Zoe Foster Blake shares the skin care advice everyone should follow
As well as the best beauty discovery she’s ever made
As well as the best beauty discovery she’s ever made
Zoe Foster Blake is a veritable gold mine of beauty advice. From sharing the controversial skin treatment she swears by to her Holy Grail concealer, she leaves no beauty stone unturned. Which is why we were excited to be given the opportunity to sit down with the Go-To Skincare founder in an exclusive interview and pick her impressive brain even more. From the skin care advice she believes everyone should follow to her time-saving beauty tricks, read on to discover Zoe’s top pearls of beauty wisdom.
On the skin care advice everyone should follow…
“Not to patronise or condescend, but I think we need to treat everyone like a skin care novice. Even if you’ve been interested in skin care for years, you might only be doing what your mum taught you and she might not have known [exactly what to do], or you might just be doing what the lady at the counter taught you in Myer when you were 15 and you’ve just done it ever since. With that aside, the main things you need to focus on are protecting, nourishing and defending. Also, just keep [your skin care routine] simple. You should be applying skin care products every morning and night because you love doing it and you want to make your skin happy. You shouldn’t feel like you have to use this and that and that and that to get rid of any perceived flaws.”
On what inspired her to start her own skin care brand…
“There were a few things that came together at the same time. I was going to do a makeup line with a retailer and got halfway through [the process] and I just thought ‘I don’t know where you’re making this or what’s in it’ and if I’m going to put my name on it I don’t want to risk years of building up a reputation and loyal following only to smash it all with a sh*tty eyeshadow. So, I said no and at the same time I also had a friend who had an organic skin care line and I kept on telling her to make products that people wanted and she just said ‘why don’t you do it?’ and I thought ‘well, I guess I could’ and it just went from there.”
On why it’s called Go-To Skincare…
“It’s called Go-To because I thought ‘these need to be the go-to products, the ones that everyone relies on.’ They’re not complicated or confusing or intimidating – you pick it up and you know exactly what it does. That’s also why we first came out with five essentials because when there’s too much choice, it’s crippling. For instance, if you go into the supermarket and there are 20 types of jam, you might leave with none, but if there are three, you’ll choose one. So, we wanted to give women the basic and essential scaffolding they needed for quality skin care. Sure, they can then bring in their retinols and their Botox and whatever else if they want, but at the end of the day, you’re still going to need a cleanser, moisturiser etc. and I wanted to be able to provide that.”
On her most pivotal beauty moment…
“I actually did have a moment when I was 15 where I started using sunscreen and getting out of the sun. I just got preemptively vain and thought ‘I don’t want to look 40 when I’m 30, I’m just not sunbaking anymore.’ Up until then I had been using all the tanning oils, but I don’t know, something just hit me. So, my sunscreen obsession came in early.”
On her biggest beauty regret…
“I’ve definitely got a few, but I think it’s my eyebrows era of 2004 when they were super skinny and unflattering. It took a while to get out of that one!”
On her time-saving beauty tricks…
“I’m all about time-saving – I’ve got no time. First and foremost, I think it’s important to get a skin care routine that makes sense for you, that’s easy and enjoyable and one you see benefits from. I also think you should do the long-term stuff – so get your brows done and tinted, do lash extensions if you want and get a haircut that is wash and go. I think if you’re comfortable with your look, as in what you’ve done with your brows and your hair, then the day to day becomes a lot easier, because your scaffolding is already in place.”
On her greatest beauty discovery…
“The best discovery I’ve ever made is probably my new hair, because I’ve fought my curls for pretty much all my life and was told I wasn’t supposed to have a fringe, but it’s actually become the easiest wash and wear hair I’ve ever had. I think the fringe makes all the difference, which surprised me because I thought my cowlicks would make it look like a mess, but it finishes it off perfectly. When you just have a middle part and curls, my hair sort of looks drab and sloppy and like I didn’t do my hair – but add a fringe and it looks like I’ve done heaps, it’s all counterintuitive.”
Want more beauty tips and tricks from Zoe? Then discover the kitchen utensil she uses to style her hair and learn how to perfect her favourite five-minute makeup look.
What’s the greatest beauty discovery you’ve ever made? Let us know in the comments below.
Main image credit: @zotheysay
Kate started working for BEAUTYcrew in early 2016, first as a contributor, and was then named Beauty Writer in 2017. She loves picking the brains of the industry's top experts to get to the bottom of beauty's toughest questions. Bronze eyeshadow palettes are her weakness and she's forever on the hunt for the perfect nude nail polish to suit her fair skin. Her words can also be found in Men's Health magazine, and she now works in PR.
