Tracee Ellis Ross Spilled The Deets Behind Her Foundation-Free FOTD
When Biggie referred to the women in the place with style and grace, I'm pretty sure he was talking about Tracee Ellis Ross. The actress is known for coming through with some clutch AF beauty advice and her latest tutorial is just as fun as you would have expected. In the video, Tracee explained that although make-up is pretty much necessary in her line of work, she chooses to stay foundation-free on her off-days. This entertainer says she'll choose her natural contour and freshly hydrated skin over a full face of makeup any day. She explained:
"My beauty routine is more about how I feel than how it transforms me into some version of myself that I can't keep up with."
According to Tracee, she's not new to the skincare game, she's true to it and says that her high-end, semi-high maintenance beauty routine is decades in the making:
"I have always taken care of my skin as a young girl. I was a picker. I used to love to do my own extractions and I thought that I was an esthetician but I was not. So, I started getting facials really young so that I wouldn't pick and I would have a professional do it because my mom was like, 'You are going to scar up your skin."'
Tracee broke down some of her favorite skincare products and although your bank account may not be fit to drop $500 on a moisturizer, Tracee let us in on some affordable, must-have beauty hacks that will allow you to give your foundation a break and let your skin breathe for a few days.
Scroll below for details!
La Grande Crème by Biologique Recherche
Vogue/YouTube
After applying some of her favorite serums, Tracee likes to continue hydrating by introducing one of her favorite face creams to the mix:
"This fancy jar is La Grande Crème. I like to use a spatula to get it out. I don't like to stick my fingers in there -- very sterile. So, I like a lot, because again, hydration, hydration, hydration. I like to heat cream up in my hands and then get in there."
"Some people spend time putting on makeup. I spend time hydrating my skin."
Vibrating Face Roller
Vogue/YouTube
"This is a small vibrating tool. It was very inexpensive and it's from Amazon. I don't even know what it's called. I don't drink coffee. I rarely eat sugar. I don't like to drink alcohol at all when I'm going to be on camera, which is all the time. Instead of coffee, I like to dry brush my body or vibrate my face or roll my face or and wake it up because I'm often at work at five in the morning."
Retrouve Intensive Replenishing Facial Moisturizer
Vogue/YouTube
"Along with the four layers I've already put on [of moisture], I'm going to do a top layer of Retrouve Intensive. I just do one little squeeze, like a teeny little bit goes a long way. [It's] really hydrating and a little bit greasy and shiny, which I really love."
Face Massager
Vogue/YouTube
"The giant blue balls. They're glass and they're cold. I keep them in the refrigerator. I do this a lot of days at work when it's really early and I just feel tired. It is very hard to go to bed at nine o'clock and wake up at four and get your eight hours, but I need eight hours."
Ruby Woo & Cherry MAC Lip Liner
Vogue/YouTube
It! Cosmetics Brow Pencil
Vogue/YouTube
"I spent a lot of time hidden on the floor in my mom's dressing room while she did her own hair and makeup. My mom is so self-sufficient with her beauty and I think it's informed so much of what I believe. I feel like every person should be able to access their most beautiful self and feel beautiful in their own bathroom without having to be dependent on someone outside of themselves."
LANCER Dani Glowing Skin Perfector
Vogue/YouTube
Shade & Illuminate Highlighter & Shader Duet
Vogue/YouTube
"I like [hot pink] blush in the front of my cheeks and then I might add a little Brown in there just to take down a little bit. Tom Ford. It's this little palette. I don't use the top guy. I basically contour my blush. I don't know which one goes first. I don't really care."
"Here's the thing at work sometimes or like if someone's doing my makeup, they'll put so much foundation. You can't even see my contour."
Opening Act™ Lash Primer & Benefit They're Real! Lengthening & Volumizing Mascara
Vogue/YouTube
Vogue/YouTube
"Tracee Ellis Ross, no foundation. Happy, joyful hair. A sexy red lip and a little bit of a Twiggy Lash."
Watch the full video below!
