Photo courtesy of ILIA Beauty
New Beauty Editor Obsessions for June
What are we doing this summer? The beauty department’s plans are still vague, but already we look as if we just got back from a 10-day surfing trip, ready for a chic Brooklyn gallery opening, and set for a glamorous night sipping gin cocktails. From a new featherweight antioxidant face oil made on a storied Umbrian estate to a Spanish-lavender-infused eye cream to a cushiony, beautifully tinted lip oil with a hint of vanilla, here’s what we can’t get enough of this month.
Jean Godfrey-June
executive beauty director
If I could spend this summer beneath the centuries-old olive trees in the ancient gardens in Umbria where the raw ingredients for this sinks-in-instantly oil serum are sourced—heaven. But also heaven: the effects of said ingredients, particularly the antioxidant-powered olive water, a by-product of olive oil pressing, on my skin. Somehow the serum is both moisturizing (hello, olive oil) and silkily featherweight, and the many antioxidant extracts (there are more, even beyond the potent olive water) boost both protection and—just in time for summer—glow.
The little black washcloths now offered at the sinks of even very fancy hotel bathrooms underscore the inescapable fact that for all the cleansers that claim to take everything off, when you need eye-makeup remover, you need it. At last, there’s a clean one that really, really works—and because it’s from Grown Alchemist, it treats the skin to antioxidants, calming botanicals like chamomile, and moisturizers (over time, it improves the texture around the eyes) as it easily wipes away mascara, liner, et al. Also because it’s from Grown Alchemist: The little bottle could not be cooler-looking.
Our whole team fell for the original Nº Green deodorant from Corpus the moment we unwrapped it—the scent is made with bergamot, pink lemon, orange blossom, and cardamom, so it’s citrusy, but it’s also a little spring-leafy. “This needs to be a perfume,” we said. The Corpus people, however, knew better (there’s a reason I write about beauty products rather than make them) and made, instead of a perfume, what has to be the most luxe bodywash on the planet. It foams beautifully and treats your skin to a coconut emulsion infused with extracts from the roots, seeds, stems, pulp, and rind of citrus plants and spices, plus seed oils and flower extracts. It fills the shower with the exquisite, addictive Nº Green scent, and it looks good doing it (the celadon pump bottle, in sustainable aluminum, looks incredible in the shower).
We have some major surfers here at goop; one staffer in particular, Roxanne, makes us all want to take it up. She returns from surfing vacations (Mexico? Costa Rica?) really happy, with sun-dappled, healthily glowing skin. Though I grew up bodysurfing, my attempts at actual surfing have always remained attempts, and my skin burns long before it tans. But I’ve discovered a new way to approximate the Roxanne glow: This summery but subtle face-tanning water comes with a fluffy brush for smoothing it across your skin hands-free, which is brilliant. (Besides helping you avoid tanning your hands, the brush feels incredible on your skin—barely there, almost like a ray of sun.) The color is perfect, it works for every skin type (even sensitive and breakout-prone), and it’s made with tea plant, aloe vera, and cucumber to nourish skin as it glowifies.
Megan O’Neill
senior beauty editor
I got married in Nashville on a summer day so airless that some of my more delicate friends were concerned about fainting. I’m the rare bird who comes alive in the kind of heat that decimates most people, but I did avoid wearing foundation, which sounded unnecessarily hot and suffocating, even though my breakout-prone skin might have benefited. Had this subtly tinted vitamin C serum that smooths my spots and blemishes into near invisibility existed at the time, it would’ve been perfect: The silky formula melts into my skin (I smooth it on every morning after rinsing my face), works as a brightening treatment (vitamin C is the glow-inducing secret weapon) and SPF 40 in one, and is astonishingly lightweight. It comes in three sheer pigments designed to work for every skin tone, and it makes me look like one of those people waltzing around in the world with I-woke-up-like-this, clear, poreless, sparkling skin. For weddings, work, every too-hot-for-foundation day this summer, and beyond, this little serum is the best.
With high-waisted pants, a strappy cropped tank, Tevas, glossy red polish on my toes, a tangle of gold necklaces, and—the pièce de résistance—a tumble of shiny, subtly mussed curls, I have all the ingredients for the CBM (cool Brooklyn mom) look. This gorgeous hair oil leaves me with curls so floaty and voluminous, they look like a halo. It silkifies like nothing else, contains nourishing ingredients usually reserved for skin care (meadowfoam-seed oil and squalane, as well as argan oil), and smooths flyaways and snarls into gently defined curly perfection. I work it through my ends before braiding my hair for bed (a beachy-texture trick), apply it to just-washed hair as a moisturizing and detangling leave-in treatment, and use it after a particularly sweaty yoga class to mellow out frizzy edges. Bonus: The bottle’s airy aesthetic gives total CBM vibes.
