Gwyneth Paltrow: the marmite of A-list celebrities. People tend to fall into two camps with GP but there’s one thing we can all agree on: the Oscar-winning actress turned lifestyle guru has made a huge success out of GOOP. What started out as a wellness blog back in 2008 has become an e-commerce and publishing empire worth a reported $250 million.
Never far from controversy, at its worst GOOP has been accused of dangerous pseudoscience that capitalises on vulnerable women, at its best it’s downright ridiculous and expensive ($2,400 spirit animal ring, anyone?). Despite consistent social media backlash and damning lawsuits (the company was forced to pay $145,000 for unscientific claims about their crystal vagina eggs), GOOP continues to thrive. In the past few years they’ve launched their own print magazine (nearly snapped up by Condé Nast), a GOOP beauty line and a string of IRL shops, most recently in London’s Westbourne Grove. What Gwyneth calls a ‘homecoming’ (she started GOOP while living in Belsize Park), the pop-up shop also marks the launch of the GOOP beauty range online in the UK via Cult Beauty.
To mark the occasion I spent a week living like Gwyneth. Well, sort of. Sadly I don’t have Gwyneth’s budget or abundance of free time but I did try out her skincare range and a number of her wellbeing tips which I garnered from interviews Gwyneth has given to The New York Times, Into The Gloss and Harper's Bazaar US.
As someone who actually keeps crystals on my bedside table, is evangelical about acupuncture and has been known to attend a sound bath, I’m happy to admit I’m a sucker for a wellness trend. I blame my upbringing, years of homemade hummus and homeopathy does that to you. Much like Gwyneth who famously quipped, ‘I would rather die than let my kid eat Cup-a-Soup,’ my mum once stopped me going to a friend’s sixth birthday party because it was held at McDonalds. Fear not though, this won’t turn into a love letter to GOOP, I hope to employ a healthy dose of cynicism too. Here’s how I got on…
Day 1
It’s Saturday morning and I get going with my skincare routine. I use a Tata Harper’s Purifying Cleanser (a favourite brand of Gwyneth's and a favourite product of mine) followed by GOOP’s Revitalizing Day Moisturizer. The cream certainly leaves my skin feeling soft and hydrated but on first use I can’t notice anything particularly special. As Gwyneth doesn’t believe in chemical sunscreens this doesn’t contain SPF. This is something that I (and a large proportion of the medical community) disagree with so I whack my chemical SPF over the top too.
This would be a good moment to point out that I was sent GOOP samples for this article. As Racked kindly worked out Gwyneth’s entire regime costs $1,652 (£1,309). I like Gwyneth but that is a step too far.
Conveniently in the afternoon I’m meeting my friend who is dog sitting in Notting Hill so I go via the GOOP pop-up on-route. Spread over three floors with fashion, homeware, fitness, beauty and wellness, it’s heaving on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Alongside the expensive linen aprons, leggings and loofahs, I’m impressed by the beauty edit with brands such as Pai, RMS and Kjaer Weis.
Enough Gooping for one day, in the evening I channel Gwyneth’s fun side, the one which said: ‘It’s really great to drink a vodka and have French fries.’ I do remember to slap on the GOOP Replenishing Night Cream before bed though. It’s much thicker than what I would normally use and I worry it may break me out but after the dehydration of drinking my skin probably needs it.
Day 2
Wake up feeling far from fresh so after demolishing a very un-Gwyneth breakfast (cheese on toast) I try her two ‘rough night’ beauty hacks: ice cold water and a jade roller. Gwyneth advises ‘dunking your face in ice water,’ which is trickier than I imagined. Without one of those fancy fridges with a built-in ice machine (Gwyneth surely has one of those) it’s quite problematic to fill the whole sink with iced water. Nevertheless I persist and sort of successfully get my face in the icy water. I can’t say I notice any transformative difference to my skin but it’s certainly refreshing.
Next up, I try the jade roller with GOOP’s Enriching Face Oil. A little goes a long way with this oil and the lightwear formula sinks in immediately. Plus, it smells like an expensive spa (a good thing). I’ve actually had a jade roller for about a year but it’s become more of a decorative item than an integral part of my skincare routine. This reminds me I should use it more regularly (especially on a hangover) as it brings more colour to my deathly complexion and it helps a little with alcohol-included puffiness.
Day 3
After the Mondayest of Mondays I go to yoga. When it comes to exercise I’ve chosen Gwyneth 2.0’s approach: more balance less Tracy Anderson. To finish my Gwyneth-worthy evening I take a bath with her G.Nite Bedtime Bath Soak.
