Jessica Simpson Brings Her Endearing Charm to Khiel's Sun Care Campaign (Exclusive)

The star is infusing a little humor into her approach to sunscreen now

NEED TO KNOW

• Jessica Simpson is partnering with Kiehl’s for the brand’s Better Screen Miner-All UV Serum campaign
• The star is also reflecting on her sun-loving childhood and how it led to her to take sunscreen seriously
• Simpson shares how her kids, especially her 14-year-old daughter, Maxwell, inspire her skincare routine now

Growing up, summers at Jessica Simpson’s Texas home were the stuff of dreams. 

“I just was always in the pool,” says the author, singer and entrepreneur, 45.

Her mother, Tina, taught a Christian aerobics class, Heavenly Bodies, so there was always equipment lying around in the backyard. After a spin through that, a swim would always follow. 

Despite the extreme heat and humidity, life outside was something Simpson relished — until she got sunburned. The experience resulted in layers of her skin peeling off, she remembers. “I'm like, ‘When does this ever end?’ I think that's when I started wearing sunscreen,” she says. 

Simpson was about 15 when she traded baby oil for SPF 30. But in 1995, sunscreen was not the luxurious experience it is now. 

“You look back at pictures and it’s like, ‘why did you put that zinc stick on me that's hot pink? What is that?’” the former self-proclaimed “professional tanner” says. “It was so bad.” 

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Today, Simpson is partnering with Kiehl’s to shine a light on its Better Screen Miner-All UV Serum, available at Sephora. The titanium dioxide and zinc oxide formula offers up SPF 50+ broad-spectrum protection while also calming irritation and reducing redness. 

While it’s designed with sensitive skin in mind, the formula works for everyone, and has become a must-have for the mega-star. 

“I think everybody's trying to combat fine lines and wrinkles, and we want the healthy glow. And I feel like this product gives you a chance to have all of that,” she explains. “It’s lightweight, not greasy and you can put makeup on over it and it doesn’t peel off, which is the worst.”

The product’s benefits are why she leapt at the chance to be the radiant face of the corresponding Sun Sinners campaign.

“For me to partner with somebody, it is actually a big deal because I'm a horrible liar, so I wouldn't partner with something that I didn't actually fully, wholeheartedly believe in and that I could speak about from a place of truth and honesty,” says Simpson. 

She even has a bit of history with the brand. 

“Back in the day when I was promoting my first single at 19 years old, Khiel’s would gift me things. It’s been around for a really long time and has remained so steady, but has also evolved in really cool ways, so I was honored to be asked to partner with them, and it was an immediate yes for me because sunscreen is so important.”

A reformed Sun Sinner, in the campaign clips the star acknowledges her sun-loving past and embraces her skincare-conscious present, according to a release. 

Naturally, she does so with a bit of humor.

“Mineral, it sounds like men-are-all,” she says in one. 

“I'm like, ‘Why do we even write a script?’ she laughs, recalling that moment. “I guess that's how reality TV formed. [With anything] you will definitely get me. It's going to be real.”

Simpson isn’t just practicing a strict skin routine for herself, but for her three children as well. 

“I mean, they just know if they're putting their bathing suit on, they need to spray down or lotion up first,” she says. 

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But Simpson’s not the only one doling out skin tips in the house these days. 

“Maxwell, my oldest, who will be 14 in May, she teaches me. And so I'll ask her what Korean skin care products people are using, and we'll go in on this together. I will say Instagram and TikTok have been good for that. I didn't even know what eye cream was until I was in the business,” Simpson says.

While her bad skin habits from childhood have become a thing of the past, her wardrobe from her 20s is very much a part of her present thanks to Maxwell and daughter Birdie, who turns seven in March.

“I can't believe how much it's come back,” she says of the fashion from that era. “I was doing Jessica Simpson approvals and I'm like, ‘I have this. I own this. Wait, why does this feel like this?’ I don't know whether I feel old, if it’s just fun and sentimental.”

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She continues, “My 14-year-old wants to wear everything that I was wearing in my twenties. She’s like, ‘Mom, do you still have this?’ I'm like, ‘Yeah, I can go get it,’” and she retreats to storage.

Simpson acknowledges, “There's a lot of things that I laugh at and like, ‘Oh good Lord,” but in the end it takes her hours to return “because I'll discover all these memories and all this stuff from my past that I want to bring back and think that they should discover as well.”

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