Lucy Hale on Her Fave $7 Mascara, Lash Serum, and Staples for Acne-Prone Skin

If you had to leave the house in five minutes, what are a few staple beauty products you’d apply or bring with you?

Wow, I mean, that typically is where I’m

at in my life right now. It’s so funny because growing up, I would allot maybe a full hour and a half to get ready, which now just sounds completely mental. For me, the most important thing is brows—no matter where I’m going or what I’m doing, I always apply brow gel. “Bigger is better” has become my brow mantra. I don’t even really touch them; I just let them go wild. So I’ll apply some brow gel, and then I’ve only been religiously using SPF for the last couple of years—I wish I could say I was diligent about it growing up—but I always use SPF. There’s this one by EltaMD that is good for breakout-prone skin which I love. It doesn’t clog my pores; it’s just really great. Hmm, and then maybe some lip balm? And that’s kind of it! If I have some more time, I might apply some concealer and mascara, but I typically just wear big sunglasses, anyway, and we have a mask on our face most of the time now, so we don’t really have to do much! My skin breaks out pretty easily, so if I don’t have to wear much makeup that day, I try to just let my skin breathe a little bit.

Speaking of skin, can you walk me through your skincare routine, both morning and night?

Yes! It's so sad because I love products. Like, I’m a beauty hoarder. I love trying new things, and I’m a sucker for everything.But I’ve realized as I’ve gotten older that my skin just can’t handle too much, and I’ve had to really cut back. I mean, I used to be the girl who had a 15-step skincare routine every single night. My whole approach to skincare now is really about consistency and less about the number of products I’m using.

But okay, I’ll start with my morning routine, which is a little simpler than my nighttime. I like to start by using a gentle cleanser to really get off all of my products from the night before and any oil that’s built up. Next, I’ll do a toner, and then it depends, but typically every other day, I’ll either use a vitamin C serum or a hyaluronic acid serum, or sometimes I’ll just kind of mix them together. I don’t really need to add a lot more moisture since my skin naturally produces quite a bit of oil, so I just put on that SPF, and that’s pretty much it for the morning.

So, okay, sorry I have to interrupt you here. Vitamin C serums can be so tricky for people with acne-prone or sensitive skin. Which one do you use?

Yeah! I’ve definitely had that problem, and a lot of vitamin C serums just made me break out even more. There’s a really good one from SkinCeuticals that’s specifically meant for breakout-prone skin. I find that with any products I use, I try to go the oil-free route, so with vitamin C serums, it can get a little tricky since so many of them are oil-based. But that’s a really good one that I’ve found.

Oh, are you talking about the Silymarin CF? It’s truly the only vitamin C serum I’ve ever been able to use without my skin freaking out. I break out super easily too.

Yeah, yeah, that one! And you know, I’ve actually found that using different products on different parts of my face really helps curb my breakouts. For instance, my cheeks and my forehead can handle more than my nose and my chin, so I kind of almost have to spot-treat all around my face with my different products.

And then for nighttime, if I have time, and if I have a whole evening, I’ll multi-mask. I’ll do a purifying mask. I’ll maybe do some microcurrent with my little NuFace device, which is amazing. But as far as my standard routine, I’m all about double-cleansing. It’s shocking how much stuff is left behind on your face when you just cleanse once [laughs], so I use a gel cleanser first, and that kind of grips everything and pulls everything out from the skin, and then I’ll do a milky, more moisturizing cleanser after that so I’m not overdrying or stripping my skin. I’m also a big believer in retinol. Teresa Tarmey makes a Retinol Gel ($105) that is a little easier on my skin and doesn’t make me flake. After that, I’ll use a hyaluronic acid serum or something that’s just really moisturizing. I’ll use a spot treatment with salicylic acid in it if I have any zits or breakouts, and then at night, I’ll apply a slightly heavier moisturizer, but it still has to be oil-free. And that’s pretty much it! Although, I will say that I love sheet masks, and if I’m traveling or on a plane or just feel like I need a little extra moisture, I love to sit in a sheet mask for 30 minutes. 

Do you have any favorites you use religiously? 

I love the ones from 111Skin—they’re bio-cellulose—which is a little more grippy—instead of paper, so they stay on your skin better, and it feels like the ingredients just soak in more. They make a couple of different ones that I really like. 

Nothing is worse than when your sheet mask just slides down your face.

[Laughs] Exactly.