‘RHONJ’ star Jennifer Aydin shares her favorite Amazon beauty buys

“The Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Jennifer Aydin knows a thing or two about vanity. As the wife of Paramus-based plastic surgeon Bill Aydin, she has taken advantage of her enviable access to nips, tucks and tweaks, showcasing her husband’s work on the Bravo reality program.

The plastic surgery enthusiast is so passionate about looking good that in 2021, she launched a beauty pillow designed to aid post-op recovery. The idea for the pillow was inspired by visits to her husband’s office. “I hated the way the pillows at the office were,” she says. “I would get a kink in my neck!”

Aydin worked with a product development specialist to design the pillow, which she says is incredibly useful even outside of postoperative recovery. “If I use my pillow, even if I sleep on my side, my cheeks, my lashes, my lips, my brows, none of them will ever touch my pillow,” she says, “so they stay in good shape.”

We asked the appearance-obsessed Housewife (is there any other kind?!) to tell us what products she swears by when it comes to looking her best, from her go-to lip balm to a product that helps her “fake it till she makes it” when it comes to her thinning hair.

Aydin takes good care with her own smacker. Her go-to lip balm is Blistex Lip Medex, which she loves for the tingling feeling the medicated formula delivers when applied. “I have those throughout my house. I have them all over. Like, I literally walk around with one in my pocket, there’s one in my car, there’s multiples in my junk drawer. I always have one handy if someone needs one.”

“My dollar store had this lipstick that was my go-to one and they discontinued it,” Aydin says. “I hate it when they do that. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!” While her signature shade of Jordana Matte Lipstick is unavailable, a similar shade, “Natural,” is available on Amazon.

To achieve the perfect shade, Aydin pairs a neutral lipstick with this pretty deep pink Huda lip pencil. While she prefers a matte lip, she finds that the formula can be drying. “I love the look of it,” she says. “It’s just sometimes when it’s too dry, you feel like you don’t have any movement in your lips.” A dab of her trusty Lip Medex solves that problem.

$35.45 $32.96 at Amazon

Aydin gets most of her skin care products from her husband’s plastic surgery practice, with some exceptions. “There is one skin care product that I’ve been using literally ever since I hit puberty, and I’ve never found another product better,” she says. “It’s the Clinique toner in number two, and let me tell you, I will take off all my makeup, I will have a makeup remover, I will clean my face, I will come out of the shower and every time I use this toner, there is residue on that cotton pad!”

To combat the dryness that winter weather, frequent hand-washing and the use of hand sanitizer causes, Aydin reaches for Eucerin’s hand cream. “I buy in bulk because I have five kids and they’ll all grab one and walk away with my lotion,” she says. Like Lip Medex, Aydin can always find her trusty hand cream nearby. “They’re all over — they’re in my car, they’re in my bag.”

When chapped winter hands need an extra boost on the moisture front, Aydin performs what she calls “Hand Treatment,” adding Aquaphor to her moisturizing routine. “What you do is, you put the Eucerin on to moisturize your hands, then a thick layer of Aquaphor and sleep with that on.”

Intense hand moisturizing benefits from the use of white cotton gloves, which help with the absorption of skin care products. Aydin uses these gloves when performing “Hand Treatment” — and she shares a super-smart trick she came up with to make the gloves a little less restrictive. “For my kids, I actually will cut off the fingertips so that they can use the computer.”

Aydin admits that she struggles to maintain a daily vitamin regimen. “It’s all about consistency. Vitamins work if you take them all the time; they will not work if you take them sporadically, and that is something that my husband does reiterate to me on a daily basis.” Collagen is one of the supplements Aydin’s husband recommends when it comes to slowing down or reversing the signs of aging, particularly wrinkles.

Aydin swears by Star Glue when it comes to applying false eyelashes. “The reason that I love it is because it’s very tacky, so when you put it on, it sticks right away — I hate it when you put on glue and it’s wet and it’s not staying and you’re getting glue on your fingertips. Not this one! You put it on, give it 15 seconds and it sticks when you put it on your eyelash; it’s the most user-friendly that I’ve tried.”

When it comes to lashes themselves, Aydin isn’t brand loyal. “I will just go to the drugstore and I’ll get whatever they have.” She typically picks up Ardell or Kiss brand lashes, which she says she likes because “they’re practical. You don’t care if you throw them out after a few days of use.”

Aydin admits to being “obsessed” with her brows, and she likes this particular brow pomade because of its subtle auburn hue. “I like a very bold eyebrow, and I like this because it has a little reddish undertone, so when I use it, it really brings out my eyes and it makes it a lot warmer than a regular dark brown tone.”

One supplement she does manage to take regularly is Nutrafol’s hair growth formula. Aydin, who takes great pride in her hair, says, “I feel that your hair is your crown and your glory.” Taking these supplements has led to a marked change in her hair. “I definitely noticed my hair getting longer,” she says, “but again, it’s all about consistency.”

Aydin’s hair care routine starts with Toppik’s Hair Building Fibers, a keratin-based product that creates the appearance of thicker, fuller hair for people who are experiencing hair thinning or loss. “I have a lot of hair, but I’ve been losing the hair that cradles my face, so I have to fill in the blanks because I don’t like see-through hair!”

Aydin relies on a number of boosting and texturizing products when styling her hair, using five styling products as part of her everyday routine. She prefers products that do double duty, adding volume and helping to extend the life span of her blowouts, like this Oribe dry spray, which she uses when she needs to get one more day out of a blowout.

Aydin finds that after a blowout, her hair can lack oomph. “The hair just lays there,” she says, “with no style, no volume, no nothing.” Kenra’s texturizing powder fixes all that, and then some. “So I use that texturizing powder all the time,” to add volume and, she adds, “it actually helps take away any oil that is at the root of your hair.”

Kenra’s dry texturizing spray is another one of Aydin’s go-to products when it comes to ensuring her hair always looks good. “Even if you don’t have any makeup on, even if you’re going out in sweats, your hair has to be somewhat tamed. Even if it’s a ponytail,” she insists, “it should be in a nice tamed ponytail.”

To keep her hairstyle in place, Aydin reaches for Osis’ volumizing hair spray, which she says “smells so good!” She likes the spray’s lightweight formula and ability to multitask as a hair spray, volumizer and perfume. “It doesn’t keep your hair so stiff, and it gives you a little volume, gives you texture and your hair smells great.”

$44 at Amazon

When it’s time to put the finishing touch on her mane, Aydin uses Moroccanoil’s treatment oil on the ends of her hair. “After my blowout I put a dime-size drop in the palm of my hand, rub my hands together and pat down my ends” to create the appearance of a sealed cuticle.

The hair loss that Aydin experiences is caused by what’s called a “traction injury,” also known as traction alopecia, which is typically caused by wearing the hair in tightly pulled-back styles as well as from repeated brushing and using heat to style the hair. The vented design of the Olivia Garden paddle brush allows Aydin to dry her hair super fast, reducing the amount of heat exposure and resulting damage.

Aydin also uses Olivia Garden’s round brush for styling her hair. The snag-free brush heats up quickly and retains that heat to speed up styling time, and its snag-free design is gentle on the scalp and hair.