She might be an A-List actor with an impressive IMDB page, but Jennifer Garner is extremely relatable. For example, she loves the pumpkins and squash that autumn brings, and she gets excited to whip up fall-themed delicacies. “I’ll make anything,” Garner tells TZR in an interview. “[Like] pumpkin bread. Ooh, maybe I’ll make that today.” And, although the sun doesn’t seem to make as much of an appearance during this time of year, she also embraces the seasonal change by keeping up with UV protection. According to Garner, those who don’t think about SPF when the temperatures get cooler are doing it all wrong. So, what’s her go-to brand, you might ask? Neutrogena. Like many skin care enthusiasts, she doesn’t always feel the need to reach for luxury products because drugstore finds can be just as legendary. As a longtime face of the company, her love for the brand’s products goes far beyond her partnership as she’s been using them since she was seven years old — making them a mainstay in her daily life, especially when it comes to her sun care routine.
Ahead, TZR speaks to Garner about how uses SPF year-round, plus her favorite skin care ingredients and holy grail products. Make sure to take notes because she’s got tons of beauty wisdom to share on her forever luminous complexion.
How She Adapts Her Sun Care Routine For Fall/Winter Fall
For 52-year-old skin, Garner emphasizes that sun care is incredibly important. She notes that it can come in different forms like staying inside or covering up with hats and scarves, but she doesn’t want to spend her life hiding. “And, I would lose a hat,” she says. “I can’t deal with that stuff.” So because of this, she highlights her consistency with SPF care as each season changes. “I treat every season as sun season,” she says.
Her Favorite Fall/Winter Sun Protection Products
Garner compares addressing sun care to rebooting your phone or getting a software update. “We need to do the same thing with how we think about the sun because the sun is stronger than it was when we were younger,” she says. Because it has intensified, she says that applying sunscreen should be a daily task, and recommends Neutrogena as the one for the job. “[They’ve] made every single kind of product,” says Garner. “There is no way that you can say that there’s not something that you can find that will feel good to your skin.” She cites her favorite as the Ultra Sheer Dry Touch because of its efficacy under her makeup.
Even when she spends her day working on a soundstage, she says SPF is always her first layer before applying any makeup. She doesn’t want to worry about the effects of sun exposure if she needs to go back and forth between stages or suddenly film scenes outside. “You just want to make sure that your skin is protected,” says Garner.
How Her Sun Care Routine Has Changed Overall
Although she is hyper-focused on sun care in this current stage of her life, Garner isn’t afraid to admit that she wasn’t always so diligent. “In my twenties, I definitely had my lapses,” she confesses. She attributes this to the societal obsession with tanning, comparing it to the idea of our skin cooking in a toaster. It might appear golden and glowy in the moment, but negative signs will begin to reveal themselves when you get older. “You’re being gaslit by your skin because when you turn 38 years old, all of a sudden, that former damage is going to start popping up out of nowhere,” she says.
However, she stresses that her moments of weakness were few and far in-between because she spent her childhood summers working in a theater — which actually made her the subject of jokes and ridicule amongst her friends. “They would call me Casper the Ghost because I never had a tan,” says Garner. “Now I’m so grateful because nothing looks better in your fifties than sunscreen in your twenties.” This is especially true, she says, because actively addressing sun care means you’re eliminating any chance of skin cancer, the easiest form of the disease to prevent.
Because of this, she has instilled SPF practices in her children from a young age. “Ultra Sheer Dry Touch is great for kids,” she says. “It doesn’t make them feel greasy and they should have the habit. My 15-year-old and my 12-year-old went to school today with sunscreen on.”
Her General Skin Care Routine
When it comes to her personal skin care routine, Garner spotlights retinol as her number one ingredient. Although she has access to options from luxurious doctors and top prescription choices, she says that doesn’t like them as much as the ones she has from Neutrogena. “[They] get the job done without irritating my skin,” Garner says. So, she reaches for this every other night, subbing it out for hyaluronic acid on her off days. Because the acid holds moisture close to the skin’s surface, she says that she’ll notice a true plumping effect because the epidermis is so hydrated. “That’s just a natural, easy thing you can do to look better,” she says.
But she isn’t a stickler for a strict schedule and will sometimes apply the same product multiple days in a row. “I just kind of feel my face and feel like what I want at night,” says Garner. “But when I’m using the retinol, I do it all.” All infused with the ingredient, she goes for a serum, face lotion, and an eye cream. “You would think that retinol doesn’t belong close to your eyes, but you have to think about how many scientists and PhDs work for Neutrogena and are there making sure that this is safe for your skin,” she says. Plus, she praises the cream for how much it helps with under-eye lines. “I know that now because I have them,” she says.