What first strikes me about Selma Blair when we sit down in a lush NYC penthouse isn’t her star power (however palpable it may be), but her warm demeanor—a stark contrast to the calculating, East Coast-chic character I grew up with: Vivian Kensington à la Legally Blonde. Her eyes light up as we take a trip down memory lane at Harvard Law (ahem, UCLA, cloaked in Cambridge movie magic), where she lets me in on a little secret: her skin was a mess that entire shoot.
“I’ve made a lot of faux pas,” Blair laughs. The actress and activist underwent some serious beauty treatments to achieve the look of her Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis-inspired character, which aggravated a skin condition she’d then deal with for years: Dermatitis, by way of hairline threading. “I have this tiny forehead, and for Legally Blonde, they threaded it because they wanted me to look more East Coast—like Jackie O,” she explains. That quintessential preppy style of hers, including the thick headbands and swooping side bangs? It was half-character, half-necessity. “That’s why I was wearing argyle berets—covering up my dermatitis skin from them threading my little forehead,” she adds.
(Image credit: Everett Collection)
Blair’s repertoire of cult classics had her on the big screen consistently, and as someone with highly sensitive skin—something she didn’t know was exacerbated by her multiple sclerosis (MS)—the actress tried every cream, serum, and laser she could to assuage her rosacea-stricken barrier for the cameras.
“My skin, once upon a time, was a mess,” she tells me. Having “autoimmune skin,” especially without knowing it, made her ashamed of her lack of progress, despite having gone to so many highly regarded facialists and dermatologists to pinpoint the issue. After too many brushes with skincare fads that promised change and offered a boomerang, Blair was done.
“I got spooked,” she tells me. “It was just not simple. It just was one of those things, almost like my MS, [where I was like], ‘I don’t know what to do with you,’” she reminisces. “I wasn’t diagnosed for so many years, and it was the same with my skin.”
It wasn’t until a facialist pressed a bottle from an Australian skincare brand, ESK, into her hands to quell Blair’s angry skin that the actress experienced any kind of complexion relief. ESK, short for Evidence Skincare, became Blair’s preferred brand organically, but there was one product in her lineup missing—both in her collection and on the shelves—that she decided to dream up with the brand’s founder and physician, Ginni Mansberg, MD.
(Image credit: Courtesy of ESK)
Blair’s ask was this: a single product that could reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, smooth the skin, boost hydration, strengthen the barrier, and minimize hyperpigmentation, all while being safe for highly reactive skin. Simple, right?
With Blair’s clicked-heels wish, the Ultimate A Gold was born—an upgraded version of ESK’s Ultimate A night cream packed with retinal, niacinamide, ceramides, and more to deliver clinical results at an extra-careful pace. The multi-hyphenate wasn’t able to achieve sated skin in the doctor’s office, but the formula that checked all her boxes is officially available to shop now.
Selma Blair x ESK
Ultimate A Gold
To Blair, it seemed like all skincare products left one aspect of the skin to suffer while others thrived. “I wanted to be able to have cell renewal and deal with hydration, but also really deal with the aging and fine lines, but [still] keep my barrier,” she explains. Where the Ultimate A Gold hits the skincare jackpot is with its higher percentage of 0.1% retinal (compared to the traditional 0.06%), which targets these concerns without the aggression of most retinols.
“Retinal is the Goldilocks ingredient that sits between retinol and retinoic acid, the prescription stuff,” explains Mansberg. The issue with retinol, and why that subsequent “burn” can often occur, is that this antioxidant is often overloaded into products to produce a functioning retinal, which can quickly cause irritation. In this new and improved formula, you get the more potent ingredient—just at a low percentage, but with faster results. While 0.1% may sound intimidating, Mansberg says they’ve accommodated for the intensity with other supportive ingredients, including barrier-building components like ectoin and squalane. “Selma has particularly sensitive skin, so if she can tolerate it, anyone can,” she assures.
At this point, you’re probably wondering how much this liquid gold costs—and I’m here to tell you that ESK sells its “cost-effective” night cream for $100. “Because we’ve got so many skin barrier-building ingredients, along with the actives… that’s going to be really cost- [and] time-effective for people who are very time-strapped,” says Mansberg. “[It] can be used by everybody, no matter what you’re trying to target in your skin.”
(Image credit: Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
With Blair’s skin salvaged by ESK’s gentle elixirs, the star has gained enough confidence to start experimenting with other facets of beauty. The actress has made a smattering of GRWM-style TikToks documenting her makeup application (which Blair describes as “the worst” to me) after seeing viral beauty trends pop up on her FYP. Celebs, they’re just like us.
“It’s so crazy. I see things on TikTok where people are pouring foundation on their faces—like, can you do that?” Blair ask-shouts, referencing content creator Meredith Duxbury’s viral foundation clips. Spoiler: She tried. “I didn’t know that it was just for clickbait! I was like, ‘Let me try it! That’s the Spackle!'”
Though Blair doesn’t yet liken herself to a makeup maven, she can now enjoy TikTok beauty trends and makeup experiments thanks to her skin health. “I’m just learning how to take care of my skin now,” she concludes—her ESK debut being something she hopes will positively impact those with autoimmune disease and chronic illness.
“Tons of people love the fantasy of all of this different skincare, but a lot really want great skincare that is effective,” she states. Keep scrolling to shop the rest of Blair’s tried-and-true ESK standouts.
Shop Selma Blair’s ESK Skincare Staples
ESK
Gentle Glow PHA Serum
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