In the realm of celebrity beauty, I’m always intrigued by what stars put (or don’t put) on their brows. Having good brows is practically a requirement for being famous. While celebrities have access to the highest-caliber experts to pluck, thread, and microblade their brows, the products they use to enhance them are also of the utmost importance.
The latest brow products sweeping Hollywood? Ilia’s new launches. Despite only just launching, the In Full Micro-Tip Brow Pencil and In Frame Brow Gel are already making waves. Before their official launches, they were even used on Emily Blunt, Miranda Kerr, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Talita Von Fürstenberg at the Met Gala.
In true Ilia fashion, these brow products help you get the vibe of your brows. The In Full Micro-Brow Pencil has a microtip to help you create the most realistic-looking hair-like strokes. It comes in six shades and glides on easily but doesn’t smudge, so you get the best of both worlds. The In Frame Brow Gel is a flake-free formula that conditions brows while it adds flexible hold. There’s no doubt that these brow products will keep gaining momentum.
Miranda Kerr is known for many things, including being a Victoria’s Secret Angel, being the founder and CEO of Kora Organics, and being a health and wellness devotee. This list is made all the more impressive when you consider she’s juggled it all with motherhood. (She’s a parent to three boys.) So yeah, you could say that Kerr knows a thing or two about committing to little moments of self-care in the midst of a demanding day. On the eve of her 40th birthday, I caught up with the multi-hyphenate to talk about all things skincare, health, and wellness. And let me tell you—Kerr just might be my new beauty icon. She approaches life, and her routine, with quiet confidence and lighthearted humor. Ahead, learn all about Kerr’s newest product, which just so happens to be the world’s first certified-organic retinol alternative (but more on that in a minute). Plus, see every product she uses in her daily skincare routine, the easy things she does to ground herself in the midst of chaos, and the lessons she’s learned throughout the last decade.
Kerr recently launched a serum that acts as a natural alternative to retinol. Translation? It promises to do all the things retinol does—plump fine lines and wrinkles, smooth texture, and even skin tone—without the irritation that’s often synonymous with the powerhouse ingredient.
Instead of retinol, this serum is formulated with bakuchiol, alfalfa, and plant stem cells. Together, they firm the skin, target signs of aging, and defend against environmental stress. Here’s the kicker: It does all of these things without causing dryness, peeling, flakiness, and redness. In fact, it’s so gentle that it can be used both morning and night to speed up results.
“I really want to change the narrative of organic skincare being less effective because I think that’s a bunch of BS, especially knowing that there are 60% more antioxidants in a certified-organic ingredient,” Kerr says. “We have a lot of customers with sensitive skin, and I myself have sensitive skin. I’m super proud that this is the first certified-organic retinol alternative that’s ever been launched.”
For Kerr, like for so many of us, skincare is part of a self-care routine. Along with her go-to Kora Organics products, Kerr counts on little rituals to keep her calm and centered throughout her day, which usually starts before the sun rises. “I wake up between 5 and 5:30, so I’m up for an hour to an hour and a half before the kids get up,” she says. “I really value that time in the morning. I try so hard to not check my email and all that and just go into my routine for myself, whether that is doing a workout in my bedroom or doing a 20-minute meditation.” “I’ll do my dry body brushing, which I love to wake me up and stimulate circulation,” she continues. “I’ll hop in the shower and do my skincare routine and make sure that I’m ready for the day … like I’ve given back to myself for the day before it starts.”
After dry-brushing, Kerr heads to the kitchen for celery juice, which she drinks every morning. “I prep the juice the night before. I make sure that I cut and clean it, so in the morning, I just have to quickly make it fresh,” she says. “It’s a bit overwhelming when you’ve got three kids running around. You’re trying to make breakfast, and you’re also trying to make celery juice. … It’s too much. The celery juice helps me with energy.”
Kerr continues to incorporate moments of self-care throughout the day by carrying a rose quartz crystal, burning palo santo (“You burn the palo santo, and it resets your whole energy”), and using the Theragun to relieve tight muscles. “I’ll often get it out of my bag—I’m a big bag lady—and do it for like five minutes,” she says.
She also sticks to herbal tea in an effort to avoid too much caffeine. “I love lemon balm tea with honey,” she says. “Growing up in Australia, my parents were like, ‘Let’s have a cup of tea!’ But those cups of tea add up to a lot of caffeine if you’re having black tea. I love lemon balm because it’s soothing and good for the digestive and nervous systems.”
