Jennifer Garner is an award-winning actress with more than two decades of working in television and movies under her belt, a co-founder of a successful baby food brand Once Upon a Farm, a mom of three and one of our favorite people to follow on Instagram. But she also just so happens to have a reputation as being one of the most down-to-earth and relatable celebrities out there.
Through the years, thanks to her work with brands like Neutrogena and Virtue, we've had the opportunity to speak with Garner on three different occasions. Now, you might expect that, like anyone, she'd have an off day or maybe try to breeze through one of the interviews to get back to her undoubtedly jam-packed schedule. But with every interaction, it's become abundantly clear that the warm and genuine person that we’ve come to know (and love) on our screens is truly who she is: kind, funny and extremely endearing.
Garner has a positive outlook that seems to seep into so many aspects of her life, including her refreshing views on aging and the way that she embraces everything that comes with it — well, almost.
"It's not like every day I'm like 'thank God it's harder to lose weight than it was,'" she shares. "But I am grateful to wake up, I don't take that for granted. I don't take the looking outside and seeing the sun shining and my feet hitting the ground [for granted]."
At just 52, she has "a long way to go on this journey of aging." And she has plenty of people to look up to when it comes to what's ahead. That includes her mom, Pat who she says is "so devoid of vanity."
"She's just excited to keep adventuring. She's with my older sister in Boston right now, she turns 86 in two days. She's rocking and rolling. They're driving around and she's like, I want to go to Maine and I want to go to Vermont and my older sister is like I can't keep up with her!"
However, that doesn't mean that she doesn't recognize the importance of a good beauty routine for preventing signs of aging on her skin. And a big part of that is keeping her skin protected with plenty of sunscreen — and helping others do the same by setting the record straight about the outdated (and dangerous) beliefs around SPF.
“It’s really a shame because all of these old ideas that were around when I was young have come back around on TikTok with influencers,” she shares. “For example, [the belief] that once you get a base tan that it protects you from the sun — it doesn’t!”
She compares the skin to "a beautiful piece of bread": Once it starts toasting, there’s no going back. “You can’t uncook, you can’t ask your skin cells to forget what’s done. What’s hard about your 20s and 30s is that the sun damage that you’re doing shows up when you’re older. It’s like, take care of future you."
Garner points to a saying from dermatologist Dr. Doris Day: "Nothing looks better in your 50s than sunscreen in your 20s." "It’s like setting your coffee at night to have ready for the next morning," she says. "You want to be looking to future you and taking care of yourself then.”
Given how serious she is about SPF, we had to know which formulas she turns to to stay protected throughout the summer and beyond. Plus, as a part of our Shopping Diaries series, we asked Garner to walk us through some of her other favorite products, including the healthy snack she keeps in her bag and the sneaker brand she's "devoted" to.
Shopping Diaries: Jennifer Garner
Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Retinol Moisturizer
Garner, who has been a Neutrogena brand ambassador for nearly 17 years, says that Neutrogena's Rapid Wrinkle Repair Retinol line "has made just the biggest difference to my skin. [I had] people literally who see me all the time, when I started using it, saying 'wow, your skin is looking really good.' I'm like 'Oh, I think it's this!' Legitimately, you do see a difference."
Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Moisturizing Face Serum
To keep her face protected, she reaches for this multitasking formula from the brand. "It moisturizes, it protects, it's got an SPF of 60 ... and it's also a primer for under makeup," Garner says.
She adds that if she's in a drugstore, this is the beauty product she will be picking up. "You can find it anywhere."
Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Lightweight Sunscreen Spray, SPF 70+
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that Garner always keeps sunscreen in her bag. That way, she’s never without when it comes time to reapply.
"This new Sheer Body Mist is excellent. It's not a spray that you spray on and then you have to rub around, it does that part for you. Because it's really diffused, but it lands on your skin. It gives you kind of a dewy situation."
Eden Organic Pistachios
If you follow her on Instagram you may know that if there’s one thing she always has with her, it’s nuts. In a hilarious “What’s In My Bag” video she shared that at one point, she had not one, not two, but eight bags of nuts in her backpack.
