Jennifer Garner’s Beauty Secrets

by Lexi Novak



photo: Donato Sardella
photo: Donato Sardella

Equal parts kick-ass action heroine and adoring mom, Jennifer Garner has the balancing act down: The natural beauty, Allure's September cover girl, knows exactly where to spend time and where to cut corners in her beauty routine. Here, her favorite tricks, products, and exercises, as told to writer Judith Newman.

Garner's number one skin-care rule: "Skin has to be clean, and it has to have sunscreen. And then everything else after that is gravy. Sleep is really important, too, but I don't get enough sleep for my skin. I don't know what woman does."

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Products she can't live without:
"I'm starting to use more stuff that has things like alpha hydroxy [acid] or retinol. But I really don't believe that your skin-care products have to be the fanciest things in the world. I like drugstore products, especially sunscreen, because I use so much of it--I like Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Liquid sunscreen SPF 70." (She's a spokeswoman for the brand.)

The routine for her (gorgeous) hair is surprisingly minimal: "I have no idea how women who go to an office in the morning do it. I don't blow-dry. I don't even know where the blow-dryer is. So the thought of having to incorporate that into my morning just seems crazy to me."

Best trick from a makeup artist:
"Use good brushes! And a nice lip balm."

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Exercise routine:
"I've been working out with Valerie Waters for 13 or 14 years. I'll do different things. I did Spin for a little while, and I like yoga. I've been doing Pilates with this woman who was trying to get my abs back in shape after the last baby kind of did me in."

And the one grooming ritual her husband will never see:
"Well, no man needs to be around when anything is getting waxed, ever."

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