As a beauty entrepreneur, influencer, and the visionary founder of KNC Beauty, it might be hard to believe that Kristen Noel Crawley doesn’t wash her face in the morning. “My morning routine includes just a splash of water to my face, since I don’t want to strip off any oils from the night before,” Crawley tells me in an exclusive interview for Her Campus. But don’t take that as a sign she isn’t serious about her skin care. Her bedtime routine is much different — “I usually do a very intense routine at night – like 12 different steps.”
You heard that right. “This is a luxury routine,” Crawley laughs. “I start with a micellar water … that just takes off the makeup and the dirt from the day. Then I go in with a foam cleanser. I’m currently loving the Re-Nutriv by Estée Lauder ($78). After that, I go in with my AgentNateur holi(water) Pearl & Rose Hyaluronic Toner ($58). I layer my eye care now. That’s the most delicate part of our face. I use my KNC Beauty Tiger Grass and Purslane Eye Serum ($28). It’s very lightweight, which I love! I lock that in with a heavy eye cream, like the Estée Lauder Re-Nutriv ($180),” Crawley says. I then go in with my La Prairie White Caviar serum ($790), La Mer Regenerating Serum ($435), AgentNateur’s Holi Oil ($155), and finish with a heavy cream. And then I’ll take a massager, a facial roller, and just massage my face while I’m watching my show.” Her current show? Mob Land.Crawley’s nighttime skin care routine shows how much thought goes into the products she puts on her face, and the ones she creates for others. “My motto is fun, effective, clean skin care. When people use KNC Beauty, I want them to enjoy themselves,” Crawley says. “I want everyone to live their everyday lives, and incorporate KNC Beauty in that without any struggles.”
KNC Beauty was inspired by a trip Crawley took to Tokyo a decade ago, where she saw firsthand the innovation taking place in the beauty industry. In 2016, she launched the brand with a KNC Beauty lip mask. “A lot of people forget to put SPF on their lips, which can lead to them being more dry and cracked. The mask is just a really good treatment for that,” she tells me.
Every day, Crawley has continued that journey of innovation. “When it comes to this [brand], I want to be a trendsetter,” Crawley says. “I don’t really care what other brands are doing. I want to do what’s natural to me and KNC Beauty.”And Crawley’s creative juices are flowing right now, thanks to TikTok. “I’m posting more on there, and it’s actually giving me such an outlet to be creative,” she says. “When I write down an idea, I have to think about how I’m going to shoot it, how it’s going to be cool and different from everybody else. It’s teaching me how to shoot, edit, voiceover, all these things. That’s kind of what I’m into right now when it comes to product development.” But it’s not the be all, end all for Crawley. “I try not to look at what’s new and what’s hot, because I don’t want to follow the trends. I want to be the trends.”
Her favorite trend right now? “Putting blush from my cheeks into my brow line to make a shadow effect,” Crawley says. “It’s so light and natural. Summer beauty for me is very light, natural, and easy. With summer beauty, you wanna look like you’re sunkissed.” As for her other summer beauty faves, “I use the U Beauty Tinted skin tint ($108) mixed with their sunscreen ($98).” She then goes in with Giorgio Armani concealer ($42) and cream blush. “I’m not a powdered blush girlie,” Crawley explains. “I also use the FENTY Beauty mascara ($20). They have a new brown one that came out recently, and I don’t think I’ll ever go back to black mascara.” She admits, “Fenty Beauty can do no wrong in my eyes.”
And when it comes to summer skin care, “you can be very dehydrated after a few days in the sun,” so Crawley says it’s all about bringing back that moisture. “My aloe masks are super hydrating and have aloe, cucumber, and green tea extract. After a day in the sun — along with our Big Set, which is our full line of face masks — they just revive your skin.”
Easy, effortless skin care is at the core of what Crawley does with KNC Beauty. “It’s light and it’s fun, and it works,” she says. “You’re just supposed to be living your life and incorporating KNC Beauty into that.”