Fran Drescher was the epitome of on-trend during the six years she starred on The Nanny and beyond. Now, at age 64, her beauty routine and style choices have shifted a bit. She notes that her best look is one that looks like her, but better. As a long-time fan and partner of Laura Geller, a makeup brand focused on faces over 40, Drescher is excited to share a kit of all her favorite products. The Fran Drescher’s Favorites Kit ($79) is available now, with 20 percent of proceeds going to Drescher’s foundation, Cancer Schmancer, inspired by her experience with uterine cancer.
The kit includes Spackle Perfecting Primer in Ethereal Rose ($36), Kajal Longwear Liner ($16), Always There Waterproof Mascara ($24), the new Blush-N-Bronze Marbleized 2-in-1, and the Dual-Ended Blush + Bronzer Precision Brush ($21). To celebrate the kit, we chatted with Drescher about her skin care, Fran Fine’s iconic hair and makeup and more.
On her hair and makeup in The Nanny…
“With The Nanny, that was a very definite makeup look, very much a girl from Queens in the 90s. I was in my 30s, and you could carry that then, and that was what was in style. I don’t have a problem with a woman using extensions or pieces in her hair or falls. It makes it super easy sometimes, especially when you’re traveling. You can just throw your hair into a tight bun then throw on a fall with headbands or a scarf or something, and you’re ready to go, and it looks great. Fran Fine was very unapologetic about that too. She was very open about the fact that there was a whole infrastructure in her head. They didn’t really have extensions back then. They were just beginning to start gluing onto the roots of the hair extensions, I think in the early 2000s. Now it’s reached a point where I think it’s available to the every woman, not just the red carpet celebrities. And I say go for it, just always make sure that it looks right.”
On her personal philosophy on makeup and aging…
“I always try to go for a real look. I think that that’s the best bet. Honest, real, closest to who you are, only better is a good rule of thumb. Sometimes on The Nanny, she wore white wigs or short wigs. It’s all good and playful and fun and self-expressive. But as a general rule, I try to put a lot of effort into trying to look like myself, only better. I love Laura Geller products because it’s a product line that is addressing the beauty needs of women over 40, which is me now. It’s really lovely to be able to say, ‘Okay, that was then, and this is now.’ I’m not really going to be embracing very trendy makeup or wearing makeup that’s very fake unless I’m on a red carpet.
I appreciate what Laura Geller is doing. It’s right in sync with my philosophy on how the 40-plus woman should look to feel her best and most beautiful. And it’s working with the obvious changes that happen in the skin. I mean there’s just no escaping it. You can try to hedge against it, which I recommend by being healthy, drinking water and steering clear of alcohol. All of that stuff is great. But this is, without a doubt, a journey, and it is what it is. We may not understand it. I personally think it’s a big classroom for our souls to keep learning on this journey of self-refinement. So a lot is getting thrown at you all at once. You’re learning what the right choices are along the way, doing the right thing, and embracing who you are. Being the best person you can be is a big part of being successful on this leg of our journey.”
On the Fran’s Favorites Kit…
“It was coming out when it was so hot all across America. It was nice that this has a very summery vibe that isn’t too complicated or intricate in its application. It’s perfect for the gal on the go and the over-40 group. It’s got a very clean sun-kissed look to it, and it’s very easy to apply, and that’s what I liked about it. I was still using the moisturizing primer ($36) that didn’t have a tint to it and didn’t even realize how great the Spackle Primer in Ethereal Rose ($36) was until all my girlfriends and my mom told me, which is part of why I wanted to share the Laura Geller line with my girlfriends, and they very generously allowed me to spread the wealth because I always want to make sure that whatever brands I put my brand behind I can feel authentic in my recommendations. Otherwise, I can’t do it, and I won’t do it.
All of my friends and my mom weren’t really that familiar with Laura Geller; they are now Laura Gellar major fans and users and that was very stunning to me. And really, kudos to Laura Geller for making a product that so many different women respond to so favorably.
Originally I was using a different Laura Geller eyeliner, the Mighty Pen, which I still really love. It does a much cleaner eyeliner look which I absolutely love. It’s like the finest point of a skinny Sharpie, and it comes down. I love it. I hadn’t really tried the Kajal because I thought it was a thicker thing, and that’s not really my usual look. But when I put it on the spackle and the blush with the Kajal, the whole thing came together. It’s a very sun-kissed beachy look that I thought was incredibly beautiful, very, very natural.
The eyeliner is much easier to apply. You can’t really make a mistake. I use a small brush or sponge tip to smooth it or rub it to give it a smudgy look. But it’s easy, and it’s applied quickly, and you look very finished and beautiful. With a little mascara, honestly, it’s pretty much all you need. You can put it inside your lid or just on the outside. I do both. I put it under the top lash in that space there. Especially if you go through a a time where your eyelashes are a little bit thinner or more sparse looking in spots, it’s good to fill in underneath. With this thick crayon-like eyeliner you just can’t make a mistake. It’s all very complimentary and gives a really nice clean glow. That is extremely flattering.”
