Clean Beauty Q&A with Kimberly Snyder, author of the Beauty Detox series
May 22, 2019Kimberly Snyder is author of several New York Times bestselling books, including the Beauty Detox series.
Recently, Kimberly released a recipe book titled, Recipes for Your Perfectly Imperfect Life: Everyday Ways to Live and Eat for Health, Healing, and Happiness.
From her books and as a fellow Well+Good Council member, I knew that Kimberly's approach towards radiant skin and beauty was centered on a plant-based diet. Given her natural approach of nurturing glow from the inside out, I asked her a few questions about her skincare routine, which you can enjoy below! Learn more about Kimberly Synder's many books, products, recipes, and other wonderful work at https://shop.mysolluna.com
—Sophia Ruan Gushée
What is your skincare routine/approach? What are your favorite skincare products? Are there any routines or products that you are particularly excited about?
I believe our skincare routine doesn’t need to be filled with a million different products to feel and look good, but the ones we do use should be highly effective. Not only should the products be non-toxic, they most certainly need to provide results like firmer, more glowing, resilient skin, help to smooth out unwanted lines and wrinkles.
That’s why I created and use the Solluna Skincare line daily. We found the best ingredients, like Vigna Aconitifolia, a non-toxic, botanical alternative to Retinol, that are powerful and performance-based to help create beautiful, glowing, healthy skin. I am just so excited and so grateful for how amazing these products work and to be able to offer them to you in the community! I’ve found that I get the best results when I use the Solluna Skincare line all together, as they contain synergistic and complementary ingredients.
Every morning and evening I wash my face with our Feel Good Cleanser. It is loaded with soothing ingredients designed to calm inflammation from pollution and modern day living that can stress and age the skin. I follow this up with 1-2 pumps of our Feel Good Eye Cream. This really helps reduce with puffiness around morning eyes, thanks to an amazing ingredient I like to call Eyebright. It helps tone and smooth the delicate skin around our eyes while also boosting collagen. In the mornings, I’ll follow this up with a nice light layer of our Feel Good Moisturizer, to help repair my skin and prevent further skin damage. I love our moisturizer because it is loaded with so many good ingredients that really makes my skin feel firmer while preventing wrinkles!
In the evenings I will put a light layer of our Feel Good Vitamin C Serum on, before doing my moisturizer, and sometimes I will do this in the morning too! I love our serum because I’ve watched it radically brighten my skin and it has helped make my skin firmer and feel more radiant!
Do you always wear sunscreen? Do you have any other sun protection strategies?
I often wear non-toxic sunscreen over my Feel Good Moisturizer. I also cover up my face with a big hat when I go out every morning for my beach walks. I’m pretty into my hats! I think hats are so fun and such an easy way to protect our skin from the sun.
What is your skincare approach with your son?
Though I like to make sure he gets some vitamin D from natural sunlight, I make sure to limit his direct sun exposure so he doesn’t get burned. We are really good about making sure he wears protective beachwear that is SPF 50, and hats when he is outdoors for significant periods of time.
What advice would you give your younger self about beautiful skin?
If I could give my younger self some advice for achieving more beautiful glowing skin at an earlier age I would say, ‘Kim, don’t leave your house without a hat’. It’s so easy to put on a cute hat every time we go outside. This one simple step can significantly help protect our face from so much sun damage that will creep up on us years later.
I also would also advise myself to lay off the dairy from an earlier age. When I was younger I had no idea how much dairy really affects our bodies.
By the time we are 3- 4 years old, most of us have stopped producing the enzymes of lactase and rennin- the enzymes used to specifically break down lactose in milk. So we aren’t capable of fully digesting dairy.
To make matters worse, all dairy sold commercially has been pasteurized, which means it has been heated to such high temperatures that it is even harder to digest, and very acidic in the body. Since our bodies don’t have a natural relationship to dairy or cow’s milk- it will take our beauty down. Our body tries to get the dairy out since it is so unnatural to the body, and this could be in the form of coughing it up as phlegm, pouring it out through our noses as mucus, packed as extra weight onto our breasts, hips, bellies, or even excreted out of our skin in the form of zits and pimples. No thank you!
