
All We Need For Summer:
Lazy Makeup and Skin Care

We caught top Chicago makeup artist Jenny Patinkin in New York on her way into Barnes and Noble for her umpteenth book-tour stop: Lazy Perfection: The Art of Looking Great Without Really Trying is a brilliant compendium of easy, less-is-more tips, not to mention a great resource for clean beauty. “Like everybody else, I started learning about it when I got pregnant,” says Patinkin, a mom of three kids. “Since then, the products and the technology have improved so much, it kind of blows my mind. There’s no reason not to use the clean nontoxic options now—many of them are much better than the conventional ones.” One of her favorites, it turns out, is on page 220 of her new book: our Luminous Melting Cleanser: “I find it fun to use because it’s a solid balm that liquefies when you rub it in,” she says. “And it’s lazy perfection because it takes your makeup off in one step, including eye makeup, plus the oils leave your skin so soft and smooth. My husband actually uses it as well—I had to buy him his own because he kept taking mine!”

-
GOOP BY JUICE BEAUTY
LUMINOUS MELTING CLEANSER goop, $90Indeed, skin care figures prominently in her less-effort-can-be-gorgeous worldview. “It makes all the difference,” she says. “If the skin looks great, you have to work a lot less hard.” Patinkin’s know-how has her booked constantly for shoots, red carpet events, and private clients; she also teaches classes at the Lazy Perfection Beauty School she founded in Chicago in 2009. “I love making people’s lives easier and prettier,” she says.
The makeup artist in her favorite mode: Laziness
Here, more lazy-beauty essentials:
-
Vintner’s Daughter
ACTIVE BOTANICAL SERUM goop, $185“I can’t even believe how obsessed I’ve become with this product. It’s one-stop shopping for skin care results—it’s everything rolled into one: hydrating, brightening, smoothing, softening, calming. And if you wear it under makeup, it gives an absolutely stunning, dewy finish.”
-
Herbivore Botanicals
COCO ROSE LIP CONDITIONER Herbivore Botanicals, $22“One of the most multi-purpose products in my kit. Of course I use it on the lips, but it also softens ragged cuticles, gives a little gloss to the tops of the cheeks and the
eyelids, grooms eyebrows, and tamps down flyaways. I have the little Coco Rose jars everywhere–in my purse, by my desk, in my car…I can’t be without it.”
-
Tata Harper
VERY ILLUMINATING goop, $40“I love the creamy texture of this highlighter—its slightly icy tone really brightens up the skin. I use it on the tops of the cheeks, down the center of the nose, in the bow of the lips, dotted around the tear ducts, and at the center of the eyelids to give a subtle flash of light every time you blink, which makes your eyes look big and bright.”
-
Kjaer Weis
Foundation goop, $68“I like to use this foundation as a concealer because it’s so light and blends so smoothly. I concentrate on the area down the center of the face—between the brows, under
the eyes, on the nose, slightly off to the sides of the nose, around the nostrils, and on the chin.
Neutralizing discoloration in the center of the face and smoothing over enlarged pores gives the appearance that your whole face is evenly toned and perfect without having to put
product everywhere.”