“I think I have a slight revisionist history about why I wanted to become an actor. Some people in my family say that I’ve been talking about it since I was a little kid. I spent my summers at Interlochen, an incredible arts camp, but I had a moment where I realized I could actually make a career out of it when I saw fellow campers applying to conservatory and arts programs. So when I graduated high school, I went on to study at Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, and after that, I shot The Wilds in New Zealand, and Tiny Beautiful Things in LA. Funny enough, two months after I signed my lease in LA, I got cast as Diana in Stereophonic [in New York].
Stereophonic was the last thing I auditioned for before the world shut down in 2020. That iteration of the play ultimately never went forward, but then in May of last year, I auditioned for it again and got it. Honestly, the whole trajectory of this play was not something I anticipated at all. We first started off Broadway, and my friends would come and ask if it might transfer. I remember saying, ‘Maybe, but doesn’t that take years? Who knows where I’ll be then?’ By the end of our run in December, the producers told us we’d be on Broadway by March. I feel really lucky to be able to do this—and to have been nominated for a Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play? I couldn’t have predicted that. I was in bed, looking at a text thread with my family, when nominations were announced. I was stunned when I saw my name. Especially to have been nominated in a category next to Juliana Canfield, my castmate who’s changed my life not just as a performer, but as a person. I felt very honored.
SKINCARE
I wear a lot of stage makeup for Stereophonic, but Danucera’s Cerabalm takes everything off really well without stripping my skin. I try to massage it in for a couple of minutes before getting in the shower. If I’m not double cleansing, I’ll just use La Roche-Posay’s gentle cleanser from their Toleriane line. It’s no-frills and just gets the job done. I get facials at Rescue Spa with Livia Fagaras, and she recommended the D22 Tonic from Danucera. It lightly exfoliates the skin. I also picked up iS Clinical’s Pro-Heal Serum when I was looking for a vitamin C serum. I’m really trying to be better with vitamin C because my skin looks less dull when I use it. My sister was the one who told me I need to get better with serums, so Danucera’s Mega Serum is also in the rotation.
The Rich Cream from Augustinus Bader isn’t cheap, so it’s hard for me to justify it as an everyday cream, but I like it when my skin looks a little more dull. Usually I just use Danucera’s Cream Supreme—it’s rich, but it doesn’t clog my pores. If I just want a moisturizer that I can really slather on when my skin is super dry and I don’t want to worry about the price tag, I like Vanicream. I also like face oils during the fall and winter. I love True Botanicals’ Pure Radiance oil. It smells amazing. True Botanicals’ lip balm is pretty great, too. The color really stays on despite me licking my lips all of the time—and it tastes good. [Laughs]
I have a prescription adapalene gel that really helps with the blackheads and sebaceous filaments on my nose, but I’ve also noticed a difference in my skin texture since I’ve had it—it’s more even. Two or three times a week, or when I have patches of dead skin, I use Tatcha’s Rice Polish. It’s a physical exfoliator, but it’s truly very gentle. I also use Masque Vivant a couple of days a week. People say it smells bad, but I don’t think it does. It maybe smells like soy sauce? And I’m really loving Biodance’s Bio-Collagen mask. It goes on white but turns clear. Even though it’s a sheet mask, it’s not like other masks that slip off, so you can walk around with it on.
If someone asks me about my desert island beauty products, I’m not going to say eye cream, but a while ago, my dark circles were pretty bad so I picked up Biologique Recherche’s Creme Contour des Yeux Biosensible. I love that it’s packaged with a cold metal wand. I switch between that one and Danucera’s Iconic eye cream. And then I’ve used La Roche-Posay’s Anthelios tinted SPF 50 for a while. I don’t wear foundation or concealer every day, and this gives me just enough coverage and a little bit of glow. You can get it at every single pharmacy and I like that if I run out of it, I know where I can go to buy it fast.
MAKEUP
I really like walking through the world feeling like myself. Sometimes I buy a piece of clothing because I’m like, ‘I want to be this girl,’ but then I never wear it because I never wake up in the morning wanting to be that girl. I have a similar feeling towards makeup. I’m interested in experimenting more but I gravitate towards the same things over and over again.
