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Jessie Reyez’s 5-Minute “Fake Awake” Beauty Routine

Jessie Reyez reveals the secrets behind her less-is-more beauty routine.

Filmed at Dream Midtown

Released on 04/22/2020


[light upbeat music]

What's up, my name is Jessie Reyez,

and I'm gonna show you what I do every day

for my skin care and makeup.

I use shampoo and conditioner in the shower and I detangle.

But once I get out, and have washed it out,

I put that much conditioner in my hair.

It's regular conditioner, a little more.

A little more just for the tips.

I grab the blow dryer, and I flip over,

and I literally just chill.

'Cause I feel like when people do this,

and move it around too much,

that's when your hair gets frizzy.

So I just stay pretty still,

and just move the blow dryer close to my roots

and stay away from my tips.

[blow drying]


Semi-dry, sorta.

You see where it's still a little frizzy?

I'm gonna take some more conditioner.

And just tame the frizz a bit.

So I wash my face with whatever soap's available,

so whatever.

I don't like to dry it completely,

I like to keep it a little damp.

And then I take Aveeno, this one's my favorite

'cause it's got the menthol in it.

So if you're dead tired, it kinda wakes you up.

And this is legit, full body.

I do this the second I get out of the shower

and I just get mad moisturized.

I'm gonna tie my hair back.

I'm very minimal, man.

I feel like when you work with people that love makeup,

they're like...

slather it on, and... relax.

I don't need that much.

So I dry a little bit around my eyes

just to make sure it's not too moist there.

Rimmel's really good for this.

Because I feel like other concealers cake so easily.

Like you smile and then it's just bare lines,

you look like a fucking zebra.

Okay, so you do that.

Just so that... oh.

And then rub around my fingers.

Again, I'm not a fucking makeup artist,

I'm not a beauty guru,

I'm sure I might be doing this wrong.

But this is what works for me.

So deal with it.

I've heard you're supposed to pat it in,

but I've done that before,

when I pat it in, like dab it or whatever this,

I feel like it cakes.

But when I do this, it doesn't.

So I just do like the inner corners

and under my eye.

And like, the outer corners.

Hmm, a little more.

If you're like me and you didn't get much sleep,

you might need a little more.

For me it's not so much the travel that affects my skin,

for me it's more so what I'm eating.

So if I have a day where I'm just like,

that winery looks delicious,

that Hershey kisses looks delicious,

then the next day I pay for it.

Like this is remnants of like something,

some caramel something.

So this one?

That double mascara, kind of do this

to take excess off.

And then I like to go to the outer corners.

The outer lashes being the heaviest.

So I just go over them again.

And then let that bitch dry for a little bit.

I don't like doing my eyebrows, man.

I mean, minimal, minimal shit.

I just don't like going in on stuff.

So I leave this naturally.

But I grow a unibrow, which you can kinda see here.

So instead of plucking, 'cause it takes too damn long,

I do this.


And then I'm good.

And then I'm good.

So then this one, I do the same thing.

[upbeat electronic music]

I guess when I was younger, I was more of a tomboy.

But then when I started dancing and cheerleading

and being a bartender,

is when I kinda started getting dolled up more.

But I don't really like it.

This stuff I do, I call this shit fake awake.

Because when I don't sleep and I have to do interviews

or some shit, I'm not even awake,

I like, walk up looking like a zombie.

But when you do your lashes,

it looks like you slept an extra 10 hours.

Out here lying on people.

For my lips I mix it sometimes.

Make sure it's dry.

Revlon like, nude kind of color.

Y'all are gonna laugh at me in a second.

I don't like using foundation,

I don't really like using blush or anything.

But I feel like lipstick at least

has a little moisture in it,

and then I do this.

'Cause you see how I said, I like the minimal stuff?

I feel like this way,

I don't OD on blush,

and I don't OD on lipstick.

But then it kind of like balances each other out.

Because I won't have a lot of blush

and I won't have a lot of lipstick.

'Cause I don't like looking caked-up.

And then sometimes I'll do this,

'cause I like how it looks,

when it's regular sun-kissed.

And then little bit of Mac lip gloss.

This shit is fire.

I just like putting it on the bottom,

and then figuring it out after.

'Cause otherwise it's too much.

And then I check if my hair's properly dry,

which it's not, so then I dry it a little more.

[blow drying]

Like if the show's at three o'clock,

I'm not trying to be there at 12 to get ready,

or at one to get ready,

I'd rather be there at 2:30,

do [pops],

and then go.

And then also I sweat a lot,

so I don't want to be worried about a lash falling off

or anything like that when I'm on stage.

I like looking more natural than anything.

When I was bartending, I used to cake it on.

And I used to have to wear those push-up bras

and make sure I was [claps] getting my tips and stuff,

but I'm over it.

It's just a lot.

If you're not there yet, it's fine.

Wear your lashes, have your fun.

Maybe you love it, maybe it's your passion.

But for me, I'm over it.

When I'm doing my bun, I get a little bit of water first.

And I do it with my hands 'cause I don't really like

it looking too perfect.

And then I have my scrunchie, but under my scrunchie

I have just a regular hairband.

I fold it up once,


Then I get a little bit of gel,

but I only do this sometimes.

For example, if it's like a festival,

I won't bother with this because I'll sweat it out.

But if it's a photoshoot or something like that,

then I'll do it.

So I take a little bit of gel,

do it up,

and then a little bit more gel.

And then we're going to take it to driftway real quick.

My mom wasn't really the type to be like dolled up either.

My mom taught me a lot of the ghetto tricks too

that they used to do back in Cali, Colombia,

like instead of blush, they used to use [foreign language].

And [foreign language] is radish.

So you didn't have that much money,

and you couldn't afford rouge or blush,

you'd get radish, and you'd use that.

Same thing, my mom never really used a lot of makeup

or foundation or anything.

And my mom's got really nice skin.

Like everyone always comments that on my mother.

She's like 60 something and barely has any wrinkles.

I think that probably has a lot to do with the fact that

she didn't have a lot of chemicals on her face,

which is part of the reason that I don't like

using foundations or using anything like that,

because if you're walking around with a mask all day,

how is that healthy for your face?

So I got one last one,

and this is when I do interviews,

again, not really shows,

'cause I feel like it sweats off anyway.

But I use a little bit of highlighter

[muffled] 'cause I didn't really start using this

'til later on.

When I first started, I didn't really use much,

when I first started, when I was busking and stuff.

Aside from the mascara.

And when I was bartending, sometimes I double up,

so if I was bartending then I'd be like full-faced.

And playing on the street.

I fucking put way too much.

Yeah man.

But if you're starting out,

and if you're just getting started

and you're playing on the street just like I was,

one of the things that I heard from

this guy named Doc McKinney,

he gave me this quote man that I'll never forget.

He was like, Jess, you gotta do what you can,

where you're at, with whatever you got.

Because when people see you bustin' ass

and working hella hard for yourself,

that's the kind of energy you're gonna invite

into your life.

You gotta be the one leading,

you gotta be the one pushing that shit forward,

you gotta be the one that's legit like, no,

I'm gonna happen or I'm gonna die trying.

This is gonna happen.

And that really helped a lot man.

Those little quotes that just stick with you forever.


Look, that's it baby.

Bye, see you later.

[in foreign language]

Featuring: Jessie Reyez

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