The Holiday Beauty Edit 💋
A guide to surviving the season with your skin barrier, dignity, and lipstick intact.
One of my life mantras is to be proactive rather than reactive whenever I can. At the beginning of every season, I take an afternoon to map out my non-negotiables. One item on that to-do list is to schedule maintenance and health appointments: dentist, doctor, hair color, brows, Botox, etc. Repairs are another. My assistant Claire helps with things like shoe soles, optical lenses, or having a watch mended after I cracked the face.
Beauty is a lifelong practice of both maintenance and repair. And the holidays are perhaps the World Series of beauty. Our social calendars become more demanding, but we must also prioritize time with family. Food gets richer. Gifts must be selected, wrapped, and sent. More photos are snapped. There are decorations to do and donations to make.
And let’s be honest: the oenus of creating holiday magic is a job that falls almost entirely on women’s shoulders. If you don’t plan a little, it’s an easy time of year to get caught in the undertow, not get enough sleep, and neglect the things that make you feel your best.
So the spirit of our holiday beauty edit this year is to help you plan ahead. Good hair, skin, and teeth are armor with which to face the world. I asked you, dear reader, to give me your pressing beauty questions in Chat and IG Stories. This is my endeavor to answer those, making sure you don’t neglect yourself, so that you can be your best for others.
Let the season begin.
I told you I made an R&D outing to the mall last week. So let’s begin with what I think of as an errand akin to grocery shopping: a trip to Sephora. Today marks the beginning of their semi-annual beauty event, and everything is discounted for a short while (use code EVERYTHING). I suggest doing your shopping online, because the store experience falls somewhere between a Midtown Zara and a Jonas Brothers concert.
Sarah Creal is a disciple of Victoria Beckham Beauty, with a focused line of essentials for the over-40 set, with special attention paid to formulas that do not settle into fine lines or wrinkles. (I am not over forty, and I still like her products.) Her eyeliners are pliable and pigmented, but don’t budge once dried down, excellent for those teary-eyed Midnight Masses and holiday weddings. If you prefer a twist-up tip rather than one you have to sharpen, Rare Beauty’s eyeliner (both pencil and liquid) holds up. (If you have a teen on your gift list, consider Selena’s new fragrance.) I’ll flag Ms. Creal’s red lipstick, as well—in a cool-toned red, thoughtfully formulated to be hydrating and thus, friendly to those with fine lines around the lips.
Hanni has elevated my in-shower shaving experience exponentially. That pink razor cheers me up to look at (I love pink) and functions as an old-school safety razor, offering a superior (and very close) shave. I use it with the brand’s companion shave pillow and follow with a generous slather of their splash salve, a moisturizer you use in the shower, not after.
(Of course, the sale is a great time to get yourself a couple of fresh Beauty Blenders, a new tube of mascara, and that new fragrance line that everyone is intrigued with.)
Continuing my mall wander, I walked right to the La Mer beauty counter at Nordstrom. Their lip balm is still one of my forever favorites, and they have new holiday sets out (here and here) full of minis that would be thoughtful gifts to spoil a frequent traveler, or just anyone who doesn’t often treat themselves.
Then I walked over to the gratuitous Chanel Beauty display. I feel like anyone who likes taking selfies would love to be gifted a set of Chanel’s Le Lift Flash Eye patches. Yes, they’re stuffed with good-for-your-skin ingredients, but that little repeating Chanel motif is really some fabulous Instagram bait. Jimena, who does my brows, is also the in-house artist at Chanel, and has used these patches on me after treatment before—such an indulgent little treat.
(After my brow appointment this week, I ran into Laney from Saie coming out of Jimena’s studio, which reminds me to tell you how great her new Dew Blush shade, Cherie, is. It’s that perfect snow bunny flush.)
I also picked up some Dolce Glow, which my hair stylist, Ryan Arcenaux, turned me onto. It’s the most natural-looking faux tan I have ever found. Great if you get deathly pale in the winter, or just have a trip to Palm Beach lined up in January and don’t want to blind anyone at The Breakers with your legs (kidding). Proceed directly to the self-tanning contour stick (a beauty hack if there ever was one), and self-tanning mist, which also comes in a carry-on size.
