Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos:Getty Images, Retailers
On the Beauty Group, a Facebook community co-founded by the Cut and the Strategist, people chat all day long about the products they love — the ones so good they’ll make you hit that little “auto-refill” box at checkout. Below, we asked one of our favorite beauty pros to share her own selections.
Elsa Hosk’s love of matcha lattes was the inspiration behind one of the colors in the limited-edition nail-polish sets she curated for Beaubble, a direct-to-consumer company that co-creates beauty brands with celebrities and influencers.
Each of the two sets features three quick-drying, water-based polishes that easily peel off when soaked in hot water (and without acetone.) “I always want to do a fun manicure but I can’t because I have to show up to work the next day and have clean nails so this is a really amazing way to throw on nail polish, match my outfit, and just peel it off the next day,” says Hosk.
The collections include colors like lavender, inspired by a Los Angeles sunset; royal blue, which the model has dubbed “Matisse blue”; orange, inspired by the creamsicle, one of her favorite treats; red, an ode to New York City sunsets; and pink, which is reminiscent of a dress Grace Kelly wore in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 movie To Catch a Thief.
Below, Hosk shares more of the products she finds herself reaching for time and time again, including the foundation that actually looks like “skin but better,” the body butter she used throughout her entire pregnancy, and the “ultimate” lip liner.
“I have both Augustinus Bader’s The Cream and The Rich Cream. I specifically love buying The Rich Cream because you only need a tiny bit of it. It’s so decadent — but I try not to use it on my chin because it tends to break out if I put on too much. I love the story of Dr. Bader working with burn victims. It makes me believe in the cream for myself.”
“I love all of the nail polish colors in my collab with Beaubble, but I’ve been grabbing the lavender one the most recently. It’s so, so beautiful, and it kind of goes with everything.”
“Ben Gorham [the founder] is a good friend. I haven’t always been into perfume, but the more I’ve gotten to know him and his brand, the more I’m willing to wear perfume every once in a while. There’s one called Open Sky that’s really, really beautiful. It reminds me of living in L.A. The name makes me feel free and young and like I have no worries in the world. I also love Byredo’s Byredo Bal D’Afrique and Tobacco Mandarin, which is a really concentrated, dark perfume.”
“I actually worked with La Bouche Rouge to design two lipsticks with them. I love the brand because its products are refillable, non-toxic, and vegan. The first color is kind of my ultimate nude, and the second is my ultimate red. When it comes to reds, I feel like there are two camps: One camp likes orangey reds, like this one, and then there’s the blue-red camp. I think orange-reds are really fun and really sexy and less serious, just kind of flirty.”
“I love Barbara. She’s a very good friend of mine, and I love her products and her philosophy of using anti-inflammatory ingredients. I just love how light her sun drops are and that you can’t see them on your skin. They don’t break me out. I always keep a bottle in my bag because I don’t like the sun — and I don’t think the sun is good for you. It’s honestly the best formula I’ve ever used.”
“First of all, Kjaer Weis’s packaging is so, so beautiful. Plus the product is sustainable: You just buy the refill, and you put it in this red metal tube.”
“I think Kevyn Aucoin is the king when it comes to lip pencils and that taupe-y, perfect shade for a really ’90s-inspired look. I wear it almost every day.”
“Costa Brazil’s packaging is so beautiful and different, and the oil smells so good. It really does smell like a sexy rainforest; it transports me to the jungle. [Laughs.]”
“I used this when I was pregnant, and I don’t know if that was why, but I didn’t get any stretch marks. I swear by it, and I still use it. I’m also such a sucker for good packaging, and its bottles are beautiful; I love that purple color.”
“The packaging is a little complicated. It’s a squeeze bottle, and if you have long nails, that’s a bit difficult, but the foundation is so good that I’m like, I will deal with it. I rarely use foundation, but if I do, I’ll use this one because it doesn’t cover up my freckles. It leaves your skin very dewy. It almost feels like it’s your skin but better, and I’m all for that.”
“I use the blonde shade, and I really like the way the pen is angled. I prefer a more solid crayon versus something more liquid; it’s really nice and easy to make little hairs with it.”
