Actress Nina Dobrev is back on network television after a stint on Degrassi: The Next Generation and six years on The CW’s hit series The Vampire Diaries. The Bulgaria-born and Toronto-raised actress now plays Clem, the lead character on the new CBS comedy series Fam.
In this week’s episode of Go To Bed With Me, Dobrev puts on her bathrobe and gives BAZAAR.com an exclusive look into her nighttime beauty routine. From her affordable drugstore finds to prestige skincare splurges, Dobrev doesn’t skimp when it comes to her ten step routine.
Filmed at The Surrey Hotel.
Nina’s Morning Skincare Routine
1. Cleanser:
Dr. Barbara Sturm Cleanser: “First, I use my cleanser. It’s the most important at night… but also extremely important in the morning to get all the serums and things off of your face that have soaked in from the evening before.”
2. Serums:
Dr. Barbara Sturm Hyaluronic Serum: “I make a little cocktail, a serum cocktail…. This one is my hyaluronic serum by Dr. Sturm. All of her products are amazing, and I have honestly seen great results.”
Dr. Barbara Sturm Calming Serum: “She also makes a calming serum, which is extremely important for people like me who have little red rosacea spots on their cheeks. It kind of just like calms the skin.”
Dr. Barbara Sturm Glow Drops: “These are amazing. I mix them in with my sunscreen and my moisturizer. I don’t know what it is that’s inside of it, but whatever it is, it really does make your skin glow. I’ve never gotten more compliments on my skin since I started using that. These are my secret sauce.”
3. Eye Cream:
Dior Capture Totale C.E.L.L. Energy Firming & Wrinkle-Correcting Eye Cream: “Dior makes this little travel-sized eye cream that I love. I put this on in the morning, at night, whenever I have a flight, all the time.”
4. Moisturizer:
Tatcha The Dewy Skin Cream: “I also make a cocktail of my creams. So I’ll put a little bit of that [Dior eye cream]. Then I will take my Tatcha dewy cream, which is amazing as well, and put that in there. Then I will take my sunscreen. And I will take my [Dr. Barbara Sturm] Glow Drops.”
5. Sunscreens:
Dr. Barbara Sturm Sun Drops SPF 50: “Her sunscreen is the only sunscreen I’ve been able to use that doesn’t come out white, and it doesn’t get cakey with your foundation.”
Chanel UV Essential SPF 50: “It’s anti-pollution, broad-spectrum SPF…. Not a single day goes by where this isn’t the first thing that I apply to my face upon waking up. I’ve tried so many different products that, especially when you’re wearing makeup right afterwards, it can get thick or it gets sticky or it’s really white. I’ve found that this specific one has the most sheen, it has the most protection, it has 50 SPF in it, which is a lot. And it’s light and airy and you can put makeup on seamlessly. It’s like a primer, almost.”
6. Face Massage:
Gua Sha Tool: “I am a big believer in lymphatic drainage because I sleep on my face. And when you sleep on your face, all the blood rushes to your face and you wake up really puffy, with dark circles. So I was taught to go upward with the side and down my neck.”
7. Eye Patches:
Tatcha Luminous Deep Hydration Revitalizing Eye Mask: “I keep my eye patches in the fridge so that they stay cold. That way, at the very last minute when I take them out, if my eyes are puffy, I put them right on and it constricts blood and sort of de-puffs my eyeballs. So I put these bad boys on. They work their magic.”
8. Foundations:
Chanel Ultra Le Teint Velvet Blurring Smooth-Effect Foundation SPF 15: “The next product after my sunscreen and after my Glow Drops is my foundation. We talked about prepping the skin with a glowy, dewy tint, and right after that I also apply this… which I love mainly because it has sunscreen in it already. So even if I for whatever reason forgot to put my sunscreen on that day, I do have a little bit of protection in the foundation.
It has full coverage, but it’s not super heavy and cakey, and at the same time, they also put powder in it. I am an on-the-go person and i have a dog, I have a busy life. I don’t have time to put foundation on and then powder it and do all these steps. In general, I like to keep the skin glowy and fresh and not really wear a lot of makeup. I get red pretty quickly and easily, so I just let it shine through, which I’m told is rosacea, which is not a good thing, but I like it, so I don’t wanna treat it. It skips a step.”
Dior Forever Skin Glow 24-Hour Foundation: “I mix Dior Forever Skin Glow 3W and 2W. Then I mix it all up, make sure it’s even and from there, I usually use what is left on my finger to blend my neck. I cannot express to you guys how important it is to not just put foundation on your face. Okay? Sometimes, as you can see, I get little breakouts on my chest because I work out a lot. And when you work out, if you sweat and don’t shower immediately after—sometimes there’s traffic and it takes me 10 minutes to get to my house from the gym—sometimes I’ll get little breakouts.”