Tracee Ellis Ross's Guide to Curly Hair | Beauty Secrets | Voguewww.youtube.com
Featured image by Vogue/YouTube
Originally published on November 8, 2019
- Tracee Ellis Ross Shares Her Foundation-Free Beauty Routine ... ›
- Tracee Ellis Ross's Guide to Curly Hair | Beauty Secrets | Vogue ... ›
- Tracee Ellis Ross's Vogue Makeup Tutorial | POPSUGAR Beauty UK ›
- Tracee Ellis Ross's Vogue Makeup Tutorial | POPSUGAR Beauty ... ›
- Tracee Ellis Ross's Guide to Curly Hair and Going Foundation-Free ... ›
- Tracee Ellis Ross' Beauty Favorites - Tracee Ellis Ross' Beauty ... ›
Taylor "Pretty" Honore is a spiritually centered and equally provocative rapper from Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a love for people and storytelling. You can probably find me planting herbs in your local community garden, blasting "Back That Thang Up" from my mini speaker. Let's get to know each other: @prettyhonore.
From Heartbreak To Healing: The Multifaceted Journey Of Nazanin Mandi
Nazanin Mandi is never out of options.
About a year ago, the 37-year-old life coach and actress was navigating life after divorce and determined to experience homeownership for the first time as a single woman. She’d been married to the R&B singer Miguel for three years, following a long-term relationship that started when she was 18 years old. But, in 2022, she filed for divorce. It was certainly the most public change she made but, in reality, it was just one of many decisions to refocus and reach her full potential in recent years.
“During my 20s, I was not ready for more. I was living a really crazy life. It was unpredictable. I was helping somebody else grow. It was a lot, and it was intense. I was not pouring into myself the way I should’ve been,” she says in an xoNecole exclusive.
Still, as Mandi worked to get to know herself and her needs during this new phase of life, she realized the home she’d purchased wasn’t a good fit. Overwhelmed by the echoing of her voice in the spacious home, she had a breakdown and called her cousin, who immediately suggested she lease the home and live somewhere else. “I woke up in my house, and I was like, ‘This is not it for me,” she says. “All those years, I had been accustomed to living a certain way [and] in a certain house, so I bought myself a house like [my old home]. But my family was not the same. Waking up in that house by myself, it highlighted the divorce. I was like, ‘Oh, no, we can’t do this. This is not it.’ My life has changed, so my choices need to change.” At that moment, Mandi became open to the idea that there wasn’t one set way to achieve ownership on her own.
“I feel so much better. I’m in a smaller place. My best friend lives a minute from me and I can walk to her house,” she tells me during a Zoom interview from her home one recent afternoon in early February. In the past two years, she hasn’t just been advising other people on varying circumstances, she’s also been healing herself.
"During my 20s, I was not ready for more. I was living a really crazy life. It was unpredictable. I was helping somebody else grow. It was a lot, and it was intense. I was not pouring into myself the way I should’ve been."
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
If supporters began following Nazanin Mandi because of her conventional beauty or the contagious, bright, white smile she often wears in many of her photos, that’s likely not the reason they’ve stuck around. Instead, she’s amassed a following based on her transparency about her own anxiety and depression, along with the encouraging messages of self-acceptance, gratitude, ambition, and humility that are often sprinkled into her social media posts.
In an era where looking at Instagram photos of models can often lead to feelings of self-doubt and insecurity, Nazanin Mandi is determined to be more than eye candy. She’s food for her follower’s souls, too.
Since being recruited to model while dining at an In-N-Out at 10 years old, Mandi has worked in many areas of entertainment. The Valencia, California native has modeled for brands such as Olay, Savage X Fenty, and Good American. As a teen, she sang at Carnegie Hall and auditioned for season 1 of American Idol, making it all the way to Hollywood before producers disqualified her for lying about her age. (Mandi was 15 at the time, and contestants had to be at least 16 years old.) Mandi has acted, too, including appearing on Disney’s That’s So Raven as a teenager and on the BET+ series Games People Play and the Prime series Á La Carte in more recent years.
In recent years, though, she’s also expanded her professional goals outside of entertainment, too. After becoming a certified life coach in 2020, Mandi launched the membership platform You Bloome in 2022 with the hopes of providing wellness services to others, including her self-published gratitude journal. “I wish I had access to something like You Bloome earlier in my own life,” she writes on the company’s website. The actress, who has been forthcoming about her struggles with anxiety and depression, has never had a life coach, but credits therapy as a tool that “really, really saved me and it laid the foundation to who I am becoming.”
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
"I’m trying to find the balance between living life and knowing that whatever is meant for me is going to happen, but also know that I’m doing everything in my power to make those things happen and better myself."
While she’s always had a nurturing personality, Mandi says her interest in becoming a life coach was inspired by the women who would message her for advice on social media. “I would answer them back. It really sparked a fire within myself to help people,” she says.
