EASY on the EYES
Digest salutes eight of soaps’ most beautiful women.
Is there anything you wanted to change about your appearance when you
were younger? “I wasn’t able to do a lot with my hair but when I got older, I was like, ‘I’m going to try all these colors and all these different styles. I’m going to shave it off and see my natural hair pattern.’ That really started me on a journey of loving myself more, even though it is quite expensive to do that. So, if I’m ever getting bored or if I’m feeling settled down, I change my hair and that all goes away. I highly recommend it.”
Any hair dye brands to recommend? “I like Arctic Fox, especially because its vegan and cruelty-free. That’s an absolute must.”
What are your favorite hair products? “I use Tracee Ellis Ross’s brand of shampoo, Pattern. It’s a line of shampoo and conditioner for curly hair. I also like Function Of Beauty and [Miss Jessie’s] Pillow Soft Curls cream.” What is your hair care routine? “I use a leave-in conditioner and I use a lot of water to keep my hair hydrated, especially when my hair is curly. It’s important to keep it moisturized.” What beauty products do you keep in your purse? “Perfume. I love smelling good. I love Marc Jacobs’s perfume. Love him.” What does your makeup routine consist of? “As far as makeup, I only really use concealer. My one tip is always keep a good brow. They don’t have to be twins, they just have to be sisters.” What is your go-to lipstick shade? “I love to go old-school. I go for a brown liner around my lips and then a gloss in the middle, which I love to switch up.” What about skin care? “I wash my face every day, more than once, and I do masks once in a while. That’s always good.” Do you ever worry about growing old in Hollywood? “I look at women like Halle Berry [ex-debbie, KNOTS LANDING] and she hasn’t aged a bit and I think, ‘That’s going to be me.’ I look at my mom and she just turned 65 and she looks like she’s in her 30s. So, I’m not worried about the age part.”
When you first started on B&B, you had short hair and wore a wig. What routine did you use to regrow your hair? “I started using red light therapy on my scalp. I also used growth serums and supplements and I started to grow my hair. Red light is insane. It made my hair grow so fast. Nutrafol is one of the [supplements] I used, and I would do weekly castor oil treatments. I did that for eight months. It was a pain but it worked.”
What is your makeup routine? “I love having my makeup done. However, I do my own makeup on the show, and thanks to our incredible makeup artists, I’ve learned so much about color and what makeup is best for mature skin versus young skin. The one thing I have known is keep it natural.
Makeup can cover imperfections but keep it natural because it can highlight the best features, as well.” What is your go-to lipstick shade? “I like different shades. I don’t have a particular favorite. I like to keep my options open.” What are your thoughts on plastic surgery? “I’ve never felt pressure to do anything. I don’t do Botox. I have the
Shar Pei forehead that everybody laughs at [laughs]. I spent a good part of my 20s and 30s doing Botox and all the stupid things, but I’m very happy with where I am right now. I’m not saying I’d never do it. Look, a lot of people do a lot of things and it looks great. I just feel as I’ve gotten older, it’s way more obvious on me — and if I couldn’t move my forehead, I make so many expressions with my face, it would be very noticeable.”
Any other skin care tips? “I love at-home lasers. There’s something called the Neurolaser that’s really great. I tend to have hooded eyes and it’s awesome. I’ve really noticed a difference. There is something called Myolift, which is an at-home microcurrent that stimulates the muscles and I think that’s really great. I love things that you can do at home.” What is your one must-have beauty product? “Sunscreen! Having dealt with skin cancer myself, I cannot stress enough how important it is to always apply sunscreen.”
What makeup products are you
enjoying right now? “The funny thing is, I don’t even wear makeup anymore unless I’m working. I do really like IT Cosmetics CC+ Cream. It’s a foundation and cream in one. It’s what I use on the show, and it works on me. I also use their Bye Bye Under Eye concealer. You only need to use the tiniest bit and it stays on. The mascara that I enjoy, which I actually learned about from Camila Banus [Gabi], is Better Than Sex [from Too Faced]. You don’t need a lot, it doesn’t flake easily, and I can cry on the show and it doesn’t run.” What’s your favorite beauty product from the drugstore? “L’oréal Micellar Cleansing Water. It’s cheap, it comes in a big container and it’s easy to take your
makeup off with it.” What do you wish your younger self had known about makeup?
