You probably know Paige DeSorbo from Summer House, Winter House, her podcast “Giggly Squad,” or her unparalleled chic fashion presence on social media. The point is you definitely know Paige DeSorbo. She just keeps gaining steam with a “Giggly Squad” tour coming up, the current season of Summer House rolling out, a pillow collection with Sewing Down South and a continuous stream of awe-inspiring outfits on social media. With all of this going on, Paige says one of her favorite times is still being on the road with her co-host Hannah Berner during which their differences and similarities really come into focus.
“In terms of beauty and skin-care stuff, I’m always in charge of it when we’re on tour. It’s turned into such a game. We never know who we’re really booking. So it’s a fun moment for me and Hannah. I’m always like gua sha-ing and doing my NuFACE. She rolls out of bed, and shows up like, ‘Do whatever you want to my face.’ We’re just so different in that aspect,” says Paige. “I always have a specific vibe, or I’m trying to recreate a look. She’s so much more free spirited.” The duo is the perfect pair. Tuning in to the podcast feels like eavesdropping on best friends that love to overshare. Lucky for me, I got to have my own girl chat with Paige about skin care, makeup, boyfriends, best friends and more.
What skin care are you obsessed with right now?
“I think one of the biggest changes in my skin-care routine in the past year is the NuFace. I bought a NuFace about two years ago during an Amazon Prime Day sale. Like so many makeup and beauty products, I didn’t use it for months. Then one day, I just incorporated it into my routine. It really did change how I felt about my facial structure. It’s great for when you’re retaining water, when you eat a lot of salt, you wake up the next morning and you’re puffy.
They came out with one that was smaller just for your eyes and lips ($160), so I immediately bought it. I love it. I’ve always been someone who loves lip injections on other people but would never get it for myself. I just think I would look crazy, but I love the way girls look with lip injections. I feel like the NuFACE gave me that feeling without actually putting a syringe to my lips. Then I bought it for my mom for Christmas. She’s the one that signs off because she’s always like, ‘You put so much stuff on your face. You’re doing so many things to your skin, let it chill.’ But she loved it too. So that’s how I knew it was a home run.”
Have you successfully influenced Craig to use any skin care?
“I pick my battles for sure. He was such a boy in that he didn’t understand how every girl is coming home and washing their face in the sink without just fully getting in the shower—he doesn’t know how we do it. He hates that the water drips down our arms and how we get the sink all wet and he doesn’t know how we’re so good at just doing it in the sink. So I taught him how to wash his face, and that’s really all I can ask for, and he uses a moisturizer—anything else is like pulling teeth. I also don’t want him to have a skin-care routine because I feel like men get better with age, and that’s frustrating for me, so I like that he doesn’t have one. I don’t need him aging better than I do.”
What is the weirdest beauty trend you’ve tried?
“For a little while, I was really into slugging, and I felt like that was kind of a weird trend. But I totally felt like it worked, especially in the winter in New York. I get so dry where my skin will hurt because I’m so dehydrated. So I tried that for a while, and I really did love it. But then I just got to a point where I was like, ‘I’m literally going to bed, and I’m so sticky, and I can’t even move my body, or I will ruin my sheets.’ So I don’t do that as much, but that was definitely one of my favorite weird trends that I tried. I definitely recommend it when it’s really cold out.”
What are some of your go-to makeup products?
“I’m always switching between things and trying new things. I feel like when I have a routine, it really only lasts a couple of weeks because then I’ll try something else or throw something new into the routine. My favorite right now, I tried the Il Makiage Foundation ($45) because I just kept getting the ads on TikTok. I really do love it. I really think that it did match my skin perfectly. Then I also love drugstore stuff. My favorite pressed powders are always from Maybelline, so I definitely go between high-end things and then drugstore things I think are superior.”
Kind of a personal inquiry because I’m nervous to get them. Did you regret your curtain bangs?
“I loved the way it looked, I love that whole vibe, I love the 60s hair, multiple layers, that bouncy look, I do love it—I just have such straight hair that I can’t ever really hold a curl or a flip for more than like 30 minutes. So when I would style my curtain bangs, they would look amazing for max 10 minutes, and then they would just go straight, and then it just looks like I had a really bad haircut.
So I loved it, but it just didn’t work for me the way my short hair just works for me, but I do love a curtain bang. I think they are so chic. They frame people’s faces so well. I really do think curtain bangs look good on everyone. It’s just very hard to style them every single day.”
You’re such a girl’s girl, which is so special on a show like Summer House but also an incredibly special trait to have in a friend. How do you continue to place so much time and value into your female friendships while you’re dating? Not everyone is great at that balance.
“I love my girlfriends. I hate men. All through my twenties when I was dating, I recognized that I was the type of girl that did love having a boyfriend. I would find myself changing little things, whether it was the way I dressed or hobbies I now had or putting off certain work commitments because it was better for his schedule. I always felt like I kind of went all in with boyfriends.
When I was 28 or 29, I got so frustrated with myself that I was like that. I was like, ‘No guy has ever changed his schedule for my schedule. Why would I do that for them?’ So I made an active decision to not base any career opportunities or things I wanted to do with my friends surrounding a guy, and I ended up feeling so much more equal with my partner rather than feeling less than them or jealous that they had so much stuff going on and I was just like their girlfriend.
I feel like it really wasn’t until my late twenties that I kind of started decentering men. Then naturally my female friendships just blossomed more. I went to an all-girls high school, so I’ve always just been around girls. My female relationships are just so much more important to me than I think other people. It’s true, the Sex and the City thing. I really do feel like I have certain girlfriends that were meant to be in my life and like our soul mates in a way. So I’ve just always leaned into that because guys will come and go, but my best friend from high school, she’s not going anywhere. I would kill her if she did.”
I feel like the world is your oyster right now. What do you hope happens over the next few years?
“It’s so interesting because I feel like when I was 25, I wrote a list of things where I was like, ‘Okay, I want to accomplish X, Y and Z before I’m 30.’ Now that I’m 30, I was like, ‘I should do that again. What are things I want to accomplish before I’m 35?’ But I just feel like I’ve always tried to plan so many things out, and sometimes when you don’t plan things, that’s when all these doors open for you because you’re not in your head, like ‘Oh, I have to do this or I have to do that or X, Y and Z won’t happen.’
So I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better at just enjoying the moment and going with the flow. In terms of my career, I’ve gotten so many random career opportunities that I would have never even dreamt of getting, so I’m kind of just riding that wave of whatever comes to me is meant for me, and I will eventually figure out where it’ll take me.”
