Dolores Catania is one of those celebrities who tells it like it is without gatekeeping, which we appreciate. The Real Housewives of New Jersey and The Traitors star is open about the in-office treatments she gets to maintain a youthful look at 55 and loves experimenting with new beauty products along the way. She’s also motivated by a desire to help other women feel confident in their own skin. That’s part of what drew her to her latest partnership with Laura Geller for the launch of the Line Smoother Targeted Fine Line Filler ($45).
Ahead, Catania opens up to us about makeup, skin care, in-office treatments, menopause and more.
First, you’re a big Laura Geller fan, right? Me too! She’s just as fabulous as her products.
“Yes! At my age, I made the mistake about two years ago of putting on my glasses and looking in the mirror after I got my makeup done. I saw every crease—everything—and not every makeup artist understands the art of doing a woman’s makeup over 40. So I’ve been using Laura Geller’s products now—thank God for Laura Geller—and everything she puts out is just the best. Long before I was friends with Laura, I was a fan of her brand. I don’t know how she does it, but her powders, her foundation, her blushes—they just don’t creep into my lines. She’s just a genius.”
And speaking of fine lines, tell me more about the new Line Smoother.
“There are so many things I love about it. Even though makeup helps hide my lines, ultimately, they’re still there. And they aren’t just from age, right? If your skin is dehydrated—winter is really hard on our skin—or sun-damaged or stressed, lines look worse. And that’s where this product comes in. I put it on my smile lines and the lines around my eyes, and it’s almost like being photoshopped without being photoshopped. It feels tight in a good way. I’ve also put it around my lips for a bit of smoothing. Sometimes I dab a little extra on my makeup throughout the day to freshen up a bit. I don’t know how it works, but it does. It works magic. It should be called the Magic Line Smoother.”
Laura Geller
Line Smoother Targeted Fine Line Filler
BUY NOW – $45
What other beauty products are you loving these days?
“I love the Baked Gelato Swirl Illuminator. Of course, because it’s also an Italian theme. I keep it next to me because this is what my makeup girl uses. I have all my Laura Geller favorites out. It just gives a nice glow—the JLo glow. When someone does my makeup, I say, ‘Just make me look like JLo.’ It gives me a nice highlight on top of the makeup that’s done—it’s my finisher. I also love the Baked Balance-n-Brighten Color Correcting Foundation in Medium.
For skin care, in addition to the Line Smoother, I also love the Future Renew Damage Reversal Serum from No7. I’ve found a lot of my favorite products through your [NewBeauty’s] BeautyPass. That is the holy grail of not breaking the bank and getting to try all these products for just the shipping and handling. It’s the best club besides being in the 40-plus club of Laura’s—I even have the sweatshirt and the socks, by the way.
Also, my daughter-in-law—well, Frankie’s fiancée—is an injector (the “Lip Boss of New Jersey”), and I was telling her about the lines and wrinkles on my face. But she told me I needed to be on retinol like yesterday. So the brand Medik8 has this Crystal Retinal Serum, which has become my new best friend. I’m using Level 6, and it’s become a key part of my skin-care routine right now.”
What’s your favorite in-office treatment right now?
“Well, I had just had my hands done. I had a Renuvion treatment about three months ago, and they look so youthful. Dr. Rubenstein in Miami is the hand guy. He did a fat transfer along with the Renuvion treatment, and I did not know I was getting engaged, so it’s not like I did that procedure for that. It just happened to work out for me.
I just thought my hands weren’t matching my face, and I was like, there’s nothing I can do. But then I was speaking to the Renuvion company, and they told me they do hands, too, and that Dr. Rubenstein in Miami is amazing. So I flew to Miami and got it done, and then I got engaged like two months later. My hands were in an article that 8 million people saw in People magazine, so it really was very fortuitous that I had the treatment, and I’m so happy for it.”
What was the recovery like?
“There was some bruising, but it wasn’t crazy. It didn’t hurt—I didn’t even take a Tylenol. I literally flew home the next day with my hands wrapped, and there were no problems.”
What projects are you working on right now?
“I’ve been working on a platform called ‘Her Terms’ where women can go for information on menopause because, of course, women’s healthcare is so marginalized and I don’t know if you know this but perimenopause starts at 36. So, as you know, hormone replacement has been frowned upon but it really is essential for us when we stop producing certain hormones at 35 or 36 years old and it starts to take a toll on our bodies. Actually, the biggest killer of women is heart disease and a lot of it is due to a lack of hormones. Testosterone is your thyroid’s best friend.
There are just so, so many things. The estrogen, the progesterone—these are all really essential to our bones as we get older and that’s why women suffer from all these health issues in the end, not even in the end but in their mid-50s. I just turned 55 and I’ve really suffered. I went to my gyno and I went to everyone and I was totally blown off. I really want women to be able to get information and a lot of the doctors are now concierge doctors which are very expensive because insurance doesn’t cover them. You know what else frustrates me: Testosterone is only covered by insurance for men. I feel upset that every woman is not eligible or able to get the treatments that would make their lives so much easier.
There’s so much that happens in middle age. There’s divorce; there are women quitting their jobs—CFOs and high-powered jobs—and crying in their cars in the parking lot before work. They’re quitting or retiring at the height of their careers because of suffering from menopause. It’s a very big deal. I want the woman who pulls up to her office and is crying in her car to know that it’s not because she can’t handle it anymore. She just needs hormone replacement—she needs help.”
