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When she's not working on her next cult classic or dropping her kids off at school on one of New York City's hottest summer days, Scarlett Johansson is making the time to take care of her skin—even if it just means sitting in a bathtub for ten minutes with The Outset's Purifying Blue Clay Mask on her face after her kids are in bed.
For Johansson's skincare brand The Outset, radical simplicity is the ethos—in the minimal packaging, the products' clean formulas, and the way that each product is designed to fit into anyone’s busy schedule. Because, at the end of the day, we don’t all have time for an 18-step beauty routine—and that’s also not necessarily what our skin needs.
We caught up with Scarlett Johansson about the beauty trends she thinks are best left in the past, the product that both her and her kids can’t get enough of, and about how her first beauty looks were inspired by her big sister.
What's your star sign and do you relate?
"I'm a Scorpio and Sagittarius cusp. I feel like I relate to my Sagittarius side more than my Scorpio side, but I'm a Libra Rising, and that part makes sense to me."
What three words best describe how you're feeling right now?
"I would say energized, excited, and a little tired. Energized and tired at the same time. I'm energized by the work that we're doing here, but I'm tired because I have two children and I'm over 40. So it's just kind of my resting state."
What's one product that you always have in your bag?
"Our The Outset Botanical Barrier Rescue Balm because everyone in my family uses it. My kids use it. It gets a thousand fingers stuck in there."
What's your beauty ethos?
"My beauty philosophy, especially at this stage of my life, is do more with less. Our products are really formulated to work for you. I don't have time for an 18-step routine, and my skin is so sensitive that I really focus on each product doing what it's supposed to do. And I'm out the door in two minutes and 36 seconds."
Who was your first beauty inspiration?
"My sister, because she's five years older than me. Everything that she was wearing, I was, too. It was all the makeup that she was buying at Bobbi Brown and MAC, and I was buying all that makeup and probably driving her crazy."
F, Marry, Kill: Serum, Toner, Moisturizer?
"Kill toner. Toner is not a good step for me. I've already cleansed my skin—I don't need to dry it out again. It seems weird to say that you would fuck a serum, but I got to say it. I just absolutely love our serum so much that it's just the gift that keeps on giving. Marry cleanser—it's tried and true."
Is there a beauty trend that you secretly hate?
"Threading. I don't get it. What about just plucking or waxing?"
What's an old beauty trend that you hope makes a comeback?
"I feel like a lot of trends from earlier in my career have come back—even the '90s makeup that my mom was wearing and her spice pencil and all of that. The taupe, all the matte colors, those have all come back. I love a brown palette, but that's all back now. The one thing I would never want to come back is just the over-tweezing thing because I did that to all my friends. I'm so sorry. They're still suffering."
What color is your aura?
"Maybe orange. I feel like I run warm."
What's entertaining you?
"I've been reading a bunch of short stories by Daphne du Maurier, which are terrifying and extremely unsettling. I just finished the second season of The Four Seasons, which I really liked. I feel like I'm the target audience for that. I'm also just catching up on movies that I hadn't seen. I just watched No Other Choice, which I missed last year. It was so incredible."
How do you reset?
"I have a very busy household, so if I can get everybody situated and then throw on our clay mask and take 10 minutes to just sit in the bath, chill, and read a book or even just zone out and do some online shopping. I love that. I think just taking even like 10 minutes to throw a mask on and zone out, I appreciate."
Do you believe in manifestation?
"To a certain degree, yeah, definitely. I think you have to visualize. It's important to visualize your goals as you move towards them."
What are you manifesting for the rest of 2026?
"I have a lot of work that I'm doing this year, and I hope that it feels fulfilling and that I will have a sense of accomplishment by the year's end."