Mindy Kaling is a writer, director, actress and mom. She’s also, it turns out, a certified beauty junkie. (So much so that she recently signed on to be a spokesperson for Joy razors.) We sat down with the busy multihyphenate to chat about everything from her favorite beauty products to turning the big 4-0.
theFashionSpot: You recently turned 40 — happy belated birthday! Were you nervous about the big milestone?
Mindy Kaling: I wasn’t, actually. It was a little bit more emotional than I thought, though. Forty is an age that most people can remember how their parents were like at that age so I was thinking of my mother and that sort of thing. But in general, I found it relatively stress-free. Because I have my daughter and I’m blessed with my professional life so I had a good birthday.
tFS: A lot of women find that their beauty routines change when they become mothers. Did that happen to you?
MK: You know, honestly, for the past five or six years, including the last year and a half that I’ve been a mom, I’ve been very fastidious about my beauty routine. It’s something that I take a lot of pleasure in. I don’t have a ton of time in my schedule and this is that uninterrupted 5 to 10 minutes at night and in the mornings where I can do all the different steps of my routine. It’s a really good winding down ritual for me at the end of the night. So I shortcut a lot of things during the day and sacrifice things for my job or a couple of different things that I’m working on, but the thing that I never shortchange is my end-of-the-day ritual for beauty.
tFS: Can you walk us through your nighttime routine?
MK: If I have a full face of makeup, the first thing I do is a separate eye makeup remover and very gently put that on my eyes and swab off all my makeup because I hate the next morning when I still have mascara or liner on after I wash my face. Then I wet a washcloth with really hot water and squeeze it out and just take off as much makeup as I can just that way. Then I take my Clarisonic brush and go over my face again for a deep cleanse. Rinse. Tone. Put a serum and a moisturizer on and that’s it.
tFS: What are some of your favorite skin care products?
MK: I love Joanna Vargas’ skin care line. It’s so good. Her Rejuvenating Serum is fantastic and her moisturizer. And I love the La Mer The Concentrate.
tFS: Speaking of favorite beauty products, why did you decide to work with Joy?
MK: I get asked to partner a lot with a lot of different brands, but I hate when I’m on social media and I see someone promoting something that is clearly not something they would actually love. But I love my Joy razor! I love how smoothly it goes on, how easy it is to use and how cute it is. The packaging is adorable and so millennial. They have a pink one and a kind of teal color. I like the teal-y blue one. I take pains to make sure everything else that I have in my bathroom looks good so I finally decided that I wanted to start caring about my razor, too, since it lives in my shower.
tFS: Do you get any professional beauty treatments?
MK: I do facials with Joanna Vargas every six weeks or so. I think that makes a difference because I have really oily skin and actually still break out if I don’t take care of it.
tFS: What’s the most “Hollywood” thing you do in the name of beauty?
MK: The most Hollywood beauty thing I do? Um, I got one of those little microneedling things when that was trendy about two years ago. I tried using that, but it hurt too much. I don’t know how to do it and I‘d be like: “This is bad.” So I don’t do that anymore.
tFS: Self-care has become a big buzzword. What does self-care mean to you?
MK: I’ve always been so conscious of the term self-care because it sort of has a tinge of narcissism in it. I used to really feel that way. But in the past couple years, I have kind of been like, “Oh, the power of self-care is completely mood elevating!” It’s so important. So for me, I love working out. Like I’m not necessarily the most coordinated person, but I love exercise and a good spin class and new fitness things. It’s very good for my mind to go to those types of classes and it’s good for socializing. That’s kind of my big thing.
tFS: What about hair? Are you into hair care as much as skin care?
MK: Hair is a huge mystery to me. I have wavy hair and I feel like I have not mastered it. I don’t know how to do it and I need to learn.
tFS: What’s your go-to hairstyle if you’re hanging out at home?
MK: These days, it’s like a top knot and a scrunchie.
tFS: Any favorite hair care products?
MK: I love Leonor Greyl hair products. They’re fantastic for my textured hair.
tFS: If you’re not that into hair, can you see yourself ever getting a so-called mom haircut?
MK: Like a bob or something?
tFS: Or even more like a soccer mom/Jon & Kate Plus 8 type of thing…
MK: Uh, I definitely don’t see myself getting an asymmetrical pixie or anything. That’s a no.