My favorite mascara is CoverGirl’s Lash Blast in Black Brown, which opens up my eyes without being too much. For my skin, I love Kosas’ concealer in 1.5 C because it doesn’t crack and blends out nicely. It’s still a little pricey, but I’m not spending $60 on concealer either. I mostly use it on my nose to cover up redness. Giorgio Armani’s Luminous Silk foundation—I use 3.75—is simply the best. It really looks like skin. I guess it’s pricier than other foundations, but it lasts a really long time for me. I actually like to buy a travel-sized bottle because I don’t go through it quickly enough and I don’t want the foundation to oxidize.
Sometimes I wake up and I don’t like my face—like maybe I look a little puffy—and that’s when I pull out Westman Atelier’s contour stick in Biscuit to carve out my cheekbones. I wear it on my eyes some days, too. Meanwhile, Chanel’s Multi-Use Glow Stick in Dragée gives me a nice flush. I love wearing it on my nose, and sometimes my lips, if I’m not wearing any other makeup. If I want more color, I grab the Healthy Glow Sun-Kissed Powder from Chanel in Light Coral. I swipe my brush on the bronzer part, and then take a smaller brush to brush the pink on the apples of my cheeks. I stayed away from bronzer for a while. I was really into the porcelain doll look, but I was also a little traumatized from high school, when bronzer turned me orange. Oh, and by the way, if I want to have a blush on the go, I throw Charlotte Tilbury’s lipstick in Pillow Talk Medium in my bag. I got it from a makeup artist who made my lips look incredible, but it’s a little more pink than I want it to be so I use it on my cheeks instead.
Makeup artist Shayna Gold gave me Make Up For Ever’s lip liner in Anywhere Caffeine, a warm caramel nude, for the Tony’s. The color really matches my lips, so it can really make them look slightly fuller than they are. When I want more pink, I go for Laura Mercier’s lip liner in Rosewood. My lips look so juicy with it. Sometimes I put on Chanel’s Rouge Coco Baume in Fall For Me over it.
HAIR
A couple of years ago, I started getting a few wiry, gray hairs. Maybe I’ll dye it for a job one day or I’ll want to experiment, but right now, it feels authentic and raw. I know people look at it as an age marker, but I just think the color is so cool. I really want a skunk stripe really badly—Also, I guess I’m quite conventional in how I do and wear my hair and what type of haircuts I get, so this is my small way of being unconventional. Imagine: Sarah Pidgeon, silver fox at 28… [Laughs] That and I don’t want to go to a salon every six weeks for touch-ups. I already get haircuts with Megan Robinson at Pearlita every couple of weeks and that’s enough. She does dry cuts with a razor, and I like that I can really visualize how it’s going to look as she’s cutting it. I don’t ever leave the salon being like, ‘My hair is never going to look even close to what it looks like now.’ I’ve also never gotten a bad haircut from her.
I was introduced to Rōz’s shampoo and conditioner from a hairstylist in LA. I have a bit of a natural curl and wave to my hair, and the Rōz products allow my hair to do its natural thing without getting frizzy. They also smell amazing. I have scalp eczema psoriasis, which can be embarrassing. It’s not as hard to deal with in the summer because my scalp isn’t as dry, but I have a medicated shampoo that I use sometimes. Aside from that, I use Head & Shoulders shampoo and conditioner to keep it all in check. Oh, and I love Crown Affair’s oil. It smells great, too.
Last year I bought Shark’s FlexStyle because I started going to more events and didn’t always have a hair person. It just gives you a good blowout, and my philosophy is that if my hair looks nice, it doesn’t matter how my face looks. I also don’t know how to give myself a blowout using just a brush and a regular hair dryer, and this really simplifies the process.
If I want a little extra something, I spray Byredo’s Mojave Ghost hair perfume. Hair really holds on to scent and I love that people can smell it on me when I hug them. It’s a little masculine but still warm and not at all overpowering. I’ve had the same bottle for years because a little goes a long way.
FRAGRANCE
Le Labo’s Gaiac is one of their city scents—it’s inspired by Tokyo. You can only buy it in September, but if you have a bottle then you can get it refilled. It’s woody and musky and sexy, and whenever I wear it, I get compliments. Comme des Garçons’s Blackpepper is a little more fresh but still sexy. I wanted to buy it for so long. Before I took the plunge, I would spray it at the store, and if I was wearing a sweater or a shirt, I loved that I could smell it on me later. Meanwhile, Perfumer H’s Ink smells like ink dried on paper. My friend Ben turned me on to it. The bottle I have right now is his, so it’s our bottle actually. [Laughs]”
—As told to Daise Bedolla
Photographed by Shana Trajanoska in New York on July 22, 2024