Ep 469: Preserve Your Skin: Guard Against Accelerated Aging From the Elements With Helen Marray-Finlay

Looking for tips to guard your skin from harsh elements?  Whether it’s a long flight, time in the sun or summer heat – the elements can take a toll on your aging skin.  Helen Marray-Finlay, the founder of Finlay+Green created a skin care line dedicated to the needs of peri-menopausal and menopausal skin. If that name sound familiar,  Helen was on the podcast before – Ep 406 where she shared 10 + secrets for aging skin. Helen is a Hollywood makeup artist and skincare expert with over 20 years’ experience. Having worked on blockbuster movies like Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and popular TV shows including Parks & Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Modern Family, Barry, and The Goldbergs. In this episode of The Health Fix Podcast, Dr. Jannine Krause and Helen Marray-Finlay talk about taking care of your skin while traveling and what to do to help keep your skin glowing despite temperature changes and sun exposure. 

Resources From The Show:

• Finlay + Green Moisturizer – 20% off DRK20
• Super Goop
• KORA Organics – Silky Sun Drops and the mitt to go with it
• Vitaliberata 
• Isle of Paradise – Face Self Tanning Drops
• Kate Somerville – Spray Mineral SPF 
• Powder sunscreens
• Bert’s Bees Lip balm
• Bobbi Brown – cream sticks
• RMS  – Cream eye shadows
• Seint Eyeshadow 

Our Partners

Podcast Transcript

4:37 – Things that may be dehydrating your skin

6:43 – What can you do for your skin before you travel  on a plane

12:24 – Skin drying out faster during menopause / peri menopause

14:08 – What can you do to protect your lips and ears for summer

16:36 – Dry brushing

21:38 – Should you use retinol in the summer?

26:22 – Spray tans / self tanners

27:30 – Self tanner non toxic brands

35:12 – Powder sunscreens

37:46 – Good skin products for the summer heat

42:43 – How to treat your skin after being in the sun all day and getting burned

47:02 – Helen’s favorite cream foundations

50:43 – Where to find Finlay and Green products

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[Intro] Hey, Health Fix junkies.

It’s Theresa Lear-Levine from Becoming More Me, the podcast for Busy-Minded Entrepreneurs

that want to be more and do less.

Blessed to have appeared on not just one but three episodes of the health fix, so I encourage

you to check out episode 445, 411, and 322 of the Health Fix podcast where I talk about

breaking up with your old self self sabotage, fears and thriving through life’s changes.

Mm. Perry menopause using EFT tapping and hypnotherapy. You’re listening to the health

fix podcast. Here’s your amazing host, Dr. Jannine Krause. 

JANNINE: Hey, health junkeys. On this

episode of The Health Fix Podcast, I’m interviewing Helen Marray-Finlay. She is the founder of Finlay

& Green, a skincare line dedicated to taking care of menopausal skin.

Now if that name sounds familiar, you are correct.

She was on the health fix podcast episode 406 where she gave us 10 plus secrets for aging

skin.

Helen is a Hollywood makeup artist and skincare expert with over 20 years of experience.

She’s worked on blockbuster movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and popular TV shows including

Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn 99, Modern Family, Berry and the Goldbergs.

Being in the skincare industry and makeup industry, Helen tried everything out there

in terms of products and she realized there was a lack of safe and effective skincare

products available to women in perimenopause and menopause.

So she went on a mission to change that and thus Finlay and Green was born.

In this episode, Helen and I are going to be talking about taking care of your skin while

traveling and what to do to help keep your skin glowing despite temperature changes and

sun exposure.

I love talking with Helen because I learned so much each time we chat.

So if you’re noticing your skin is changing as you get older and you’re struggling with

dryness, you have to listen to the podcast.

So let’s reintroduce you to Helen Marray-Finlay.

All right, glad to have you back on again, Helen.

So excited to talk about skin stuff.

HELEN: I’m really excited about this too.

And yeah, anything about skin?

I’m your woman, yeah.

JANNINE: Yes, because you know, this is the time of the year

when folks always ask me like,

should I be doing something to kind of prep my skin

for the summer?

Or like, is there like, do I need to do some of the crazy stuff

they do online with all the lymphatics?

We are just talking about that.

So I think it’s fun to kind of talk about that

because we see so much on social media and people doing all kinds of things saying they’re

propping their skin, but it’s like, it’s like in the last, is that really going to move

the needle? Am I wasting my time? So let’s talk about the things that actually matter.

HELEN: Well, you know, skincare is all about consistency, but it’s not just the products you use. You’ve

got to eat well, because eating well has a huge positive effect on the skin. So there’s lots of

great foods you can eat. You’ve got to drink plenty of water. You’ve got to hydrate.

And I just learnt this because I’m always wondering how much water am I supposed to drink. And I

read something recently that you basically, so if you know, so for example, if you’re 150 pounds,

right, you have your weight. So that would be 75. And that’s 75 ounces that you need to drink.

And two thirds of that needs to be water. So that for me makes it a lot easier otherwise,

is that 12 glasses, six foot? I don’t know. So yeah, so it’s the product, the food,

and being hydrated. But hydration is just the absolute key for summer skincare for sure.

JANNINE: Absolutely. I mean, definitely with your moisturizer product, I mean, I learned in the

Caymans earlier this year that, you know, I go out in the sun, okay, right?

I’m going to dehydrate, right?

Because I’m in the sun.

And then I learned that if I put it on and moisturize right after coming in from being

outside, I prevented a burn.

It’s like score, score.

So hydration, I can, I can wholeheartedly agree to that.

So with the skincare routine and hydration and your moisturizer, of course, we want to

talk about that.

Um, what, what are some of the hydration routines?

Like of course, we, you know, you just talked about water.

What are some of the other things that we might be overlooking

that might be dehydrating us?

HELEN: Well, it’s your caffeine intake, you know,

your alcohol intake, but you know, that’s hard

when you’re going on holiday hours the summer

and you won’t have a glass of wine, right?

You won’t have a couple of cocktails.

So I guess it’s everything in moderation,

but they’re definitely going to kind of dehydrate your skin.

But it’s traveling, you know, if you’re traveling on a plane,

planes dehydrate your skin,

going to all these different fabulous locations, dry,

arid, humid climates, that’s also gonna dehydrate your skin.

