If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered what famous people add to their carts. Not the JAR brooch and Louis XV chair but the hair spray and the electric toothbrush. We asked model and actress Erin Wasson about the bath oils that make her feel like Cleopatra, the skin-care products she’s discovered while living in France, and her secret ingredient for vegan fettuccine Alfredo.
When I was in my late 20s, I got late-in-life cystic acne. It was out of the blue. I’d never had skin issues as a teenager; it was never anything that I had an issue with, and all of a sudden I had really acne-prone skin. I found this product, and it was this incredible moment where I was using very few other products, and I just saw a huge change in my skin. Just this one moment where I was like, “Oh, wow, there are things out there that are literally made to help you out.”
If I ever have someone come and tell me, “Your skin is really great,” the first thing I say is, “Plant Milk.” I’ve probably gotten more of my girlfriends to purchase Plant Milk than any other products. Because Active Serum is not for everyone, right? Whereas the Plant Milk just gives you the most luxurious, gorgeous glow. Active Serum is around where I need it — if I use too much of it, my skin tends to become dry. I tend not to use super-active ingredients too much. At 40 years old, everyone’s like, “You’ve got to throw retinol in the mix,” all these other things in the mix. Me, I’m just trying to nourish my skin at all times. That’s my M.O.
I love my Papaw. It’s with me everywhere. The best trick that I ever found from doing shows and everything is putting a little bit of grease on your eyelids. It gives you a little sparkle, a little sheen. I love a greasy lid, and my Papaw goes on my cheekbones, on my lips, on my eyelids — everywhere.
I live in France now, and everyone knows about French pharmacies. Biafine is something that works really well on redness. There’s an ingredient in there that can cut redness, and it’s great for after sunburn. And if your face is just feeling a little reactive to whatever — sometimes after a plane I get a little bit red — it’s fantastic for that, and it’s readily available at any drugstore.
If I don’t have a bathtub, I’m not a happy camper. I understand Cleopatra so deeply because bathing was so important to her. Susanne Kaufmann’s products are really clean, and I love having them on deck. Between that and just regular essential oils, I love to make a bath ceremonial and nourishing. I’m a person who checks into a hotel and if there’s not a bath, I’m like, “No, no, no, no, no. I need to go to a different room.” It’s of the utmost importance to me. And for women, at that time of the month, there’s nothing that’s going to make you feel better. Again, having dry skin, I dry brush my skin and get into the bathtub and have some yummy things in there that are actually going to be good for it.
RMS founder Rose-Marie Swift was a makeup artist I’d work with a lot. She’d do my makeup a lot for events. I always loved her. She’s an astrologer, too, and we’re both Aquarians. She started her own beauty line because she had gotten mercury poisoning at a young age from working at a photo-development studio. So she was taking an all-natural approach because she had issues with her hair and teeth. So when she launched the probiotic, I knew how much of a stickler she’d be about the grade of ingredients that she put into her products. Her bar is very high. There are a lot of great probiotics out there, but I trust hers.
People are wrapping their heads around not eating meat. We know that it’s not great. We certainly know that animal agriculture is a huge part of the conversation around global warming. But people are like, “Cheese? How can you live without cheese?” But if I have nutritional yeast on hand, I can make a beautiful fettuccine Alfredo. You soak some almonds, you add some nutritional yeast, a little bit of lemon, a little bit of apple-cider vinegar. You can make it for people and they’ll be utterly surprised about the simple ingredients. I would definitely say, as far as the arsenal of vegan cooking goes, it’s nutritional yeast for life. Bragg’s is a good one. They also do a really good apple-cider vinegar.
Acid League launched a few years ago, and they do these beautiful infusion vinegars. If you’re kind of a dum-dum cook and you’re wondering how to make something taste great, I think Acid League has done a brilliant job of creating really in-depth flavors in their products that can take the guessing game out of stuff. You can do it on a salad — I love doing cold noodle salads, a simple rice bowl. They’ve got such an incredible product range, and they’re good at recommending recipes to better inspire people to use their products.
It’s an easy way to get outside and enjoy my life. It’s always nice to have something that’s going to get you outside and get you into fresh air and is also wildly enjoyable. You’re out there getting sun, getting a little bit of a tan, it’s fun. I was a 1982 baby on the precipice of Rollerblades actually coming out onto the market. I remember being a kid and everyone in my neighborhood getting them for Christmas one year. And then I lived in Venice for so many years, and it was so easy to go down to the boardwalk and cruise around. I always looked at it as just such a perfect thing to do. The K2s are not that expensive, and they have a really soft wheel.
I always say, “Multitasking, multi-masking.” I’m the woman watching a movie, and I’ve got a face mask on. If I’m going to sit here watching a movie, I’m going to be doing something else. And I love the wand for that reason. My husband’s like, “Oh, you got it out.” I’m using this laser wand when he’s cooking and we’re hanging out together. And with consistency, you just will see results, period, end of story. If you use it on a regular basis, you’re actually going to see changes that last. I’ve tried a lot of different things — facials, dermatologists — and have always found that with those techniques, I’ve never seen long-term results. But this is something that can just hang out in your house and you can use and slowly build up your results. It’s pretty badass. It’s more effective than going to the dermatologist all the time, too. Laser at the clinic is about $1,000 per session, and you need multiple treatments to see results and then yearly maintenance.
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