Actress and YouTube dynamo Lilly Singh—queen of more than 2 billion views—shoots nine videos a week. That kind of schedule (with roles in film and TV on top) does not exactly lend itself to an elaborate skin-care routine. But Singh recently started making the time when she realized the effect her success was having on her complexion. “As I got older and my career became more demanding, I started to notice it on my skin—especially issues of dehydration,” says the 29-year-old. “I was like, Okay, I need to take proactive steps to fix this.”
Now Singh’s skin-care routine happens “no matter what.” After she wakes up—a time that varies drastically based on what she’s shooting or where she needs to be on any given day—she uses an Olay Daily Facials cleansing cloth, which cleanses and exfoliates any last bit of makeup she might have missed the night before. Next, she sprays her face with a citrus mist that tones and balances her skin. “Like a clementine snack,” she jokes of the scent, which she loves for its energizing effect in the morning. Then it’s on to serious hydration courtesy of Olay Regenerist Whip face moisturizer. “I really struggle with dry skin, because I’m not good at drinking water,” Singh explains. When she started using the cream, which has a built-in SPF 25, it was the first time in her life that she used a sunscreen-infused moisturizer. “I’d always experienced sunscreen as super-greasy,” she says. ”And because my skin is brown, an SPF would always show up as a purple color, so I just never used it.” With a light texture that goes on smoothly, Whips finally solved the problem: “I’m really impressed with how it blends into my skin.”
Next, she uses coconut oil, which she slathers liberally onto body and lips. “Growing up, my Indian parents thought coconut oil was the remedy for anything that went wrong—including if I broke up with a boyfriend,” she deadpans. Singh then pats on Olay Eyes Ultimate Eye Cream—a remedy for the puffy eyes and dark circles that she says run in her family.
Finally, if it’s a regular day of shooting (and she’s playing herself and not, for example, Manjeet, her stereotypical "dad" character, complete with a painted-on beard), Singh applies light makeup, curls her eyelashes, swipes on mascara, and fluffs up her eyebrows. “Priyanka Chopra taught me to comb them upward—otherwise they droop,” she says. The effect of all of this has as much to do with glowing skin as it does with being what she calls a “bawse” (further defined as “a person who exudes confidence, reaches goals, gets hurt efficiently, and smiles genuinely, because they’ve fought through it all and made it out on the other side”).
“The more I don’t have to worry about the little distracting things throughout my day, the better,” Singh explains. ”In the middle of a meeting or a shoot, I don’t want to be thinking: Is my skin dry? Do I look tired? I want to alleviate that so I can focus on what needs to be done, which is: You need to tell this joke.”