Say hello to Unfiltered, a fresh, new beauty series where you’ll get an exclusive glimpse into the dressed-down beauty routines of our favorite celebrities. They’ll reveal their guilty-pleasure beauty practices, the five-minute product lineup they can’t live without, the one good-skin tip they’ll be forever thankful for, and so much more. To bring every conversation full circle, we ask each celebrity to send us a selection of self-shot, filter-free photos of their choosing to capture the essence of their Unfiltered beauty philosophy.
Up next, we’re getting to know actor and entrepreneur Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who, earlier this year, founded her very own clean and sustainable beauty brand, Anomaly Haircare. As a fellow product junkie and beauty enthusiast, she’s answering all of our rapid-fire questions and sharing her best-kept beauty secrets below. Enjoy!
If you had to leave the house in five minutes, what are a few staple beauty products you’d use?
It’s funny because my everyday makeup really is just five minutes. I always start with a great moisturizer—basically whatever moisturizer will make my skin feel like yours is looking at the moment.
Oh my gosh… thank you!
You want to pick a formula that makes you feel really great. If it’s daytime, I’ll add a few drops of sunblock, and if it’s nighttime, I’ll add a little bit of serum to have a nice glow. I’m not really big on foundation, but I will do a quick under-eye tap with a concealer stick, maybe around the mouth too, and then I’ll just blend it out. Eyelash curler, mascara, and then whatever lip I’m feeling. I love applying lipstick with my finger so you get this nice, diffused feeling—it’s less lipsticky. And then I’ll just use the same finger and add a little bit to my cheeks, blend it out, and I’m ready to go. If I’m feeling crazy, then maybe I’ll do my eyebrows, too. [Laughs]
Well, you naturally have great brows, so I feel like you can definitely get away with not touching them.
Oh no, I definitely need to fill them out! I love eyebrow pencils, and I usually use Brow Wiz ($23) from Anastasia Beverly Hills. I spray some hair spray on the spoolie side, and then I use it to comb through and position my brow hairs.
You also have amazing lashes, and I know you mentioned mascara. Do you have a favorite?
I do, actually! I love YSL’s mascara, the one that’s in the black tube.
Oh, the Shock Volumizing Mascara!
Yes, it’s amazing.
Let’s talk a little more about skincare. On days when you’re not working or you’re just staying in, what does your skin routine look like both morning and night?
Well, okay, let’s start with my nighttime routine. I love using a face wash that won’t strip my skin too much. At the moment, I’m using this really soft, gentle face wash from Obagi. Then, eye makeup remover—I use one from Shiseido so there’s not even an ounce of makeup on my face before I go to bed. Next, I moisturize, and I like to be a little more heavy-handed at night because I have drier skin, and I’ll top it off with a night serum. At the moment, I’m using products from Dr. Barbara Sturm, her Face Cream ($215), and she has amazing serums, which I’ll rotate depending on what my skin needs on any given night. It’s usually her Hyaluronic Serum ($300) or Night Serum ($310). Oh, and eye cream! I use an eye cream from 111Skin.
Morning is pretty much the same thing. Once I’ve showered and my face is washed and is feeling clean, I’ll use a water-based moisturizer, which is less sticky and shiny. Dr. Barbara Sturm has this Face Cream Light ($205), which I like for the daytime. Sunblock! People think that if you have darker skin, you don’t really need sunblock, but every skin tone needs sunblock when you’re going outside.
Do you have any bodycare rituals or product staples you swear by?
I love moisturizing my body. I do it religiously twice a day. If I’m feeling really adventurous and crazy, I’ll do coconut oil, which my skin responds really well to. So it’s that, or I’ll do a body butter. I’ve been using one from Diptyque, and oh my god, it smells amazing. I do really like my body moisturizers to smell good. Then I brush my teeth, I spray a little perfume on, and I’m off to bed!
Oh, I’m also in the perfume-before-bed camp. It’s just a nice little extra touch.
It is! You know, it doesn’t even have to be when Nick’s around. It’s just a habit. I like to feel fresh when I go to bed. I also keep some lavender oil by my bedside. I use it to moisturize my hands and feet when I’m in bed. Then, if you touch your nose, you smell it, and it’s just really calming.
You just launched your own haircare brand, Anomaly. What was the driving force behind that, and why did you choose haircare versus other popular categories like skincare, fragrance, or makeup?
Well, I always knew that I wanted to get into beauty, and as a businessperson, I was really looking for the gap in the market, the white space, in a way. I knew it had to be something that was clean, vegan, cruelty-free—that was important to me. Sustainability was important to me. And then I went and did my research, and I realized when you want to create a sustainable, clean product, it’s just so expensive. So my quest became wanting to democratize beauty, especially when it comes to hair. I mean, we have it with skincare! We have great clean skincare brands that aren’t so expensive, but when it comes to haircare, so many of the high-quality, clean brands are extremely expensive.