It’s not just tangible products that Kerr counts on to keep herself well. In true holistic fashion, she also focuses on her mindset. “We can look outside and say, ‘I can’t believe it’s raining again.’ Or we can be like, ‘I love the rain. We really needed this. It feels so cozy.’ It’s our perspective, and only we can change that. If we change our perspective and we change our mindset, we can really change ourselves at the end of the day. We can [be] better. We can feel more vibrant and feel more alive.”
On the cusp of a landmark birthday, I suspected Kerr had been reflecting on her 30s, and I was curious how her habits and perspectives might have changed. “Sleep is more important to me now than ever. That’s probably because… well, having kids. My husband and I would rather go to bed early, cuddle up, and wake up early with the kids, so that’s definitely changed. I’m also more committed to exercise as I’m getting older, and strength training is something I’ve gotten into,” she says. “I used to be more of a yoga and Pilates girl, but I can do both because, as you age, your muscles just aren’t the same. I’m just trying to keep my skin and my muscles strong and also try to be as healthy as I can. At the same time, I think it’s important to have fun, and the more gentle and kind you are with yourself, the more it reflects in your whole energy.”
I also suspected that she might even have some advice to offer those who are soon entering a new stage of life, and I was right. “The age of 27 to 30 is when you’re going through your Saturn return,” she says. “That’s when I always say to people that it might feel like a lot at the time, but it’s such an incredible time to let go of whatever is not serving you and step into the new that’s coming. It’s almost like everything gets turned upside down at that point, and then new things come. You’ll notice, between 27 and 30, there’ll be different shifts in people, whether they completely change jobs or move countries or move houses. … At the time, it might have felt really overwhelming, but they realize it was always for the better. I always say brace yourself for that.” As for the biggest lesson she learned during her 30s, Kerr says it was learning to ask questions and to ask for help. “I grew up in a little country town in Australia,” she says. “It wasn’t a normal thing to reach out to people and be like, ‘Can you help me?’ I didn’t want to impose on other people and their time. I wanted to do it all on my own, but it’s important to realize you can’t do it all on your own. It’s important to ask for help. My husband taught me that. When we’re younger, we feel like we have to know it all and it would be silly to ask that question, but no, if you don’t understand, there’s no point in pretending as you do. Just ask, ‘Can you explain that?’” Kerr sums it up so succinctly: “Realize that, no matter what, there are going to be challenges in your life. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from. It’s all part of growing. Embrace those challenges as opportunities to grow and learn. Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
“What’s in there aren’t only incredible ingredients to cleanse your skin in a gentle way, but I’m really all about the sensorial benefits. It has peppermint essential oil to prevent the overproduction of sebum and also to uplift you. It also has palo santo to clear your energy. I use that in the morning. It’s a good wake-up call,” she says.
“At night, I pretty much do the same thing, but I wash my makeup off with the Milky Mushroom Cleanser, which is a whole experience in and of itself,” Kerr says. “It’s an oil-based cleanser. When you’re cleansing your skin, you’re cleansing your spirit. It’s filtered through and touches upon clear quartz crystals to cleanse your energy. At the end of the day, it’s a really good makeup remover.”
This mask-scrub hybrid is one of Kerr’s all-time favorite products, and she uses it every other day to slough away dry skin and smooth and brighten her complexion.
“It invigorates your skin and your senses. There’s a little aquamarine crystal in the bottom, so it’s very soothing energetically as well as for your skin,” Kerr says.
In the morning, Kerr layers this vitamin C serum underneath the Plant Stem Cell Retinol Alternative Serum. “It’s a 12% vitamin C serum. It was the first certified-organic vitamin C serum in the world. It contains kakadu plum from Australia. My mum would always give me kakadu plum powder for the vitamin C benefits,” she says.
At night, Kerr uses this AHA Resurfacing Serum in place of the aforementioned vitamin C serum. It targets enlarged pores, dark spots, and uneven texture with a blend of AHAs, BHA, and ferments.
Kerr applies the new serum both morning and night.
In the morning, Kerr uses this lightweight moisturizer, which has green algae, alpine rose, and green tea.
At night, Kerr chooses this moisturizer, which includes turmeric, licorice, noni fruit, microalgae, and desert-date oil to boost moisture and visibly plump skin.
Twice a day, Kerr seals in her moisturizer with this antioxidant-rich face oil.
With 5.5% active vitamin C, this eye cream brightens, firms, and reduces signs of aging.
Kahai oil, rosehip oil, and tomato fruit hydrate, soothe, and firm the skin.
The final step in Kerr’s nighttime routine is to apply a thin layer of this sleeping mask. “It seals everything in. You put a light layer on your skin, and it dries and locks all the moisture in. It doesn’t rub off on your pillow, and you wake up in the morning, and your skin is so plump and dewy,” she says.
