Corey Moranis, Jeweler

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"I got into acrylic jewelry after college. I kind of put it together all at the same time—everything I love is plastic. When I was a kid and my parents wanted to get me a bike for my birthday, I was like, 'I want a blow-up couch!' During art school, I was collecting a lot of Lucite jewelry from the '60s, and then I realized that I could make that at school, which was pretty rare. I don’t think there are many schools where you can make your own Lucite except the one I was at, so I was in the right place at the right time and I became super obsessed. I would love to make Lucite furniture. I feel like when you start looking for it, you see it everywhere. Yesterday, I was walking around Manhattan and saw green Lucite handles—you kind of start noticing that it’s used a lot, like for display and industrial stuff.

I've been taking a break from a lot of beauty products because my skin was having issues. Right now I’m using Living Libations Sea Buckthorn Oil Cleanser. I’m just putting it on a cold towel and exfoliating with it, but you can put it on your skin and take it off with a warm towel. I like this makeup remover from Provence Apothecary, too. If I have a lot of makeup on and the Living Libations oil isn’t working, I’ll use this to switch things up. Sometimes, I’ll put more oil on at night just to let it sink into my skin. Then I put on Pai Chamomile and Rosehip Calming Moisturizer, and I like how light it is—it doesn’t feel really heavy. I don’t feel it on my skin and it doesn’t have too much of a scent, and I really love the smell of sea buckthorn—I would basically wear it as a perfume.

I’ve been using the LiveLive Chamomile or RMS lip balm in my eyebrows to brush them up. I’ll apply Living Luminizer from RMS in a C-shape around my eye, too. I also love the RMS Lip 2 Cheek shades. They’re really easy for me because you can use your hands—it’s not so precious. I feel like dabbing it on is good for your skin, it activates it. It just does a little, which is what I’m comfortable with at the moment.

In my hair, I just I use this hairspray my friend made—it’s salt and water, plus one drop of an essential oil. It sort of acts like a hair gel and gets rid of all of the frizz. I like the way my hair falls when I use it. I do have this horsehair facial brush—Iris Hantverk Don’t Use Dry. I got it at a really cool shop in Toronto—I’ll use it for my face…and I’ll use it to wash my armpits sometimes. It makes cleaning more efficient. And I am trying natural deodorant—but I’m also going between my regular one as well because I still can’t figure out if I like it. This Herbacin Kamille Hand Cream reminds me of my mom, which I like.

I think honestly some of my friends are my beauty icons. I really look up some of my friends who happen to be really educated about skincare. I trust their recommendations, that’s how I got most of the stuff I use.

I don’t wear perfume. My friend just made me one but I haven’t tried it yet. Whenever I do wear something, someone always makes fun of me—they’ll be like, ‘Is that patchouli? You smell like a hippie.’ I’ve been experimenting with it in the past year, but lately, I haven’t been wearing it. Just deodorant. [Laughs]"

—as told to ITG

Corey Moranis photographed by Tom Newton.