Simple-But-Genius Celebrity Skincare Secrets

If you're on camera a ton—as most active celebrities are—taking care of your skin is paramount. Yes, there are high-priced facials and dermatologist procedures involved, but plenty of celebrities swear by protocols that are actually...easy? Think: drugstore products, simple cleansing, a bit of Botox, a daily smoothie, or just getting lots of water and sleep. Ahead, simple-but-genius skincare tips celebrities swear by.

Tyra Banks

Even though the beauty product we often associate with Tyra Banks is Vaseline, she told TODAY in 2018 that her big skincare secret was exfoliation, and that it "was a big deal in our household. Nothing fancy, just a washcloth and using it twice a day. In the morning and at night."

Reese Witherspoon

Witherspoon loves squalane (a vegan version of squalene) as a molecule that works similarly to the skin's natural moisturizing. In a 2023 Instagram video, Witherspoon shared various Biossance products (she has a partnership with them) and explained, “That ingredient helps the cream go deeper into your skin to deliver way more active ingredients to help repair your moisture barrier.”

Olivia Palermo

Olivia Palermo's wellness routine includes weekly facials, acupuncture, exercise, and weekly dermatologist visits, but a big secret (as told to Marie Claire) is in the food she eats. "I love a smoothie and I have one every day. I do strawberry, raspberry, banana, orange, and a little bit of yogurt or oat milk. Blend it all together and that’s it. I get my antioxidants in, it keeps my skin feeling fresh, and it’s important to get your berries."

Kate Hudson

Kate Hudson has a detailed skin routine, but she does most of it at night (no washing her face in the morning, as she told Glamour in 2022). She uses a facial steamer "at night, but I don’t steam every day. I don’t think that’s good for your skin. I steam maybe two, three times a week."

Hailey Bieber

You won't have to go very far to find Hailey Bieber's favorite morning cleanser: CeraVe’s Hydrating Facial Cleanser with ceramides and hyaluronic acid. It's a drugstore purchase and, while obviously not the only product for her face, makes her gorgeous skin feel more obtainable.

Chrissy Teigen

Chrissy Teigen has shared that she uses a "steady stream" of Bioré chin and nose strips (a drugstore pick! Love to see it!) and even, per her Instagram, started using them underneath her masks during the COVID-19 pandemic to "get those rent free blackheads out."

Emily Ratajkowski

Like many celebs, EmRata relies on French pharmacy staples like Bioderma; she also shared with Vogue, "When I’ve washed my face, then I use Biologique Recherche P50—some people don’t love it, but I am somebody for whom retinol is too extreme, so P50 is a happy medium. It balances my skin and I layer it with a pretty thick moisturizer."

Olivia Wilde

In 2018, Olivia Wilde shared her beauty routine with Vogue. In it, she shared that she actually didn't use moisturizer but instead used face oil (True Botanicals Pure Radiance Oil), saying that it went into her skin instead of sitting on the surface and wouldn't interfere with her makeup application.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

As she told Marie Claire in 2023, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley keeps it beyond minimal in the morning. "This actually sounds really gross, but I don't wash my face in the morning. I use rose water from Santa Maria Novella. I'll take a cotton round, really douse it, and smooth it across my whole face, wake my eyes up, and wake my complexion up."

Jennifer Lopez

In addition to some of the classics (wearing sunscreen, moisturizing, and drinking water), Jennifer Lopez believes very strongly in the power of olive oil to help with dryness of hair, skin, or nails. Her beauty line even includes the JLo Beauty Olive Complex.

Candice Swanepoel 

In a 2015 interview with British Vogue, Candice Swanepoel explained, "Because I wear a lot of makeup for work it's really important to keep my skin clean after work so I use a great natural face wash with tea tree oil and green tea. I use organic coconut oil to take my makeup off, I also add it to my smoothies to keep my skin glowing. It's a great all-round natural beauty product."

Cate Blanchett

For Cate Blanchett, her secret is actually avoidance. "I’m eternally grateful that my mother always encouraged me to stay out of the sun and wear sunscreen [when I was growing up]. With very pale skin, it was especially important not to become a bronzed sun bunny. I think 90 percent of people who have issues with their skin—health-wise and also in terms of satisfaction with their complexion—are actually talking about sun damage."

Joan Smalls

Joan Smalls uses a mix of products on her face depending on what she has on hand. “I love Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair, the serum...I always mix that in with my moisturizer. Even though the bottle says ‘Night,’ I still use it throughout the day so I get the benefits all the time." But if she doesn't have that, she'll use honey “for a moisturizing home-remedy.”

Lily Aldridge

In 2020, Lily Aldridge revealed some fun details about her nightly routine: "If I'm going out, I always start my routine with a 111SKIN sheet mask or a DIY Greek yogurt and honey mask that moisturizes and softens my skin...Then I take a hot shower where I like to use a homemade body scrub made with ground coffee and coconut oil."

Jennifer Aniston

Jennifer Aniston is diligent about drinking water and using diet and exercise to keep her skin healthy. But she does have one fun little secret: she gets a bowl, fills it with ice, and splashes her face 25 times, saying it gives her energy and "tightens everything up."

Elizabeth Taylor

In a "stars, they're just like us!" moment, Elizabeth Taylor apparently used drugstore brands on her face. "She put cream on but she didn't use fancy brands," Tim Mendelson, her personal assistant, said, adding that she was also known to use ice water or tea bags under her eyes.