So that’s why you’re gonna have a product,

the right product.

So I always look for certain ingredients

like hyaluronic acid is a great ingredient.

But if you’re going to a really dry environment,

squailing is fantastic because it’s a bit heavier,

but it never blocks the pores.

So yeah, so it’s about being hydrated,

trying to work out, you know, is it dry,

arid or humid and figuring out the product for you.

So if it’s going to be humid,

you want a really light product, but a hydrating product.

JANNINE: Okay, okay.

And like, if it’s going to be really dry,

you want something, obviously that’s super moisturizing,

but are we like, are we thinking,

and this is how I think,

and I don’t know if other people think this way,

so guys who are listening, if you’re like, she’s weird,

I think like how many times can I apply a moisturizer

or something throughout the day

when say I’m somewhere very dry?

Like say I went to the desert, right?

HELEN: Right.

Well, not all moisturizer are equal, right?

But the Finlay & Green one, we built it that,

so it was buildable, so you can actually layer on

throughout the day.

That’s good.

But it’s always best to have cleaner skin.

If your skin’s all dusty and dirty,

you don’t really want to add anything gone.

But there’s other great things too,

you know you have a misting spray is great. You can also get these little travel humidifiers and

they’re fantastic too. And so these little things like that you can do to kind of get that moisture

back in your skin. 

JANNINE: Awesome, awesome. Okay, so let’s let’s set the stage. You’re gonna get on a plane,

right? You’re flying. Let’s let’s give it a long flight because the hour long flights, I don’t know

how much those wreck your skin compared to like, I don’t know from LA to New York kind of situation.

Let’s do a long flight. We’re getting ready.

Like what do you do headed, you know,

maybe it’s the before you get to the airport,

maybe it’s at the airport.

What’s the routine to like prevent full dehydration?

And then what’s the routine when you get

to your destination?

– Right. Well, I think when you’re traveling,

it’s better to wear less makeup,

’cause it’s actually much easier to hydrate your skin

when you have less makeup.

So if you’re someone that can go without foundation,

fantastic.

but if you need that little bit of that color to your skin,

keep it light.

So definitely you gotta be drinking plenty of fluids

before you get on the plane

’cause you’ll get dehydrated when you’re flying.

On the plane, keep drinking.

And like I said, you know,

mist your skin when you’re on the plane.

You can also do little face masks.

You know those ones that come in little sachets?

JANNINE: Yeah.

HELEN: With the little eye pads on and stuff.

And you know,

I certainly if you’re sitting by the window,

no one’s gonna think you’re crazy

having a little iPad on for a long time.

Maybe you don’t want the full mask

with just your eyes and your mouth open.

That might scare everyone,

but you can do those little masks actually on the plane.

But they’re great the night before your trip too.

If you really wanna kind of hydrate your skin beforehand,

maybe do a full on mask,

not just those paper ones,

but actually, you know, those, you can just layer on.

You can, like certainly Finaly & Greens moisturize.

It’s also a face mask.

If you layer on that heavier, that’s great.

It’s a 10 minute intensive kind of hydrating treatment.

But yeah, so it’s really prep your skin,

drinking plenty of fluids, maybe doing a face mask beforehand.

If you’re brave enough, take those eye pads.

Put it on your face during the trip.

The facial mists are great on the plane too.

You can get, as I said, these little travel humidifiers,

they’re tiny and you can charge them up on a USB.

They’re great for long, long flight too.

And then yeah, keep putting your moisturizer on if you if you can

Okay, so humidifier. I like that idea

I like that idea because I think a lot of people in the summer but also like

Anytime of the year we may be flying and we may be trying to go to wedding, right?

And we like timed it really short because that’s I noticed like for a lot of people

They’ll fly in like and go right to like the rehearsal dinner, right?

And then boom into the festivities and like, you know

you want to be looking good or if you got a job interview, right? And you’re flying across

country maybe, or maybe you’re meeting somebody special. So that makes sense. That makes sense.

I totally would whip out the little I pads. I actually need to try that on my next flight now.

I’m all in. 

HELEN: You know, especially if you’ve got a long flight. You just want to like, you know, de-stress and chill.

It’s kind of a nice thing to do. But yeah, and you know, traveling is stressful. So it’s another

reason why to keep your makeup lights, you don’t break out or whatever, but that’s the other reason

too, you know, having little face masks or whatever. 

JANNINE: Yeah, it makes sense. Especially, I mean, if

you’re going to Europe from the States, I’m thinking like, oh man, or if someone’s flying from like

LA to like Fiji, right? One of your friends decided to do a destination wedding in Fiji.

They better be really good friends. But nevertheless, you know, I’m thinking about these really long

like European flights or overseas flights, even a Hawaii, that’s a longer flight too, if you’re

going for wedding or whatnot too. So yeah, thinking about that, that’s okay. Okay, so we got that. 

HELEN: The other things is too,

don’t forget the rest of your body, like your hands, hands get really dry? I mean,

I’m really bad and then they get all like dry and chapped or whatever, but definitely don’t

forget your hands and your leg is the rest of your body for sure. 

JANNINE: What about the feet, like the

the heels. I would think that’s another spot.

HELEN: Definitely. Yeah, it’s a good point. Definitely when you’re, yeah,

you’re going to be on the beach or whatever. Have you tried those?

There’s, I think it’s called baby feet. Have you tried them? I think this is

a Korean thing. I tried, I bought it on Amazon. They’re kind of the craziest

things. And these are little booties you put on and they have all like the

gunk and the gel in them. And you, you put them, I think you wear them for

I can warm up about 20 minutes. It feels a little bit prickly. I wore it.

And then apparently over the next 10 days,

you’re supposed to kind of sloth off the skin.

It was pretty terrifying actually.

It was like a lizard for about 14 days.

But it worked pretty much, but I don’t know.

I think there’s a lot of chemicals.

Maybe not do it again.

JANNINE: Uh oh.

Well, I mean, it’s something to think about

if someone is in a pinch.

Sometimes we can detox off of things

if we have to do something like that.

but obviously we’re gonna choose the natural route first.

And, you know, I have put your moisturizer on everything.

So, you know, I think one of the things

that was like a light bulb moment for me,

you know, while we were talking the first round,

but also just in general is that, you know,

our skin on our face is, yes, what people see most,

but it’s still the same skin that you have on your arm,

as you have on your butt, you know, it’s all the same skin.