‘My London bathtub had a little fireplace in front of it—the dreamiest room,’ Gwyneth told Into The Gloss. My London bathtub does not have a fireplace in front of it. I have mouldy tiles to look at. However, when I turn the lights out and burn a candle I can pretend that I live in a Georgian townhouse. What me and Gwyneth do have in common is our preoccupation with bathing.
The soak itself - a mix of epsom salts, magnesium and valerian root- looks like dirty brown sludge and doesn’t smell particular aromatic. However, as soon as I’m in the tub I feel my muscles immediately relax. I normally listen to podcasts in the bath but decide to spend the specified twenty minutes in silence to clear my head (I imagine this is what Gwyneth would do). An idea for a piece I’ve been stuck with pops up in my head. Maybe this is what the whole self-care thing is about.
When I get out my limbs feel heavy and I get straight into bed (it’s 9 pm) and sleep soundly. I’m impressed with this product (the must be a reason Valerian is called ‘nature’s valium) but at £10 a bath it’s not a habit I could fund regularly.
Day 4
This evening I add one of GP’s best-selling products, the Exfoliating Instant Facial, to my nighttime routine. What she calls ‘a professional facial in a jar,’ it offers a two-step exfoliation using a combinations of AHAs and BHAs as well as a manual scrub of plant-based cellulose beads. I’m a big fan of exfoliating masks as they normally offer instant results, and this one lives up to the hype. It effectively removes all the gunk from the top layer of your skin (basically dead skin cells) so that my face feels soft to touch and significantly more radiant. Gwyneth loves it so much she uses it every day. I’m not sure a dermatologist would approve but I can see why the glow is addictive. I finish my routine with a few drops of the Enriching Face Oil which is quickly becoming a favourite.
Day 5
I’m not particularly good at remembering bodycare as I’d rather snooze my alarm but today is different as I must get up to body brush before my shower. Side note: is all this body admin worth losing sleep over?
It’s not just Gwyneth who sings the praises of dry body brushing with the well-established technique great for skin exfoliation, stimulating lymph flow and improve circulation. It’s gives that weird scratchy pain that is surprisingly satisfying but it also leaves white marks on my skin where the top layer of skin has been brushed off (nice).
When I come to moisturise my legs after the shower (yep, I’m going the whole hog today), they do feel smoother. For moisturising I’m using one Gwyneth’s budget tips: kitchen cupboard coconut oil. While it’s difficult to establish exactly the deal with coconut oil these days, one thing’s for sure, it makes a cheap albeit faffy moisturiser. Yep, scooping it out the jar, warming it between your hands and then waiting for it to soak in is much more of a lengthy procedure than your standard cocoa butter in a tube. Plus side: it’s smells delightfully tropical.
Day 6
It’s Thursday morning and I have an 8.30 am meeting (not sure why I ever arrange these) so I try the energising Gwyneth tip I’ve been putting off: the cold shower. According to Gwyneth, ‘it's very, very good for the nervous system.’ I imagine this is much easier at Gwyneth’s beach house in Malibu than in my London house in October.
I have my normal shower and then eventually pluck up the courage to blast the cold for as long as I can stand it. I am going to estimate it was less than a minute. There’s no doubt it wakes you up but I think the main excitement is it being over. I know hot showers are bad for your skin but maybe we need to come to some middle ground? I think I’d struggle to inflict such self-punishment on a daily basis.
Day 7
It’s my final morning using the GOOP skincare and I go in for round two with Gwyneth’s much loved Exfoliating Instant Facial. This and the Enriching Face Oil are definitely my favourites. The day and night moisturisers I could give or take. While both lovely and nourishing on the skin I think it’s hard to justify the extortionate cost (£90 and £125 respectively).
Conclusion
Unsurprisingly, Gwyneth’s schedule of self-care and wellbeing is time-consuming and expensive. It’s hard to tell in a week whether the skincare regime has made a marked difference (I don't notice any huge changes) but I was impressed by the instant results of the Exfoliating Instant Facial. Having used similar products in the past that are a third of that price it’s hard to justify the £112. Similarly, with the other skincare products it’s a pricey amount to pay when there’s a growing breed of affordable, results-driven brands like The Ordinary and The Inkey List. I loved the bath soak though and if I was suffering with a bad patch of sleep I could imagine myself investing - after all, it’s hard to put a price on a peaceful night’s kip.
In an ideal world I would love to spend more time body brushing, bathing and jade rolling but real life (and work) gets in the way. I don’t think I will be adopting Gwyneth’s full plan anytime soon but having these wellness tricks in my toolbox for times of need can only be a good thing. As Gwyneth said herself: ‘it’s all about the finding the balance between cigarettes and tofu.’