After growing frustrated with the lack of transparent, clean and effective skincare in the market, Jessie Gurunathan decided it was time to matters into her own hands. Fashion Quarterly spoke with the self-professed beauty fanatic about the ins and outs of her skincare routine.
Tell us about your earliest memory of beauty.
I have two actually. Both are very precious memories. First is my south Indian paternal grandmother using kajal (eyeliner) from this beautiful traditional brass container and putting it around her eyes. She would sometimes put it on me for special occasions, and I still think of her when I am going through the ritual of drawing on my signature liquid cat-eye.
The second is of my darling mum who has always been a natural beauty, and when I was younger, she wore very little makeup apart from her favourite bright fuchsia pink lipstick. I think it’s why I have always gravitated towards a bright statement lip colour. I love the confidence you seem to exude when you wear a bold lip.
What is the one beauty tip you can’t live without?
Like many women as we age, and in particular, it seems to really affect South Asian women; we develop dark under-eye circles that can mean even when we have had the best night’s sleep we still look exhausted! I use a product from Live Tinted founder Deepica Mutyala, called the Huestick in the colour Rise. It’s a multi-use product that can be used on eyes, lips and cheeks but it’s the most amazing under eye colour corrector, in a terracotta reddish colour that seems to just work so beautifully on dark circles. After applying the Huestick (in Rise) to my under eyes, I put my usual concealer over the top and blend it and voila! It’s seriously been a game-changer.
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Talk us through your skincare routine. We want all of the details.
If you had asked me a few years ago when I was still living in Japan, I would have given you a ridiculously long list of steps and products as I would do visa runs to Seoul in Korea and was obsessed with all things K-beauty! But it was expensive and time-consuming and I reverted back to the Japanese “less is more” approach where I focus on fewer but harder working products.
I double cleanse only if I am removing makeup, and I start with an oil cleanser then use a gentle cream or bar cleanser with a muslin cloth and warm water. I don’t like foaming cleansers as I find they can be way too harsh and stripping for my skin. The one I have been using for a few months now is the Purifying Cleanser from RAWKANVAS.
After my face is nice and clean I use a combination of two products from DMK which I mix together before applying to my face. I mix a few pumps of both the Direct Delivery Vitamin C and the Beta Gel and while I’m waiting for that to fully absorb I use my ring fingers to lightly pat a bit of DMK’s Eye Tone around my delicate eye area.
After a few minutes, I use the Replenish & Repair Bio-Retinol Serum from my own brand (Two Birds Beauty) and warm a few drops of the product between my hands before gently pressing that onto my skin, neck, backs of my hands and even into my cuticles.
That’s it for my night time routine and in the morning, I simply wash my face once using nothing but cold water and my muslin cloth followed by all the same products in the exact same order and to finish it off I use the Elta MD Skincare UV Clear broad-spectrum SPF 46 which is the best facial sunscreen I have ever used.
What’s your beauty New Year’s resolution?
Oh gosh, just one?! I think my main beauty resolution is finding the time and money to commit to seeing an aesthetician for regular prescribed facials. I have been living overseas and moving around constantly for so many years that now I’m back at home in New Zealand and settled in one place for a while, I’d love to create a regular routine with an expert who can help me maintain great skin. I hardly wear makeup so healthy, glowing skin is always my number one goal.
Where will we find you this summer?
This summer I am going to be in the Sounds in a super isolated spot on my aunt and uncle’s massive property that has a section of the Queen Charlotte track running through it. We will be diving, fishing, horse riding and hiking a lot so my beauty bag is going to be very pared back for summer.