And so, yeah, I’ve been putting,

I’ve been putting your moisturizer everywhere.

So face, hands, elbows, heels, all of it,

the feet, everything.

And things look a lot better than they used to.

I was dry.

I used to get like the dry, and it’s probably dry

today a little bit ’cause I haven’t been on my moisturizer

’cause I dry out fast.

So that was gonna be another question.

Like some of us, even with hydration,

seem to dry out faster.

And I think it’s some perimenopausal menopausal thing.

HELEN:  Yes, yes.

Yeah, no it is.

And it’s because unfortunately, you know,

during perimenopause, menopause,

our skin barrier is kind of declining.

So we don’t have the ability to retain

that hydration, that moisture.

So yeah, unfortunately, yeah, that’s a culprit.

Well, then in that case, I’m going, like, I’m guessing you could apply moisturizers as much as you really wanted to.

I don’t think that there’s a point at which it gets to be too much.

Like, yes, it’s money, but still, have you thought that ever like, what’s like the max amount of time since someone could reapply in the day?

HELEN: Well, I think he’s going to come down to how you like, like to feel right after why you’re just going to be thick and greasy.

I mean, we like with ours, we did make it buildable.

So you can put it on as many times a day,

but it’s also going to come to a point that your skin can only absorb so much.

JANNINE: True.

HELEN: Which is the other thing.

So, yeah, I mean, I guess you can experiment, but ah– 

JANNINE: See, I mean, I think time,

you know, watching time, seeing how it goes, you know, right now,

I’m, you know, about five hours into my day,

and I moisturize this morning after my shower.

So, you know, maybe it’s, maybe it’s just getting to know your timing.

and seeing what it is.

Okay, so one of the big things that I’ve experienced myself that I’m a little bit ashamed to

tell people but I’m going to do it anyway because I’ve burnt pretty much most of my body in different

places over the courses of time. And my lips and my ears have been ones that I have not thought about

And really not thought about how do I prepare my skin for the summer and the sun.

I just usually jump right in and go, I’m here.

What do we do now?

And so I’ve seen people talking about exfoliation.

I’ve seen people talking about antioxidants and serums and, you know,

vitamin Cs and E’s and you name it, prepping your skin for the summer.

Is this hype?

Do we need to do that?

Do we need to exfoliate?

do we need to exfoliate our lips and ears? What’s the deal?

HELEN: Well, I mean, I think as far as skin care, some of the skin care routine, it should be the same

routine that you’re doing throughout the year because it’s all about consistency. So just to do

something for a few months of the year or a few weeks of the year, for one, you’re probably going

to waste your money because those products aren’t going to be as effective anyway. But as far as,

Yeah, your lips and your ears. I think they’re the things that people forget to put SPF on, right?

I have burnt my ears before and I’ve definitely burnt my lips. So

always put sunscreen on there and there’s some great lip balms now. There’s a company called Supergoop,

not to be confused with Goop, the Gwenith Paltrow, but Supergoop is a really non-toxic line of

sunscreens and they have a huge range of different types but they have some really good lip balms

that have got an SPF and some of them are tinted. They’re just really really nice products.

So that but as far as exfoliation, exfoliation is good and bad. I think when people exfoliate,

they generally use the wrong products because they’re either too harsh, they’re physically

rubbing too hard and they’re probably doing it too often.

So they say don’t exfoliate more than two times a week.

Personally, I think that’s too much.

And especially when you’re in perimenopause or menopause

because as we mentioned, your skin barrier function is

kind of not as good anymore.

And you don’t want to damage that even further

and exfoliating and over exfoliating can really damage that.

So you’re actually gonna get drier skin ultimately.

So be careful when you exfoliate, it is good.

Certainly on your body is a good thing.

I’ve been looking at, you know that dry brushing.

I don’t know if you’ve done that.

Again, the jury’s out on that for me right now,

but I am trying it.

I think all it’s really doing is kind of, you know,

bringing the blood to the surface.

But I am concerned that I’m maybe damaging my skin too

with the brush.

So, but so yeah, be careful with exfoliating,

but also look for more of the chemical exfoliators

like sicilic acid or ocholic acid.

Don’t use the apricot kernels.

Don’t use the brushes on your face.

Yeah, so exfoliating the right way and that’s hard.

JANNINE: Yeah, well, I mean, there’s some things you think about,

right?

when you’re older compared to when you’re younger

and say you had like for,

I when I was younger, I had really oily skin, right?

Like it was like oil slick on my face.

And so like those brushes you hold that vibrate

and you press the button and it’s just like a power scrub

to your face.

Like when I was like 17, 18,

actually maybe in my twenties

’cause I don’t know if they were around when I was 17, 18,

but like those kinds of things like I was like,

“Yes, let’s do this,” right?

Now I feel like if I did that,

I would probably end up like I had wind burn.

Or something.

HELEN: Well, that’s exactly it.

You know, it can make your skin more sensitive, right?

You can irritate your skin.

And also then when you go and put the other products, the sunscreen or the moisturizer,

your skin’s going to sting.

So yeah, it’s getting that happy, that happy balance, you know.

JANNINE: Interesting about, you know, the exfoliating marketing though, I will be honest because

I, I today was actually in the shower looking at some of my skincare products that I have.

one of them, like the back of it, I read it and it was like, yeah,

exfoliate every day.

And it has the micro beads, not the apricot, but still I’m like, okay,

well, micro beads.

I mean, is it the same?

HELEN: I wouldn’t use well, environmentally, you know, shouldn’t be, you know,

that whole thing with the beads too.

Um, yeah, it’s still going to damage the skin.

And the thing is, I think people have that feeling that they feel they need a

really rub.

And that friction, you don’t want too much friction on your skin.

you know, so yeah, maybe do it a little bit.

I mean, I’m not saying that I don’t ever exfoliate myself.

I might do it once a month or something,

but that’s the most that I do.

Yeah.

And I generally put it into my,

I use a gel to cream face wash.

So I’ll add a little bit to that.

So it’s not, I guess I’m, what am I doing?

I’m thinning it out a little bit, you know,

so making it a little bit more gentle.

– Yeah.

