Ever the multitasker, Michelle Yeoh tightens her glutes while she tones her skin. After patting on Helena Rubinstein’s glow-boosting essence, she runs Medicube’s Age R Derma Shot over her jawline for a contouring massage—then, the rest of her day can begin. Herewith, discover the Oscar Winner and The Brothers Sun star’s secrets for skin care squats and a radiant, 10-minute makeup look.
“Normally when I’m doing all this, I’m doing my squats,” she shares as she massages her face, “Remember, you can do your kicks, you can do your stretches, while you are also waking up.” As she revives herself farther with a cooling eye massage, the Malaysia native explains the muse behind her brisk skin care approach.
“My earliest memory of taking care of my skin is seeing my mom do this every day—morning and night,” she says. “She does all these incredible things where she’s, like, doing martial arts on her face.” The results, it would seem, speak for themselves. “She’s 83 and she looks stunning,” Yeoh avows.
Smoothing a Helena Rubinstein day cream over her face and neck, the 61-year-old says: “This is like the warmup massage for the face and the neck, and all the lymph nodes that surround them.” After tapping her fingers over the entire area—inviting her lymphatic system to wake up, too—Yeoh raises a glass to another beauty secret. “With your skin, the most important thing is drinking water,” she says. “That really helps. When you have good skin, that sets up a beautiful canvas for you to be able to paint on your makeup.”
Speaking of which, Yeoh likes hers on the light side. Patting on Shiseido’s sheer foundation, she says: “One thing I’ve learned is, when you have makeup that’s too thick, it tends to highlight the creases.” Clé de Peau concealer comes next, gently masking the reminders of Yeoh’s “younger, wild” days. “I used to stay out in the sun for too long, without using the right products,” she says.
However—unlike many a wild youth—Yeoh never fell victim to over-plucking. “One thing my mom always taught me was, don’t let anybody pluck your eyebrows,” she says, brushing out her naturally full pair before filling them in with Anastasia’s Brow Definer.
