Kerry Washington Shares Her Step-by-Step Guide to Foolproof Eyeliner and a Bold Red Lip—Just in Time for Holiday Zooms

[upbeat hip-hop music]

Hi, I'm Kerry Washington,

and I'm gonna walk you through some skin care,

a little bit of hair care,

and then an everyday makeup look with a bold lip.

So we're gonna start out with hair,

and I use a homemade kind of scalp tonic

that I put together.

I put it in my favorite spray bottle,

which is this pattern bottle

that my friend Tracee Ellis Ross made.

I like to get in the roots and underneath.

So in here is distilled water,

and non-alcohol witch hazel, and then some essential oils.

I have rosemary, eucalyptus, peppermint, and lavender.

So it keeps your scalp super healthy,

and also you become like walking aromatherapy.

[laughs]

I like to use a scalp spray,

because sometimes when you're wearing protective styles,

braids, for a long time,

your scalp can get a little itchy,

or have a product buildup,

so the witch hazel keeps your skin

on your scalp really fresh and clean,

and the oils stimulate growth, and also calm, which is nice.

Braids are a great way for me to get through the holidays

still looking cute without spending hours

and hours and hours in front of the mirror.

I do think of my skincare routine as self-love,

because our skin is our largest organ,

and it's important to take care of our skin

in order to take care of our overall health.

So when I have extra time, like I do now,

I like to light a candle, make a moment of it.

This candle is actually

from my friend Alicia Keys'

new holistic line, Keys Soulcare.

Smells incredible.

It's amazing, like her.

Really obsessed with this ultra gentle cleanser.

So I use about that much.

I add some water, and I get to town.

So I've always had to think a lot

about my skin because I have eczema.

So I started going to dermatologists when I was a kid,

and really paying attention to what works and what doesn't,

and how the weather changes my skin.

For me, it's not just about looking cute.

It's also really

about being able to have skin that's healthy

and not too itchy and cracks,

and all that stuff that happens with eczema.

So before I moisturize, I love to use a little bit

of refreshing rose water, and I have a special one.

That's my aura cleansing mist.

So I love this and it smells so good,

and it cleanses your aura and your life.

I always love a serum,

lots of different serums for all different kinds of weather.

Invisible Daily Serum from Neutrogena has SPF,

and it also has ginger, which I love.

After applying the serum,

I might do some eye patches, which I'm gonna do now,

so I have these,

and I love these because they are 24 karat.

Cue the music.

♪ 24 karat ♪

They're great before red carpet,

but they're also great just on the weekend

when I have the time,

because I find that whenever I can just spend

a little extra time taking a little extra care,

then it kind of stays with me all week long.

When I was growing up, my mom,

she's not a super glamorous person.

She's a retired professor of education,

but every single week without fail,

she went and got her nails done,

and I think that had a big impact

on me to know that there were some areas

in her life where she was willing to put herself first,

even though so much of the rest

of her life was dedicated to other people.

Self-care isn't about fixing yourself or twisting yourself

into a pretzel to please other people.

It's really about being the best version of you.

♪ Ah ♪

All right, so now it's time for moisture.

Very important.

I am addicted to hyaluronic acid.

Moisture for me is the key to it all, drinking enough water,

making sure that I'm putting moisture inside and outside.

Ha!

A little bit of lip balm also with hyaluronic acid.

Let's move on to makeup.

So I tend to use two different concealers

in two very similar shades, but I like to layer,

and when I first started working with Neutrogena,

they did not make a concealer

or a foundation to match my skin tone,

so one of the first things I did when I started working

with the company was worked to expand their shade range,

so that really, all different kinds of people

with all different kinds of skin tones could benefit

from the amazing science that we're doing.

So I like to start under the eye.

And so now I'm gonna blend all

this beautiful, bouncy light with a slightly darker,

richer color that matches some

of the darker areas of my face.

Now it's time for foundation.

I like to put it on my hand,

and then grab a foundation brush.

This amazing brush from Hourglass is a fave.

I'm gonna play with brows next.

So I like to just brush my brows first,

to kind of know what I'm dealing with on any given day.

I often get really tempted to try

to just do something more permanent with my brows,

but I feel like as an actor,

I always wanna be able to change my brows.

Obviously, Broomhilda Von Shaft from Django

does not have the same eyebrows as Olivia Pope,

so that's why I never wanna do anything too permanent.

I love to use a brow pencil to just kind of fill in,

and this brow pencil I love, Anastasia, duh.

I love this brow pencil

because it is the brush and the pencil,

so I can go back and forth to finesse the look.

I don't mind that they look a little wild.

I kind of prefer that.

So I just sort of fill in the spaces that look inconsistent,

and try to make it look like the brow is telling one story,

as opposed to 100 different ones.

Okay, now that my brows are done, the frame is complete.

I think I'll move on to contour.

So what I like to do is get another brush.

I'm super into the brushes, obviously,

and I like to take a brush that I can turn into a fan brush,

and spread it out, fan it 'til it's super thin.

So contouring is definitely new for me,

but I've noticed that if I don't do a little bit

of carving out, then I look really flat,

and without dimension on my various Zoom rendezvous.

Now that I have a teeny bit of contour,

I wanna add some highlighter,

and I really love Selena Gomez's new line, Rare Beauty.

Put a teeny bit on two fingers,

dab them together, and then...

It's so important to blend, blend, blend.

So of all my brushes, this is my favorite.

This is also an Hourglass,

and this is how you make it all come together.

The contour, the highlight, or the blush,

it all becomes one gorgeous landscape of a sunset.

Let's work on the eyes, shall we?

When I first started wearing makeup, I would put mascara on,

and forget about the teeny lashes on the inside,

and the teeny ones on the outside,

so I'm trying to make sure that I get 'em all.

I do love having one of these around.

It's a really great tool to go in

and continue to adjust your lashes

without any mascara on the wand.

I love to play with different liners.

I love a kohl liner.

When I lived in India, the women in India, they just,

they thrive and exist on kohl eyeliner,

so I fell in love with it.

It's also very forgiving.

You can make all kinds of mistakes with your mascara,

get it all over the bottom of your lid,

but if you add a little bit of kohl eyeliner

and blend it, nobody knows.

Okay, now it's time for a pop of lip.

I'm a little bit inspired by my robe,

a little bit inspired by the world we live in right now,

so I want to go

with a black-owned beauty company called Mented.

It's founded by two black women,

and they develop colors especially for pigmented skin,

skin with more melanin, magical black girl skin like mine.

Let's go with red carpet red,

because not a whole lot of red carpets in the real world,

so let's put them on our face.

There we go.

I really have to tell you that I love the shape of my lips,

and I used to work with makeup artists who would try

to line my lips smaller than they actually are

to try to have a smaller lip

to conform to some other beauty ideal,

but I love my full lips,

and I love rocking a bold color on them,

and so there we are.

So, let's see, I got my hair.

I have a gorgeous lip,

just a really natural, simple eye,

and let's just do a little powder.

♪ Ah ♪

I'm super ready for Zoom, or even a date night,

but as I'm looking at it,

I feel like I just wanna add a little bit of sparkle.

Just add a little glitz right here in the corner.

Yes.

Now I'm ready to wear my crown.

I'm super ready, maybe for a date night,

'cause this is cute.

Maybe some Zooms first and then a date night,

and thanks for joining me.

Mwah!