→ If you’ve read this letter for any length of time, you know how long I've been using U Beauty. The brand is offering early access to their Black Friday discount, 20% off site-wide (Code JESS20). I recommend The Barrier Overnight Treatment, the lightning-in-a-bottle Flash Peel, and their excellent, uber-hydrating moisturizer, which is one of the only things that keeps my skin hydrated in the depths of New York winter. (And yes, of course, there are holiday sets!)
→ Similarly, Helix Sleep is also opening its sale up a bit early with 27% off sitewide (code THELOVELIST). Sleep is my number one beauty tip, closely followed by sunscreen. A good, hotel-quality mattress goes a long way. Helix has models for side sleepers (me) and 20 other particulars. There is a helpful sleep quiz that can help determine the correct model for you.
On the decidedly opposite end of the retail spectrum, last Thursday, I hosted an intimate evening at Violet Grey’s Upper East Side store for paid readers. Cassandra’s team was so helpful and a delight to be around. It was a pleasure meeting so many of you, and I hope you all had as much fun shopping as I had talking with you about all things beauty.
Almost everyone who came in immediately asked for Farah Homidi, specifically her weighty lip oils and compacts. Something is intoxicating about that robin’s egg blue, isn’t there? There was also a lot of curiosity around Victoria Beckham’s new foundation drops—to the point where a patient little cluster milled around the small display, waiting their turn to sample it.
Many of you wanted to catch a whiff of the elusive Madame Grey perfume. We included a bottle of the companion hair fragrance in the gift bags, along with Cassandra’s new collaboration with DS&Durga, a chic pink candle with a feminine, whisper-thin fragrance, explicitly fashioned for the powder room.
We offered a discount to shoppers that evening that I would love to extend to you, as well: THELOVELIST15 for 15% off, site-wide.
Violet Grey’s holiday shop is open, and I will call your attention specifically to a few things: Westman Atelier’s petite lip suede trio (which includes my favorite shade, and the one I wore that evening, Je Reve, a perfect matte red, and a seasonal exclusive mauve called Elodie), Victoria Beckham’s cocoa-hued matte eye kit (which I also wore that evening), and The Ultimate Rich Hydration Curation, which is the perfect way to dip your toe into the (much written about) world of Eighth Day.
One final note from the evening is that more than one person made a beeline for the product line from my facial aesthician (and one of my favorite people to gossip with) Sofie Pavitt’s line, especially her Mandelic Serum—honestly, a wise purchase on their part ahead of the winter season, as it gently sweeps away dead skin without upsetting the delicate barrier.
I wore a look from Moda Operandi: a black silk lapel blazer, black parachute trousers, black leather heels, and a white t-shirt.
I’ll leave you with a trick I picked up earlier that day while getting ready for the event. Hair stylist Mara Rozak was in town, so I went to her for a quick blowout and trim. “You know, [my client] Emma [Stone]… everyone thinks she had a facelift,” she told me. “But she didn’t! All it is, is this little trick I do!”
→ Mara and her assistant parted my hair on each side. Then tied two tiny braids—one at each temple—secured each with an elastic, and pulled them back tight.
→ She pinned them together into place at the back of my head. Finally, she let my hair fall, the braids underneath, so that all that appeared to the naked eye was my blowout.
Save that one for the next time you’ll be photographed. It makes a difference, I promise.
Discount codes from this issue:
THELOVELIST15: 15% off at Violet Grey
EVERYTHING: Sephora Beauty Insider discount. Rouge members 20% off: 10/31-11/10. VIBs 15% off: 11/4-11/10. Insiders 10% off: 11/4-11/10. All Sephora Collection 30% off: 10/31-11/10.
Our complete list of active discount codes is available here.
Love a curated holiday list! My favorite for winter skin is Ballou Family Apothecary's Whipped Magnesium Butter.