide, vitamin C, various sunscreens, moisturizers and other treatments. My Co-vid project has been to use up what I have and pare down to my skincare essentials – which will still be a lot, but not ‘are you running a drugstore out of your home’ quantity. PS love Kathryn Hahn
Nothing to add, really, just came here to say that I LOVE KATHRYN HAHN. She is so under-appreciated and underrated. Every thing she’s in she steals the show. To outshine that crew in Stepbrother is something…and she did it!
I cannot even begin to express how much I love Kathryn Hahn, from transparent, to her role in afternoon delight, and most of all Private Life on netflix. I too am venturing into fancy skin products, I’m 36 now. I’ve gotten into murad skin creams, and I’ll soon be trying their toner. I use a droplet oil at night, and just love the self care and pampering. I’m going to try the Glotion you recommended the other day, since my other primer from Estee Lauder ran out. Some products do seem to work better the more you use them. So far I haven’t had any luck looking younger, but I do look more refreshed with good lotion.
I don’t usually think about others’ use of, or lack of, makeup. There’s nothing noble about going without makeup–it’s just one valid choice out of many. We each have our own face to take care of, feelings about our own appearance, genetics and lifestyles. To each their own, mostly, though we should all keep in mind that our skin is a critical organ and make some effort to protect it from damage, cancer risk, dehydration, etc.
For my sensitive skin, less is often more, and drinking lots of water plus getting enough sleep makes a huge difference in my appearance. I don’t smoke or go tanning. Those things are all free and do far more for me than any products I’ve bought. So if I’m asked, my beauty advice is more about actions that benefit your overall health, but I also always feel a little prettier with some blush. Do what makes you feel confident and healthy.
I adore Kathryn Hahn! For those who haven’t heard of it, I highly recommend I Love Dick, it’s on Amazon Prime, and SO funny. It’s also honest in ways that most television shows don’t even approach.
The whole lock down has made me take a break from makeup, but at the same time, I had signed up for IPSY. I will say, getting a wee bag of goodies in the mail once a month is a godsend and its made me so much more happy to look after my skin. I look at the way I looked in my 20’s when I still smoked, and Im loving that my eyes look better now than they ever have. I do love experimenting with eyeliner and beautiful copper tones with my eyes and its been lots of fun. I am finding that using primers and finishing powders make a big difference with mask wearing! LOL. To each their own. Im finding a little bit of joy in playing with make up!
Why do celebs always talk about skincare and drinking water? Let’s talk about the procedures you had.