JANNINE: Okay. So like you’re saying

the glycolic and salicylic. So enzymatic type of exfoliation better than the apricot

kernels and micro beads and all the ones that they say are natural, coconut, derivative,

whatever. 

HELEN: Yeah 

JANNINE: That stuff makes sense. Yes, it makes sense. 

HELEN: And start light, you know,

the lowest concentration you can get the better. I mean, you know, a lot of people like Retinol,

which is also, you know, I can exfoliate it too, but there’s a real movement now and a lot of

doctors are coming out saying that you really shouldn’t use retinol in over-the-counter products.

It should be under doctor supervision and everything and the European Union has just moved this year.

It’s, I think, the rolling out the new regulations. They’re limiting the amount of retinol in over-the-counter

products because they’re really concerned with people getting too much vitamin A,

being too overexposed to vitamin A. And also there’s that risk that you’re going to hurt yourself

with retinol as well because people are tempted to use too much. So yeah, that’s the other thing.

Well, I’ve heard different stories about the retinols and using the different versions of it

it because I mean, yes, with the concentrations that I can prescribe as a doctor versus what

I’ve seen, you know, it varies, right?

But I’ve also heard and I’d love to hear your take on this.

And if you’ve seen this, a lot of people are talking about the retinol because of its exfoliating

capability, it’s thinning your skin.

HELEN: Yeah.

Yeah.

That, that is again, you know, I’ve, I wrote a, I wrote a paper on retinol, the good, the

good and bad on retinol recently. So that’s kind of why it’s in my head a lot more. Yeah,

that was the feeling of a lot of doctors now that long term, there really isn’t the evidence,

you know, there hasn’t really been long term studies on the use of retinol.

So that’s with thinking that maybe you could be in at the beginning right now,

it’s doing great things, but there could be an issue later on. Yeah, for sure, thinning it out

JANNINE: Yeah, it makes me wonder. It definitely makes me wonder. And you know,

there’s been this whole talk like can use it during the summer? Do you lay off of it? What’s

you know, what’s the proper timeframe? When should you stop using it? Do you have any like

guidelines that you give folks or thoughts you have about when to use it when to stop it if you are

using it? 

HELEN: Well, for me, I don’t use it because of my skin type. I would just burn, you know,

and it’s just not I don’t feel comfortable using retinol, I guess, but to be totally honest. But

No, I would definitely not use retinol or those kinds of products during the summer.

Certainly, if you’re going to go outside, you’ve got to use a really high sunscreen.

You’ve got to be wearing hats and everything because you’re just going to get more brown spots.

You’re going to be much more sensitive to light.

So again, you could end up damaging your skin too, unintentionally, of course.

So I would, but to answer your question, when would you lay off it in preparation for a holiday?

I’m not sure. I mean, what would you think?

JANNINE: Like, great question.

You know, in my mind, I have told people like a month before.

And I don’t know.

I kind of come up with the way I come up with things, is thinking about your skin cycle,

thinking about having enough time for new layers to come back up.

You know, it’s hard.

It’s hard to say.

But I kind of concluded with a month before and now with heading into summer, I usually

end up saying it, you know, somewhere around like April is when I tend to tell folks.

HELEN: Yeah. And the other thing is too, is you can still get sunburned right on a day. So that’s the

other thing that kind of worries me retinol too, that it doesn’t have to be on a beach, you know,

you could be, I don’t know, you could be skiing, right? Right. Mountain and get it too. So yeah,

Yeah, that’s why it just concerns me a bit.

But yeah.

JANNINE: Well, and the other thing I think about too,

is being stuck in the car and traffic,

and the sun coming in and like,

my left side is more color damage, you know?

than my right?

HELEN: Yeah, same with my hand too.

You know, got a lot more brown spots on that hand, you know?

Yeah, I got one hat.

Well, I guess both hands look old,

but one looks a little bit older than me.

(laughs)

JANNINE: No, I’m looking at it too, as soon as you look down,

I’m like, well, there are.

They’re definitely, there’s more little, you know,

spruckles on this side than the right.

So, you know, it’s things we don’t think about.

And that’s, I think, you know, there’s the obvious.

But with things like the retinol,

usually, you know, when I’m making recommendations, yeah.

You know, in Washington state,

we tend not to see the sun very much.

until after April, like March in the afternoons,

it’ll show up a little bit.

But it’s one of those things where a consistent sun

isn’t even until July.

And so I think we also have to think about like where are we

at, but also what are we doing, right?

Because if it’s raining on us, not too many people

are gonna hang out outside very long,

but we get stuck in traffic.

HELEN: Right, [inaudible]

And I think that there is a big difference

between being prescribed retinol by your doctor

and buying it in a skincare product.

Because one thing, do you really trust that brand?

Because that brand is all about marketing hype and whatnot.

Whereas I would trust my doctor a lot more

than I would a product I can buy in the pharmacy

or in a Sephora or Altar or something

when it comes to something that has the ability

to damage my skin.

– Yeah.

JANNINE: It’s definitely something to think about.

I’ve noticed more and more a lot of docs

are handing out retinol to patients

who have been complaining about their skin looking older.

And it’s kind of like, it’s gonna sound terrible.

It’s like the semi-glutide of skin care

from your primary care doctor,

which does make me concerned.

I am a little concerned about it,

especially like you had mentioned earlier,

your skin type does not do well with retinol.

Can you elaborate a little bit on that for folks

so that they might be thinking like,

is my skin type the type like, like, Helen’s?

HELEN: Right, well, my skin is really sensitive.

And I have that really white European skin

that burns really easily.

And so if I get burned, I am red and I stay red

and I never turn brown.

So the only time I turn brown is if I put a fake tan on.

So that’s my skin type, yeah.

And I think my skin, certainly now I’m 51, almost 52.

My skin is thinner and I don’t know if that has something

to do with retinol too, as far as why it doesn’t,

why it doesn’t like my skin or why my skin doesn’t like retinol,

but yeah.

JANNINE: It’s definitely something to think about.

Now you mentioned tanners and self-tanners.

And I think for a lot of people,

you know, I’ve used them in the old school versions.

And I turned out orange.

And then between my webbing I was orange, you know?

So I think a lot of people maybe of our age

who tried them out in the early days,

they’re like, I am not, no, I’m not gonna do that.

And I’ve tried spray tanning too with a friend who did that works in that industry.

