We'd like to make this clear: Madelaine Petsch's beauty routine [1] doesn't actually consist of 38 steps. The Riverdale [2] star was featured in a YouTube video for Vogue last year in which she gave viewers a rundown of her entire regimen from skin care to makeup, and extensive as it was, she wants you to know that her everyday routine is a lot more pared down than that.
"This is going to haunt my life," she told POPSUGAR. "No human being in their right mind has that much stuff on their face. I was under the impression that they were going to cut it down."
These days — especially since she's just been named a brand ambassador for Bliss [3] — she'd describe her skin-care routine as being pretty simple and filled with multi-use products. "I do actually use a lot of face tools in the morning," she said. "I'm very into icing my face before I go to work for water retention and puffiness. I do a nice lymphatic drainage massage on myself as well."
Skin-care routine aside, Petsch opened up to POPSUGAR about her post-quarantine plans, her holy grail hair product, and why she views beauty as a form of self care. Read ahead to see her thoughts.
On Simplifying Her Beauty Routine
The actress noted that being quarantined and spending less time on camera has allowed her to cut down the amount of products and treatments that had previously been staples in her beauty regimen.
"I used to do a lot more because I felt like I had to as an actress," she said. "I definitely think simplifying and finding products that cover more bases has been helpful."
Her skin-care routine may be simple, but if there's one specific area she focuses on heavily, it's the undereyes.
"I don't know if I'm crazy or if everybody does that, but I just really love eye patches," she said. "The Bliss Eye Got This Under Eye Masks [4] ($4) make me feel luxurious no matter what I'm doing. I'll throw them on to go to the gym or before I do whatever. It's such an easy thing to do where I feel like I'm doing a little self care."
On the Beauty Products She Keeps Around On-Set
"When I'm on set, I'm married to blotting papers," she said. (She didn't specify her favourite, but we love the Clean & Clear Oil Absorbing Facial Blotting Sheets [5] ($5)). "They're like my best friend, because you don't want to put too much stuff all over your face all the time, so I find that it's easier to blot it off than put more powder on."
When blotting papers aren't enough, Petsch also has a hack for keeping her makeup looking fresh throughout longer workdays.
"When I have longer chunks on set, if I have a lunch window, I'll take all my makeup off other than my eyes and my eyebrows, wash my entire face, and then re-do my base," she said. "Otherwise it'll get really piecey and messy. I keep my Bliss Clear Genius Clarifying Gel Cleanser [6] ($10) with me on set, but it just makes my life a lot easier to fix my makeup like that instead of just trying to put concealer on.
On the Holy Grail Hair-Care Product She Relies On the Most
The actress has admitted in previous interviews that her hair-care routine is very minimal [7] for the most part, but there's one product she reaches for the most when she wants to look like she just stepped out of her stylist's chair.
"This is like the only thing I do to my hair, other than wash it: I use a night serum," she said, referring to the Kerastase Nutritive 8H Magic Night Serum [8] ($56) based on her description. "I've been using it for years. I put it on mid-to-end of my hair, and it makes my hair feel like a baby's bottom. That's a weird analogy, but it's so smooth and soft and it feels like freshly-washed, just blow-dried hair every time I use it."
On Her First Post-Quarantine Beauty Treatment
Like many of us, Petsch probably has a long list of things she's prepared to do in the event of a post-quarantine summer — first on her list of beauty treatments is obviously a facial.
"IPL and microneedling I haven't done in a year, which doesn't seem crazy to a normal person who's not on camera all the time," she said. "But you can see my pores on camera."