Gabrielle Union Shares the “Crass” Tip She Applies to Skincare—and Her “Hero Product”

Hey, Vogue, it s Gabrielle Union

and I m gonna walk you through my everyday skincare routine

and my fresh day s makeup look.

First step, kick out the retainer.

[retainer clicks]

When you don t wear it regularly,

[Gabrielle giggles]

don t tell my orthodontist.

Me and my husband both have retainers.

And every night, just like the scene in Bring It On,

we pop our retainers in and we pop ours out.

This is the U Beauty, it s the U Beauty,

it s the U Beauty cleanser, which I love.

And just in case, y all thought I came in here

with some kind of little makeup situation on, I did not.

[upbeat music]

Uh-oh, see,

homegirl didn t get all the makeup off last night.

This is Witch Hazel, which I use as my toner.

I was very lucky,

cause I never really had crazy problem skin,

not until my hormones changed.

And then, it was like, Is this acne?

How do you get acne as a fully grown-ass woman?

But I found a way.

And I had to just start experimenting

and so, I think I m probably like you guys.

You try a bunch of different things,

you see what fits, what doesn t fit.

My next step is my PCA Skin pore refining exfoliator.

When I lived in Miami,

I was, ooh, I was like an oil slick like,

[Gabrielle mouths sound]

but in California where it s dry heat,

I ve also gotten a little dry in my older age.

So, I have to switch up my routine based on where I m at.

[upbeat music]

If you see someone s skin that you like,

what are you doing,

like tell me the products, tell me the routine.

Yeah and I hope that it works for you.

And if it doesn t, it s like dating.

You just keep trying.

My aunt once said, she said it much more crass than this,

But men or women are like Kleenex.

You try one, you use it.

Oh look, another one s popped up in its place.

Just keep trying.

Next up is 111SKIN.

This is their retinol oil.

I m gonna do it like the TikTokers.

This is probably the cringe stuff

that my daughter Zaya is talking about.

Trying to do like a little skin influencer thing.

Get ready with me.

So, some people have very strong opinions

about retinol in the daytime, mainly because of the sun.

For me, it s kind of interchangeable,

because I m psycho about protection from the sun.

The Therabody face thing.

And this is how you know it s mine,

because that, something spilled in my luggage.

And you can use the cold function,

or you can use the heat function.

I m using cold because mama didn t sleep.

And it stays cold.

I used to just use like a little bowl of ice in the morning.

You know what?

The thing about ice is it melts.

It doesn t stay as cold as I would like.

And in this case, yes, I am going inside to outside,

because I m trying to push that inflammation,

that swelling right on out.

So, I am a device sucker!

I love a device.

So, sometimes, you gotta go to the Shani Darden.

This is when I need backup.

My whole face is vibrating.

I met Shani when I was doing a little show,

called L.A. s Finest

with one of her best friends, Jessica Alba,

Jessica swears by Shani.

And so, Shani s a homegirl now.

If I had a hero product, it s the resurfacing compound.

I started using U Beauty in September,

about this much I use,

I ve never gotten more compliments on my face.

[upbeat music]

Well, I wish I was the one who got my husband into skincare.

We have the same amazing facialists.

The more he started doing work on TV

and retired from the NBA,

he was like, Oh, I need to get into a routine.

And he moved this beautiful chair

that was in our living room into his bathroom.

Because he really likes

to luxuriate during his skincare routine.

It s quite cute.

This is the vitamin B brightening serum.

Use exactly what the directions say,

because I have a problem with that.

If it says like a dime size, girl,

I m going for a half a dollar.

And with all the things I ve used thus far,

you have to commit to sunscreen.

Because these products left without any protection

from the sun will work against you.

We have the U Beauty, the return.

This right here helps to bring these girls back.

[upbeat music]

Kaavia is obsessed with beauty, all things beauty.

She is the girliest girl ever.

And she loves more makeup.

She s not really into like the skincare part of it.

But makeup?

Child, she could do a beat.

She does eyes better than me.

But Zaya definitely has a skincare routine.

I mean, but she s also,

when you re walking the runways of Miu Miu,

she s gotten very much into skincare

and the whole like having her own beauty routine.

I don t know who else out there has a problem

with TikTok Shop.

I can t stop myself.

The Babe Lash lash serum,

the new organic lash serum.

And I use one on one eye and the other on this one.

And I just wanna see which one is better.

[upbeat music]

Sunscreen, I go 50 and it s Invisible Sunscreen Gel

and it just disappears right into my face.

Honestly, I didn t think black people needed to,

I didn t think we needed to wear sunscreen.

And that was a lie!

Because I used to think,

Oh my God!

Look at all these freckles and moles.

They are so cute.

And then, they started changing shape

and I had to get them removed.

My girl Winnie Harlow came up

with this line called Cay Skin.

This is her lip balm, which I m obsessed with.

Chocolate for the chocolate girls.

But I also discovered probably around 40

when I was going through a lot of hormonal issues

that if I give up gluten, dairy, alcohol and caffeine,

I was getting rid of a lot of inflammation

and a lot of those perimenopausal challenges,

hormonal challenges kind of disappeared the more I worked

on eliminating inflammation.

