by Sofiya Golovnya
As a serial entrepreneur, Anna la Germaine has a very intense schedule. In the last six months (before the COVID-19), she took more than 70 flights, 60% of which were transcontinental with an average duration of 8-12 hours. Anna mostly travels between New York, Europe (Milan, Florence, Paris, London, Geneva), and the Middle East.
Despite sharing her time between big cities, Anna loves nature, and she takes every chance to spend time outside the city. When she travels, she always tries to get a hotel room with a terrace or balcony. She does it because she likes to wake up with the sunrise, drink black coffee with no sugar, enjoy the early morning fresh air breathe and listen to the birds singing outside. Then, Anna takes a shower, follows her beauty routine, and starts her day with sometimes very early meetings (as early as 8.15 am), especially during the days when she's got up to 12-15 meetings planned when she travels.
Countless trips make it difficult for her to attend beauty salons very often. One of the reasons is lack of time, and another one is that visiting different salons can be a risky business. This is not always because of low service quality but mostly because they don’t know your skin.
A good cosmetologist is one in a lifetime, just like a dentist. For these reasons, Anna had to adapt and learn how to take care of her skin herself. In this article, she is sharing the list of the products that help her keep her skin healthy and glowing.
As a fashion industry professional, she always has to look accordingly. When Anna was little, her mother used to always tell: “Beauty is a profession.” This is true, you can be born beautiful, but if you don’t take care of yourself, the results can be discouraging.
Anna’s number one rule in choosing beauty products is to focus on brands that specialize in beauty only. She doesn't fancy famous fashion and luxury brands producing beauty products. The exceptions are perfumes and lipsticks.
Anna’s second rule to healthy skin is nutrition. Beauty products can make you look better. But for a truly healthy skin, you need to be very careful with your diet. Combining the right nutrition and beauty products will help you achieve your beauty goals.
So, let's talk about the products themselves, starting with the skincare routine. When Anna returns home or to her hotel room after her workday, one of the first things that she likes to do is removing her make up. For that, she uses CLINIQUE Take The Day Off Cleansing Balm. Adding a bit of water, it foams up and gently removes all the makeup while making her skin feel great. A huge advantage of this product is that it's suitable for travel. It’s not liquid and won't leak into your makeup bag.
When Anna feels like her skin needs some additional cleansing, she prefers to use AESOP Fabulous Face Cleanser or MILK MAKEUP Vegan Milk Cleanser. Also, she likes MILK MAKEUP Matcha Cleanser in a stick. You apply this cleanser all over your face and then use wet hands to create foam. The next step is applying toner, and Anna’s choice is MILK MAKEUP Matcha Toner. Ten minutes after toning the skin, she likes to use one of the following three products, helping to keep her skin moisturized: MILK MAKEUP Hydrating Oil Stick, MILK MAKEUP Watermelon Brightening Serum, and MILK MAKEUP Melatonin Overnight Serum.
MILK MAKEUP Vegan Milk Cleanser, Matcha Toner, Hydrating Oil Stick
To end her skincare routine, Anna applies Kiehl’s Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado, which deeply hydrates the delicate eye area. And MILK MAKEUP KUSH Lip Glaze is one of her favorite lip care products. By the way, it also tastes good! Anna also likes MILK MAKEUP Melatonin Overnight Lip Mask and Kiehl's Buttermask Intense Repair Lip Treatment.
Here are more face creams and oils Anna enjoys:
To make sure her skin is deeply cleansed and nourished, Anna uses face masks. Her favorites are:
Now, let's move on to the body and hair care. To cleanse her skin, Anna prefers AESOP Geranium Leaf Duet for her body and AESOP Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm for her hands. Anna washes her hair with KÉRASTASE Densifique Bodifying Shampoo and applies SHU UEMURA Essence Absolue Nourishing Protective Oil after the shower daily. When in need of a quick hair fix, she likes to use dry shampoo, specifically LIVING PROOF Perfect Hair Day Dry Shampoo. It is available in both big and small bottles, which is a perfect solution for traveling.
AESOP Resurrection Aromatique Hand Balm and AESOP Geranium Leaf Duet
Finally, there's makeup. Anna admires a natural look, and very often she doesn't apply any foundation. To prepare her skin for the makeup, she takes care of her eyes first. MILK MAKEUP Cooling Water is perfect when in a rush. If there's a bit more time, Anna loves using PETER THOMAS ROTH Water Drench Hyaluronic Cloud Hydra-Gel Eye Patches while enjoying her morning coffee.
Then, she applies MILK MAKEUP Hydro Grip Primer on her face. When Anna does use foundation, she chooses one of the following, depending on the coverage she needs: MILK MAKEUP Sunshine Skin Tint SPF 30, MILK MAKEUP Flex Foundation Stick, or MAC Studio Fix Fluid SPF 15. Whether she skips the foundation step or not, she always applies highlighter, and she prefers MILK MAKEUP Highlighter. Anna also defines her cheekbones with MILK MAKEUP Matte Bronzer.
MILK MAKEUP Highlighter and Bronzer
During the daytime, Anna prefers lipsticks or lip-glosses with a very natural effect. One of her favorites is MILK MAKEUP Lip + Cheek. Anna loves paying extra attention to her eye area. She sets her brows with MILK MAKEUP KUSH Clear Brow Gel first. Lastly, to emphasize her eyes and create a dramatic look, she uses MILK MAKEUP KUSH High Volume Mascara.
MILK MAKEUP Lip + Cheek, KUSH Clear Brow Gel, KUSH High Volume Mascara
Anna is really glad to share her beauty secrets with you. She hopes you find her recommendations helpful and use them to look your best!