And I’m like, yeah, that’s cool.

But tell us a little bit about like, how does like self-tanner affect like

perimenopausal menopausal skin and is it a good thing?

Do you have some recommendations in terms of brands?

Like what’s your scoop on that?

HELEN: Yeah, I think, you know, fake times and I call it like faking and baking because,

you know, I put it on bad or whatever.

but fake tans have come a long long way in the last few years and you know there was a

disgusting smell you know that you would have for days later and especially if you like

sweat or something you can come it out of your pores. This is still a little bit of a smell but

it’s not like it used to be but there’s some great self-tanners now that are made with non-toxic

ingredients because a lot of them what was in those fake towns were toxic ingredients. So there’s

brands like Cora Organics, great line. The one I really love is called, I’m probably

like ruining how you pronounce it, but it’s called Vida Liberata. That’s great. And I

love the one that comes in a mousse and you have a big mitt and you basically, I have

a shower, I don’t even moisturize after the shower, I get out, I have a shower, put it

on and with this massive mitt I can do my whole body, even my back and the hard to reach places

and you don’t streak. It’s absolutely fantastic. They have a rapid one that you can just have it

on for an hour and you’ve got a nice light tan. If you put it on for two hours, it’s medium,

three, it’s deep. So you can actually control your tan now too with these formulas. So I like those

and I think there’s another line called “I love paradise” and there are these little drops that

you can put in your moisturizer or in your body lotion and that. So yeah and they don’t streak.

So I love them and for me as I told you I never tan, it doesn’t matter how much

sun I get, I’m always going to be white and I feel a little bit self-conscious in a bikini or

something if I’m like like really pale and pasty or almost blue. So having the tan makes me a bit

confident. Yeah. 

JANNINE: Oh my gosh, almost blue. Oh– 

HELEN: But it’s like, it’s

like a comedy though, trying to put it on in the bathroom, you

know, you’re like, you’re like, contorting in all these different

angles is trying to get everything between your legs on your

armpit. Yeah, it’s just. 

JANNINE: See, if I try that, I would be I would

miss I would miss something and it’d be very obvious. And like,

there would be like a round circle, like, on the eye or

or something, I give people credit who do it, but like I–

HELEN: You know what you’d surprise yourself. I–I– I’m going to wager you try and do it,  the

mirror is huge, right? It’s a big mirror. So yeah, you’re

mind me, I need your husband or you know, a sister or

something to maybe do your back. But yeah, yeah, go for it. But

the thing is, who’s he was you’re never going to see what you

look at the back. So you’re going to be thinking you look

fabulous. 

JANNINE: You know, see, my husband would like spell like

spell something on my back and then not say a word and then

people would be, you know, laughing at me and I’d have no idea.

No, I, um, you have to, you have to trust the person that’s going to put

it on.

Let’s put it that way.

HELEN: That’s for sure.

JANNINE: Well, I’m glad it’s come a long way because boy, back in, back when I was

in high school and earlier, I think even before, yes, the smell, I couldn’t

get over that.

And then the streaking and then my webs being like, like, it was almost

like high I put fake tinner on.

HELEN: Yeah.

JANNINE: Look at me.

– Oh my goodness.

So with the tanners and then moving into like SPF,

I’ve always been asked this and I necessarily was like,

I don’t think that makes a difference,

but someone tried to tell me that the self-tanning stuff

will prevent you from burning as much as you normally would.

Is that true?

HELEN: I think that’s false.

Yeah, I’ve never heard that.

JANNINE: Yeah, I had someone say like,

“Oh, I put the self-tanner on and then I don’t burn.”

I’m like– 

HELEN: yeah, no, well, yeah.

Yeah, no, no, I definitely would burn.

Yeah.

Yeah, you’ve got to have a really good sunscreen, right?

And there’s that, you know, there’s that debate,

is it mineral or is it?

JANNINE: Right.

HELEN: So which one do you go for?

I know a lot of people don’t like the mineral

because that’s the one that’s kind of chalky and you feel it.

Mm-hmm.

But they’re the most effective ones, you know?

Yeah, the chemical ones, you’re gonna have to reapply

lot more but the um there’s some there’s a but again SPF’s have come a long way now because I

hated wearing it for that reason that you’d feel it on your skin and then you’d feel sticky and

then certainly if you in the beach everything would stick to you and whatever or you hair would be

plastered on your face um yeah but they’ve come a long way now too you know. 

JANNINE: that’s wild because yes

Like I remember the whole sand being like, huh, sand is stuck

Coming off either totally totally a thing now in terms of like some

Some product suggestions for like let’s go with mineral and let’s go with chemical because I know some people like will stick with their camera

Chemical I I will still do zinc oxide all day long

I even though it makes me look ghost-white at first

I’m like it’s gonna soak in and it seems to do the trick

So let’s talk about products suggestions and what you find most effective.

HELEN: Well, there’s a line called EltaMD

but absolutely fantastic line and they have zinc oxide in everything.

They have so many different formulas, you know, if you’re doing sports or whatever, but the one I like is called UV Clear.

It’s SPS 46 and it comes clear or even though it says clear,

there’s UV clear and there’s UV clear tinted.

I like the attempted one which is kind of nice because you feel like you have a

little something on your face so you know you can go into the bar after the beach

and you feel like you got a little bit of makeup on but it’s not makeup. That’s a

great line and I would swear by that line. Again I mentioned that super goop.

Great fantastic stuff there. They’re my two kind of go-tos to be

perfectly honest. Yeah. And you know, there’s that argument, you know, is that people say, well,

you know, anything over SPF 25 doesn’t work. I mean, what do you think about that? I know I

burn on a 25. So I always use at least a 40. 

JANNINE: I think it depends on your skin. I think it depends

on your skin. Me, I am terrible. I will use zinc oxide on my face and my chest. And that’s as far

as it goes because I’m very, I’m naturally kind of yellowy brown color.

Um, even though I’m full on Polish and Swedish, I have no idea, no clue.

I’ve got probably, if I did the ancestry, I probably have something in there that’s,

that’s helping me cause my dad too, he was like, see, I tan very easy.

So you know, I usually tell folks I might be a bad example because I will just put the

zinc oxide on the face in the chest.

But I do think it’s individual because my husband is very fair, like you are.

