Talking Shop is our series where we talk to interesting people about their most interesting buys.
Any time we talk about skin care and makeup for those with acne, eczema, rosacea or sensitivity, Tower 28 comes up. Members of NBC Select’s staff use the brand’s products daily, and dermatologists we interview often recommend it. It’s safe to say that Tower 28, which Amy Liu founded about six years ago, is a household name in our books. Its products have three major seals of acceptance from the National Eczema Association (which Liu recently joined the board of), the National Rosacea Society and the National Psoriasis Foundation.
As someone who’s worked in the beauty industry for over two decades, she always wanted to start a company for those with the types of skin issues she faced, but didn’t feel motivated to make it a reality until her kids developed them, too.
“I think the things you can tolerate for yourself are really different than the things you spring into action for when it’s your loved ones facing them,” says Liu, who’s also Tower 28’s CEO. “That was really the shift that happened in my life. To make a ‘better choice’ for their skin, I don’t want people like myself or my kids to feel like they have to also make a bunch of trade-offs.”
As you’d expect, Tower 28’s products make up the bulk of Liu’s skin care routine. To learn about her other all-time favorite products, I talked to Liu about her daily essentials, including the instant coffee that made her give up her espresso machine and the claw clip actually works with her long hair.
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“Mara Roszak is just an incredible founder,” says Liu. “We have a shared value around ingredients and trying to make sure that you’re not trading performance for ingredients. I also feel like her products work really well.” Liu uses Roz’s hair care for all her cleansing and conditioning needs. She keeps the brand’s Foundation hydrating shampoo and conditioner in her shower at all times, and adds the Milk hair serum and Santa Lucia styling oil to her routine as needed.
Liu lives in California, so she spends a lot of time outside, and she’s extra-careful about sun exposure due to her sensitive skin. In addition to applying Tower 28’s sunscreen, this hat is one of her must-haves. “In LA, you’ll almost always find me in a hat — the sun here is no joke,” says Liu. “Lately, I’ve been reaching for the Tinsley from Janessa Leoné. She makes such flattering, wide-brim styles that are as chic as they are protective.” While Liu and I talked, she was actually wearing this hat and walking around her neighborhood, so it’s no exaggeration when she says she doesn’t leave home without it.
Soft Services “I use this hand cream every day, and the pump always sits on my desk,” says Liu. It comes in a refillable case that looks like a chic little container rather than a hand cream pump, and you can buy replacement pods as needed. The fragrance-free hand cream has a medium-dense consistency and uses ingredients like retinol, colloidal oatmeal and panthenol (vitamin B5) to hydrate skin and cuticles.
“For body care, Nécessaire is my go-to,” says Liu. “Their fragrance-free body wash and body lotion are perfect for sensitive skin like mine, and both have the National Eczema Association’s Seal of Acceptance.” She also likes the way the bottles look in her bathroom.
To style her hair, Liu is a fan of Crown Affair’s products. “They’re effortless to use and always leave my hair soft and smelling amazing,” she says. Plus, like Roz, Liu admires how much attention Crown Affairs pays to the ingredients it formulates its hair care with. “I especially love their Calming Scalp Serum, which I massage in right after a shower for a little extra self-care.”
“I always have a water bottle with me,” says Liu. “I really like the Fellow water bottle, and we actually branded some as gifts at one point. I love it because it’s good for both hot and cold, and I find that it doesn’t spill. I can put it in my nice bag and not worry, which matters to me.”
“I’m chronically that person that always has hair ties on my wrists and claw clips with me,” says Liu. Emi Jay makes one of her favorite claw clips because they’re big and strong enough to hold all of her long hair. She also likes Crown Affair’s hThe Hair Clips, which are meant for air-drying hair, but Liu says they’re great for everyday styling.
“I’m addicted to coffee — I’m a true coffee snob,” says Liu. “I die for Cometeer, and I actually stopped using my espresso machine since I’m now on a regular subscription with them. I bring the capsules everywhere, and I always keep them at home and at my office.” Cometeer partners with coffee brands across the country like Intellegentisa, Joe Coffee and Birch Coffee to turn their coffee into frozen pods of concentrate, which you can put in the refrigerator to defrost for an iced beverage, or melt with hot water to make a warm one.
“I don’t do fragrance or essential oils for the most part with products that I leave on my body since I have sensitive skin,” says Liu. “But I like fragrance being around me with things like candles, and one of the girls on my team introduced me to these shower steamers, which I think are really clever. You put the tablet in the shower and when it dissolves, it makes your shower smell like a spa. It’s an aromatherapy thing that feels very indulgent.”
“This blanket is my new favorite thing,” she s. Somebody gave it to me as a gift and I liked it so much that I just bought one for everybody on my team,” says Liu. “They’re the best blankets, so I think it’s worth it even though they’re expensive.” The machine-washable Original Lola Blanket is double-sided and made from vegan polyester.
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I’m a reporter at NBC Select who writes our Talking Shop series, interviewing people like Chace Crawford, Dorinda Medley, Jing Gao, Tiler Peck and Sara and Erin Foster. To write this piece, I interviewed Amy Liu about her all-time favorite beauty and wellness products.
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