If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered what famous people add to their carts. Not the JAR brooch and Louis XV chair but the hair spray and the electric toothbrush. We asked actress Alison Brie — who stars in Roar, a new anthology series out now on Apple TV+ — about her favorite all-purpose ointment, the protein bars she actually feels good about eating, and the pimple patches she thinks everyone should be talking about.
I love Colorescience’s mineral-based pressed-powder concealer. It’s the only makeup that’s ever been approved by my facialist as something that’s not a terrible pore-clogger. I feel like mineral-based makeup doesn’t always sound like it does anything, but this stuff is really interesting because in the palette, it comes with a guide that tells you “this corrects browns” and “this corrects blues.” It’s one of the only things I can use to cover a vein, and it’s great for covering my melasma. It’s also pretty compact and thin, and it has its own little applicator so you can keep it in your purse. I use mine all the time. Because of the different shades, it also works as an all-in-one makeup kit, especially if you’re a pale girl like me, because you can use a little bit as an eye shadow and blush if you’re in your car and need something last-minute.
When I’m shooting on location or away from home, I wear one every single night to sleep. It’s especially helpful if I have a really early call time and I’m going to bed at like 8 p.m. Something about putting it over my eyes really forces me to fall asleep. At this point, it’s Pavlovian. I put it on and my body’s like, “Oh, okay, good night!” I’ve used a lot of different brands, but right now, I’m loving this one. I like that it’s thick all the way around my head.
I’m not really a coffee drinker, because it makes me really grouchy. It spikes my energy too quickly and then drops me immediately, and when you’re shooting, it’s at least a 12-hour day, so if I have coffee, by hour four I’m like, “I’m angry now.” So I’m really more of a tea girl and just keep coffee as a special treat. I love loose-leaf tea, because I like to steep it myself. Art of Tea has really beautiful teas. I love a good green tea or a white tea, and sometimes a black tea if I’m feeling really dangerous. [Art of Tea’s products are] really good quality. Sometimes they even look really pretty and have flower petals in them.
I can’t live without Papaw. I use it as a ChapStick, but it’s an “everything” ointment. You can put it on burns, you can put it on bug bites. It’s made out of papaya, and it’s all natural. It’s made in Australia, and I just love it. It’s truly one of my favorite things. I use it constantly, and every job I work on, I tell the makeup artists to get it. I always have one in my purse.
These things are incredible. I don’t know why more people aren’t talking about them. You put them over blemishes at night (or all day, for at least six hours), and they suck all the bad stuff out — you can even see it on the patch. They’re especially great if you’ve popped a pimple and you don’t want to keep messing with it and making it worse, but you’re not sure if you got everything out. You can just pop one on and forget about it. It keeps the area around a blemish moist and fosters healing at the same time, while also keeping the dirt out and flattening your zits. They’re really very cool.
I’ve become obsessed with these small-batch raw vegan protein bars. I’m not vegan, but like a lot of people, I’m a gal on the go. I try to eat fairly healthy and have high-protein content in my diet because I work out a lot, and I’m always trying to hang on to that muscle mass. Most protein bars that you find, you can’t pronounce 90 percent of the ingredients or they have a lot of sugar. These are great because everything that’s in them is, like, almond butter and coconut and apples and dates and things like that. They’re really tasty, and they come in a lot of different flavors. The apple cinnamon is my favorite, but there’s also a blueberry almond flavor that I like.
For the last year, I have been doing Pilates at Forma Pilates in Los Angeles, which I like because the classes are really small. They have an app, so I can do Forma Pilates online when I’m traveling. There are videos of different lengths, but mostly I do the 25-minute classes, because it’s a really nice way to get into my body before going to work, and it’s a really manageable amount of time to squeeze in even if I have to get up at 4:30 a.m. Also, there’s something gentle about Pilates — this is especially true if you’re getting up early and trying to fit in a workout — because it’s all about musculature, and it was created as a form of rehabilitation. It’s not like waking up and doing burpees or something insane. You’re lying down, and it’s engaging your core and glutes. It’s also great because they use minimal props, so it’s mostly stuff I can pack in my suitcase, like bands or a couple of two-pound ankle weights, so that’s really handy.
The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best acne treatments, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, natural anxiety remedies, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