9. Concealer:
Clé de Peau Beauté Concealer: “The next step is under-eye concealer. I use Clé de Peau and I usually mix it with my foundation. This colour is a little bit darker than my skin and that is because I use a lot of sunscreen. I’m super insecure about my dark circles because I was on a vampire show for a very, very long time, so we shot at night and we didn’t sleep very much, and so I had major, major dark circles. I’ll [also] go over [any breakouts] again with this guy and my foundation, and I’ll sort of spot-treat ’em.”
10. Powder:
Dior Diorskin Forever & Ever Control Invisible Loose Setting Powder: “This next step is very important for pimples. This is when you have to lock ’em in. Make sure that the foundation doesn’t move. So, use powder. I use a small brush and only put it under my eyes because that’s where I don’t want it to move, and then I just attack the little pimples that we just covered up.”
11. Blush:
Smashbox Cali Kissed Highlight + Blush Palette: “What I like to do is I’ll take this palette—Smashbox Cali Kissed. So I’ll take my brush and I’ll dab [and then] get the excess off [and apply it].”
12. Bronzer:
Dior Diorskin Mineral Nude Bronze: “Then, I take the same brush, because I’m lazy and I don’t like to carry a lot of things, and I just sort of pinch it to make it smaller. And then I use my bronzer just to sort of highlight and contour.”
13. Highlighter:
Kevyn Aucoin Glass Glow Face: “I will take this Kevyn Aucoin, and I still have some of my foundation [on my hand] from my face, and I will mix it with this highlighter… because this is pretty potent and I like it to look natural. So… when I put it on, I’m putting a little bit of foundation on with the glow.”
14. Sunscreen Setting Spray:
Kate Somerville UncompliKated SPF Soft Focus Makeup Setting Spray SPF 50: “After my makeup is done, I use Kate Somerville sunscreen setting spray.”
It may be a dream to have a makeup artist handle your glam every morning, however, constantly applying heavy cosmetics to your face can mess with your skin. Thankfully, Dobrev practices the cardinal beauty rule of removing her makeup each night. Even better, her favorites can be found at your local Ulta or drugstore.
“I’m told you’re supposed to be light on your skin, especially around the under-eye area, but I don’t always practice what I preach,” Dobrev said as she rubs her eyes with Simple makeup removing wipes. She follows up by saturating a cotton swab with Simple’s liquid eye makeup remover to “really get in there” and dissolve the rest of her eye makeup.
Next up, Dobrev adds two pumps of Dr. Barbara Sturm’s cleanser into the palm of her hands and mixes it with a few dabs of the brand’s Enzyme Cleanser and water. Dobrev massages the mixture into her face using a circular motion. She works in three sections–beginning at her cheeks, then concentrates on her chin and jawline, and finishes by massaging her t-zone. After she washes her face with warm water, she pats her face dry with a clean cotton face cloth.
Dobrev moisturizes her face with a cocktail of Dr. Sturm’s Hyaluronic Acid and Super Anti-Aging Serum “mainly because it sounds cool,” she joked. “Dr. Sturm was the first person to come up with the vampire facial. Dum dum dum. I know, I get it. It’s a double pun because I used to be a vampire,” Dobrev said as she rubs the face moisturizers into her skin. “It really works; her vampire facials are amazing and all of her products are amazing,” she adds. Noting that because she travels frequently, she appreciates the compact size of Dr. Sturm’s products.
“I like to let my lips get some face cream as well,” Dobrev says as she squeezes a bit of L’Occitane’s Shea Ultra Rich Lip Balm onto her lips straight from the tube.
Twice a week “and before big red carpets” she uses an LED Deesse mask that she first saw Kate Hudson post about on Instagram. Dobrev’s go-to settings are either the red light for anti-aging benefits or a combination of red and blue lights for healing breakouts.
At night, Dobrev uses a thicker moisturizer, “that way you have all night for it to soak in and really work its magic,” she says as she warms up the La Mer’s Moisturizing Soft Cream into her hands. As she rubs the cream into her face, Dobrev explains that she uses this night cream a couple times a week and ahead of red carpet events when she wants an “extra dewy glow.”
After Dobrev moisturizes her face, she pats a bit of the face cream underneath her eyes–an application technique she picked up from a few different makeup artists.
“For a pimple or an uninvited friend that has made my face their home, I consult my friend La-Roche Posay,” says Dobrev of the French brand’s acne treatment. She applies a tiny amount of the spot gel to a cotton swab and then “zaps” her pimples away.
Before she hops into bed, Dobrev pops in her Byte retainers, which she admits she should be wearing in the day, “but let’s be real, I don’t.”
Lastly, she puts on her black silk sleeping mask with a strong message written across it. “This way, everyone knows exactly how to proceed when waking me up. Don’t. Sleep is important to me,” she sarcastically says while pulling the mask over her eyes.
source: harpersbazaar
