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People really hate the word moist—like really hate it, but Ashley Graham doesn’t. I sat on a couch in front of the supermodel in her hotel room on a balmy Saturday afternoon in Chicago, just an hour before she was set to make a grand appearance at Revlon’s Rollerama roller skating experience at Lollapalooza, and noticed this gorgeous, glossy sheen on her face—the type you get after a relaxing tropical vacation. Amazed by her glow, I said, “Your skin looks very moist, very glowy,” before apologizing for using that word.
“No, I like ‘moist.’ I’m all about moisture and having glowing skin,” Graham replied.
Ahead, the model shares her surprisingly simple beauty routine and proves that you only need a handful of products to achieve the glow of your dreams. Here are her tips.
Don’t forget to switch out your facial cleanser.
As the old adage goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But, when it comes to your beauty routine, a little change is necessary. Graham’s favorite cleanser is the SkinMedica Facial Cleanse but she likes to switch out her facial cleansers twice a year. “My routine has really been trial and error, and I don’t always stick to one brand,” she says. “But, it’s not because I’m looking to switch it out, it’s more like, ‘Oh, I want to try that product.’ If I try it, and I like it, then I switch over, and if I don’t, I go back to the basics.”
You can use certain beauty products on different parts of your face.
Who doesn’t love a multi-purpose beauty product? After working with makeup artist Katie Jane Hughes, Graham picked up on a few tricks, including using your eyebrow pencil as a lip liner. “Look how juicy my lips are,” she tells me. “It has a powdery formula and lasts all day long.” She also uses edge control to set her eyebrows to make her brows last through any weather, sweat—you name it. “She uses the gel—it has to be hard—with a really long spoolie and swipes it across my eyebrows.”
Skip foundation, use concealer instead.
“I don’t ever wear foundation unless if somebody’s putting makeup on me only because I like my freckles, and I like to show off my dewy skin,” Graham tells me. Instead, she uses concealer under her eyes, around her nose, and between her eyebrows before she adds a bronzer, highlighter, and blush—yes, all three—for a luminous glow.
Never leave the house without a foot mask.
Graham’s feet are really soft—so soft that she let me touch them for proof. “It’s like a sock. It’s a foot mask so because I’m always on the go, I never have time for a pedicure,” she explains. “I carry one of those scrubbers for my heels because it gets thick back there and I carry these foot masks from Sephora, and that why my feet are glistening right now.” She never leaves home without one in her bag.
“I use the hand masks, too,” she says. “I just throw it in my bag if I’m feeling dry or if I feel like my cuticles needs a little love. I also always travel with a cuticle trimmer. I hate skin. If I see a little piece of skin, I cut it.”
Every lady needs a tub of ointment in her beauty bag.
If you open Graham’s bag, you’re guaranteed to find a tub of Aquaphor. “I put it on my heels, my elbows. I put it on my lips. I mean, I’ve used it like a moisturizer on a plane if I have to. Not for the full face—that’s a little crazy.”
Rosewater is the perfect skin refresher.
I use rose water with glycerin,” she says. Rosewater is another multipurpose product in Graham’s arsenal. “I like the one from Whole Foods or any natural grocery store. I spray it before moisturizer, after moisturizer, before makeup, after makeup, in the middle of the day.” She even spritzes her face with rosewater when flying because it makes the skin “baby soft. Your skin feels like it’s got this moisture-laminate on it. It’s beautiful.”
