Welcome to Shelf Life, where celebrities break down every last detail of their beauty routines. Today, Gwyneth Paltrow shares her new go-to moisturizer, what she wears on “no makeup” days, and the cult favorite polish from the ’90s she refuses to give up
One of the last times Gwyneth Paltrow was photographed on a red carpet, she got a scolding from her colorist. “I go to Kadi Lee, the owner of Highbrow Hippie salon in Venice,” Paltrow tells Allure. “She’s the best, but I don’t go often enough. Recently, I went to a pre-Oscar YSL party and I got a text from her the next day. She’s like, ‘Um, you need to get your roots done.’”
Though the Goop Founder and CEO may not prioritize glam the way she used to, she does carve out time for daily exfoliation, hydration, and other skin-care rituals that produce what she describes as “that glowy, natural, sort of tomboy, Maine-in-the-summer vibe that I love.”
The pared-down aesthetic that’s become her signature in recent years is tied to her mindset about age and what beauty upkeep at this stage of her life should look like, Paltrow explains. “When you’re in your 20s, you don’t think you’re ever going to age, so you smoke cigarettes and go out all night. Something I’ve been working on is trying to accept that I’m obviously not 26 years old—not that I would ever want to be,” she says.
Rather than try to beat the clock, she’s owning the changes. “I want to find the cool part of aging and the rad part about having crow’s feet. I want to feel strong and I want to feel vital. So now, [my beauty routine is] about doing things to increase my vitality and making my skin look as good as possible.”
And while Paltrow’s daily beauty lineup includes formulas from her own line, she certainly plays the field—the majority of the brands on this list do not rhyme with “poop.” Here, she takes us through the favorites—from $26 to $399—that make up her routine.
Hair
Virtue shampoo gets the brassiness out of the blonde, and I’ll do a K18 mask about once a week. I love Jennifer Aniston’s LolaVie leave-in conditioner. I have crazy-dry hair, so I love a leave-in. It keeps it nice and soft.
Skin
When I wake up, I don’t really do anything to my skin until after I work out. Then, typically, in the shower, I’ll use the Goop Cloudberry Exfoliating Cleanser. I’ve always been a big exfoliator.