Clean Swap: A Fashion-Obsessed Podcaster Detoxes Her Beauty Routine
For Pia Baroncini, Pasadena-based founder of the clothing line LPA, host of the podcast Everything Is the Best, and major makeup fan, the journey to clean beauty took a minute. “You know when the universe is telling you something and you hear it multiple places?” she says. “I was finally like, Okay, I hear you.”
The first nudge came from LA nutritionist Vanessa Fitzgerald. “She has incredible skin, so I asked her, ‘What do you do?’” says Baroncini. “She mentioned clean makeup, and in my head, as archaic as it seems, it sounded a little granola. It was my super naive assumption that I was never going to get that full-coverage, elevated dewy-glowy look with clean products.”
Then she heard from GP: “I went to see her do a live Q&A, and she talked about clean makeup. At one point she said, ‘I just refuse to use products that are endocrine-disrupting. Why would I ever want to put anything on my skin that does that to my body?’” A lightbulb went on, Baroncini says: “I thought, Duh, what’s my excuse?”
An appointment with functional medicine doctor Apostolos Lekkos finally sealed the deal for Baroncini on clean. “We’re trying for a baby, so I resolved to put myself on a clean regimen with everything from beauty to household cleaners,” she says.
But because she’s a huge makeup fan, Baroncini really had to love something before she’d consider switching. “It was important that whatever I used truly mimicked what I was using before,” she says. The clean swaps she found more than do the trick: “I’ve had so many people ask me what I’m doing for my skin.”
MY SKIN
I have melasma; my skin gets blotchy easily. Obviously there are ways to get rid of it at the dermatologist, but what’s really helping at home is the Microderm exfoliator twice a week and the 15% peel pads once a week. The routine instantly brings this intense glow to my skin and keeps my skin from getting greasy or getting buildup: My skin is now so manageable. And the peels: I assumed you could only get that level of exfoliation from a dermatologist treatment—I had no clue that was something you could get at home!
-
goop Beauty
GOOPGLOW 15% Glycolic Acid
Overnight Glow Peel
goop, $125/$112 with subscriptionSHOP NOW -
goop Beauty
GOOPGLOW Microderm
Instant Glow Exfoliator
goop, $125/$112 with subscriptionSHOP NOW
I press this probiotic toner into my skin after I wash my face. I can feel it working in a nice way that’s not aggressive or drying. And it layers so well with everything I put on top of it.
As I said, melasma is my thing. I know I need vitamin C, but the hard thing with many formulas is that they don’t layer well with my morning routine. They end up making me feel greasy or sticky and causing my makeup to slide off by midday. But this one is so light—now I don’t leave the house without this on my face. I put it on after toner and before my sunblock every morning. I’ve been using it for three weeks, and I’ve definitely seen more overall brightness in my skin. I’m not using as much foundation or concealer, either.
-
The Beauty Chef
Probiotic Skin Refiner
goop, $75SHOP NOW -
As I said, melasma is my thing. I know I need vitamin C, but the hard thing with many formulas is that they don’t layer well with my morning routine. They end up making me feel greasy or sticky and causing my makeup to slide off by midday. But this one is so light—now I don’t leave the house without this on my face. I put it on after toner and before my sunblock every morning. I’ve been using it for three weeks, and I’ve definitely seen more overall brightness in my skin. I’m not using as much foundation or concealer, either.
-
goop Beauty
GOOPGLOW 20% Vitamin C +
Hyaluronic Acid Glow Serum
goop, $125/$112 with subscriptionSHOP NOW
I don’t like to be in the sun at all, except for a little bit to get vitamin D, so I avoid the sun as much as possible. I never thought I’d find a clean version of sunscreen, and this one is so nice that I have multiples! One is in my travel bag, one’s in my car in case I end up somewhere unexpected, and we have three by our pool. I concentrate more on my forehead, where I get bad melasma, but use it over my whole face.