Demi Moore

It's wild how incredible Demi Moore looks—may we all be blessed for such healthy skin as we age! Instead of one moisturizer, she puts a mix of three (Biologique Recherche Creme Dermopurifiante, Biologique Recherche La Grande Crème, and Retrouve Intensive Replenishing Facial Moisturizer) on her face and shoulders.

Halle Bailey

Halle Bailey has amazing skin already, but her luminous Little Mermaid skin had a particular methodology to obtain: cleansing with Bioderma Micellar Water then applying Glossier Priming Moisturiser, Avène Soothing Eye Contour Cream, and Glossier the Balm Dot Com.

Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman has the simplest of beauty routines—massages once a month, going vegan, and just using face wash and moisturizer on her face. "I'm not very high maintenance with [my skin]—I can't really do a lot with my routine because I'm not good at keeping up with it," she told ELLE in 2024, calling it a "privilege" to age.

Christie Brinkley

Christie Brinkley does her skincare secret daily: "“I start every day by exfoliating my face," she told Byrdie. "That’s something I’ve done for the past 40 years. I feel like it’s really contributed to my skin feeling fresh and smooth. Forty years ago, I read an article that said men always look five years younger than women who are their same age. They contributed that to them shaving every day, and the daily exfoliating with shaving making their skin look younger. I was like, I’m not going to let them get away with that!"

Kristen Bell

At one point, Kristen Bell launched Happy Dance, which had CBD infused into its products. But she told Stylecaster in 2017 that her face mask is even simpler: manuka honey and sugar on her face as a mask for 10 minutes, about once a month (she also washes her face with the mixture).

Gabrielle Union

Gabrielle Union has been candid that her youthfulness is often down to lifestyle, telling Women's Health in 2017 that "I have pretty oily skin, I drink a lot of water, I don’t smoke, and I don’t have a hard life.” But she told SELF in 2020 that she also relies on a few ingredients like a sleeping mask from The Things We Do. "Holy ****, game changer...It lifts your face. It's awesome. I was like, Is it a mask? How do I sleep in this mask? It's weird, but you literally do and it doesn't get on your pillowcase or anything. It's pretty amazing."

Kate Moss

In an interview with British Vogue in 2020, Kate Moss insisted, "I don't really have a regime, it’s the bare essentials! I use a face wash and then sometimes I use a serum but usually I go straight for the Decorté AQ Meliority Intensive Cream, and I’ll add a couple of drops of the Decorté Vitality Tincture too. It works. You really see the difference. I gave it to all the girls for Christmas and they loved it." She also loves ice water on the face for puffiness.

Cher

Cher's skincare routine is apparently "eclectic," using different products she likes when she wants to (which, honestly, sounds exactly right for the icon). “I have a friend, her name is Dr. Barbara Sturm, and she makes an eye cream and face wash that I love. I love Jan Marini products too. I also have Proactiv products that I love,” she explained.

Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson, who cofounded her own beauty brand, naturally uses a lot of her own products. But a surprising practice is in her nightly routine, as told to the New York Times: "I wish I knew about dermaplaning sooner. I do it with a Tweezerman Facial Razor and my skin feels so soft after."

Princess Diana

Did you know Princess Diana reportedly suffered from rosacea? (The princess: just like us!) She apparently used both rose oil and avocado masks to soothe her cheeks, and then followed a very simple routine of cleansing, toning, and moisturizing to keep her skin calm.

Zoë Kravitz

In a beauty secrets video with Vogue, Zoë Kravitz revealed that her skincare routine (at least in the summer) is minimal beyond minimal. In total it's only a few steps, beginning with pumpkin lactic cleanser: she noted, “it smells like Christmas!” She also swaps beauty tips with her mom, Lisa Bonet, which seems like an incredible strategy.

Grace Kelly

Way before it was a mainstream technique, Grace Kelly apparently practiced double cleansing! Like many of her contemporaries, Kelly saw celebrity skin expert Erno Laszlo, who was a proponent of the method: "cleansing with one of the brand’s face oils, immediately followed by one of its cleansing soap bars, and then washing off the treatment by splashing one’s face 30 times."

Margot Robbie

Believe it or not, all the Barbies on Barbie had an intense skincare and wellness regimen, but (for obvious reasons) Margot Robbie had the most looked-after skin. The movie's skin expert noted that, for Barbie breakouts, “Always use salicylic acid and ice...ice reduces the heat and inflammation, then salicylic acid helps unclog the pores.”

Audrey Hepburn

According to Audrey Hepburn's makeup artist, the clean, clear skin she had was due to a very simple routine before he would apply makeup: "Soap and water. Some complexions can be very dry, but there are certainly special soaps for that type of skin."

Rihanna

For the singer and Fenty founder (who knows a lot about beauty products, naturally), hydration is key. Rihanna told Billboard in 2022, "I hydrate with coconut water and everything just has to be super high in moisture to keep my body hydrated." No surprise, she's also big on SPF.

Cindy Crawford

In an interview with Gala magazine and reported by the London Standard, Cindy Crawford was refreshingly honest about her skincare regime. "I'm not going to lie to myself: past a certain age, creams work on the texture of your skin but, in order to restore elasticity, all I can really count on is vitamin injections, Botox, and collagen."