So, I m just doing tinted moisturizer.

Today, we re gonna go with the Laura Mercier slanted brush.

I m just gonna load her up like that.

[upbeat music]

The beautiful thing

about more people getting into the beauty business,

is that there s so many more options

and there s so many more FUBU options, For Us, By Us.

There was a time though where I d go to work

and they wouldn t have the shade, child

and I would look gray.

So, you start bringing your own makeup,

you start buying your own makeup.

So, now, you re paying for things

that you shouldn t have to pay for.

And it s completely unfair and it still happens.

And there was a time

where there were only a few brown girls.

They re like, Be lucky girl!

And I m like, I don t wanna be the only one.

I want there to be the range of black beauty.

I want you to see the diaspora

on screen, behind the screens,

in front of the camera, behind the camera.

But it s a fight, it s still a fight.

Concealer next.

I use Makeup by Mario, my honey Mario.

I feel like I m just gonna go with the darker one.

And this is number 440.

[upbeat music]

I think, the first time I got my makeup done professionally,

I had been discovered at Trudys dress shop.

Trudys was known as the prom dress capital of the world.

This lady comes up and she s like,

Would you ever consider being

in our prom dress commercial?

And so, when I was getting my makeup done,

it was the same products

that you could get at any drugstore,

but it was the touch, it was the feeling like a star

that I really loved, I really did love it.

I learned to do my own makeup

when I started going to the teen clubs.

[Gabrielle giggles]

And I was like, I want a boyfriend.

I don t know if you guys are familiar with Danessa Myricks

and this is magic.

[upbeat music]

See, it s giving me a little yellow,

so, maybe, I will go back over it with a little Mario.

[upbeat music]

So, my next thing is CHANEL.

It s a little blush.

So, sometimes, when you ve pulled an all-nighter,

your eyes might not be as white as you d like.

And these LUMIFY, first of all,

you can see this is my real stuff,

because there s not even a label.

And it s just,

[upbeat music]

take a breath.

[Gabrielle breathes out]

I wasn t meditating, you guys.

I was just thinking about fun songs that I like.

I personally only love songs if they came out before 1995.

And that s mainly because I know the lyrics.

So, this morning, it was Dionne Warwick.

♪ Do you know the way to San Jose ♪

[Gabrielle mouths music]

This is the CHANEL like for a little extra,

[Gabrielle mouths sound]

you know?

Center nose, what?

So, during the filming of Riff Raff,

starring the legend Jennifer Coolidge,

[upbeat music]

I play Sandy, she is Ed Harris second wife

and I was a second wife myself,

is a little art imitating life.

And this is my Mario, my Makeup by Mario liner.

So, she had like a really,

it was pretty like a very nice, neutral,

kind of like this, but with swollen eyes, you ll see it.

[upbeat music]

My girl RiRi!

And this is a Fenty classic

and I literally have 51100 of these

in every purse, every drawer.

Kaavia has taken several.

[upbeat music]

[Gabrielle mouths sounds]

They re glossy, they re luscious.

I still want more lip glosses.

So, I m not gonna be the friend that s like,

Ri, where s the album?

I m not asking, cause I m like, More please.

So, this is Damone Roberts, the brow pencil.

Luckily, Damone just did my eyebrows.

So, I don t really have to do much.

[upbeat music]

I had a thin brow, y all.

And I thought it like made me more,

I don t know, sophisticated,

but it just made me look mean.

I m not really mean.

I played a lot of mean girls, which is fun.

But I m so my mother s child from Nebraska.

I m still trying to give my neighbors May Day gifts.

And I don t know if that s just a Midwest thing.

I have been anxious since I was 19.

And at 19, I was sexually assaulted,

a story I ve talked about many, many times.

But after that, I got PTSD.

And a part of that is I just have extreme anxiety

about everything,

which I have been working on for the last 25-plus years

with the same therapist with varying degrees of success.

As I ve gotten older, it s gotten a little better.

It s a lifetime thing.

And this is my Victoria Beckham.

When I get really, really anxious,

I talk to myself and I say,

What s the worst that can happen?

What is the absolute worst thing that can happen right now?

It s not gonna happen, you re okay.

And if that doesn t work, it s the 10 deep breaths.

Do they make me a little lightheaded?

Yes, they do, but the anxiety slowly dissipates.

[upbeat music]

I m one of these people

that this feels like a surgical tool.

When people come in, right, with, they come in like this,

I definitely feel like you re gonna get my whole lash

and people have.

Again, look at the mouth open.

[upbeat music]

Hourglass, baby!

It s translucent tan.

[upbeat music]

Mm-hmm [affirmative].

Also, I think I bought 57 of these,

5711 of these from Costco.

Second to the last, Sakura.

It s so light, but like hmm,

that s a ranch [indistinct], like it s so good.

The last thing and this is my favorite,

well, one of my favorite products from my line,

it s the Styling Glaze

where I could have just done with my finger, but.

I hope you guys enjoyed it.

I hope you learned a little something more about me,

the products that I use.

And I hope you have a great day.

I will.