Beauty is health. Taking care of our skin, hair, and body feels like a ceremony of love for ourselves and the vessels we were given. We were sick a lot as children and teenagers, so being gentle, caring, and grateful for our bodies is something we’ve been forced to practice as adults. To be honest, nothing affects beauty more than mental health. We can have all the best beauty routines, diets, and gadgets, but when we’re stressed or sad we look awful.
What does Beauty mean to you?
On Skincare
In our early 20’s we went way too hard with exfoliants and acids, for no real reason whatsoever and didn’t understand the importance of SPF50 – so our skin today is very sensitive and compromised. We were obsessed with Biologique Recherche P50 and didn’t use enough moisturizer. Today we know that our skin is very dry and needs thick creams and sun protection more than anything. We love SkinCeuticals Triple Lipid Restore 2:4:2 Anti-Aging Lipid Replenishment Treatment, and they also have an incredible Epidermal Repair treatment. We try to keep it as simple as possible, and use as few products as we can, so hyaluronic acid, face cream and then followed by a simple and pure oil, such as Squalene, Borage Seed or Rose Hip. Our favourite sunscreen is from Elta MD, and we also use the tinted one. It’s so nice and cooling and never irritates our skin – highly, highly recommend!
We never wash our face in the morning, as the California desert climate already sucks the life and moisture out of our skin. We’ve invested in air purifiers and humidifiers and keep them next to our beds. We also use red LED masks and have nerded out on face yoga from an app called Luvly. In terms of body, dry brushing followed by cold showers and putting legs up on the wall for 20 mins a day, really helps with the appearance of cellulite and swollen ankles.
We use coconut oil as a body moisturizer.
In Say Lou Lou's File
‘Best moisturizer out there. Fact!’
‘This is very calming and cooling.’
‘Perfect colour.’
‘Saves our colour treated hair from total destruction, without harsh chemicals like Olaplex.’
‘Makes face feel clean without drying it out.’
On Haircare
Davines NouNou and Love shampoos, and hair masks are our go-tos. We have been using them for years; they’re better than any other product we’ve tried. For mending colour-treated hair Aveda Botanical Repair Serum is a million times better than K18 and Olaplex.
On Make-up
Daytime we use tinted SPF from Elta MD and always spruce our lashes with a Shu Uemura curler
For evening, we use a luminous silk concealer (4.5) and luminous silk foundation from Armani. We always make sure to hydrate our skin to the max before with Dr Hauschka rose cream, and work the coverage in with a concealer brush. We have the perfect Chanel 4 colour eye palette (Entrelacs), in shades of brown and beige and a brown Chanel eyeliner that we use inside the eyelid. We’ve tried a million mascaras, but always come back to the classic green and pink one from Maybelline, it’s clean and simple, and easy to remove. We use the RMS Living Luminizer or Saie Glowy Super Gel as highlighters depending on how much shimmer we want, (RMS being more natural, and Saie being slightly more glamorous). And then we finish with Whirl Dirty Rose lipliner from Mac mixed with a vanilla lip mask from Laneige.
On Health and Wellness
We use ritual Pre/Post Natal supplements, Ashwagandha, Vitex Seed Berry, Liposomal Vitamin C, Coconut Cult Probiotic Yoghurt, and do lots of pilates.
On Rituals
We love reformer Pilates, and try to never sit down (for long) lol. For sleep we love Tempurpedic mattresses, having pillows between our knees, silk pillow slips, and eye masks.
We do intermittent fasting 3 days a week.
We use Probiotic tampons, and period underwear at night time. We have endo and ovarian cysts, so we try to be extra gentle on ourselves during various stages of our cycle.
Coffee and beer make us feel bad, but we let ourselves consume it anyway, cuz life isn’t as fun without.
On Fragrance
For scent, we love mixing a natural deodorant such as Agent Nateur (Shiva Rose) or Corpus Naturals (California) with a classic Nuxe oil or our perfumes from Perdrisat – Love Bomb and Last Word. We also love Stora Skuggan (Azalai).
Your Beauty Secrets..
What is always in your handbag?
The classic Weleda skin food and chapstick, tea tree toothpicks, eyelash curler and Dr Bronners Lavender Anti Bacterial spray. And of course, Elta MD Sunscreen.
Say Lou Lou's Directory..
LA: NutriFaye Beauty – she does LPG for face and body, (lymphatic drainage). Olympic Spa in Koreatown is the best, and @AmezPro, Andrea Amez facials are amazing.
Santa Barbara and Montecito: Float Luxury Spa Facial by Beverly Woxell, and Alice Nails – best gels in the world.
Stockholm: MOC hair salon, and Annas Hudvård (Tibetan facelift).
Sydney: Melanie Grant Skin. Amazing facials.
‘That works and blends with our BO in an inoffensive way.’