I don’t lie about my age – anymore.

I did when I was younger. Just for fun. When someone would ask my age, I’d pad it by about 10 or 15 years … just to get a reaction like, “OMG, you look ahhh-maaaazing!” I’d laugh and tell them my real age.  All in good fun. Until it wasn’t.

As I was approaching 50, someone asked my age and I did my usual shtick, adding 10 years and waiting for the usual response. But here’s the response I got – “Oh.”

(Mentally insert sound of record scratch here.)

I realized that my lazy, slap-some-moisturizer-here-and-there-when-I-think-about-it days were over, and it was time to get down to some serious skincare business.

I spent the next decade being a product … horse? whore? whatever  – trying one product after another, optimistically expecting them to work “as seen on TV”,  only to fall in the “results may vary” category.

Then here’s what happened – a friend who had been staying with me left behind about half a jar of IN YOUR FACE cream, a product with has been featured as one of Vogue’s Top New Products, developed by long-time friend Denice Duff.

I had been wanting to try it, but at the same time I wasn’t excited about adding another jar to the “land of misfit products” in the back of my cabinet. So I was thrilled to have the opportunity to give it a try.

When I opened the jar, I honestly wasn’t sure if I was supposed to eat it or apply it – it smelled that good and organic. I opted for applying it (good call). And I know this sounds crazy, but – hand to God – I immediately experienced a feeling of gratitude from my skin for its proper care and feeding. I went to bed that night with my skin feeling softer than I can ever remember (I literally couldn’t stop touching it) and woke up the same way. And it keeps getting better.

Since then, I’ve added just about every product in Denice’s arsenal. So when I wanted to write about skincare, I went straight to the horse’s mouth and asked Denice to do an interview, which she said yes to because she’s a friend and an all-round swell person. So here it is –

Kelley: You’ve had success both as an actress and as a professional photographer – what motivated you to create a skin care line?

Denice: Since starting my business in the skin care world, it’s opened up an even greater responsibility to truly help women. As an actress, I was responsible to memorize my lines and do my best to portray a character as authentically as possible. As a photographer my responsibility (when shooting a portrait) is to make that one person feel comfortable for a brief moment in time with me in my studio. My life has been spent either in front of or directly behind camera although I know that real beauty shines from within; we all feel more confident when we like how we look.

I’ve spent so much time answering questions helping women of all ages, through social media, on how NOT to compromise health for effective beauty solutions, and so skincare became one of the areas I was always talking about. It was a natural progression, albeit way more work than I ever realized, to add this new venture to my life’s resume.

As a skin care creator my responsibility is to provide women with products that magically create effective solutions to their varying skin needs so that each day, they find a little more joy and a little less pain when they look in a mirror. That probably sounds harsh or even too simplified, but I think it’s really true. It’s a huge responsibility and one that I am honored to take on every day.

Kelley: You started with your signature product, The Cream. What was your goal in creating that product?

Denice: The IN YOUR FACE motto sums a lot of that up: Using Mother Nature to Stop Father Time. The line is FREE of ALL parabens, toxins, artificial fragrances, phthalates, sulfates, GMOs, and dyes. Cruelty free, small batch, and ingredients you can pronounce! No one should compromise health for beauty.

I wanted to simplify a woman’s beauty regime. You need to cleanse, exfoliate, and hydrate. Everything else is just a bonus. If a woman feels overwhelmed and uneducated in the area of skin care, she won’t even do the minimum of self-care. My philosophy is about educating the average woman to have camera ready skin while only using a few products to achieve that glow. I’m re-inspired every day when I see photos sent to me of these empty jars of that cream on someone’s bathroom counter with their note saying, “I’m obsessed, and my husband steals it and so does my daughter!” LOL! It’s like being a part of someone’s family and I couldn’t be more proud!

Kelley: Now you’ve added an eye cream (which I love!) Why do we need a different product specifically targeted for eyes?

Denice: The skin under the eye is very delicate and fluid can collect and cause puffiness and dark circles. The skin under the eye can be more sensitive to sun damage as well. So ingredients like niacinamide, kojic acid and B3 help with lightening. Vitamin C helps build collagen to thicken skin, and hyaluronic acid help to add the extra moisture. Caffeine has been shown to help reduce puffiness from under the eye area. Even applying a cool spoon or our Gua Sha under the eye for a few seconds in the morning helps relieve puffiness.