The ZIIP. Oh my effing god: worth every penny! First of all, I’ll do anything that Melanie Simon tells me to do. I love it for lifting—it gives me cheekbones. I get insecure about the stuff under my neck and chin, but I depuff instantly from that thing; I look noticeably different. I usually do it once or twice a week as a pampering session for myself, but if I’m going somewhere, even just to dinner, and I feel a little blah, it’s an instant lift.
-
Beautycounter
CounterSun Mineral
Sunscreen Lotion SPF 30
goop, $39SHOP NOW -
The ZIIP. Oh my effing god: worth every penny! First of all, I’ll do anything that Melanie Simon tells me to do. I love it for lifting—it gives me cheekbones. I get insecure about the stuff under my neck and chin, but I depuff instantly from that thing; I look noticeably different. I usually do it once or twice a week as a pampering session for myself, but if I’m going somewhere, even just to dinner, and I feel a little blah, it’s an instant lift.
-
ZIIP
ZIIP OX + Crystal Gel Kit
goop, $480SHOP NOW
MY MAKEUP
The Glowy Super Gel from Saie is fabulous. I mix that with the tinted moisturizer from Beautycounter every day. That’s my go-to combination—nonnegotiable, even if I’m just sitting down in front of my computer. It’s super light. I get so many questions about my skin. It’s the combination of these two with the goop scrub and the peel.
-
Saie
Glowy Super Gel
goop, $25SHOP NOW -
Beautycounter
Tint Skin Hydrating Foundation
goop, $42SHOP NOW
Because I’m insecure about how my skin is eight different skin tones—from the melasma and, you know, dark circles from being tired sometimes—finding a concealer has always been hard. Most kind of sit on me, and I hate when you can see light-colored concealer under someone’s eyes. But the Westman Atelier stick blends in magically. I mix the Beautycounter with the Saie glow, then apply the Westman as concealer around my nose and under my eyes—it is perfect, perfect, perfect.
-
Westman Atelier
Vital Skin Foundation Stick
goop, $68SHOP NOW -
Westman Atelier
Foundation Brush
goop, $80SHOP NOW
I’m really, really, really big on blush. I love the one from Kosas, which makes it look like I’ve just gone on vacation. I don’t wear too much lipstick, unless I’m going to an event and want to do major color. For the most part, I use Kosas LipFuel in Pulse and a lip liner from RMS. I’m into a little bit of bronzer on my eyelids and then great mascara, which I was positive there was no clean version of that would work for me, and the Saie mascara proved me wrong.
MY HAIR
My goal is shiny, shiny, shiny! I have soft, fine hair, so I can tell right away if a conditioner is going to work or not. These two are fabulous: The shampoo doesn’t get super lathery at first, but I do a second wash and it gets nice and sudsy. I can brush out my hair with no problems, and it air-dries with so much shine.
-
Sange de Fruta
Garden of Earthly Delights
Botanical Shampoo & Conditioner
goop, $104SHOP NOW -
Here’s how I use this set: The towel gets a lot of the moisture out of my hair. It has an elastic in the back to keep it secure—I can do jumping jacks in that thing! Once the moisture’s out, I put in a big dollop of the hair oil from the middle of my hair to the ends. Because my hair is so greasy and thin, hair oil had never been an option for me, but my hair soaks this up. It should be called a serum, by the way, not an oil. And the brush is amazing—I use it every day and bring it everywhere in my bag.
-
Crown Affair
The Set
goop, $220SHOP NOW
It’s funny, my husband always gets mad at me for leaving the house with wet hair. He’s like, “You’re going to get sick!” So I use this dryer to do my crown, the front pieces, and the roots, and it dries everything in two seconds. You know how sometimes your hair will get so hot that it feels like it’s burning? This dryer never does that. It gives me such a nice lift and honestly makes me look way more put-together. Before I leave, I use a little dry shampoo just in my front pieces and at my crown for shine and a little lift. This foam-to-powder formula blends right in and doesn’t stain my hands or fall onto my clothes. I use it before I even have the chance to get greasy.
