AMA: Skincare Secrets

Injectables! Lasers! Drugstore face wash! Here's everything I do for my skin

I have always been excited by makeup, skincare, and beauty products. I have very vivid memories of my grandmother taking me to the Borghese counter at Dillard’s to buy my first fancy face wash and, later, driving me to the Bobbi Brown counter two hours away in Orlando to buy my first foundation.

My grandmother was of the mindset that women can be both — you can get a facelift, and still not want to get married. You can spend hundreds at the Lancôme counter, and go home and make even more trading stocks. You can wear mascara, and still take no shit.

The pressure to look a certain way (young) is big when you’re a woman. But in all honesty: I like looking a certain way for myself. I love playing with makeup, I love the science behind skincare and I love reading about all the latest procedures the celebrities are getting (and mark my words: if I one day start looking 15 years younger in my Instagram videos, it will be the result of a deep-plane facelift from the same surgeon I’m convinced Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence used).

I am currently at a point where I feel good in my skin — but that’s taken years. I’ve worked on really targeting the things that bummed me out (sun damage, acne scarring) and now it’s all about maintaining those results. Of course, I still do have things pop up that I want to remedy — like the occasional sunspot on my cheek, or dark circles under my eyes. That’s where my products and at-home devices come in. For the big stuff, I trust the experts. And I’ve detailed all of the above — my at-home products, as well as the in-office procedures (lasers! injectables! other stuff!) I’ve had — below.

hydrating gentle cleanser // sunscreen // pimple stickers // vitamin C serum // jade roller

red light mask // dark spot retinol treatment // peel // microcurrent device // resurfacing pads