Yeah, for him, we have to do like, we, I should say in the past, we’ve done heavier amounts of the 50 55 for him. Now what we found with him, if we get him outside, like in between like nine and 10 in the morning, or like after four and he gets sun exposure, he can have the natural exposure.

He lightly gets 10 and he doesn’t burn.

So we’ve kind of got him a little bit away from the heavier ones.

So it’s an alternative, I guess, way of prepping your skin slowly for…

HELEN: No, I think that’s a great idea. I really do.

And I think a lot of people forget, you know, their hairline.

You know, I’ve gotten really burnt on the top of my head, you know, before now.

So yeah, I always…

And so sometimes they’ll sprays a little bit better.

get minimal sprays though just to put your hairline but yeah and then what I

found too is there’s a great line called Kate Somerville and she has this SPF

that you can put on over makeup so during the day you can put it on and

doesn’t ruin your makeup so that’s a good one and then those powder sunscreens

are great too for putting on your hairline the great for ball guys we use

a lot on the movies when we’re out, you know, and all our actors have makeup on and putting

sunscreen on would ruin the makeup. But those powder ones and the Kate Somerville spray are just

fantastic. Yeah. 

JANNINE: Oh, I never really thought about that because, yes, sometimes you will film outdoors,

not in a set. Yeah. That has to be a challenge because obviously some folks can really start

sweating. And then now you’ve got the makeup running and trying to get all that. Oh, yeah,

HELEN: Yeah, no, no, it’s awful, yeah, it’s awful.

So, you know, they’ve got fans in front of their face

and in between takes and whatnot.

And you’re like dabbing them down constantly.

Yeah.

– Yeah.

JANNINE: But the powder, so the Kate Somerville

is your go-to on set and it helps.

HELEN: It is on set, yeah.

And I think, you know, certainly, you know,

if you’re in a wedding, an outdoor wedding

and you’ve done your makeup and you’re outside

or whatever, and Hawaii, whatever,

it’s great to put over your makeup too, you know?

So, yeah.

JANNINE: That’s why I said, right?

’cause I think a lot of people, let’s put it this way,

myself included for my wedding,

I felt like I was all perfect.

And then like as a wilted flower,

wilts throughout the day,

I feel like my face slid off and I just kind of was like,

by the end of the July summer experience or August,

yeah, I got married in August, I can’t even remember.

Anyway, so thinking about that too.

So for the average folks, like who are like,

you know, the powder and the Kate Somerville,

And like, what about, you know,

some people have like pool parties they’re going to, right?

Or they may go to Vegas and go to some of the pool parties

in Vegas, too.

Same kind of thing, having that in your little bag there.

HELEN: Oh yeah, absolutely.

And there’s nothing to stop you from spraying

on the rest of your body too, but yeah,

it is for your face and it has a primer to it.

But the powders are great,

’cause they’re great for kids too, you know?

A lot of kids don’t like that stuff on them

and you can quickly.

Yeah.

JANNINE: Huh.

I never thought about that.

HELEN: And they come in tints.

So you can get a tinted one too, though.

Yeah.

Very nice.

Very nice.

So that kind of leads us into like summer makeup products.

Since that is your, you know, secondary to the moisturizer line

and the skincare line, your specialty is the makeup.

So what, you know, what can we do to kind of get a nice glow

but not look like I said, wilting is what I,

what like, it like happens.

HELEN: Again, you know, we talked about the moisturizer, but you’ve got to have your makeup products

have to be somewhat moisturizing too.

So I personally stay away from as much powder makeup as I possibly can and go for cream

because cream also helps lock in that hydration too.

Plus a cream is a bit more reflective.

It’s not matte so you get that natural glow.

So that’s great.

I generally, I don’t wear much foundation anyway,

but I would definitely advise people

if they can live like that.

A lot of people like a full face,

but if you can wear less foundation,

it’s much healthier in the summer

’cause you’re gonna be sweating,

you don’t wanna block your pores and stuff.

So tinted sunscreens, like I mentioned,

you can have tinted foundations too.

But what you can do is just with your own sunscreen,

add a little dollop of your foundation to it

When you’re creating your own there, which is a really real, you know, cheaper, needs

a trick.

You know, having to buy a whole new foundation.

But definitely, oh, bronzes are great.

You know, little bronze on those areas that the sun would naturally hit on your face,

on the tops of your arms, you know, down your shin bones.

Yeah, don’t forget to, you know, moisturize your entire body.

You know, cocoa butter is cheap.

Just lather yourself up with cocoa butter.

You know, you don’t need to go and buy those fancy glow sprays.

you can do that.

But as I said, super goop, I’m really pushing them today

and I don’t mean to.

(laughing)

They have a lot of these glow products.

So after sun glow products, so they’re kinda nice too.

Yeah.

JANNINE: Love it, love it.

And so like, are there any lip care products

that you specifically go for?

Or are you the kind of gals like,

I’ll just put my moisture, like my SPF over my lips too?

Or do we want specific?

’cause I know you had kind of talked about

super composite too, I think.

HELEN:  Yeah, Suppergoop–

Burts Bees, I love Burts Bees, and they have great ones

and they’re tinted too.

Chapstick can never go wrong with Chapstick.

And if you’re a kind of person that wants some color

on your lips, put a little lip pencil on

and then just put Chapstick.

But yeah, you definitely have to have an SPF

because if you’re someone that maybe has herpes or something,

sun can bring out an outbreak.

and you definitely don’t want that on your summer vacation

or whatever, yeah.

JANNINE: How do you even cover that up for like say,

say it happens on set?

HELEN: It was awful on set, yeah.

You really can’t,

they’re just gonna have to shoot them from the side

or whatever it is, yeah, yeah.

– Oh, you can hide it the color,

but you just can’t, there’s the texture,

the 3D thing you’re gonna see it, yeah.

JANNINE: Oh gosh, yeah, I wonder about that as you said,

like, hmm. Now what’s your take on, because I know it’s very popular and I’ve done it

myself. I have a couple of aesthetician friends who do like some of the non-toxic

dies for the eyelashes and for the eyebrows. Is that like something you?

HELEN: Yeah, I would definitely recommend that, you know, because then you jump in and out

of the pool, you’re not worrying about your, you know, your mascara and plus waterproof

mascara requires a lot more friction to remove it. It’s going to damage your eye area. So definitely,

yeah, those non-toxic dyes are fantastic. And then just take that like an eyelash curler and

just curl your lashes and yeah, you’re good to go. Yeah. 

