Tessa Thompson Swears By This Cult-Loved Foundation and $8 Face Mist

What would you say your everyday makeup routine looks like?

It’s pretty simple but has also become slightly more complicated because I’ve gotten into gadgets and tools and stuff. On a perfect day, I would have a minute to do some of that stuff like skin prep. It would be a toner, some moisturizer depending on what the weather’s like and what my skin needs. I have gotten really into primer, and Armani Beauty makes a lovely primer that I use now if I’m going to do makeup. Typically, an everyday thing for me is a no-makeup makeup [look]. [I like] just a little bit of foundation. Sometimes, I’ll even mix it with my moisturizer, serum, or a little bit of oil. I like to use corrector under my eyes, so a little bit of orange, then a little bit of concealer, and then not that much powder—maybe just in the middle of my face. Then I use some rose water, and off I go. For every day probably, I would wear Armani’s Lip Power Lipstick because it’s really moisturizing, and if I’m not doing a color color, I would do something closer to my natural lip color and work it out almost like a stain, and that would be a good five-minute makeup look.  

Something that’s really good is using a liquid highlighter too! Sometimes, I will mix that with a little bit of foundation, a little bit of oil, and then it’ll give sort of a sheen. Remember when BB balm was so big? Kind of like that!

Yes! It’ll give you a really natural, dewy glow. 

Exactly. You mix a little bit of Armani’s Fluid Sheer Glow Enhancer ($33) with a little bit of foundation, a little bit of oil, and even a little bit of moisturizer. I just take a blush brush and just lightly brush that across my face. That’s an easy no-makeup makeup look and creates a healthy glow.

I know you already mentioned a few, but what are your all-time favorite Armani Beauty products?

I have so many! The Luminous Silk Foundation is why I’m really happy to get to represent this brand and this product because I’ve been using it for so long and, at the time—I know this sounds silly to say about makeup—it really was life changing when I discovered it because I had been working mostly in television and on some indie films. I was a young actor, and I would sit in chairs, and artists would have such a hard time shade-matching my skin. At the time, there weren’t a ton of brands that had a wide range of shades. And typically, they would put stuff on me, and I would look either orange, or I would look ashy. Then, I had my first big red carpet, and an artist used Luminous Silk on me, and he actually mixed two shades—one that was way too light for me and way too dark for me—and made his own special thing. Then he said, “You should look into this brand,” and I did. I remember going to a department store and finding something. It was the first time there was a shade that was right for me and came out of a bottle.

Not just for me, but for friends and family, it’s been so easy for me to color-match for people in my life because there’s such a wide range of shades. Their foundation really did help me feel and look like myself when I was at work. As I mentioned, their primer’s really good. Another thing that I have discovered more recently in the last couple of years is the Fluid Sheer, which is so beautiful. You can use it, as I said, mixed with your foundation, and so many of their products are so user-friendly. I’ll be done with a full face of makeup and set it, then I can use Fluid Sheer and put it right on top, and it doesn’t do anything weird or funky to the makeup. It sits perfectly and just makes you look really dewy. I also love to use it on my shoulders or my clavicle if I have skin showing, and it just gives you this very healthy, dewy look. I find that with some highlighters, you can sort of see the glitter a little too much. My approach is usually to do pretty easy makeup, so I like it to be a little more invisible. This one can be, but it’s also buildable, so if you want it to be a bit more dramatic, you just use a little more when applying.