Kelley: You’ve also added two masks. What are each of these targeted for – who should use what, and how often?

Denice: Our Pumpkin Enzyme Mask is a resurfacing detox treatment mask. It also contains papaya alpha hydroxy acid with clarifying willow bark and kaolin clay. The fruit enzymes help dissolve dead skin, while the kaolin clay addresses oily patches and purges clogged pores for a baby-soft feel while plant-powered phytonutrients can feed and strengthen your skin’s natural acid mantle to reveal a brighter glow!

Apply a thick layer over your face. Leave for 5-7 minutes, You will feel the tingle of the AHA’s. Then rinse with cold water. And like many super cleansing spa- facials, you will have a pink glow for several minutes after – that’s the resurfacing power at work. Use up to 2 times a week. Dull, clogged, normal to oily.

Our blueberry mask has organic blueberry.  This superfood smoothie-inspired vegan facial mask is packed with exfoliating fruit acids of papaya and apple, collagen boosting butterfly pea flower, white tea and omega-rich avocado and grape seed oil. It also contains hydrating mango and shea butters.

With our MASK BRUSH, or clean fingers, apply a thick layer of our BLUEBERRY BOOST MASK all over face and neck, avoiding the eye area. Leave for 5-7 minutes (for sensitive skin: 2-3 minutes). You may feel a tingling. Rinse with warm water and washcloth. Use 1-2 times a week.

For dry, dehydrated skin and normal to oily

Kelley: What would be the ideal daily and weekly routine for using the products?

Denice: Our gentle chlorophyll cleanser is a perfect for a nightly removal of makeup. Then apply the vitamin C plumping Serum. Wait a minute then moisturize with the Cream. It’s an excellent overnight cream. I then add a dot eye gel all around the orbital bone, patting gently. Don’t get too close to lash line as eye gels travel as you blink.

In the morning you can quickly apply either mask (no need to wash face first) Leave it on , brush your teeth and then get in the shower and wash it off while in the shower at the end. Then apply either the serum then the cream or just the Cream.

Every few days, I use our Deep Enzyme cleanse at night with a warm washcloth and it really helps with black and white head removal our nose and chin area…especially if I leave it on for about three minutes.

Kelley: Anything else you’d like to add?

Denice: “Age is just a number,” said every woman afraid of that number. It’s true, and numbers are important. They mark time and quantity. We should care about them. Your bank account is a number, it’s important. Your body temperature has a number, it’s important. Numbers help us out. And yet…. there’s been a prejudice about the number of years (specifically with women) that we have lived. I am guilty of it and I hope I am strong enough and bold enough to spend the rest of my life dispelling that myth, and I don’t mean by hiding it.

When a woman ages in recent decades, that has had its own unique prejudice. Making us lie and stress over every new line or dent or wrinkle or gray hair. I was raised by women who took care of their skin and health as best as they knew how. It was important for them to look nice not only for their spouses, but for themselves. They were not movie stars. They were just passionate women who loved longevity.

I found that by NOT being truthful, you give into the prejudice. You feed the prejudice. We don’t change their mind with deception of this ageism prejudice. I have a metaphysical belief that truth is freeing. I felt every time I lied about my age, I gained a wrinkled on my face of bad karma. It’s the bigger picture I’m thinking of. It’s the next generation of healthy hardworking smart AF women – like my own daughter – that I’m thinking of. I don’t ever want the fact that she’s a girl, the color of her skin, her nationality, or age to EVER, EVER impede her dreams. It’s all about competence and confidence.

• • •

Now that I’m using these products, I’m happy to say I don’t have to add a decade to my age to get the “ahhh-maaaazing” reaction. And Denice has been kind enough to offer a discount to new users at checkout!

Use this link to visit IN YOUR FACE SKINCARE and enter the code KELLEY15 at checkout for 15% off your entire order!

Full disclosure – this is my affiliate link. I’ll receive a commission to keep me in skincare, and you won’t pay more. In fact, use the discount code and pay less!