If anyone knows a hardworking beauty product, it's Candace Parker. As a forward in the WNBA’s Chicago Sky, her skin care not only has to wipe away sweat from daily workouts and games, but erase layers of TV-ready makeup from appearances on Inside the NBA. (And since she’s a mom, it has to do it fast.)
“When I was just playing just basketball and I wasn’t on television as much, I didn’t wear a lot of makeup,” Parker tells Glamour. “So my skin-care routine was really just, I’d use something just to take off the sweat and go from there, but now that I’m on television regularly, I’m wearing heavy makeup, so I have to be a little bit more diligent about the routine.”
Despite her outstanding credentials, her major skin-care concern is totally relatable: breakouts. “My biggest skin concern honestly is when I wear makeup on television and work out in the same day, I often times get bumps,” she says. “I brush down and use gel on my baby hairs, and I use water or pommade or something like that, so I’ll get bumps around the edge of my face from my hair products.”
Luckily she has assembled a trusty routine of products (and a quarterly laser treatment) to keep her skin in check. Read on for the drugstore makeup remover she swears by, the serum that gives her an instant glow, and the lip balm she always has on hand, when she drops her routine, below.
My Cleansers
In the morning I wake up, and then I use the Rodial Dragon’s Blood Cleansing Water, and just cleanse my skin and get it clean from my night cream the night before. If I’m going on television, I use the Neutrogena wipes to get my face clean to prep for makeup.
But after TV, that’s the key, because my first two years on television, I wasn’t doing a good job of taking everything off, because television makeup is a whole other story. Right after I’m on TV, I use the wipes and the Neutrogena makeup remover to get all the makeup off, then when I get back to my room at the hotel, I usually do some type of facial. On non-TV days when I’m just playing basketball, I use the Rodial cleansing pads after a game. I’ll just have them handy so the sweat and the gel doesn’t sit on my skin
My Mask
When I get back to my hotel room, I do a mask. I like a clay mask like the SheaMoisture African Black Soap Clarifying Mud Mask. I really feel like that kind of gets into my pores and it gets everything out. I’m a drugstore or Whole Foods mask buyer! I walk into Whole Foods and I’m like, “Oh, that looks cool!” so I have all different ones. I’m only on television two days a week, so I usually do that both days, and that way I know for a fact that all the makeup’s off. I also like a lot of Rodial’s masks; they don’t have a clay one, but I like their Dragon’s Blood Mask.
My Moisturizers
I’m big on Rodial products; that is my go-to. At night I’ll use their night cream, no matter the season my skin doesn’t dry out and it doesn’t get oily, it keeps it a perfect in between. I don’t use an eye cream, but I use the Rodial eye mask.
My Lip Balm
I’m simple, man—I just use Carmex! It’s my go-to.
My Skin Tints
I really love the Rodial Glow Drops—I get an instant glow with them. They come in regular, which is almost like a gloss and adds an instant glow to your skin, or they come in a bronzer, which I’ll sneak in in the winter when I don’t have as much color. And thats kind of my go-to if I’m just going to a workout or I’m not going on television. I don't wear a lot of makeup. I’ll do just a little mascara if I do anything, and that's kind of my go-to in the morning.
My Treatments
Before the pandemic I would do Skin Laundr;, there’s one right down the street from my house. One of my friends actually got me into it because I don’t have a large amount of problems with my skin, so it’s more prevention, instead of reactive. Now with COVID, I’ve probably gone about twice in the past year, but usually I would go probably once every three months to get a laser treatment.
Bella Cacciatore is the beauty associate at Glamour. Follow her on Instagram @bellacacciatore_.
