Emily Ratajkowski Is Proud to Be a “Bed Girl”

Welcome to Beauty Around the Clock, Marie Claire's weekly peek into the daily lives of some of the most game-changing men and women in their industries. Ever wonder how they get it all done in a day? Here's your answer.

Emily Ratajkowski is many things: An author (if you haven’t read "My Body," get on it), a model, a mom, an actress. I could go on. But after sitting down with the ViktorRolf ambassador, I’m pretty sure my favorite new descriptor for the multi-hyphenate is “bed girl.” She likes to lay. She likes to scroll on TikTok. And, she prefers to do her makeup from the comfort of her nightstand. “When I lay in bed, everything is well in the world,” the Inamorata founder ever-so calmly tells me as we sit side-by-side on a hotel couch. 

She’s perhaps the most relatable person I’ve ever interviewed—and not just because I share her love for a plush mattress. It shows in her beauty routine, too. She fell for the snail mucin craze on TikTok (I’m guilty), goes through Aquaphor like candy (who doesn’t?), and just wants a fragrance that’s going to make her feel like Rihanna (same, same). Here, Ratajkowski shares her skin, makeup, hair, and fragrance routine—top to bottom. Gatekeeping is overrated, after all. 

Rise Shine

My alarm clock is my son saying, “Mama.” He's been doing this thing where he tells me that he's dreamed about me, which is so cute. I make coffee and spend some time with him. Then I’ll turn to my own routine—sort of. 

Morning Maintenance

I usually don't wash my face in the mornings. The first thing I do is  put on vitamin C serum, then I put on snail mucin, and then I put on a vitamin C moisturizer. I do sunscreen, and that's my skincare.

Power Start

Cheerios recently—because of my son. If he's having cereal, I'll end up wanting some because it's just so good. When I cook him eggs, I just don't feel like eating them. But if he's like crunching on cereal? It looks so good.

Fitness Fix

I live in New York City so I walk a lot. I have a dog and I don't have a dog walker. Everyone thinks he's a German Shepherd. He's not. I'm a loser and I got his DNA testing. He’s 90 pounds, so he's a big boy. I do have a little backyard area, but he needs a decent amount of walks. Then my son is 35 plus pounds and I carry that man around. He likes to be held and I love to hold him, but it's getting serious. 

Signature Makeup

Then I start my makeup. I don’t do foundation, but I use concealer. Hourglass is what I’ve been reaching for recently. I’ll use Kylie’s Mascara. They used it on me on set and it’s so fluffy. I feel like I don't have to do that many layers. I love Charlotte Tilbury’s highlighter and contour. That’s how I bronze myself up. I use the Pat McGrath makeup stick and the freckle pen from TikTok—I really do love my freckles. My lips alternate, but I do love a good lip liner moment. Right now I’m using a MakeupForever one, but I really love the Rhode balms and all of the Pat McGrath lip glosses. There’s nothing like them. I can do it pretty quickly now—it’s all in all 12 products. So simple.

Self Care Ritual 

I am such a bed girl. Sometimes I just need to be horizontal with the blinds closed. Today, I have dinner plans and I might be a little tired, but we’re going to do it. I’m just going to give myself five minutes, on TikTok, in bed. I’ll pour myself a very small, but very nice, glass of red wine. I honestly might even start my makeup in bed because I might not quite be ready to get in the zone.

Signature Scent

Full transparency, not just because I’m the ambassador, I really love Victor Rolf Tiger Lily. My makeup is always about trying to look sun kissed, even though I'm not. I grew up in Southern California. I grew up going to the beach. I look the best at the end of August when I have a tan. I feel that Tiger Lily just embodies this tropical, sunny energy. It’s like when you’re at the end of a girl's trip and you’ve been on the beach and you have salt water in your hair, so you slip on a cool dress and you're just like, Am I Rihanna? 

I really don't wear fragrance every day. It's a special occasion thing. My mom taught me to spray on pulse points and I've just done that ever since. But if I have a dirty shirt that I want to wear I’ll walk into a cloud. 

Hair Help

I’m really bad with hair. It's not that I'm low maintenance, I'm just not that good at it. I've accepted that. I really just kind of do hair health. I've been working with Kerastace forever and I swear to God that I changed my hair. I really feel like with makeup you can do drugstore. But I think you should spend money on hair products. I used to not be able to grow my hair past a certain point because it would break. Now it grows and it's healthy.

Cheap-But-Chic

I feel like I never have enough Aquaphor. I need it all the time. I use it on my body. I use it for my son. I use it for my lips. 

Backup Career

Oh my God, I wonder what I would be doing. I feel like I was going to somehow be online just because of the age of Instagram. I was going to school for art, so maybe I would've been an artist. I actually think I would have been writing about art. That would have been very cool.

Beauty Icon

There are a lot of women I pull from and think look amazing, but I really think Penelope Cruz is just someone who really knows her face. She’s been on the scene for a long time and she consistently looks like herself and she consistently looks good. 

Daily Playlist

I've been listening to a lot of Fred Again. I’m not even an electric music person, or a country person, but Fred Again has changed that for me. My son loves Bad Bunny too. 

P.M. Routine 

I take off my makeup with Bioderma; it’s the best makeup remover. Then I wash my face with either Dr. Loretta or Dr. Dennis Gross face wash, which are both really simple and clean. I use retinol from Dr. Dennis Gross because it’s the only one that never gives me a hard time. His products are just great. I use snail mucin again and then sometimes I’ll layer that with Weleda SKin Food, depending on the season. When I wake up I’m ready to go.