“I got my nails done in LA. They’re gels with pure silver glitter, and they last forever—up to three weeks. I go to a place called Chi Nails in Beverly Hills; they do all that crazy nail art, and really specialize in different types of gels. My mother is Japanese, and my father is German. I was born in London, lived there until I was 6 and then Tokyo until I was 10, and now I live in LA, though we come to New York once or twice a month for my clothing line, Aiko. We used to have a place here, and we gave it up last year—with my partner, who is my husband and the father of my 21-month girl, as well.
I’ve been pink three times: once at seventeen, once when I first met my husband, and then in the last six months I went pink again—I just love it, it makes me happy. It’s the perfect color because most of the other bright colors require a lot of maintenance, but with pink, you start dark and then it washes out into all these different pretty shades, and by the time you’re ready to get your hair done, it looks like cotton candy. I’m at mid-stage right now, three weeks in. I’m naturally dark, dark brown. Most people have to bleach their hair if they’re as dark as I am, but I’d been blonde for a while...[To get it like this] I’m at the hair salon for too long: five hours. It’s embarrassing. I keep it healthy with a lot of deep conditioning—Kérastase deep conditioning masks; there’s one that they make specifically for curly hair, in an orange tub. My hair is not that healthy, and I don’t blow dry it that often, so it’s a little crazy. I think if I really cared about the health of my hair I probably wouldn’t dye it… I’d probably just leave it very natural.
I get a facial once a month at a place called Verabella in Beverly Hills. They use Éminence products—and I use those at home, too… they’re just very natural products. I love their masks. I’m still kind of experimenting with them, but I think my favorite one so far is the Stone Crop—I see the biggest difference in my complexion. I look a little more refreshed and rejuvenated, it brings a little color back into my skin, and then it feels really firm. It’s kind of slimy feeling; it looks really disgusting on. But otherwise, the Rosehip mask, and then the Probiotic one I like, but it’s a little heavier and creamier, which, for my skin, isn’t always so great.
I have very sensitive skin, so I use mineral makeup: La Bella Donna. I feel like she was one of the first to release a line of mineral cosmetics, and she does a huge range of pressed powders, loose powders, blush, concealers, and it’s all really good for your skin. They suggest you can add water to the loose powder and create a foundation, and it works, but I just use a sponge and a pressed powder without water. It just feels natural and I don’t feel like I’m doing anything bad to my skin. At the end of the day, it’s very easy to wash off, whereas with some traditional foundations and powders, you have to work to feel clean again. Also there’s a sunblock in the pressed powder, so I don’t feel like I have to worry about adding on any extra protection.
I’m wearing YSL navy mascara; I’ve only ever worn the navy color. For some reason when I wear black, at the end of the day I feel like I have black smudges under my eyes, and I feel like I look more tired. With the blue, it stays on all day, but even after a long work day, it’s still pretty clean. I do buy some lipsticks because they match my hair. I love this line of cosmetics, Face Stockholm, and their Smile lipstick. At the moment, I’m wearing Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm in Rose—it’s so easy. The other night I actually found a neon pink MAC product, a loose powder, and I penciled it into my eyebrows, which was fun for a dressier event. I have a few simple things that I do, otherwise I get some help, but this was fairly simple: it was just spraying MAC Fix on an eyebrow brush and then the loose shadow, and I just tried to brush it in, and clean it up with some concealer. It did work, and I’m going to do it again—it just fades really fast. I used to have pink eyebrows. I would bleach them and put pink over it—it was fun, but this way is less permanent.”
—as told to ITG
Cynthia Mittweg is wearing an Aiko dress and Isabel Marant jacket and shoes. Photographed by Emily Weiss in New York on June 8th 2012.
