Jen Brill

Jen Brill
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Jen Brill
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Jen Brill
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Jen Brill
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Jen Brill
Jen Brill
Jen Brill
Jen Brill
Jen Brill
Jen Brill
Jen Brill
Jen Brill

'I pretty much keep it simple. There are things that I’m nuts about, like the shampoo and moisturizer I use, but aside from that it’s pretty bare bones. In the morning I wash my face with Cetaphil, which is the most simple cleanser ever. I use Amore Pacific moisturizer. My friend Jeanine Lobell introduced me to that line and it’s incredible.Then I use the Chanel Teint Innocence compact foundation just to cover spots, and TONS of mascara—Chanel Inimitable Intense. At night I’ll do the bottom lashes too and make crazy spider legs. It takes me at least ten minutes every day to put on my mascara. Ten minutes, literally—I paint each lash. I’d never do lash extensions though; too fussy.

Anything that requires maintenance I don’t do—like I’d love to color my hair but realistically I’m not going every two months to get root touch ups; that’s not happening. So then I’ll do a bit of rouge, it’s this pink Chanel one. I used to use brownish rouge and Jeanine was like, ‘No, don’t use brown, it picks up discoloration in your skin,’ so I started using pink. I use a lot of Chanel makeup—I love the packaging, I love the color palette, it just works the best for me. But I also love MAC Ruby Woo, I’ve been wearing it forever. It doesn’t move—Ruby Woo will not leave your mouth. I can eat steak and mashed potatoes and it’s still there. And I just started using this Shu Uemura lip liner, just their red, and it’s amazing. For evening, NARS and Chanel have these cream eye shadows, Chanel’s are in a bottle, and I’ll use a bronze or a gold or silver and just smudge it on. I love them. I wear Chanel 'Beige' fragrance most of the time, but another thing I started doing is wearing Old Spice deodorant. Every man I've ever loved wears Old Spice...I love the smell of it.

For my hair, I strictly use René Furterer. I used to use J.F. Lazartigue as well but [C.O.] Bigelow stopped carrying them. Now I don’t know where to find it, and it’s too weird for me to order shampoo off the internet. My hair’s pretty straight so sometimes at night if I have time, I’ll put it up into two buns when it’s still wet and use Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray, spritz it, let it dry and take it down, and that’s my hairdo. I call them my ‘Party Buns’. I’ve had friends come over before we go out and they’re like, ‘You look like Björk, you’re not going out like that.’ And I’m like, ‘No, these are my Party Buns!’

I’m really lucky because I’m a photo agent and a stylist agent so I’m always on shoots with makeup artists and hairdressers and I love beauty and hearing about people’s tricks and tips. For instance Frank B., he told me about the Shu Uemura lip liner. Whenever I’m on set with someone I’m like, [whispers] ‘Tell me a trick!’ Like Dennis Lanni, he’s been cutting my hair for eight or nine years, and he taught me how to do my Party Buns. I can’t deal with going into a salon so I just hi-jack a haircut. I text him and say, ‘Are you shooting this week?’ And he’ll say, ‘Yeah, come by the studio,’ so I’ll go after whatever shoot he’s doing. He’s great because he’s not fussy—he just gives me the perfect ‘nothing’ haircut.

I go to Christine Chin every six weeks or so for a facial. I rotate between her and Ingrid, but Ingrid’s really my main chick and I’ll see Christine every three or four times. You go there and get hardcore extractions. And that’s the only thing that’s ever worked for my skin. I had really great skin my whole life until my early 20’s when it really broke out. And Christine Chin is the only thing I’ve done that’s fixed it. They squeeze every single pore. And for days afterward you look insane, but a week later you look like…Gisele. [Laughs] Another thing that I do religiously—I’m so scared of looking matte so I always mist my face with something, like Jurlique Citrus Purifying Mist. My greatest fear is to look matte.

I just went to Valley on Elizabeth and saw Maki who does Sally [Singer’s] nails. I got a red manicure with burgundy, bronzy glitter. I was too scared to experiment with the gel. But usually I go to Spazio on Mott Street and see this woman Joanna. She’s really, really, really good. In a perfect world I would go to Joanna and get my nails painted red and then I’d go to Maki and get the design. There’s this place in LA called C T Nails, it’s across the street from Whole Foods in West Hollywood, they do the best airbrushing in the whole entire world. Layered stars, crosses, flames, skulls, Chanel symbols, everything you could imagine. He could even airbrush the baby toenail. I call him Genius but his name’s Peter. If you ever go in there and ask for Genius, then he’ll know you’re my friend.”

—as told to ITG