I think the beauty industry of our generation really needs to take responsibility for our plastic footprint. All of our packaging at Anomaly is made with 100% recycled trash from oceans and landfills, so we’re not contributing to new plastic that exists on this earth. We’re taking the plastic that already existed and recycling it and hoping our customers also recycle it, and, you know, end that cycle.
The line is beautiful. I’ve tried it, and every product is really so amazing. Looking at it, you’d never think it was made from recycled trash.
Aw, thank you. I think our bottles look really beautiful and look really chic. They don’t scream gender, which is something that really annoys me within the haircare genre. You know, if it’s for a woman, then it has flowers! And if it’s for a man, then it’s black or navy. I don’t like those labels, which was why I was very clear about making the brand unisex, inclusive of every kind of person and every kind of hair. And because we spent so little on the packaging, we had the budget to make a really clean, superior formula. The trifecta just works, and I’m really glad to be one of the very few people in the market who have done it. I mean, each product is just $6.
If you had to choose three favorite products, what would you choose and why?
Hmmm, I love the Clarifying Shampoo ($6). Whenever I have lots of product in my hair or my hair feels oily, it’s just amazing. It gives you this super-squeaky-clean feeling without stripping or drying out your hair. I also love the Deep Conditioning Treatment Mask ($6). I like to use it at least twice a week, especially on the ends of my hair for about 10 or 15 minutes max. It’s really done wonders for my hair. And because I’m always on the go, my third favorite would probably be the Dry Shampoo ($6). It smells divine, and it just gives your hair that extra bit of va-va-voom.
I know you’re constantly getting your hair done for work, but what’s your go-to at-home styling routine like?
Usually this [laughs], which is a topknot with a few bangs that are out. But since quarantine and not having people blow-drying my hair all the time, I’ve been able to experiment a lot with my natural texture. I wash my hair and then use the blow-dryer—I don’t even use a diffuser—to just let it do what it wants and create some natural waves. It’s almost like how your wet hair would dry if you stuck your head out of a car. Then I’ll use a hair oil or I also like using Oribe’s Supershine Moisturizing Cream ($52)—which is amazing—and that just puts it all into place and helps calm the frizz.
Aside from products, do you have any other interesting tips or rituals you swear by for keeping your hair healthy?
A scalp massage! I try to do that twice a month at least. It’s actually a very Indian thing, and it’s usually passed down from grandmothers to mothers to daughters. My grandmother used to do it to me when I was a teenager. She’d sit me down, and I used to hate it. I was just like Ugh, I don’t want oil in my hair, but she would insist, and I would sit between her knees while we were watching TV, and she would give me this oil massage. I really miss it, and now I make my mom or whoever is around me do it. I even made my mother-in-law do it for me once [laughs]. I like to use coconut oil—or a little bit of castor oil mixed in with the coconut oil—because it stimulates the blood circulation in your scalp. In my experience, it’s really helped encourage healthier hair growth.
That actually segues into my next question because I was curious as to how your Indian heritage has impacted your approach to beauty.
You know, it’s interesting because I’ve never really been able to make the distinction because it’s just who I am. I am such an amalgamation of everything I have been, which is the East and the West. I believe in the Western sciences; I believe in the Eastern practices that are more holistic and plant-based. I mean, when I was in my 20s, I would just put straight-up aloe vera on my face almost every day. So using nature and nature’s goodness on my skin and my body has definitely been something I’ve taken away from that part of me.
Would anything about your beauty routine surprise people?
Ha, probably that it’s really simple! I get dressed in five minutes. When my best friends and I are getting dressed, I am the one who is waiting for them. I’ll be pacing outside of the door, and I’m just like Come on, guys. Come on. And they’re still curling their hair, and I’m just like Okay, I’m going to make us a drink. I spend so much time in the glam chair as part of my job that it’s just something I cannot do when I don’t have to.
I don’t blame you! Okay, last question. What’s your Unfiltered beauty philosophy in seven words or less?
Okay, this is very ’90s of me, but I would say, keep it simple. I think more is less. I did not know that when I was a teenager, and I would wear so much makeup. Even when I first started getting involved in the entertainment business, like, oh my gosh, did I learn a lesson! Now when I look back at those pictures, I’m just like what was the need? I am a big believer that less is more when it comes to beauty. There is something very chic and sophisticated about giving one feature a moment to shine. It can be the eyes, it can be the hair, it can be the dress, it can be the mouth. But giving one thing a moment instead of multiple is something that would really define my Unfiltered beauty philosophy.