“It’s supposed to be a healthy snack,” Garner tells us. “And I have gone through spells of traveling a lot and I’m always panicked that I’ll get on a plane and I won’t have something healthy to eat and I’ll find myself knee-deep in my neighbor’s rigatoni after I finish my own. So I guess I panic that I don’t have anything and I keep adding to the bag without ever taking out.”
While she says she doesn’t have a specific favorite brand or type of nut, we spotted these in her video.
Copic Multiliner Pen
Another thing you can always find her bag? “I always have too many pens.” She adds, “I have been switching around a lot lately and having a lot of fun with my pen selection, but one I’m super into [is] a Copic Multiliner.”
“I liked the way it drags on paper,” she shares. “I honestly think the way a pen feels on paper helps me remember what I’m supposed to do.”
Amazon Essentials Women’s Long-Sleeve Turtleneck
When asked about the most-worn items in her closet, two things came to mind for Garner. “My favorite fancy thing that I’ve bought in the last five years is a shacket. I hate that term but I don’t know what else to call it. It’s by Celine. And it’s just the right length: If I’m wearing leggings to drop my son off at school, it covers my biscuit a little bit. And it’s warm, and it’s black and plain. And so truly, that’s what I wear the most.” (Sorry, everyone, her exact shacket is no longer available.)
The other? “I’m really into turtlenecks. Because that’s a way that I feel like you’re working with aging instead of fighting it, is just cover up the bits that you don’t love.” She adds, “I like a plain black turtleneck. I don’t really care who makes them. They don’t have to be fancy.”
We found this pick from Amazon Essentials, which is a popular option among shoppers.
Brooks Ghost 15
“I am devoted to my Brooks,” Garner shares. She notes that she alternates between the Ghost and Glycerin models. (She was even wearing a pair during our call.) “Sometimes I have little dalliances with other brands ... but for working out, for HIIT, I’ve been running some so for running, it’s Brooks for me all the way.”
SeaVees Bodega Clog
Garner has an impressive home garden and is often at her family farm in Oklahoma where they grow produce for her company Once Upon a Farm. And when she's spending time in the soil, she says that there's one tool that comes in handy the most.
"My hands. I'm awful at remembering to take tools out with me and I'm awful at remembering to wear gloves. My fingers are pretty clean, surprisingly, but I just start digging."
That said, when she's gardening at home she likes to wear SeaVee's rubber clogs. The brand says that they're easy to clean and can be worn rain or shine, so we can see why she'd like them for gardening.
She adds, “My garden is going off. And my little orchard that I feed with greywater from my house is going to be insane this year. I’m so excited.”
Augustinus Bader The Tinted Balm
Just like us, Garner also occasionally discovers new products on social media and this is her latest find. "It's got a stain quality to it, which I like because it's sheer. But it's also very soothing."
Pizzana Gift Card
If she's not sure what to get someone, she says, "My go-to gift would probably be dinner at a restaurant."
Some of her local Los Angeles favorites include: "John & Vinny's, Pizzana, this place Funke. Somewhere that people on a Friday or Saturday would be like 'Oh, that's right! I have a gift certificate to this place.' Giorgio Baldi, it depends on how fancy I want to go. But I'd be just as psyched to get a Pizzana gift card as I would to any fancy place."
Peloton App Membership
While giving her skin the TLC it deserves is clearly of the utmost importance for Garner, taking care of her body is also a priority. That is why she starts the day with an early morning workout (and when we say early, we’re talking 5:30 a.m.). And while rising at that hour might seem unfathomable to many of us, she says there are a few things that help make the early wake-up easier.
“I have buddies that I’m accountable to and I have coffee ready to go," Garner previously shared with us in 2023. "That’s what it is. It doesn’t feel good if you’ve told your friends you’ll work out with them, and then they all work out without you or they miss it because you don’t show up. Those things don’t feel good. So it’s like a hack to make yourself accountable to someone that you say you’re going to work out with.”
And even when she's traveling or outside of her regular routine, Garner still makes fitness a priority. "I will use a hotel gym or I will do one of The Limit on-demand videos that you can use without any weights or without anything, just to get my heart rate going. I also really like the Peloton app. I'm not a runner, but if I'm listening to one of the outdoor running things on the app where they're talking you through the run and you're running, say, in intervals and you get a break every now and then or you slow down every now and then, it makes the time go more quickly. And so I use that a lot when I'm traveling."