You Bloome currently has three membership tiers, ranging in price from $2.99 to $39.99 per month. The highest tier offers a motivational text message twice a week, two live, group coaching sessions per month, and more. “We get emotional. We cry. We laugh. It’s really beautiful. I’ve built close relationships with my members through this. It’s been inspiring both ways,” Mandi says of the sessions. Still, the founder says she hopes to take on more motivational and keynote speaking opportunities in the future with the hopes of impacting as many people as possible.
And, she’s hoping to do all of this while continuing to explore a career as an entertainer.
At this point in her life, Mandi says she’s gained enough perspective on modeling, music, and acting to realize what she wants to prioritize moving forward. “We are going full force with acting,” she says, noting her goal is “to book a series regular or a film that impacts my career and the world.” She plans to continue to model, too, but has no desire to pursue music.
“I don’t want any part of that because I know what that life entails,” she says. “I don’t want to tour. I don’t want to do any of that. That is not where my heart is at.”
Credit: Solmaz Saberi
If you ask Mandi, she’ll tell you she feels most comfortable in front of a camera, but she’ll also admit that she’s recently experienced a lot of imposter syndrome when thinking about her acting career. “I think it’s a fear of not succeeding,” she says. If anything, she adds, she’s harder on herself now than she’s ever been. “There were distractions before. There’s no distractions now,” she says. “I’m putting pressure on myself for no reason.”
This is where the life coach’s own personal healing comes into play. Mandi says she’s learning recently that “slow progress is still big progress at the end of the day.”
“Currently, I’m trying to find the balance between living life and knowing that whatever is meant for me is going to happen, but also know that I’m doing everything in my power to make those things happen and better myself,” she adds.
Still, one of Mandi’s strengths is that she doesn’t feel the pressure to limit herself to just one passion. From working as a life coach to pursuing acting, she has given herself grace to explore all other dreams.
“We can be allowed to be many different things in this lifetime,” she says. “As people, our identities are allowed to expand. Don’t put us in a fucking box. I cannot live that way anymore.”
For more of Nazanin, follow her on Instagram @nazaninmandi.
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for daily love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Featured image by Solmaz Saberi
'Raising Kanan''s Hailey Kilgore Talks Seeing Herself In Jukebox & Broadway Background
Hailey Kilgore, who has brought the character Jukebox to life on Power Book III: Raising Kanan for the past three seasons, was working hard in show business long before landing the role on coveted Starz franchise. She's already a Tony- and Grammy-nominated talent whose credits include the Jennifer Hudson-led Aretha Franklin biopic Respect and the Tony-winning revival of Once on This Island.
Hailey may play a teen on the Mekai Curtis-centered series but she's been training in singing, acting, and performance since the tender age of 9—that's 16 years now. If you take a look at her social media profiles, it will almost make you do a double take as her real personality couldn't be further from what's depicted on the show—proving just how talented she really is. The Broadway veteran, who is gearing up to release her first album, is what many would describe a girl's girl wearing loads of sequins, gowns, and serving face!
This will prompt you to dig a little deeper to find out more about the girl who is a multi-hyphenate and earned two major nominations before even making it on the big screen.
Getty Images
xoNecole caught up Hailey as season 3 came to an end and was surprised to learn that although they may be completely different people, her real life is mirroring what's going on with Jukebox in Raising Kanan. "I really made the epiphany season 3." She continued, "[Jukebox] just wants to be seen. She works so hard, she's a really sweet girl. She has a beautiful spirit and she just wants people to see her—to see how hard she works. I feel that right now. I'm like, please just see me. I know you love Jukebox...but there's a super cool girl in here and she's got a lot to say. A lot to contribute to the world artistically."
She even delved more into her background, telling us about the extensive training and hard work she's put in to get to this point. "I started training when I was 9. I trained in acting, singing, and performance." She further explained, "I did my first job when I was 12, so I've been doing this for awhile. Performing is what I love. I've always said I wanted to be Beyoncé when I grew up...I'm really blessed to have the resume and the background that I do."
The latest season of Power Book III: Raising Kanan has come to a close but in true fashion, Hailey is still hard at work. Her first single "Drama Queen" is out now and her debut album will be released on May 3. It's safe to say that Hailey is having her moment. One can't deny that she's worked hard for it and we can't wait to see what's next!
Watch the full interview below.
Hailey Kilgore AKA Jukebox on 'Raising Kanan' Talks Broadway Background
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for daily love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Featured image by Getty Images