JANNINE: Oh my gosh, the eyelash curler,

my mom had one I had no idea what that thing was about, um, till I tried it. And then I was like,

wow, magic. But most people can’t tell I have eyelashes because they’re blonde. So

This is where the dye comes in.

I’m going to have my girlfriend do a little bit of mine coming up soon.

And same thing with eyebrow.

I’m guessing having that with non-toxic tint too can help so that you’re not running.

It’s not running down the side of your face when you’re trying to highlight your eyebrows.

HELEN: Exactly.

I mean, you know, a lot of hairdressers, hair stylists too, if they’re dyeing your hair,

they’ll brush comb a little bit through your eyebrows.

So you could go into that and then that’s not going to cost you anything that’s the other

way to do it.

JANNINE: Noted, noted.

Hmm.

– So, obviously we’ve talked about a whole bunch

of things related to skin and summer and sun

and those kind of things.

One of the things I think I am curious about

is say you’ve had all day out, right?

And you’ve had sun exposure

and now you’re gonna go to a party.

HELEN: Right.

JANNINE: What do you do in between being beach

and going into the party to kind of help your skin,

like what’s your moisturizer protocol?

And then what do you do to like keep the makeup looking fresh

but not like absorbing all of the moisturizer

at the same time?

So that like say, and where I’m going with this,

I know it’s kind of abstract,

but like say you like really kind of sort of burnt yourself.

And it’s not terrible, but it’s definitely like

everything feels like super tight.

Like you know something went wrong.

HELEN: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve been there.

Well, you come back from the beach,

you have your shower,

now the key is not to have a really hot shower,

’cause if you have a really hot shower,

you’re gonna strip your skin of even more moisture.

So if you have been overexposed to sun,

you’re gonna be really tight,

and you don’t wanna get, you know,

sometimes when you have sunburner,

it goes all prickly and it drives you mad for days,

you know, whatever.

So it’s really important not to then, you know,

accidentally strip your skin of even more moisture.

So don’t have a hot shower, cool shower if you can,

you know, medium to cool shower.

And then as soon as you get out of the shower,

you’ve got to really lather on that moisturizer

and try and just hang around maybe in your underwear

and your hotel room for a little bit

and really let it sink in

and maybe add a little bit more before you get dressed.

But if you’ve been really burnt or even partially burnt,

you don’t want to put makeup on

’cause makeup’s gonna irritate it.

So I would say, you know, you put your after sun on,

you put your moisturizer on and then as far as makeup,

I guess it depends how burnt you are,

but keep it really light.

Maybe just, you probably don’t need a blusher

because you can change your body, right?

Anyway, so I would maybe play up your eyes,

definitely do your brows, do your mascara,

put a lip balm on, maybe a little bit of lip pencil,

lip balm, but you’re gonna be really glowing anyway.

So you might need a little powder, but you know, yeah.

But I would say if you haven’t had sunburn,

keep your makeup light, yeah.

And use more cream based eye creams and blushes

and bronzes and things, yeah.

So it does sound like you might need

kind of a seasonal makeup protocol for both seasons.

HELEN: You know, well, yes, yes and no.

I mean, if you’re in perimenopause or menopause,

I always suggest go with cream products, right?

So really you’re using the same products,

you might be just using them in a different way.

But for younger folks, they will probably wear

a much, maybe a heavier look in the winter

than they will in the summer.

And so yeah, so there will be different product changes.

Yeah, so I would definitely say less is more in the summer

and there is lighter products.

So they’re gonna be less chance of blocking your pores.

JANNINE: Okay, okay.

Oh, fun stuff.

You know, one of the things I think about going into summer

because I tend not to wear makeup very much, if at all.

And so the tints and things are my jam.

But I do like to highlight my eyelids sometimes

and do a little bit of fun in the evening.

So with Perimenopause, you’re saying,

and menopause, you’re saying a cream for,

I can’t even think of a name right now for eyelids.

HELEN: Eyelids?

JANNINE: Yeah.

– What do you call the makeup you put on your eyelids?

• Oh my God.  
• HELEN: Eye shadow

JANNINE: There you go.

Totally gone.

Totally gone to that word.

HELEN: Yeah.

The other reason why I like cream is that you can control it, right?

You can have light coverage, medium and heavy coverage.

So that’s the other way.

So, Bobby Brown have these gray eyeshadow cream sticks.

And they’re fantastic when you go on a holiday because you don’t have to pack so much, but

I just love them all year round.

And so during the day, I do it sheer.

at night, I just put more on it. And yeah, they’re perfect. So

what they’re great for vacations. Yeah.

JANNINE: Okay, sheer. Like that, I have to remember the word. Okay, this

is how long– full disclosure everyone listening. This is how

long it has been since I’ve actually went shopping for eye

makeup. It’s it’s embarrassing. But Bobby Brown is a name I

definitely know. And like, I think I probably told you on the

last one, like I got a bunch of that for my wedding because

They just basically did my makeup for me because otherwise I might look like a

five year old that got into the mom’s makeup.

HELEN: I bet you didn’t.

JANNINE: Oh my goodness.

And you mentioned like before, so Bobby Brown’s great for the creams you had

mentioned before in our previous podcast, another brand that you really liked for

a cream kind of foundation.

What was that brand?

HELEN: What was that brand?

No.

God, you so many different ones now.

Um, right now I’m using that RMS.

JANNINE: Okay.

HELEN: I’m using that.

I love the cream.

That’s great.

And I’m seeing a lot of people online now on Instagram doing,

is it, is it same to something?

People are all using these big like square rectangular pads

and they’re putting them on.

But anything cream, Burt’s Bees is great.

Burt’s Bees has these cream sticks

that you can use as blusher and highlighters and contours,

even on your lip.

– They’re great.

They’re really hydrating.

But anything cream, I would say.

– Yeah.

JANNINE: I like that you have two for one things

that you can use the lips and you can use on the cheeks.

That helps for travel for sure.

That’s gonna lighten your load.

And that’s a two for one.

Now you can slip it.

Like for me, my wallet is this big little wristlet.

So if I can slip it in there, I might actually do it.

