Here's the Single Best Beauty Tip Jennifer Garner Has Received

Here's the Single Best Beauty Tip Jennifer Garner Has Received
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By Kelly Atterton, Allure

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(Photo: Kelly Atterton)

When Neutrogena opens the doors to its Los Angeles plant for a tour, you don't ask questions. You just suit up in your lab coat, booties, hair net, and goggles to get a peek at the spotless inner workings of a cosmetics giant. The best perk to getting this exclusive behind-the-scenes access is having the chance to hang with brand ambassador Jennifer Garner. She graciously answered every single one of my (many) questions about beauty.

What's your skin-care routine like? "I think clean skin is the prettiest thing you can possibly have, so I always wash my face morning and night. Sometimes when I'm tired, I'll just use a makeup wipe. Right now I'm really into cleansing oil. Then, in my view, whatever you do after that is gravy. But if we can just have a little bug in our ear reminding us that we have to wear sunscreen and make it part of our daily routine, we'll all be so much healthier. I look at my kids' pristine skin--I sunscreen them within an inch of their lives. I keep saying to them, 'You are going to be so psyched when you're 40. You're going to love it and say thank you!"

What's the best beauty tip you've ever received?
"There was a makeup artist named Paul Starr whom I worked with for many years, and he told me to learn how to do one thing and get comfortable with it. If I get a palette of eye colors, I have no idea what to do with it. I know something goes in the crease, but it just makes no sense. So if I really need to put makeup on myself, I do the cat eye that Paul used on me, and I don't worry about the rest."

How do you prep for the red carpet? "It would probably be brows, facial--your basics. But as far as anything extra, I've just never been good at that. Fifteen years ago, when I was first doing Alias, I was more disciplined. I've gone the other direction [now]. I don't believe in cleanses; I gain the weight back. I just always try to work out and stay in a pretty decent place and be steady."

And what about prepping for a Neutrogena shoot? "I'll go see my facialist, Nerida Joy. She doesn't do anything wacko. She's just really talented. She talks so much about skin care when I see her, but to be perfectly honest, I don't know what she's saying--I fall asleep immediately on her table. I do know that she's a big believer in face massage, which brings blood to the skin."

What advice would you give a 25-year-old actress about looks and aging? "I would tell her to be less obsessed with her looks, because she is going to age. If you're not aging, you are dead. You earn laugh lines. You earn smile lines. Sure, they can be corrected with little bit of help--not corrected, nudged. But you don't have to freak out. You want them. You don't want your face to look like a mask. Also, enjoy it! I was in such good shape when I was 25. I wish I had just done every bikini shoot. I was always so modest. But I did that one shot for Allure, and I am so grateful it exists in this world, because it's the only shot I have like it. I remember being talked into it, and I am so glad that I was."

What do you do for "me" time? "Oddly, work is 'me' time. I'm lucky enough to work with my best girlfriends; I have a job that feels like play. Working out is 'me' time--I escape at night with friends. We all have so much to do. We have to get up and try to work out, get lunches packed, get kids up and sunscreened and hairbrushed (which is a total drama) and off to school. But if you don't see your friends after they go to bed, then weeks can go by where you haven't seen anyone or done anything. We call it 'one perfect hour.'"

Whom do you look up to? "Annette Bening is my role model. Whenever I see her at anything, I hunt her down. She knows I worship the ground she walks on. She is so chill and doesn't let anything get to her. And she's a really hard worker. When I grow up, I want to be her."

What makes you feel most beautiful? "A good workout and then a shower. That combination where your blood has been pumping, and you maybe had a laugh and a good conversation, that always makes me feel better."

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