On who the kit is perfect for…
“Anyone could enjoy Fran’s Faves, mothers and daughters, even though the campaign targets 40-plus women. The look is not gimmicky. It’s not trendy. It’s classic, clean, healthy, sun-kissed, just beautiful. If you’re 20 or if you’re 50 or 60, it doesn’t really matter. The older your skin gets, especially if it’s a little looser, it’s a very flattering look. It’s not fake looking, and you can carry it much easier. You could throw it in your purse, or you could go away for a weekend. You don’t need everything, all the stuff, you just take this, and it’s all you really need for every day.”
On her skin-care routine…
“When I wash my face, I always take a washcloth and make very tiny gentle circles on a wet face that has some kind of makeup remover on it. I like more simple carcinogen-free products that are eco-friendly. I like lotions or oils, and I put that on the face and then with a wet washcloth, very gently I go in circles and I keep moving around to different parts of the washcloth, so I’m not doing it with the same dirty part that has already taken off makeup. It’s an excellent way to clean the face without stretching the pores and to take off the surface dead skin. It gives you a healthier, polished, tighter pore look. I’ve been doing that for years. I try never to abuse my skin or pull on it or stretch it.”
On the practices she does to maintain healthy skin outside of skin care…
“I try to sleep on my back because they say wrinkles come from pillows. I taught myself to put a pillow under my knees and keep my legs in the position of a frog and then lie on my back and place a pillow on my neck. My head is straight, my shoulders are down and squared off, and my arms are relaxed.
Drinking a lot of pristine water is very important partially because we’re over 70 percent made of water and also because you help flush the liver, and the liver is the same system as the skin in your body. I don’t really drink alcohol but on the rare occasion I’ll have half a glass of wine. It’s very rare and a special treat. I think that’s really supporting how my skin is aging, and the food that I eat is also very pristine and never industrial farm foods. Food to me is medicine, and medicine is food. So the food has to be very pristine, either wild or grown in a very regenerative way without agrochemicals or hormones or anything like that. Over time, you see a big difference.
I tend not to wear sunblock, quite frankly, I would rather wear these certain island emollients that naturally protect the skin that I embraced from Jamaica. I also wear either a bonnet, or I take a sun umbrella or parasol and I have special UV-protected gloves in my car for holding my steering wheel when I’m driving if there’s sun on my hands. So, I try to protect myself from the sun but not all the time. You have to get sun. You have to get different sun throughout the day because there are different spectrums of light throughout the day. They’re all important for overall health and well-being, which is why so many people who use sunblock are vitamin D deficient. I think that we’re made of the sun. We’re made of the earth. We should take care of both and learn how to live in both in a very natural and organic way.
I like using natural oils on my skin. Oral hygiene is very important too. The mouth is the gateway to disease in the body. All too often we treat it as a separate anomaly. We don’t, after eating, tend to our oral care for many hours. At that point, a lot of stuff is already under the gum line putrifying. I’m a big believer in biologic dentistry and how it connects with the entire body and what we as individuals need to do to keep our oral health as pristine as possible. Most important, our oral microbiome, so eating things that have a great microbiome unto itself. We need a lot of probiotics and prebiotics like organic apple cider vinegar. I put that into my WaterPik tank, a few drops of it because that helps create a healthy microbiome in my mouth. When you have a healthy microbiome in your mouth, it’s going to help support your body systems, so you don’t get sick as much, including your gut microbiome. It’s going to help because the gut begins in the mouth.
These are all more radical ways of aging gracefully and staying healthy, but everything old is new again. Past generations lived like this naturally, without the advent of all of the chemicals that we see now in personal care items, the foods we eat, the beverages we drink, and the cleaning products we use. I make my own cleaning products too, for the most part, or I buy extremely pristine eco-friendly products. Even things that have long-lasting smells like candles and perfumes have to be very pristine and not the normal stuff you would see on supermarket shelves or the perfume counter at your department store. Those have carcinogens in them, and it’s going to show on your face that’s always the first place you’re going to see breakouts and things like that.
If I ended up with a zit, which is very rare, I understand that it’s my body trying to expel impurities within, but I also double down on cleaning my liver. I just got back from vacation in Europe, and I ended up having a little more wine than I normally drink. Even though I feel confident that most of the food and wine in Europe are much better than what’s available to us in this country, I came home, and two weeks after I returned, some things showed up on my cheek. It went away within days because I really understand how to self-care. The first thing you have to do is examine what you’ve been doing and how you can offset it so that all systems within revert back to working at an optimum.”
