Cynthia Erivo Shares Her Guide to Skin Care and All-Brown Makeup

Cynthia Erivo reveals her 50-shades-of-brown makeup routine, from her go-to palettes to the chestnut-colored lip pencil that doubles as eyeliner.

Cynthia Erivo Shares Her Guide to Skin Care and All-Brown Makeup

“Cleanser, always,” Cynthia Erivo says as she kicks off her extensive morning getting-ready routine, which includes 14 skin saviors, ranging from a microcurrent sculpting device to a calming toner and intensive hydration serum. “You’re thinking, ‘Why does she have so much to do for her face?’ and ‘Does she have that much time in the world?’ ” the 34-year-old actress, who earned an Oscar nomination for her star turn in Harriet, says. “I don’t. I make it.” Needless to say, a catered-to complexion is a must for Erivo—especially after she experienced a particularly bad bout of irritation. Picking up an anti-aging sheet mask from Talika, she adds, “I started discovering what works, what didn’t work—and it’s changed over time.”

When it comes to makeup, Erivo employs even more products—albeit ones in the same wheelhouse: “All I’m using are different shades of brown,” Erivo says of her stable of chestnut and chocolate-hued pigments and palettes. First up: two Dior foundations and a creamy Nars concealer, which help her achieve an “I woke up like this—but better” facade. Finding formulas that match her complexion, however, has not always been easy. “I remember I was doing this charity gala, and we had to be made up. When I went to sit at this makeup artist’s table… she had to admit that she didn’t bring any of my shades. She didn’t bring any shades for darker skin tones at all,” she recalls. “It took me a while to start trusting that people would have my makeup with them, so I’d always bring everything with me, just in case.”

These days, she notes, the cosmetics industry has at long last begun to make strides towards inclusivity, but that experience—and surely countless others—made her a bona fide pro at product placement. Case in point? To emphasize her eyes, she reaches for a handful of powders, a lash-lengthening mascara, and one terracotta-colored MAC lip pencil, which she draws onto both her waterline and pout. After filling in her mouth with a creamy bullet, she then stares into the camera: “Do we want to use a gloss?” she asks before ultimately swiping on not one but three top coats. In other words, it’s all about experimentation for the platinum-haired beauty maven—and why not? “I think wherever we can we should play,” she muses. “I want to see what it looks like. I want to see whether it works. If it doesn’t, it’ll grow again. It’s never really the end of the world, you know?”

Below, shop Cynthia Erivo’s Beauty Secrets.