Fara Homidi’s Everyday Beauty And Wellness Routine
The Afghanistan-born, California-raised makeup artist and beauty entrepreneur shares how she maintains her signature dyed blonde hair, why she swears by slugging and the ultimate lip-lining trick to create the illusion of fuller lips
I can’t wake up without a cup of coffee
It’s the very first thing that I do. I go to bed at night excited about my first sip of coffee. My husband found this Italian coffee maker on the tip of Long Island, called Aldo’s, and he special-orders that. To this day, I swear it is the best coffee I’ve ever tasted. I’m a creature of habit, so I typically have [one of] two breakfasts: granola with pumpkin seeds and flaxseed with a small cup of oat milk, or apples with sunflower butter. I drink my coffee a good 30 minutes before I eat because I wake up early and my stomach isn’t ready for food right away. If I’m really on my regimen, I’ll do a 30-minute Pilates mat circuit using my own body weight to work on my core, thighs and arms – and just get the blood flowing.
My skincare routine is simple but I’m very consistent with it
I use a very gentle face wash – I like Dr. Barbara Sturm’s Foaming Cleanser because it takes everything off but is gentle at the same time. Then I put on a lot of Augustinus Bader’s The Rich Cream followed by Shiseido’s Benefiance Wrinkle Smoothing Eye Cream. Historically, I’ve had acneic skin, which has calmed down now that I’m in my forties, so I use a prescription retinoid every other night. It keeps the cell turnover moving so that you’re not breaking out often, but it’s also collagen-building so great for anti-aging too. In the morning, I have the same skincare routine – except I don’t use the retinol.
I slather my skin with moisturizer and eye cream every night
I guess it’s kind of like slugging. I run oilier anyway, so if anything I’m quite hydrated and oily in the morning, but I like that. I think it’s a good way to nourish your skin barrier at night. I literally just slug the eye cream on so that my orbital eye area is completely hydrated when I’m sleeping.
My Soft Glass Lip Plumping Oil is always on my lips
It’s a softening, plumping treatment that’s super-nourishing, has a bio-fermented complex and is packed with hyaluronic acid and peptides. I also swear by my My Save My Face pillow at night. It has a curved C shape on both sides, so you put your head in the middle and, no matter what side you sleep on, your face never touches the pillow, which means less crease lines on your skin. I’ve been using it for 20 years and I really think it’s saved my face.
I started to do Ultherapy at 30
It’s a skincare device that uses soundwaves to target the deepest, dermal layer of your skin, stimulating collagen and helping it rejuvenate. I started at 30 and then stretched it out, having it next at 34 and 38. I think it’s definitely something every person should research – and I wouldn’t go to anyone who isn’t a board-certified plastic surgeon or dermatologist. As you age, you see more fine lines and your laugh lines become more pronounced. Besides Ultherapy, I personally like using tricks with makeup to combat some of the obvious changes in my skin. My Essential Face Compact, for example, has a soft matte texture that flattens an area while adding a bit of light reflection to bring it forward.
Earlier in my life I would have gone after my breakouts and pocked out my skin
Now that I’m older, I use Hero Cosmetics’ Mighty Pimple Patches because they’re invisible and stop me from touching and messing with the breakout. For a stubborn spot, I use a 10% benzoyl peroxide cream, which typically starts to clear it within two days.
I like a light and airy base
I want a little coverage around my eyes, nose, laugh lines and lips, keeping the outer perimeters of my face as bare as possible. As you’re maturing, the more coverage you have, the less fresh you look, in my opinion. I’ll always use a little of my Essential Bronzer for warmth and dimension because you never look better than when you’re on holiday. I want to look like that all the time.
You’ll always see me with mascara on
…and I’m fully addicted to lip pencils too because, as you get older, you lose volume in your lips and I personally don’t like the filler lip look. I like to achieve the illusion of a little more volume instead using my Smudge & Contour Lip Pencil in Faun and slightly overlining the Cupid’s bow to shorten the philtrum [the small dimple between your upper lip and nose] which makes your lips look fuller. It’s one of the things that always makes me look more put together.
Colorist Eva Scrivo handpaints the blonde into my hair
I’ve been going to her for the last 20 years. My brows and roots are quite dark, so it’s been a science to get my hair as bright as I want it without damaging it. Every time I go, we have a makeup artist’s conversation about hair – whether I need more smudging at the root or chunkier blonde, for instance. She listens to me and we come up with a new formula every time. The basic formula is there, but we tweak it every time. So it’s always evolving and Eva’s just been down for the ride.
My hair routine is crazy
I swear by Roz’s Foundation Shampoo and Conditioner. They leave my hair soft and super clean without feeling heavy or gunky. I’ve also recently discovered Filament, whose conditioner I use once a week to repair the bonds in my hair without causing brittleness like keratin does. To style, I mix two pumps of Roz’s Milk Hair Serum with two pumps of Shu Uemura Art of Hair’s Essence Absolue Hair Oil and apply it to wet hair before combing. Your hair is weakest when it’s wet, so I treat it like silk as much as I can.
I always do an all-over body drench after the shower
I recently started using Cellexia’s Advanced Anti-Cellulite Cream on my thighs. I can feel the heat warming up, and while I’m not saying it will take away cellulite, I do believe it will help stop it from getting worse. I also love Mutha’s Body Butter, which feels thick and dry at first but almost becomes an oil as you warm it, so I’ll slather that all over.
I have two signature nail shades depending on the season
I’ve found a new technique at my salon called Build-A-Nail [a builder gel], where they apply a gel-like layer that strengthens your nails and it’s refilled without disturbing your natural nail. It’s been revolutionary because I’ve been getting my nails done forever. Ninety percent of the time I wear red: OPI’s Art Walk In Suzi’s Shoes in summer and Feels So Hot It Berns in winter. The other 10% of the time, I’ll do a very sheer nude for a refresh.
1990s beauty is a really nostalgic and sacred era for me
We’d get all the magazines sent to my mother’s salon [when I was growing up] – W, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Allure and Vogue – and I would devour them, nerding out on the fashion, hair, makeup, lighting and new products. Kate Moss and Calvin Klein were huge. We’d come from the supermodel era of big hair, big makeup, overlined lips and big shoulders, which I’ll forever love, too. But the Kate Moss Calvin Klein ads were the first time I felt that someone a little bit odd-looking, with a more natural beauty, could also be beautiful.
My mother was really chic and didn’t wear a lot of makeup
I couldn’t see texture or makeup on her face but she would emphasize at least one feature, such as wearing eyeshadow with a lip colour. Unlike my aunts and family friends, who wore full-face makeup, she was selective about where she made a statement. I think I’ve subconsciously taken that on. As I get older, I’m looking more and more like my mom, and we have the type of bone structure that I think a full face of makeup takes away from our beauty rather than adding to it. So I have to be specific about what I’m doing.
Taking time away completely grounds me
It’s so important to take the time to go somewhere, put your feet in the sand, dip in the ocean and get some sunlight, obviously safely with SPF – but really just slow down. Having a business and being an artist, I’ve been so in the hustle that it’s taken me a while to realize it’s OK to take even a weekend trip once every four months. You actually need that time to go back to the grind and be useful.
When it comes to jet lag…
…wherever I land, I ask the hotel for a carrot, lemon and ginger apple drink and try to eat on the local schedule. I also love survival podcasts about people getting stranded in the mountains or at sea. They’re strangely calming, help settle my nervous system and usually send me to sleep.