Being in the public eye and having a chaotic schedule go hand in hand — which is why we trust celebrities to know how to seriously unwind. In The Comedown, NYLON’s favorite famous faces break down their nighttime routines from blue-light glasses to supplements — and everything (relaxing) in between.
If there was a poster child for effortlessly cool beauty, Georgia May Jagger would fit the bill to a T. Maybe it’s her signature gap-toothed smile or tendency to treat her hair as mood ring — or maybe her genetics destined her to be on every girl’s Pinterest board from the early 2000s until now. Whatever the reason, it’s clear that she’s become a modern-day beauty icon, following in the footsteps of her mom, Jerry Hall. Thus, it’s the least surprising thing that she’d eventually launched her own beauty brand — and today, May Botanicals officially arrives stateside.
Jagger already put a stake in the beauty sphere with the launch of her hair care brand, Bleach London, in 2010; just like Bleach London, May Botanicals was inspired by her own trials and tribulations, but this time in the skin care realm. “I’ve always had eczema-prone and sensitive skin, and I really wanted to make a range of products that worked for people’s sensitive skin, but that had better ingredients and felt more luxurious,” she tells NYLON exclusively. “I felt like the sensitive skin space was very medicinal and stuff that the dermatologist would suggest to you, but not necessarily something that you feel like, ‘OK, wow, I’m really getting a new product that’s really fun and exciting.’”
The result is a curated line of skin care products — a cleanser, moisturizer, face balm, spot treatment, and sea kelp sheet mask — that feel more glamorous than granola-y, housed in recycled-cardboard packaging with sleek glass bottles and gold lettering. Prioritizing organic ingredients was important for Jagger, who grew up scouring the East Village apothecary Live Live & Organic with her sister. “It was really about everything being super hydrating, nourishing, and myth-busting the idea that natural products don’t work,” she says. “And I wanted to do that while it still looked beautiful on your bathroom shelf.”
Ahead, Jagger shares her favorite May Botanicals products, how she unwinds at night now that she’s pregnant, and her weird-but-works secret for getting rid of split ends.
Walk us through your nighttime skin care routine.
A big part of me wanting to make the May Botanicals products sit together as an at-home facial is because I believe a skin care routine really affects your mental health. The May Botanicals Clean Slate Cleanser is a red-clay cleanser with salicylic acid, and it has a really nice bloom to it when you add water. I really wanted something that was very hydrating but still left your face feeling clean, because I felt like a lot of cleansers were very stripping and made my skin very dry. I’ve also been using it as a makeup remover.
Next, I use my Daily Dose moisturizer. It’s a prebiotic moisturizer because I wanted something that targeted redness and was great for barrier protection. And it’s got barrage seed oil in it, organic poppy seed oil, and shea butter — it’s just really nice lightweight moisturizer.
And then the next product is the Super Balm. This is a multipurpose product that’s for face and body. It’s like a lip balm for the whole body.
I always have spots that come up in the worst possible times, which is what led me to create my Save Face Spot Solution. I apply it on an area I’m having a breakout and leave it on overnight, and it helps to draw out any impurities without drying out your skin. And it smells really good.
Lately, how do you wind down at night?
I feel like I’ve just been trying to not stare at my phone. I try to switch off for a bit because I feel like I’ve been working on London time, and if I stay up till 11, people will start emailing me because it’s morning time in London. I’ve been lighting a Diptyque candle and watching The Bear.
And obviously, I’m pregnant, so my nighttime routine involves slathering myself in moisturizer. I use the Super Balm and pure shea butter on my belly. It’s definitely a bit of a process. You need to let yourself dry before you go to bed. My mom was like, “You are all going to be so oily all summer.”
Do you have any beauty secrets you learned from your mom?
I mean, my mom is amazing at doing her own makeup; I just try and watch her do it. But she’s very into using olive oil all over her body or avocado oil in her hair. And she loves making a scrub. And my sister was always into that avocado face mask stuff. She has crazy long hair, like my mom, and her secret is doing her split ends herself.
Please expand!
Rather than getting a haircut, she just gets nail scissors and goes through cutting off split ends while she’s watching TV. So you take a section of hair and twist it, then you cut off the ends off that are coming out of your hair. She calls it a secret trim, and it stops you from getting the frizz, too.
Any other nightly rituals you swear by?
I’ve got really into using a silk pillowcase. I used to always sleep face-planted and now that I’m pregnant, I can’t. So I’ll sleep on a silk pillowcase and use the Bleach London Hair Elixir for my hair. And then I use the Reincarnation Mask at night for deep conditioning as well.
What about a nighttime playlist?
I feel like I’ve just been listening to loads of old-school R&B. I’m not in a meditative pregnancy state; I’m just listening to rap — my pregnancy playlist is definitely, like, Lil’ Kim.