“I’m all about the skin. Beautiful, refined, elegant-looking skin—not heavy-duty stuff all over the face,” says Rose-Marie Swift in her usual buoyant, no-nonsense tone. The silver-haired, red-lipped makeup artist has earned the right to tell it like it is. In her early days on set, supermodels like Gisele and Miranda Kerr trusted their singular faces in her hands. Swift brought her naturalistic touch to Vogue editorials and, less expected, the theatrical tableaux of aughts-era Victoria’s Secret campaigns. When she launched her makeup line, RMS Beauty, in 2009, her scrutinized ingredient decks and versatile textures (notably the melt-into-skin UnCoverup concealer and sheer Lip2Cheek tints) set a new benchmark for “clean cosmetics”—even if the category was years away from being known as such.
“She’s truly the pioneer. Before it was a big, loud thing”—every beauty brand touting its “no” lists and shifting to more sustainable packaging—“it was Rose-Marie,” says Margaret Kleveland, one half of the sister duo behind the California-based clothing label Dôen. Kleveland, with sun-streaked hair and tattoos along each arm, is soaking in New York’s spring awakening on a recent morning. She and Swift (with Katherine, Kleveland’s cofounder, there in spirit) have decamped to Inness, a bucolic property in Accord, to celebrate their limited-edition makeup collaboration—fruits of an interdisciplinary mind meld. “We want to make products that make women feel good, in all aspects of their life: in career, in motherhood, in going out and being casual,” says Kleveland, who can relate with two kids of her own. The goal is for things to be a “little more effortless.”
The Sunkissed Set by Dôen and RMS Beauty taps into both brands’ taste for subtly flushed lips and fresh skin.
Courtesy of Doen and RMS.
You would be forgiven if color cosmetics don’t immediately come to mind when you think of Dôen’s handsomely made yet unfussy clothing: cotton-print day dresses that belong in an overgrown field, block-print scarves that channel Italian screen stars, breezy two-piece sets that go from beach to dinner. If the beauty cues have been subtle, that’s the point. “We really developed our own style for makeup on shoots, and it was super bare and minimal—that just-kissed, fresh makeup,” says Kleveland. It seemed logical for Dôen to put its own stamp on beauty, with help from the right partner—“and RMS was the only option.”
The hero of the resulting three-piece set, debuting April 19, is a new custom Lip2Cheek, a flushed raspberry shade that turns dab-dab ease into an unabashedly feminine gesture. “There’s a sophistication about that color,” Swift says—an effect that carries to the label, featuring Dôen’s delicate script. “It’s not pink, it’s not bright red, it’s not orange-y.” The makeup artist gestures to a small child across the dining room, pinpointing a color reference: the flush of youth. The second glass pot in the lineup is a classic: Buriti bronzer, a shortcut to sun-kissed glow that Kleveland has used for years. (The cream formula can also act as a highlighter on deeper skin tones and plays well on the eyes, adds Swift.) The last product is Liplights, a neutral gloss that self-adjusts to the wearer’s pH and doubles as a nourishing overnight treatment.
RMS Beauty’s Rose-Marie Swift and Margaret Kleveland, a cofounder of Dôen.
When it comes to airport style, I am all about outfits that are comfortable without sacrificing style, and the shoes are the key component for accomplishing this. Heels are a hard no in my book, as well as any other shoes that make for a complicated run through the security line. This leaves flat shoes like loafers, ankle boots, sneakers, and my all-time favorite: ballet flats. While ballet flats truly never go out of style, they are currently at the forefront of shoe trends at the moment.
I know I am not alone in this preference as evidenced by the many stylish celebrities that are spotted traveling in the timeless flat shoe style. Besides the ease, they instantly elevate even the most basic of outfits. Just don’t forget to pack a pair of socks in your carry-on to save you from a grimy barefoot walk through security. Ahead, check out 11 inspiring celebrity airport looks with ballet flats. Plus, shop some of the chicest options at the moment.
If I were to pick a celebrity to buy me a holiday gift, Miranda Kerr would be on the top of my list. There’s no doubt about it—the supermodel, entrepreneur, and founder and CEO of Kora Organics has downright impeccable taste.
Unfortunately for me, chances are pretty slim that Kerr will ever handpick a gift for me herself. (She’s a busy woman, after all.) But on the bright side, I think I have a pretty good idea of what she’d gift me since she just released her holiday gift guide for 2022.
As you might expect, there are plenty of beauty and wellness staples on the list (including a few products from Kora Organics, of course). Every gift on Kerr’s list is sure to spark joy for whoever you choose to give it to, but keeping these for yourself is highly encouraged, if you ask me. Keep scrolling for my 10 favorite picks from Kerr’s gift guide.