“Not to wear too much. I definitely look back at photos and go, ‘Oh, Lord.’ We all used to wear so much makeup. Also, glitter is not your friend. Everything had glitter in it. I’ve joked about that with Farah
Fath [ex-mimi, DAYS] and Kirsten Storms [ex-belle, DAYS; Maxie, GH]: ‘Remember when we used to wear all that goopy lip gloss with all that glitter in it? The poor guys on the show had to kiss us.’ ” What beauty products are in your purse? “It would really be Aquaphor Lip Repair. It comes in a tube. That’s it, especially in this day and age of wearing masks on a plane.”
What is your go-to lipstick shade? “I’m searching again. Every time I find a lipstick shade I love, it gets discontinued. We joke about it at work. The last one I loved was from Urban Decay. They had this line called Naked. The lip gloss was called Walk of Shame. I had to buy up every one they had on ebay.” What products are must-haves for you
when it comes to hair care? “I love the line by Oribe. Sometimes I splurge on their shampoos and conditioners, but they’re kind of expensive. I use their Grandiose Hair Plumping Mousse and Gold Lust Nourishing Hair Oil. Their Superfine Hair Spray is really nice, too. It smells very luxurious. If I ever spurge on hair stuff, it’s that brand. Otherwise, I really like Biolage Hydra Source Shampoo and Conditioner.”
Who were your beauty icons growing up? “Tyra Banks and Britney Spears. I loved both of their personal styles and how beautiful they looked. You could tell they put thought into it, but they were naturally so cool.” What makeup products are your favorites right now? “My friend turned me on to Westman Atelier Vital Skincare Dewy Foundation Drops. It is perfect coverage and it gives you a glow from within. I’m obsessed with that. I also love the ILIA Limitless Lash Mascara, which I use on set every day. It’s a clean brand and I love using anything clean, especially around the eyes. I also love ILIA’S Multi-stick Cream Blush.”
What’s your favorite beauty product from the drugstore? “I love any brand of micellar cleansing water to remove makeup. It just works like a charm.” What are your favorite skin care
products? “Korean skin masks. There’s this brand called Petitfee. They make the best hydrogel eye patches and full face masks. They feel cool on the skin and the ingredients are really good. I like the Black Pearl & Gold Hydrogel Eye Patches. You can order them cheap on Amazon or from the website iherb.com. They’re awesome. I give them to everybody. They’re so luxurious.” What beauty products are in your purse?
“Countless lip balms, lipsticks and lip glosses. I love Image Skin Care’s Ormedic Balancing Lip Enhancement Complex. It’s fancy. It lasts forever. It’s like a lip mask. It is so hydrating and so good for chapped lips. I also like Hourglass Phantom Volumizing Lip Balm. It’s a lip plumper and lip tint in one. I really like the color Entice.”
What is your go-to lipstick shade? “My favorite of all time is Charlotte Tilbury’s Pillow Talk. More specifically, I love their Hyaluronic Happikiss Lipstick Balm in that shade. I wear it every single day on DAYS.”
Do you use any beauty gadgets? “I just started using a stainless steel gua sha. I don’t know if it’s a placebo effect, but I feel like I notice a difference as far as draining lymph nodes under my neck. You pull it up to your ear and then down your neck. It honestly makes me feel more chiseled. At first, I thought it was another gimmick; now I’m kind of obsessed with it.”
What beauty products are
always in your purse? “The
Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask.
I use it during the day because it stays on and doesn’t move all over my face, because I’m running my mouth so much at work and everywhere else [laughs]. As long as I’ve got that and a little powder and blush, I’m okay.”
What’s your go-to blush? “I have this Bobbi Brown palette that I’ve had for a really long time. It’s got a little bit of shimmer in it, which I like. It’s not overly glossy, but it has enough shimmer to make it look like the sun is hitting your face a little. I like to keep it natural.”
What’s your go-to lip color? “I like Benefit’s Benetint; that gives you just enough color. Fenty’s lip glosses are also really nice.”
What is your skin care routine? “I use a lot of the Cerave products and Aveeno’s Clear Complexion products. It gives me a little renewal without being overly harsh on my sensitive skin. I find that if I do too much, it dries out my skin. Those, you can just get at the drugstore, but I also use the Mario Badescu Vitamin C Serum. I will splurge on a good vitamin C serum because it really does help even out skin color and any little bumps you have on your face, any dark spots from the sun.” Who were your beauty icons growing up? “People like Diahann Carroll and [singer] Sade. They are so beautiful, but they still felt like you wouldn’t think they were a stranger if you saw them just waking up in the morning. It’s like the makeup they wore enhanced the people they are, they didn’t lose who they are in this makeup trend or that makeup trend.” Is there a makeup skill you wish you could perfect? “Winged eyeliner. That definitely takes some deep breaths, some focus. Also, just eyeshadow application. I’ve gotten pretty good at it, but blending on the shadow is so difficult for me. At the show, my makeup artist does such a great job with my eyeshadow every day. I’m like, ‘How?! If I did that, it would just look like all the colors combined!’ ” What products do you use for your hair?
