My Skin Affair interview : Adina Porter

This month Adina Porter, currently starring on The CW’s “The 100″ and the new WGN series “Underground”, is sharing her thoughts with us on beauty. Adina is also known for her work on Aaron Sorkin’s “The Newsroom” and HBO’s critically acclaimed series “True Blood”. I really enjoyed chatting with Adina. She had a couple of really great beauty tips to offer that were new to me. After all of my interviews with different actresses, I thought I had heard everything there was to hear about beauty routines. But Adina pleasantly surprised me. Enjoy!

Tell me about your skin care routine.

I use a lot of different products and I change my products depending on the time of year. I always use the Clarisonic Mia 2 Facial Cleansing Brush to wash my face. And I always use some kind of skin treatment, a serum, before my moisturizer.

I love that Adina’s skin care routine includes tips that many of us can use!

I have a humidifier because my skin was drying out like crazy. So I have a humidifier in my bedroom that I use every night. And what has changed my life is using a Neti pot on a daily basis. It has changed the bags and the puffiness under my eyes. I got an acupuncture facial and I was educated that the bagginess under my eyes was because of my sinuses being blocked. So now I used the Neti pot every day. And when I apply my eye cream, using my ring finger, I apply it by doing twenty little circles around my eye. So I massage my eyes every time I apply my eye cream. I do all of that to keep the puffiness down under my eyes.

Makeup faves?

I use a MAC foundation with a wet sponge. Wearing black lipstick is a new favorite of mine. On my skin color it doesn’t look goth at all. It looks incredibly natural. It’s so earthy. Sometimes you see black women dressed up and trying to be the prettiest white version of black that they can be. And I very much enjoy exploring for myself, and also modeling for my five year old daughter. It’s cheaper, faster, and easier to just be the best me that I can be. I don’t want to spend too much time and energy being something else.

I love that! Do you have any favorite hair products?

Being a black woman and having natural hair, I enjoy various different natural hair products. There’s this one product line that I’m loving right now, Allie’s Natural Hair Community. I use their shampoo and conditioners. It smells really great, it’s moisturizing, and I feel like it’s luxurious for my hair. So I’m loving it!

Do you have a favorite spa?

I do, but it’s a bit of a secret. I enjoy going to Korean spas. I love sitting in the sauna and watching Korean television and not being able to understand a word. And because I cannot understand what people are saying, my mind just has to tune out. So it’s just sound. And I love that there are all different sizes of women and all different ages. So, you know, no one’s looking at anybody and it’s just complete and utter relaxation. And I love their body scrubs!

Korean spas are very different. There are a lot of cultural differences in the actual spa experience.

When you’re there, you feel like it’s less luxury and more necessity. I very much like that experience.

What’s in your purse?

I always carry powder, my brush, a couple of condoms…you never know.

Finally, what makes you feel most beautiful?

The first thing that comes to mind is when I’ve had a really good work out, I feel really beautiful. There’s a confidence that comes with having a really good workout. That makes me feel incredibly beautiful.

Thanks Adina! @AdinaPorter

Photo credit: Diana Ragland 

Makeup by: Kumiko Oka

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