The Lineup is a monthly series where we’re giving you an inside peek at the beauty lineups of cool fashion people, editors, makeup artists, hairstylists, and estheticians—all the people we trust the most. Get ready for a behind-the-scenes look at all the can’t-live-without products that make their worlds go ’round.
We all know it’s important to follow our intuition, but what if we could extrapolate this quintessential rule to skincare? Emily Parr did—she’s the forward-thinking founder of two skincare brands, HoliFrog and Current State. Before Parr became an entrepreneur, she was a beauty publicist for over a decade. She found that she always took a more holistic, functional, and intuitive approach to beauty, which led to her developing something she coined as “skintuition.” This concept is all about listening to your skin and the bio-individual cues it gives on a daily basis, so you can give it the exact products it needs to glow.
“I very much felt that my skin’s needs change situationally and depending on its current state,” Parr explains. “And that’s exactly what my brands’ philosophies are all about: tuning in and having a relationship with your skin because you are your skin’s best specialist.” She practices “skintuition” by curating a routine for each occasion and time of day, whether she’s going for her morning run, working on her next product launch, or soaking up rays on the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard. The commonality in each routine is a good cleanser, specifically one that’s rich in active ingredients and low in surfactants—it’s game-changing. Curious to see her favorites? Keep reading for her go-to cleanser, other skincare essentials, and must-have supplements.
“If there was a picture of ‘radiance’ in the dictionary, this would be it. This has become my desert-island daytime product because the glow is unreal, and it also leaves my skin with a dewy, even, and satin-like finish.”
“Give me a treatment cleanser any day of the week! I’m not one who craves a lathery cleanser, so I always opt for this post-workout to really clear out any congestion with a hardworking active like salicylic acid. My skin is left clear and balanced without any tightness whatsoever.”
“I never skip a night of retinol. It’s as religious for me as popping in my bedtime Invisalign. The reason is because with the proper dose and supporting ingredients like this one, retinol is transformative. This retinol serum is so hydrating you may forget to apply cream afterwards.”
“I’m not a scent-driven person when it comes to my beauty products and use all fragrance-free for my skincare, but good lord, this shampoo is intoxicating in the best way possible. The formula itself is so luxurious. I massage my scalp and then air-dry my hair, and this shampoo leaves my curly hair hydrated and bouncy.”
“Because I love the smell of my shampoo so much, I never want the conditioner scent to compete with it. This conditioner is fragrance-free and leaves my hair moisturized without weighing it down.”
“I tend to wash my hair more than my strands would typically like—in the warmer months, I wash my hair daily. My work-around here is to use a cleansing conditioner every other wash. I’ve never had an issue with dry, brittle strands, so I definitely think that my technique of layering in these in-between co-wash days is working.”
“My team makes fun of me because I swoop my hair up with this clip in a full beehive situation. It’s the perfect shape and clamp pressure for my hair. Plus, I feel more put-together than just throwing my hair up in a ponytail.”
“This might be the greatest hair accessory that has ever existed. Each hair-wash night, I lay on the couch watching my shows with this cushiony satin hair towel on my head, and I feel like a Disney princess. My hair is damp enough after an episode or two to go to bed without drenching my pillow, and the hair towel itself doesn’t snag or tug on my strands.”
“The shea butter in this body wash definitely gives the formula some nice body and weight to it. They have some really subtle and natural scents, like vanilla mint, and the value of the large bottle is certainly a bonus!”
“Scented body creams make me nauseous, so I always opt for fragrance-free. This body lotion has such a nice consistency.”
“I mix about two pumps of this body oil into my unscented body lotion for a super-rich finish on my skin post-shower. It’s pure luxury and sinks in without sitting on top of my skin and sticking to my sweatpants! It has a touch of vanilla and grapefruit, which doesn’t smell fragrance-y but rather more herbal and ‘luxury hippie.'”
“I have had horrible allergic, itchy reactions to natural deodorants that use essential oils. This one gets the job done with no scent and no frills. But hey, I don’t smell!”
“I rarely wear face makeup, so when I need to look a little more refined, a swipe of this mascara definitely makes my eyes look more alive! It keeps my lashes defined and lifted, which are my two tenets of a great lash product.”
“This is the only exception to my ‘don’t wear face makeup’ rule. I smear a very light amount of this across my cheeks and under my eyebrows if I want that candle-lit sheen on my skin. It’s exceptionally lightweight, and I never worry that it’s going to clog my pores.”
“This is truly the best lip treatment I have ever found. It’s rich and balmy without feeling tacky in a cheap way. I wear it before long runs to keep my lips from chapping. I never go to bed without it and always wake up with supple lips.”
“I’ve been wearing this lip balm for years. I am not a makeup girl in the slightest, but I appreciate looking put-together and hydrated. Lipfuel gives me that imperfectly finished look, as if my lips just look like this.”
“I’m a very active person, and if I allow myself to dehydrate, it can take 48 hours for me to normalize. Drinking plain water is not motivating for me, and while I love sparkling water, my gurgle-y stomach doesn’t. These tablets energize me and help me stay hydrated.”
“Within the last few years, I have started to discover the importance of the relationship between the gut and brain microbiomes. These two cell groups need to communicate in order to establish better mitochondrial balance, which equates to better energy production and nerve health. A probiotic like this helps establish better gut diversity, which helps immune and digestive health.”
“My dad had early onset Alzheimer’s disease, so I am a bit of a fanatic about brain health! This product contains acetyl-l-carnitine, which works similarly to normalize cell membranes and clear out debris from neuronal membranes. It also supports and fortifies the blood brain barrier with the vital phospholipids that actually make up most of the membranes in our body.”
“This is a blend of well-known inflammatory normalizers in correct proportions to help support a healthy balance of inflammation in the body. As an added bonus, many of the ingredients found in here are actually studied to help protect from severe outcomes from Covid.”
“I take this three times per day to help seal the gut lining, which keeps toxins out and supports the gut terrain. The woman who does my colonics has told me for years that a healthy gut terrain is so important for allowing the microbiome to flourish. It’s like trying to plant beautiful flowers on bad soil.”
“This is a medicinal mushroom that improves BDNF, a protein in our brain that decreases overtime and is responsible for supporting improved mental acuity, memory recall, and neuroplasticity.”
