- Jennifer Garner, 49, just shared her beauty philosophy: “Beauty is as beauty does.”
- The actress believes actions speak louder than looks—a piece of advice we can all learn from.
- And she walks the walk, having just shared a video to Instagram Stories of her buying coffee for strangers in line behind her at Starbucks.
Have you ever wondered how Jennifer Garner is so effortlessly gorgeous? (Because, uh, we have.) Sure, she’s a celebrity with access to the best products and services around, but really, it’s her mindset that makes her glow.
In a recent red carpet interview with Access Hollywood at the premiere for her latest film The Adam Project, Garner shared her personal philosophy on beauty. And it’s pretty simple. “Beauty is as beauty does,” she said frankly. “Don’t look in the mirror, look out at other people.”
What the 49-year-old means by that is, she does her best not to focus on the physical—which is a trying task amid the beauty standards placed on women today. Still, Garner presses on—she’d much rather put her energy into random acts of kindness over what shade of lipstick she’s wearing.
Take her latest Instagram Story as an example. Amid her busy day of promoting The Adam Project, Garner took the extra few minutes to pay it forward while getting coffee when she could’ve easily grabbed her mint tea and moved along. In the clip, she stood at the register, handed the barista a bill for tips and a bill to cover the people behind her. “Tell them to have a good day, and pass it on!” she said, later writing: “Coffee is always a worthwhile little act of kindness.”
This isn’t the first time the 13 Going on 30 star has shared her humble approach to beauty. In a December interview with Today, she pledged to “normalise looking normal.”
“I want to look normal and I want to normalise looking normal. I always have felt really strongly about that,” she said. “We can almost all wear less [makeup] than we think.”
Of course, Garner gets made up by professionals for events like the one she just attended—but she wants everyone, especially her young kids, to know that she doesn’t always look that way. On any regular day, she said she just wears concealer, blush, mascara, and “a little something on my lips.”
Approaching 50, Garner also knows she’s at an age where many women begin to lament changes in their appearance. And instead of getting down about it, Garner turns it into something positive.
“When you start getting super critical of yourself, turn around, pivot in that spot, and go do something nice for someone else,” she recommended. “Or go work out, or just take that and make it active instead of letting it just fester in you.”
We can always count on Garner for some honest, enlightening advice.
Newsletter