On the first day it’s warm enough to get back into teensy jean cutoffs, I feel exposed and weirdly modest about showing my legs—often ashen after a sunless, frightfully cold season in long pants and tights. But this year, I’m ready. Every night right after a shower, while my skin is still damp, I dip into this enormous tub of Humidifying Body Cream from Humanrace, Pharrell Williams’s sustainable skin-care line. The firming peptides, skin-boosting bakuchiol (an ingredient I’ve started to lunge for in skin care because it makes a noticeable difference), and plumping snow mushroom extract leave my skin gleamy, moisturized, and luxuriously soft. I love the giant tub (it, like all Humanrace packaging, is refillable), I love Pharrell Williams, and I love how smooth and summery my legs are going to look in jean shorts (particularly these cute cuffed ivory ones).
Chic people are always pulling a cool pick-me-up potion out of their bag. Lately, every It girl I encounter (at gallery openings, Eddie Stern’s yoga studio in SoHo, the spa at The Well…) is smoothing on this juicy, cushiony, subtly tinted lip oil. I had to try it, and OMG. It’s swirled with gorgeous botanicals, the sheer rose is somehow flattering on everyone (Ami Cole’s founder is a Black woman who put a lot of work into getting the shade right for every skin tone), it smells like vanilla, and the shine it deposits is beautiful and casual—excellent for day, nighttime cocktails, work, brunch, and, of course, staking out cool-girl haunts.
Brianna Peters
associate beauty editor
I’m obsessed with this miracle-in-a-tube tinted brow gel—which is finally back in stock. It grips and coats each strand individually with the right amount of pigment for volume, lift, and hold that lasts all day. Made with ingredients you’d find in hair care, like provitamin B5 and castor oil, it’s ultranourishing and protecting, too.
This creamy gel blush is my favorite trick for getting a fresh, dewy, sun-kissed, just-back-from-a-month-in-France look. The perfect burnt brick red, Spicy contrasts beautifully with my skin. The doe-foot applicator makes it so easy to apply—I just put two dots on the apples of my cheeks and one on my nose, then blend out with my fingers for really pretty, healthy-looking color.
If, like me, you’re a fan of Tata Harper’s incredible hydrating gel-cream moisturizer, you need to know about this eye cream. I noticed a huge difference—the skin under my eyes was plumper, brighter, firmer, and smoother—after using it for two weeks. It’s made with 30 natural ingredients, including narcissus, Spanish lavender, and green tea (harvested on Harper’s organic farm in Vermont), that work together like a magic eraser for my dark circles. One pump does the trick—you don’t need a lot to see the incredible results. And major points for sustainability: It’s refillable.
This skin-refreshing, happiness-in-a-bottle mist is a treat for my on-the-sensitive-side complexion. It smells like a lush English garden and feels like that moment in a greenhouse when the automatic watering system gently turns on. It has a light coolness that seems to just brush past your skin, but it’s powerful skin care, too, made with all the ingredients I love to plump, brighten, and smooth my skin. There’s kakadu plum (a source of vitamin C), moisturizing hyaluronic acid, and the brand’s blend of antioxidant blueberry stem cells, grape seed, and pomegranate extract. I use it first thing in the morning before I pat on my serum, and then throughout the day as a pick-me-up at my desk.
Camila Michaels
assistant beauty editor
Every few weeks, I explore a different New York speakeasy. Whether or not I find myself sipping on a gin cocktail, a dark, bold lip stands out in the dimmest-lit underground bar. These creamy, highly pigmented lip colors (which also double as blush, eyeliner, and eye shadow) are the key: They never smudge, make my lips look rich and full as can be, and last all night long. This set—it reminds me of an artist’s kit—comes with four precision pencils, a tapered brush for blending, and a sharpener to keep the pencils precise. Neautra (my personal favorite) is a dusty warm rose with a velvety-matte finish that perfectly complements candlelight jazz listening and cocktail-drinking speakeasy nights.
This glossy metallic mauve eye shadow instantly transports me to Great Gatsby territory—ballrooms, heavy pearl earrings, tall glasses of champagne. The color is chic and sexy, and it reflects gorgeously (under the light, say, of a Gatsby-esque chandelier). It’s creamy and lightweight, and it lasts all night long—in a Roaring Twenties, movie-magic way.
The differences between my bathroom-counter area and an operating room are few: white LED lights that beam down; unforgiving magnifying glasses; cold, hard surfaces. This setup is particularly useful for shaping my brows—it’s one aspect of grooming where being exact has an enormous impact. The key, though, is these tweezers. The angled edges are precise, thin, and sturdy, and they catch each and every delicate brow hair. The grip is fantastic (they’re made of durable steel and titanium for pro-level performance). My at-home operation theatrics aside, the Tweezermans are all I really need for expertly shaped, perfectly plucked brows.
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