Melissa Barrera may have made her big-screen debut last year with the movie musical In the Heights, but the Mexican actor has been an onscreen force for years, appearing in popular telenovelas before landing a lead role in Starz’s Vida. This year Barrera entered uncharted territory by joining the iconic Scream horror movie franchise. Next up on her list? A beauty campaign with Clinique as the brand’s first-ever Latina ambassador.
Like most beauty obsessives, Barrera has been a fan of Clinique since she was a little girl playing with her mom’s makeup bag. “It’s so surreal. I love working with a brand that the women in my family have actually used for generations,” Barrera tells Glamour. “I have so many memories of being a kid using Clinique beauty products. It’s a very full-circle thing, to also be the first Latina to be the face of a brand that has such a strong presence in Latin America and has never had a Latina ambassador before. It’s an honor and a privilege.”
Makeup has played a huge part in Barrera’s upbringing and career, but the actor also values the importance of skin care and started her routine at an early age. “I have good skin because I started skin care when I was super young. It happened by accident. My mom took me and my sisters to the dermatologist because she was taking my younger sister for a rash on her back, and the dermatologist was like, ‘Do you use anything?’ I was 12 and was like, ‘No, nothing. I don’t even wash my face.’”
The dermatologist recommended some products to Barrera, and the rest is history. “She gave me my first moisturizer, and that’s how started. It helped me have the skin that I have today.”
Nowadays Barrera treats her combination skin and oily T-zone with gentle products that fit her busy lifestyle. “Nothing against the people that have a 30-step skin-care routine,” she says. “I’m very efficient and make the most out of the time I have in the day. Doing it quickly and having a few products that I can use is ideal for me. My biggest concern as I’m getting older—I’m 31 now—is sun damage and applying sunscreen every day, so that I can avoid the early signs of skin damage, sun spots, early wrinkles and all of that.”
Ahead, Barrera shares the products she uses in her minimalist routine, including the TikTok-approved lip balm she loves and the cleanser she’s used since she was a teenager. Read on to shop her favorites in another installment of Glamour’s Drop the Routine.
My cleanser
I use a cleanser that I’ve used since I was 16 years old. It’s called Dexeryl, and it’s a dermatologist cleanser that’s actually a full body cleanser, but I just use it for my face. I haven’t changed it because it works really well. I use it morning and night.
My toner
I sometimes use a toner. Not all the time, but I’ll use a toner exfoliant. The Clinique Clarifying Lotion, I'll use depending on how my skin feels, because sometimes I’m feeling drier than usual or I’m feeling oilier. I usually tend to use it when I’m feeling oilier because it really mattifies my skin.
My moisturizer
I use the Clinique Moisture Surge 100 hours. I’ve used aloe vera my entire life. It was just a home remedy, a little leaf of aloe vera, ready for kitchen burns or scrapes. The fact that this product has aloe vera, it really helps me with my skin to keep it moisturized. I love the texture. It actually really helped me while I was shooting out in the sun, all day in the forest, swimming in glacial lakes. My skin was really feeling it. I started using the Moisture Surge, not only as moisturizer but as a mask at night, and it really helped me.
My eye cream
I use a little bit of retinol, actually. The Clinique Smart Night Clinical MD Multi-Dimensional Repair Treatment retinol serum. It’s very similar in texture to the Moisture Surge. And it just feels like doing a little bit of extra hydration in that super-sensitive skin that we have under our eyes.
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My tools
After I’ve put on my face mask, I’ll use a quartz [gua sha] and I'll just massage my face and the product in.
My lip balm
I have the Black Honey in my purse all the time. It’s super dewy. It’s like a lipstick and a balm. That’s what I carry in my purse. I also use the Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask.
Ariana Yaptangco is the senior beauty editor at Glamour. You can follow her @arianayap.
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