Beauty Master Class
Active Argan's Morgen Schick DeMann“Meet my dear friend and beauty guru, Morgen Schick DeMann! She helped me find my inner Cleopatra and taught me it's the little things that matter—angles, light, how to stand to take a picture, why it's important not to overwhelm the eye… ‘Beauty is in the millimeters,’ she always says. ‘Get out of your own head and understand squint value.’
“Morgen has fused her emotional intelligence with beauty and business and I'm so excited for her Active Argan debut on HSN and for everyone to learn from her the way I have. (I'm always asked what I use for skincare—this is it!) Thank you, Morgen, for a decade of inspiration, creative genius and FUN in creating the perfect beauty and mood to complement the fashion!!!
“Below, she shares all her great insider beauty tips—and a few life lessons, too. And if you're in New York, please join me and Amy Griffin at VB Southampton on Tuesday, July 13, to celebrate Morgen and her HSN launch!”
Xx, Veronica Miele Beard
Photographed by Bill Westmoreland
The Essentials
DOS & DON'TS
1. Don't touch your face. Bacteria is on your fingers on a daily basis. If you have an itch, use a tissue.
2. Do all your cleaning and actives at night. It allows your body to reset, renew and rejuvenate while you sleep.
3. Don't wash your face with a cleanser in the morning. You want to protect all that goodness that happened while you were sleeping. If you wake up in the morning and wash everything off with a cleanser, you strip your skin and disturb the pH and moisture balance you reestablished during the night. Instead, rinse your face with water. You can even use a washcloth—but no cleanser.
MORNING BEAUTY ROUTINE
1. Wash your face with water (only in the AM)—rinse well.
2. While the skin is moist, use an antioxidant serum. I use stem cell—it's a total game-changer. .
3. With skin still moist—if not, moisten a little bit again—add one or two drops of All Over Drops. Let it sink in. If your body slurps it up, add another drop. You want to sustain that moisture barrier, so your skin is calm and hydrated all day long.
4. Apply SPF. I use one called 365.
5. Put on your makeup. Cover what you need to cover, bounce up what you need to bounce up—where bone structure casts natural shadows on your face—and go for it with your eyes.
Pro tip: I prefer makeup that is not attached to a water, like our Hide N' Highlight pan concealer (coming soon). It makes no sense to me to introduce water to your skin that's polluted with color and preservatives.
Inspired by Valley of the Dolls: Veronica Miele Beard, left, and Morgen Schick DeMann at our Spring 2020 presentation
Q&A
Make an effort. First impressions—why not "wow" it?
It's 100% pure, cold-pressed organic argan oil from Morocco, but features a tiny oxygenated and ozonized molecule that is smaller, which sinks in and lasts longer. It penetrates deep into the dermis and epidermis of the skin. You can buy La Mer all day long, but La Mer is an enormous molecule that will sit on your face. Is it a great product? Sure, it's a good sealant, but put La Mer (or any other product) on after Active Argan—you want to apply the smaller molecules first to go on deeper and hydrate your skin from within.
This lasts longer, too. Active Argan gives you over 24 hours of sustained hydration. Imagine putting something on your face and, after a full day and night, your skin is still supple, bouncy and juicy. I won't get too much into the science of it, but all you need to know is that you'll get calm, nourished and beautiful skin, no matter what age you are.
1. All Over Drops—put a drop or two on after you clean your skin and you'll see and feel the magic immediately. 2. Stem Cell Elixir—we are the first and only activated stem cells in the world. This elixir, which is engineered with organic Argan plant stem cells, will rejuvenate the integrity of your skin. 3. And the Five-Minute Facial. If your skin isn't deeply cleansed—then immediately nourished and hydrated and sealed—you're never going to move the dial on the appearance of your skin. I used to go to Mario Badescu every three weeks to fix my model skin. Since my five-minute facial, I haven’t had a professional facial! It’s that amazing. No chemical peels, no lasers, no Botox, no fillers.
“I’m doing what I love. I am so deeply passionate about seeing the potential, internally and externally, in everyone I meet.”
I had my own makeup line, Morgen Schick Cosmetics, at HSN in 2000. It was inspired by my years of being a model, working with makeup artists and then being a makeup artist myself. Back then, makeup was so heavy, it either destroyed your skin or looked so cakey. I published my book, Your Makeover, too.
I had kids. I wasn't old enough or wise enough at the time to know that mothers don't do everything, that you choose what you're going to do well at any given moment. I was feeling overwhelmed and told them I was going to take a break. Everyone thought I was crazy. But I knew that's what I needed. I wanted to spend more time raising my kids.
I started up again because people who were using my product were asking for more. My kids were older by then, too. When I contacted my old labs and partners, they told me about a patent they had with Active Argan. I tried it for 24 hours and, oh my gosh, loved it—it hydrated my skin at a much deeper level. I'm now a partner. We recreated all the products I had under my own label, like the popular five-minute facial, but with this ingredient and launched the line in 2016. Then things grew and grew, and HSN came back with a deal I couldn't refuse! Long story short—I'm back.
I’m doing what I love. I am so deeply passionate about seeing the potential, internally and externally, in everyone I meet. I want to help every woman turn the light switch on that I see so obviously inside her—potential that's easily and effortlessly unlocked, mere millimeters to her true self. I want to help you get there. That’s my oxygen.
top 3 tips in life
A pencil friend is someone who is amazing, you love them, but you can never count on them. A Sharpie friend is going to be there for you no matter what. Veronica is a Sharpie friend.
This one is from my dad. You can get into an elevator with someone on the first floor, but you might need them to get off at floor 4—that doesn't mean the time spent with them wasn't awesome. Someone can get on with you at floor 9 and get off at floor 10—or stay with you for the whole ride. It's about enjoying the moment. Don't feel guilt or anxiety over whether they need to leave you or you need to leave them.
Step back and look at your whole life. Don't get caught up in the tiny details you see. We tend to fixate on one thing. Others do not; they see the total picture, the whole.
