Movie star, beauty icon and mother-of-three, Jennifer Garner, shares how she balances her different life roles, and spills the secrets to her natural beauty.

When she’s not filming on set or bringing her A-game to the red carpet, Jennifer Garner devotes every moment to her three kids. We’d go so far as to call her a supermom (she helped spearhead the passing of a law in California to protect children from aggressive shutterbugs). We sat down with the Neutrogena spokesperson and basked in her flawless complexion—a testament to her passion for sun protection—while she shared advice, parental insights and, of course, beauty tips.

Who inspires you?
In so many different ways—and beauty is at the top of the list—Annette Bening. She’s always just stunning; she doesn’t apologize for who she is, where she is in life or what’s going on with her. When I worked with her in the film Danny Collins, I felt embarrassed because I had so many questions: “So, Annette, sorry, um, did you work out today? What are you having for lunch? And can I sit next to you?”





For Garner, moisturizing is key. "This body oil is perfect," she says. "I've used it since I was a kid—it's what I would spend my babysiting money on."
Neutrogena Sesame Body Oil, $10, shoppersdrugmart.ca.

What's your mom's top beauty advice?
My mother has given me one piece of beauty advice: “Jennifer, make sure you moisturize your neck,” I’ve always been careful about that. I think serums are effective, so I use Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Serum under my night cream.

What would you tell your 25-year-old self?
Twenty-five is a stressful time because you don’t know if you’re going to end up with a family and kids. You start to wonder, How long should I wait? I wish I could have told myself to travel, to enjoy not being tied down and to take advantage of being able to go anywhere in the world. Now, I would love to travel; it’s just hard to leave my little dudes for more than a couple of days.

How do your children handle having actors for parents?
My kids live such a different life than I did. When I grew up, we weren’t allowed to pierce our ears, we didn’t wear makeup and we didn’t have our hair cut, coloured or permed. Now, they see their dad [Ben Affleck] getting makeup done and they think it’s totally normal. My kids have a thing right now: As soon as I come home, they tell me, “Put on glasses. Put on glasses.” As soon as I put my glasses on and I don’t have any makeup on, they get so excited; they feel like I’m just theirs. I try to let them celebrate that; I want them to know that the most natural version of themselves is the prettiest.

Read more:
Jenn Rogien: The costume designer for Orange is the New Black and Girls
Girl Crush: Christina Hendricks
Fashion advice for when you're in a style rut

This article originally appeared in the March 2016 issue of Canadian Living Magazine.