Gwyneth Paltrow Has Never Heard of the “Winter Uglies”

I wouldn’t normally tell you this, but it’s so very Goop-y that I think I have to. Four years ago, on this very day, I buried a crystal that I’d tied Goop’s logo around with a ribbon as an offering to the universe to support me getting a job at the company. I… didn’t get the job, but I obviously ended up where I was supposed to be anyway because this week I hopped on the phone with the Gwyneth Paltrow to chat about her beauty brand’s latest launch.

Sometimes things don’t work out the way you think they will, but they do work out! And here’s another amazing thing: even though it’s been four years since that maybe-fateful day, and science says I’ve been losing roughly 1% of collagen each go around the sun, you really wouldn’t know it. Goop’s new Youth-Boost NAD+ Peptide Rich Cream harnesses the regenerative potential of coenzyme NAD+ to address firmness, elasticity, texture, skin tone, wrinkles, and more. Skin-wise I can still be 24, working with GP. And that’s what matters, right? The universe really does listen.

And Paltrow herself? Well, she’s the same icon she was then, too. Thanks again to the universe and good skincare, made even better by the rich new cutting-edge moisturizer, which officially launches Monday, January 26 (though Byrdie readers can shop now).

In honor of the cream’s release, Paltrow filled us in on her winter skin saviors, reading list, and the one wellness treatment she somehow hasn’t tried yet.

The One Thing That Inspired the New Moisturizer

“I was working with our product developer, Thira, and we were talking about next-generation compounds. She said to me, ‘Would you ever want to upgrade the All-in-One Moisturizer?’ I was like, ‘Not really, it’s my favorite.’ You know, you get too attached to a moisturizer. But then, we started diving into the science and she was like, ‘We can keep everything the same, but imbue it with these extra peptides and NAD.’ I was like, ‘Oh, well that’s really interesting,’ because of course I’m a wellness and longevity person. I’ve been injecting NAD, and it’s a great longevity tool. So then we started talking about the efficacy of the molecule on the skin. It does the same thing of rejuvenating [the skin] that it does inside the body. Then we started working on formulation.”

The One Thing She Loves Most About It

“How the formula works with our peptide serum. It’s like you have this incredible stack of peptides, and then there are more peptides and NAD in the cream. The way they work together as a dual system… the results are incredible.”

What Healthy Skin Means to Her

“The best version of your most beautiful, glowing, vibrant skin at your age. So not flawless, you know: taut, no freckles. It’s like, what is the beautiful you that shines through, but also looks its absolute best and most vibrant?”

The One Winter Skincare Swap She Makes

“I’ve always had dry skin, but now I’m in perimenopause, which makes it like 10 times more dry. In the winter when there’s heat or when I’m flying, we have a product called Fix and Restore Balm, which is really, deeply hydrating. I do my skincare and then face oil, moisturizer, and Fix and Restore on top. Or sometimes, if I’m sitting on a plane or something, I’ll just put a thick layer of the Fix and Restore Balm on with some oils on top of it.”

The One Product That’s Always In Her Bag

“That’s our lip balm. I have them in every pocket, every purse, in the car. I go through so many tubes of that stuff. I scrape it out with my fingernail.”

The One Wellness Practice She’s Obsessed With Right Now

“I’ve been kind of sticking to my regular routine, but I have a new meditation for calming the nervous system that I’ve been doing every day. It’s been really, really helpful.

It’s this idea around trying to re-regulate cortisol. It’s interesting to me, that intersection between how you feel about things and your physiological reaction. It’s really about soothing yourself using the breath and using your inner thoughts.”

The One Wellness Treatment She’s Been Aching to Try

“I really want to do one of those Japanese or Korean head spa things. Does that count? I’ve never done one, and they just look so good.”

How She Beats the “Winter Uglies”

“What does that mean?”

“I think what I really love to do in the winter is like, work on [going] deeper, like kind of moving things through with dry brushing and sauna-ing and getting the skin feeling really supple and moving toxins out of the body. I feel like in the summer when it’s hot, you’re less inclined to go in a hot sauna. But in the winter, it’s a nice thing to do. There are so many sauna places all over. It’s so cool. And the health data around sauna is just astonishing. At a certain frequency per week, at a certain temperature, you can reduce all-cause mortality by like 30 or 40%. I’ve been doing it for a while, but I’m double doubling down this winter.”

The One Recent “Boyfriend Breakfast” She’s Still Thinking About

“I had a beautiful bulb of fennel from my garden and then these onions… I made a caramelized fennel and onion jam, and then I put it on a sandwich with fried eggs and a patty sausage. I don’t love meat, but my husband loves meat, so I made like a chorizo patty sausage. He was very happy with it.”

The One Book She’s Currently Recommending

“I just finished a book I loved called Among Friends. It’s about two guys who have been best friends since boarding school, basically. They’re like these handsome, charismatic guys who grow up, get married, each have a daughter. One weekend, the two little families go to one of their country houses, and then something happens there that sort of breaks everything apart. It’s really interesting.”

The One Routine That Starts Her Day

“The first thing I do in the morning when I wake up is tongue scraping and oil pulling. When I have the oil in my mouth I go turn on the coffee, check my texts, make sure my kids are okay. And then after that I have coffee with my husband and read the news a bit, although I’ve been trying not to do that so much lately. I start working, and then I’ll exercise within the first couple of hours of getting up. I’ll do a Tracy Anderson routine or heavy pilates, like Lagree pilates, the kind that they have at SLT and that kind of thing. And then I shower and do my skincare and get on with the day.”

The One Routine That Ends Her Day

“We eat dinner early to try not to go to bed on a full stomach, because I really think that impacts sleep. And then I walk the dog; I always try to use up glucose in the blood after dinner with dishes, walking the dog, that kind of thing. Then I take a bath with, depending on the night, any variety of bath salts and oils and stuff like that. And then I get into bed.”

The One—Actually Two “in Equal Measure” (So Libra)—Ways She Identifies With Her Sign

“One is that Libras are always seeking beauty. I’m absolutely defined by that, I think. Beauty in a walk outside, beauty in how I put the dishes on the table, that kind of thing. Beauty in poetry, in walking through a museum.

“And I also am ruled by justice, the scales. So it’s like, ‘Is this fair? Is this not fair?’ Yeah, those are the two. That’s a Libra for you.”