“I have, like, a cabinet full of hair products and I kind of rotate through them, but I always use some kind of moisturizing leave-in. Paul Mitchell The Cream seems to hold my curls nicely, and I use Paul Mitchell’s gel after that and try to let it air-dry.”
What is your skin care routine? “I wash my face in the morning and at night, then do a moisturizer and sunblock — rain or shine, I always wear sunblock — and a retinol at night. I like to use an antioxidant serum in the morning and I’ll throw a hyaluronic acid serum in there, too — I’m on my third bottle of the green tea one from Innisfree. My nighttime moisturizer that I’ve been using for a bazillion years is from Origins, their Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask. It’s reasonably priced, it’s easy to get and it just works. And I put Vaseline around my eyes every night as extra moisturizer.”
How has your routine changed as you’ve gotten older? “Adding retinol is a big deal when you start to age; it helps your cells turn over, so it helps with fine lines and wrinkles. I use tretinoin and my skin really likes it. And
I’m not shy about talking about lasers. I do a little maintenance a couple of times a year to help with my dark spots because I have had melasma ever since I had kids, so I get dark patches on my cheeks and above my eyebrows. The lasers break up the melanin and kind of brighten everything up, as well as stimulate collagen and resurface the texture of your skin. I’m all about maintenance just to age gracefully.” Do you take it as a compliment when your fans say, “She never ages”? “I take it as a compliment on a good day, but if I’m not having the best day, I do feel like it’s a lot of pressure. You know, it isn’t easy for us actors! Sometimes it’s really hard to see pictures from 20, 25 years ago versus now, because clearly, we all look a little older. But I am always so flattered that people think that and when they call me a vampire? I love that!” What is your holy grail beauty product? “I never leave the house without lip balm. The
one I absolutely love, and I wear on the show, is from Maybelline, their Baby Lips Dr Rescue in Coral Crave.” What other beauty products are you digging right now? “NYX’S Control Freak Eyebrow Gel, I love. And I have discovered Too Faced’s Better Than Sex mascara. I have always been a drugstore mascara girl, but after using this one, I think I’ll spend the extra 10 dollars.” What are your favorite hair care products?
“For the last eight months, I’ve been using an oil from Najeau, a small, woman-run company. They’re all about nourishing your scalp, and it’s so good for people who have thin hair or are losing their hair. They have follicle drops and a nourishing mask and I do that treatment once a week; I sleep in it and my hair loves it.”
What beauty product are you really into at the
moment? “Bobbi Brown
[Cosmetics] has this new company called Jones Road that has Miracle Balm and I love the rosy shade. You can put it on your face, your lips, your eyelids, but I just like to use it as a blush and it comes in all these different shades.”
What do you use on your lips? “ILIA and the color I use is called At Last. You can also use it as a blush.” What beauty products do you usually pick
up at the drugstore? “I love any kind of sheet mask. I’ve got this ice roller, which I picked up at CVS and keep in the freezer, that I use to roll over my face and the sheet
mask and it just feels so good.” Have you learned any makeup or hair tricks at Y&R that you use in your everyday life? “Lauren, who does my hair, uses volumizing fibers in my hair and now I use them in my normal life every day. It’s been a game changer. I have a lot of hair but it’s fine and it just needs an extra kick.” What is your own skin care routine?
“I actually don’t wash my face but use two different serums. In the morning, I use a vitamin C serum, and then a niacinamide serum at night. I don’t like to spend a ton of money, so I use a lot of products by The Ordinary. My skin is really sensitive so I have to use a lot of things without fragrance.”
Have you ever been influenced to buy beauty products because
of Tiktok or Instagram? “I was influenced by social media to try Hanacure [skin care products]. I’ve tried their mask, and you paint your face with what feels like glue but it has a lot of active ingredients and brings crap out of your skin. When you wash it off, your skin looks incredible. It makes your skin so smooth. I noticed a difference when I started doing that once a month.” What beauty product must always be in your purse? “Lip balm by Ormedic. It smells like butterscotch and it’s just so nice.” What has been your worst beauty blunder? “I saw a video of basically a face shaver that you use to do your eyebrows and I accidentally shaved off a huge chunk of my eyebrow. I looked crazy and it took almost two months to grow back.”