"Modern Comfort Food: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook," by Ina Garten
"I always cook out of Ina's [cookbooks]," Garner previously told us. "Probably, at least half of what I make is out of Ina's cookbooks."
KitchenAid Stand Mixer
"The most used product in my kitchen is our KitchenAid mixer because it's used every single day," she told us in 2023. The gadget makes frequent appearances in her Instagram cooking posts and she's even admitted before that she's been known to travel with it (and its pasta attachments).
KitchenAid 5-Ultra Power Speed Hand Mixer
The hand mixer is another kitchen staple for the home cook (who is also a KitchenAid partner). "I grew up using the KitchenAid hand mixer. And I was just with my parents and that's still what my mom uses, she's never had a stand mixer. And I said, 'Have we always used this?' and she said 'Yes, because it doesn't fall apart. I've had this thing for 20 years!'"
More of Jennifer Garner's beauty favorites
Given her relatable personality and laid-back nature, when we first spoke to Garner back in Nov. 2021, we weren't surprised to hear that overall, her beauty routine could be described as pretty "low-key."
"We can almost all wear less than we think because, to me, I don't want my kids or people to only see the actor version of me that is perfectly made up by brilliant artists and think that's how I look," Garner previously told Shop TODAY. "I want to look normal and I want to normalize looking normal. I always have felt really strongly about that. And then if I'm dressed up, I like that my kids are like, 'Woo, look at my mom!'"
For Garner, an everyday makeup look consists of just a few essentials: concealer, blush, mascara and "a little something on my lips." But that wasn't always the case. When we asked her if she had any beauty regrets, she barely paused before answering.
"When I was in college, and I'm sure after college, my idea of makeup was what I would wear if I was doing a ballet recital or the Nutcracker," she said. "I had very light-colored pancake makeup, and seriously, you could see where my chin met my neck ... it was atrocious. It's really made any picture from college unusable because if I thought I needed to look nice, that's what I did. I literally opened up my fishing tackle box of theater makeup and just went at it."
And for Garner, it seems like a big part of feeling good is mental. "I try to not see unflattering pictures of myself because I know I look better in real life than paparazzi pictures make me look, and if I don't, I don't want to know it."
Though for anyone who has moments where they feel less than their best (don't we all?), she has some good advice: Step away from the mirror. "When you start getting super critical of yourself, turn around, pivot in that spot and go do something nice for someone else," she said. "Or go work out, or just take that and make it active instead of letting it just fester in you."
Virtue Full Shampoo
Garner, who is part of the Virtue Labs team, says she switches between Virtue's Full Shampoo and Conditioner and the Recovery line, "because both work so well for me."
Garner was first introduced to Virtue by her long-time hairstylist (and the brand's creative director), Adir Abergel. "He was just like, 'I think you're going to flip when you try this, I think we should work on it together, we have to make this happen.'" she said. "So I tried it, kind of feeling like, there are a lot of hair products out there, but oh my gosh, I cannot even tell you." She added that it gives hair, "health, bounce and shine like nothing I've ever used."
Sheila Stotts Wood Handle Application Brush
But Virtue's hair products aren't the only ones that Garner keeps in her arsenal. She also loves this brush from Sheila Stotts and said she buys them to give away as gifts. "They're perfect for detangling a little kid's hair," she said. "I mean, you wouldn't think it because they're just straight wires, so you don't want a little kid to whack you in the face with it, but they are great at detangling and they also just move through your hair really easily."
Reed Clarke Gold 4-Inch Hair Pin
"Of all the hair pins I've ever tried, this is the best," she said. (She was even wearing it when we spoke.)
Stila Convertible Color, Peony
"I've used the Stila cream blushes for about ever, especially in Peony," she says.
Westman Atelier Vital Skin Foundation Stick
For concealer, Garner adds that she's using this stick from Westman Atelier. It's made with nourishing ingredients like squalane and Berryflux Vita, which according to the brand, help prevent moisture loss and boost hydration.
Neutrogena MoistureSmooth Color Stick for Lips
She also loves this color stick from Neutrogena in Raisin. "I might have used it in a commercial or something once, and now I can't live without it."
