Confession time—one of our guilty pleasures is trying out new beauty products. “Hoarding” isn’t the right word for it, but we definitely help keep Sephora in business if you know what I mean. We are constantly hitting up our friends and colleagues in the beauty industry for their insight on the latest and greatest in make-up, hair and skin products.
So instead of keeping all this insider intel to ourselves, CollegeFashionista is launching a new series with some of our favorite beauty experts at Allure. Not only are they spilling (some) of their beauty secrets and sharing their must-have products, but you will get to know more about the person behind all the “beautiful” knowledge.
First up is Jenna Rosenstein—Allure‘s Beauty Reporter (and Zooey Deschanel doppelganger) whose love for new products is only matched by her love for cats, Seth Cohen and the history of New York.
CollegeFashionista: What does your job entail at Allure?
Jenna Rosenstein: I pitch, edit and close the Beauty Reporter section each month, which is our six-10 monthly pages of breaking beauty news. I’m obsessed with new products—if you tell me a mascara is launching in the year 2300 I would probably faint from excitement. I work closely with the PR and beauty companies to negotiate exclusives and coverage of the coolest new product launches.
CF: What is one book you could read over and over again?
JR: Does Wired magazine count? I’m Wired’s biggest fan, and I read it religiously every month. I love how they can take topics so difficult and complicated and make them approachable and fun to read. If I had read Wired as a high school student, I probably would have cared about physics and chemistry a bit more.
Other than magazines, I actually find books difficult to get through (I know—blasphemy). But reading hundreds and hundreds of novels and texts in college really burned me out, and I no longer find it enjoyable or relaxing to curl up with a book. It makes me really sad! The last one I remember enjoying was Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898—because yes, I am that nerdy. I love anything about the history of New York or the subway system.
CF: Who is the person you last followed on Instagram?
JR: Alexandra Beggs, who followed me so I followed her! I think she works at Vanity Fair, which is super cool.
CF: If your life was a song, what would the title be?
JR: “Cats Rule, Dogs Drool” because that is one of my core philosophies.
CF: Celebrity crush?
JR: Seth Cohen from The O.C. And no, I don’t mean Adam Brody, I mean his character Seth Cohen…my dream man. My boyfriend’s last name is Cohen so I think I pretty much won at life.
CF: What is your nighttime beauty regiment?
JR: I wash my face with the Neutrogena’s Ultra Gentle Daily Cleanser in the foaming formula, the creamy formula doesn’t get the job done as well. It’s usually enough to take off all my mascara and eye makeup, but if not, I’ll sub in an oil cleanser. Then I use Shiseido’s Eudermine Revitalizing Essence on a Shiseido cotton pad and sweep that all over my skin. Then things get interesting: if my skin is looking dull, I’ll use Sunday Riley’s Luna Sleeping oil, since it’s a gentle retinol. If my skin is really dry, I’ll use a rich moisturizer (right now it’s Vichy Aqualia Thermal cream, but it changes weekly) followed by an oil (right now it’s Amorepacific Green Tea seed oil) to lock all that moisture in. I’ll take whatever is left on my hands and rub it all over my cuticles and the backs of my hands.
CF: One beauty product you could not live without?
JR: It’s a two-way tie between the 3Lab Perfect BB Cream and DERMAdoctor’s Kakadu C serum. I layer the BB cream under my foundation each morning, because it’s SPF 40 and primes my skin by taking away all my redness instantly. That way I can use less foundation! The serum is packed with Vitamin C and Ferulic Acid, and it erased some of my dark and red marks from acne in just about two weeks. After a month or so, my skin looked like totally different skin. Now I can’t stop using it! I also feel good knowing that it helps my SPF do it’s job better by protecting against free radical damage during the day.
CF: What is your secret beauty hack?
JR: A beauty editor never reveals her secrets, unless it’s in the magazine she works for. You’ll have to keep reading Allure.
Photo credit: Jing Chen.