The #ITGTopShelfie interview series focuses on the beauty routines of Into The Gloss' lovely, accomplished, and loyal community of readers. Submit your own on Instagram—post your Top Shelfie (tag us @intothegloss!) and include the hashtag #ITGTopShelfie for a chance to be featured on ITG.
"Hi! My name is Yana (@yanash). I'm originally from Moscow but moved to San Francisco over a year ago—currently, though, I'm relocating to Los Angeles. I'm a sales director at the fashion brand A.w.a.k.e., but I also have an Instagram account, @gelcream, where I write about my favorite beauty products. I started getting into beauty when I was a fashion editor at Vogue Russia. I used to sneak into the beauty closet to try everything and ask the beauty editors silly questions—like, what's the difference between foundation and primer? Mostly, though, I would just make weird sounds while touching and opening pretty bottles.
I find the beauty industry magical. You buy a $10 lipstick, it makes you look amazing, and even more importantly, it makes you feel happier. There's nothing better than shopping and testing products. I follow so many girls on Instagram who use 10 things in the morning and another 10 in the evening and keep diaries of their regimens. Like them, I collect tons of products, but I have a core set of my longtime favorites. Like I usually start my day by washing my dyed-blond hair with Oribe Blonde Shampoo and Kevin Murphy Blonde Angel Wash Hair Treatment—those are really good.
Then I wash my face with Sunday Riley's Ceramic Slip and a Clarisonic. My moisturizer is Crème de la Mer—it works and I notice my husband stealing it, which is a very good sign. In the evening I cleanse with Bioderma Créaline, which I bring back from business trips to Paris, and I do Sunday Riley Good Genes for a gentle lactic acid peel. That's it. Once or twice a week, I have those days when I go from minimum to maximum, and I'll take a bubble bath with salt and mud and follow a cleanser-toner-serum-oil-moisturizer-mask routine. I know I sound old, but I'm not gonna hide the fact that I enjoy spending my Friday evenings applying layers of products to my face and body.
If and when I break out, I usually have one pimple somewhere in the middle of my face, and it's huge and painful. I'll try to fix it at my aesthetician—she just removes it and it heals in one or two days. If I can’t visit a professional, I’ll cry for a minute and then wait until the pimple is ready and apply everything from Kate Somerville’s Eradikate Acne Treatment to Holy Land's or Mario Badescu’s Drying Lotions. Usually, those help.
My makeup isn't heavy. I always carry Nars Sheer Glow Foundation, which I use as a concealer, and I love Glossier Cherry Balm Dotcom and Boy Brow. My mascara is Trish McEvoy’s Curling Mascara and I top everything off with MAC Bronzing Powder. I choose my makeup by the ease of application—I would love to wear eyeliner, but it takes me ages and makes me look like a first grader trying it for the first time. Lately, though, I've been in the mood for crazy details. I'll put a temporary tattoo on my cheek, do a metallic blue lid on one eye—I love Milk Makeup's Eye Pigment in Royal Blue—or I'll just paint my ear silver. I think nowadays makeup trends are boring... There should be more personality involved.
My style is very late '80s to early '90s—if you saw Jil Sander's SS17 collection, that's very me. I love oversized coats, masculine jackets, suit pants, and maxi dresses in a dark palette. Sometimes, to add a little drama, I'll put a super glossy red Tom Ford Patent Finish Lip Color on and wear it with my father’s blazer, blue jeans, and a white t-shirt. At night I might just add highlighter, like Becca’s Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal or Glossier Haloscope in Topaz, which I apply with my finger on my eyes, too. I must say, though, that my focus is health. You only look radiant when you're mentally and physically happy. I don’t buy beauty products to contour and change my appearance or hide bad skin... I buy them to have some fun, right?"
—as told to ITG