HELEN: Yeah, no, I like that.

And that, and Bobby Brown has the sticks too,

cream sticks, but I find that too drying.

So it’s finding those cream sticks

that you’d think are hydrating,

when you put them on, they’re not chalky.

Yeah, that’s the key.

JANNINE: Okay, so– 

HELEN: Mcelroy is a good go-to, right?

But they’re not a clean line, that’s the thing.

JANNINE: Yeah, well, and like you’re saying before,

like we have to like think about

where we’re gonna apply them, right?

because if we have creams for the eyes,

Bobby Brown’s great there,

but for other things, maybe we have our Burt’s Bees.

Like, I think when you get to like the makeup counters

at the mall, or if you see people talking about a line,

you think you have to get everything from one line.

And that’s-

HELEN: No, no you don’t.

You know, the only thing I would say is

when it comes to skincare, you know,

you know, a lot of people do this 10 step, you know, routine.

That’s just a waste of time.

And this is the other thing that, you know,

these beauty counters, they will try and sell you multiple skincare products.

So like the moisturizer,

eye cream and the serum.

And then a lot of times they have conflicting ingredients in them.

And so you’re wasting your time anyway, you know,

so the certain, I think it’s like vitamin C and vitamin C and retinol.

Don’t go together. They completely cancel each other out.

So there’s other ingredients like that.

So again, it’s less steps, less products,

and they’re going to be a lot more efficacious. Yeah.

Well, I’ve definitely went to one product.

And folks, this is why I do have Helen back on because I love her moisturizer so much.

Like I said before, I put that on everything.

So like Frank’s red hot sauce.

I put it on everything, everything.

Because it’s just moisturizers and it’s the level of moisturizing that I like how it feels.

And that I think for me is why do it?

Like yes, I like cocoa butter and coconut oil and things, but there is something about

I’m not a grease ball.

I’m hydrated without the grease ball feel

is how I feel about it.

‘Cause if I have coconut oil,

’cause I work with my hands when I’m seeing patients,

I will go home and I will feel just like a grease ball.

Whereas– 

HELEN: You feel icky.

JANNINE: Yeah, icky and sticky.

HELEN: Yeah, exactly.

JANNINE: Nobody wants that.

Nobody wants that for the summer.

You don’t wanna be walking around like stuck

with all of the sand on your arm.

HELEN: I know.

– That exfoliates to a whole other level

that we don’t want.

HELEN: No, no.

JANNINE: Don’t do it.

So, okay, let’s tell folks about where they can find

the Finlay and Green products.

Let’s talk about like what’s on the horizon for you guys.

Give them a scoop there.

HELEN: Well, we’re direct to consumers.

You can find us on our website, FinlayandGreen.com.

You can find us on Instagram and Facebook,

again, Finlay and Green.

Yeah, so it’s kind of exciting.

You know, things are starting to hit heat up now.

we have an eye cream and a cleanser

that hopefully will come out the end of this year,

the beginning of next year.

And we have some of these booster serums

in research and development right now.

So I’m hoping, hoping, hoping, hoping,

to get the first prototype of the serum,

the booster serum, which is gonna be really cool

because we’re all about like, you know,

less is more and less steps and less products.

So the booster serums depend,

there’s gonna be about four or five.

So depending on your particular issue, like for me,

I have a lot of hyperpigmentation issues.

So I would pick the clarity or the brightening booster,

and I’ll add that booster to my, to the moisturizer.

And that will just kind of focus a bit more intense treatment

on trying to diffuse the brown spots.

So they’re tailored serums that you can go on your face

as a traditional, or you can add it to your eye cream

or your moisturizer for an extra boost.

So that’s kind of exciting.

So yeah, I’ll send you some and you can tell me

if you like it or not.

Yeah.

JANNINE: Definitely want like what you got going on

for the hyperpigmentation because that is my thing.

I have used and abused my skin and being basic

in that the zinc oxide is all I tend to do.

But I do have, like I always talk about,

it’s like I have damage in here that I think happened

after an octonoxate inflammatory reaction

and I can’t get rid of it.

And I’m kind of like owning it, but I don’t want anything else to happen.

No more.

And I don’t want to go down the route of having to use like, um,

Oh, now of course not my brain’s going to lose that too.

Clearly I need my more of Lions mane today.

Um, the, the skin lightning agents, like the quinones.

Like I did a lot of that in my thirties and I don’t feel like that’s the answer at

this point either. So–

HELEN: No, I know.

I know it’s hard.

I mean, you know, there’s only so much a skincare product can do, right?

They can help minimize.

They’re not going to completely eradicate it.

But yeah, I think they can they can stop you developing more, which is the key.

You know, for someone like me, too, I abuse my skin through my teens and my

twenties because I wanted to be brown and my skin didn’t want to be brown.

So I just burn like a crisp all the time.

So yeah, I have a lot of sun damage.

So, you know, the ingredients like, you know, what, as you mentioned, vitamin

see is great for brightening. Niacinamides are great for brightening. So there are other

ingredients to look for. Yeah. 

JANNINE: And you’ve got them in. I am aware like when I like guys, no joke,

when I saw her product and read everything on the back, I’m like, it has all the things that I

always looked for in all of the hydration products all in one. And there’s no chemicals.

Score, right? Yeah. That’s what’s most important. Well, gosh, Helen, thank you so much for coming

back on and chatting with me and sharing with all of your experience here with the skin because it’s

just I think for some people to hear it from someone that has worked, you know, with celebrities,

with some of the toughest situations when you’re like under stress and you figure out the work

around. So like we know that you know what works and what doesn’t. So love to hear that.

HELEN: Well, thank you. Thanks for having me on. It’s a lot of fun. Yeah. Thank you.

JANNINE: My pleasure. [Advertisement] Hey, health junkies. I hope you enjoyed this podcast with Helen and I.

I love chatting with her and I learned so much. Gosh, I do love the Finlay and Green moisturizer

and I do believe that it saved me from burning when I was in the Caymans earlier this year. So,

if you want to try it out, use my code DRK20 to get 20% off. Great stuff. Have questions, hit me up.

I would love to answer them for you on the moisturizer.

And like I said, it’s like my Frank’s Red Hot Sauce.

I put it on everything and I’m not kidding.

All right, have a great day, whatever you’re doing.

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