Interview | be beautiful.

Chatting with Sandra, one of the estheticians for Enza Esssentials and the Enza Medispa, you instantly cannot stop staring at her skin. How does she maintain? How does she look so young? Sandra, with a background in esthetics and cosmetology from the Skin Care and Spa Institute in Chicago, started her skincare regimen super early – like 25 years old early and, lucky for us, is willing to share her secrets.

WARMUP:
Favorite Dessert: Crème brûlée!
Favorite Restaurant: The Ecopolitan in Minneapolis, a raw food restaurant.
Celebrity Man Crush: Will Smith
Last book you read? The Diary of Edward the Hamster, it’s hilarious – it took me about 5 minutes to read. More seriously, hmm… I can’t remember.
I Daydream About: Having an art exhibit with my paintings.
Beauty Idol: This sounds crazy, but Betty White. She’s aged naturally and doesn’t look frozen or worked on. She just looks healthy and happy, and that comes across on her face.

How do you NOT have a crush?

ON SKINCARE:

For my skincare regimen I swear by Enza Essentials. In the morning, I use the Saturation Aloe Scrub in the shower and then I put Saturation Toner on the skin while it’s still wet, then the Tri-Peptide Cell Activator, the Face Firming Complex, the Botanical Bio-Peptide Crème, and I use GlowTime by Jane Iredale in BB5 for my SPF coverage. I know this is a lot for the average woman, but I’m a skincare fanatic. If I could only use of these products… it would be the Tri-Peptide Cell Activator because of the ingredients. It hydrates, increases cell turnover, stimulates collagen and elastin – it does it all with just two little pumps.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR SKINCARE CONCERNS AND HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THEM?
Loss of elasticity is probably my biggest concern. I have recently added the Face Firming Complex to my skincare routine to combat this. Treatment-wise, I give myself chemical peels because that stimulates collagen and elastin, and increases cell turnover.

ON MAKE-UP:
For my make-up, I like the smoky eye, but I don’t like following rules. Really, I don’t think there even are rules. I think if you wear things you personally feel beautiful in, whether they’re in season or out of season, and it makes you feel beautiful, then that’s going to come across.

WHAT BEAUTY ADVICE DO YOU WISH YOU WOULD HAVE KNOWN AT 25?
If I would have known that washing my face at night is the most important – you know, that would have made a huge difference. Really I wish I would have started at 20, but luckily at 25 I was doing everything I could.

WHEN DO YOU FEEL THE MOST BEAUTIFUL?
When I’ve dropped 5 pounds and my jeans fit nice! Haha – for makeup, on my days off I usually don’t wear a lot of makeup, just a little BB Cream. It’s not that I prefer it, it’s just different. It’s good for your skin to just take a break.

AS AN ESTHETICIAN, WHAT DO YOU FIND IS THE #1 CONCERN OF YOUR CLIENTS?
This would be aging. I recommend first and foremost, a good skincare system to use daily. What you do to your skin daily is going to make the biggest difference and it’s going to maintain any professional treatments that you get.

First thing I do when I get up is I make my cup of coffee, because I have to have coffee. Alarm goes off – hit the Keurig. I’m obsessed with Pumpkin Spice right now. I always have my running clothes laid out, because I have to get my 35-40 minute run in every morning. Otherwise I get really cranky… and then I’m back in the house, I start up the shower, make sure my Clarisonic is charged and my morning routine begins.

I always use my Saturation Aloe Scrub with my Clarisonic, about maybe 4 times a week. I really don’t have the time to keep up with microderms and chemical peels as much as I’d like to, so I find the Saturation Aloe Scrub and the Clarisonic are my maintenance plan.

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