Sarah Michelle Gellar on NAD, Beauty Lessons, and Why the ’90s Were Cool AF
The new face of Olay on keeping it simple and why she thinks she looks better now than she did in the ’90s
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It’s safe to say we’re in full-on Sarah Michelle Gellar renaissance. Although the planned Buffy reboot was suddenly – and shockingly – cancelled, fans don’t have to wait very long to see her onscreen: She’s going back to her horror-movie roots in Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (in theaters March 20), which is already receiving rave reviews. (That doesn’t mean we’re not totally bummed, Hulu execs…)
Fortunately, Ready or Not 2 is the campy mix of humor and horror that SMG slips into so easily – and as a fan of the first film, she’s thrilled to join the cast. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done because it’s horror, it’s comedy, it’s drama. It’s also a love story,” Gellar tells Glamour, adding that “it picks up the second the last one stops.”
Gellar can also be seen as the face of Olay’s latest Regenerist treatments, and her relationship with the skin care brand runs deep. “It’s kind of a funny story,” she says, reminding that she’d been on Olay’s first-ever Super Bowl commercial in 2019 (also horror-themed, naturally). “I’m very particular about the products that I work with, I’ve been doing this long enough that I can’t represent something I don’t actually use or believe in.”
As a self-proclaimed science geek, she visited the brand’s Cincinnati HQ to learn more about the advancements the brand has made in skin care technology, such as the Regenerist line. “What are we doing if we’re not learning from the things that come out? Yes, my mother had that pink jar when I was little, but now it’s the red jar and it’s even better” she says.
Ahead, Gellar opens up about her skin care philosophy, the ’90s trends she is (and isn’t) game to bring back, and more in this installment of Glamour‘s Big Beauty Questions.
Glamour: How would you describe your beauty routine these days? Low-maintenance, high-maintenance, somewhere in between?
Sarah Michelle Gellar: I hate to say high-maintenance or low-maintenance. It’s simple in the sense that I definitely believe that you need three or four really good products. We get those TikToks and Instagrams sent to us, and we [think we] need things, but we don’t. It’s about the products that work and consistency. But I am loyal to my routine. It doesn’t matter how late I get home and how tired I am, the makeup comes off, my skin gets washed, and my products go on, because you have to take care of your skin.
Have you always been regimented about your beauty routine, going back to your Buffy days, for instance?
Even before that, I did a show when I was a teenager, and this makeup artist said, “We’re going to teach you how to take care of your skin.” I had my first facial, I think I was 16, and it stuck with me ever since then. I’m the person on the airplane that’s moisturizing their face on the airplane and spraying it down. It’s also [part of] my job.
There was another lesson, too, that always stuck with me, and costume designers always comment on it. They always had teengaers in and out of set, and they would leave everything a mess. And they said, “If you don’t hang up your clothing, it’s not getting cleaned.” And so I don’t care how tired I am when I wrap at the end of the night, I always hang up my clothing. And a lot of actors don’t do that.
I’m sure the crew appreciates that. What’s a product that’s become part of your core routine a this point?
Well, a new one that I’m really grateful for is the Olay Face and Neck Roller. Because I fly so much, I need to keep all my (lymph] moving. Even before they were cool, I was always the person that had a gua sha, a roller. I was always doing those. And so when Olay came out with the new neck and eyelifting products and it’s built in there, to me, that was game-changing for so many reasons. I love a two-for-one. I’m a bargain girl. It’s a space-saver and it’s a time-saver.
But I’ve always believed you have to maintain, especially in this [décolletage] area, because I like to wear things that are low-cut. I don’t want to be the woman as she gets older that’s like, “Oh, she’s only wearing turtlenecks.” And my makeup artist, David De Leon, always said to me when I was younger, “Your skin care does not stop here. It stops here.” [points to chest].
And then I love that they added NAD too. I’m a big believer in NAD. And so the fact that Olay added it to the [Face & Neck] treatment is also a game-changer to me.
I feel like I have a conversation about NAD every day lately. I still haven’t dipped my toes into that yet.
I will tell you, it is the secret to how I manage these schedules, how my skin looks good. I’m a tried-and-true believer in NAD.
What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever done for the sake of beauty?
I mean, we’re all putting sperm on our faces right now. I think that’s a little strange, right? But I’m not a big trend person. I had to try it, but I’m definitely more a tried-and-true kind of girl, so I haven’t done that many. Then there’s the tweezing of your eyebrows. Oh, and then the dyeing of your eyebrows – I did that in the ’90s, which is coming back, the bleached brows. I’m not doing that.
You have two kids, Charlotte, 16, and Rocky, 13. What are some lessons about beauty, or taking care of yourself, that you’ve tried to pass along to them?
It’s funny, it’s different with a girl and a boy. And everyone always says, “Oh, good luck getting your teenage son to wash his face and use deodorant and cologne and all those things.” But a lot of it is what you model. And thankfully, my husband [Freddie Prinze, Jr.] is an actor, and so he washes his face twice a day and puts moisturizer on. And so my son has picked up on it, and he has products that he likes and he’s pretty good about it. I hear other moms tell me thy have the struggle.
My daughter is the reverse struggle. My daughter wants every product under the sun. She sees it on TikTok and then we have to drive to the store. And I’m trying to teach her to pare it down and find out what really works for her skin versus what person she looks up to is promoting this week on social media.
I was at the launch event when they announced you as the new Olay face a few months ago, and you mentioned everyone’s always showing your photos of yourself in the ’90s and early ’00s.
And now the trend is everywhere right now. I refuse to make that TikTok. If one more person in my feed says, “Mom, what were you like in the ’90s?” I can’t look at that anymore.
So that probably answer my question about how you feel about it…
I just don’t like that one TikTok trend. By the way, the ’90s were cool AF. That God for Love Story bringing back slip dresses. I never stopped wearing them. I think I said this at that event, there are two things I don’t want back from the ’90s: I don’t want overtweezed eyebrows back. We all look better with an eyebrow. And I don’t get the choker thing. It just cuts your neck off. It looks like you’re a weird bobblehead. I’m not a choker girl. Those are my two.
I’m with you on those. So then do you have mixed feelings with people showing you old photos of yourself?
I actually think I look better now. I have great memories, but I’m happier now. I feel more confident. But my favorite is when someone shows me an old picture or an old video that I don’t remember. There’s one going around of me right now where I was talking about why it’s okay in horror movies to have blood and gore. And people keep sending it to me. It must have been the Scream junket is my guess. So it’s coming up again with Scream 7 and I don’t remember it. So those always get me excited.
Original article at Glamour
