Actress Hayden Panettiere loves talking about skin and hair-care products, so much so that on this Friday-afternoon chat, she’s multitasking with an argan oil mask in her hair for our hour-long conversation. She also loves makeup (most of what she learned skill-wise came from her time on Nashville) and fitness (bonus: almost everything she does is free)—just don’t ask her to pronounce anything properly in French. “Don’t laugh at my pronunciation on some of these French products!” the 33-year-old—who’s been in the “biz” since age 4—laughs. “I did not take French in school, but I’m pretty good at Spanish!”
The On-the-Go Go-Tos: “I use a lot of Dr. Sturm. That’s what I’m pulling out of my bag now. It’s a beautiful line. I have tons of Dr. Sturm! In my opinion, it’s never too early to start the anti-aging situation.”
The Hyaluronic Acid: “The brand has a wonderful hyaluronic serum. Anything with hyaluronic acid is amazing. I used to get the airbrush facials where you put the hyaluronic acid on and basically use the tool to push it into the pores. Works magic.”
The Radiance Booster: “The Sturm Glow Drops are also great. Amazing stuff.”
The Vitamin C: “I love a good vitamin C for the morning and for the evening and the Sturm one is great.”
The Cream: “The Sturm face cream is excellent; I guess I just love everything if it’s made in Germany. They have fantastic stuff over there. I trust it!”
The Cleanser: “The Dr. Sturm Enzyme Cleanser is a go-to. I’ve learned to wash my face with cold water because of the pores—anything you want to get into your pores, you must open with steam first by warming your skin. I usually use this one in the shower because it’s the perfect time. My pores are open, I wash my face with the cleanser, and, sometimes, I do it twice.”
The Tool: “After I wash my face with a cleanser, I’ll do a scrub of some sort. I have this little tool that you can get at Sephora. I’m not exactly sure what it’s called, but it is under the Sephora brand. It’s like a little plastic thing with soft rubber spikes that really cleans your pores. You take it between your fingers, and you wash your face with it. I like it because it’s small and you can take it anywhere.”
The Mask: “After that, I use the Sturm Face Mask. I personally haven’t used a toner in a while; I do love them—I should get back into using them. But, whatever I use to moisturize, I always ensure I get right by my ear—that tiny spot right under the ear where wrinkles can start to appear and happen as you get older—and then I get the jawline and follow all the way to the neck. I just make sure to get those spots that nobody thinks of!”
The Water: “I’m all about cold water, cold water, cold water. If you want something to open, like your pores, use warm water…never hot, but warm. Then you use cold to close. Same goes for my hair.”
The Hair Hydrator: “Right now, for my hair—because I do highlight and dye it—it’s really important to keep it moisturized and healthy. One time, I had a photo shoot where they put too much heat on it with hairspray and it snapped my hair right off! You can completely ruin your hair in one day. I have super curly hair, like Italian coarse, and it’s on the drier side. Then blonde on top of that doesn’t really help the situation. Right now, I have argan oil and an argan oil mask on my hair. I’ll do that a lot.”
The Hair Savior: “Big fan of silk pillowcases, too!”
The Body Serum: “Back to Sturm…the have a Super Anti-Aging Body Serum. It is just delicious—it makes you feel hydrated and luminous and fantastic. As I get older—especially when I’m living my life on-set—it’s really hard to get the water that I need. We sweat a lot, and you get dehydrated very quickly…so anything to put the hydration back into your skin is key.”
The Makeup Moves: “I loved my makeup on Nashville and I learned so much there. The show was super fun and I love to have fun with makeup—I actually think I’m becoming more daring with it as I get older.”
The Makeup Remover: “I always have makeup wipes on me. It’s definitely a constant. I like them for when I’m on-set all day. You’re sweating and then you’re putting makeup over makeup and because it’s so hot, the makeup is getting stuck in your pores. You need wipes—you want to do everything you can to get that makeup out and, sometimes, wipes are the only option.”
The Base: “Love Shiseido. Let me check the name of what I use: It’s the Shiseido Synchro Skin Self-Refreshing Foundation. Gorgeous product. It lifts, it’s fresh; I love it.”
The Glow: “Chanel makeup is gorgeous, specifically the Les Beiges. Amazing stuff! Gives a good, healthy glow. That stuff is beautiful.”
The Palette: “Nothing compares to the Tom Ford palettes. They have these beautiful beige eye shadows, then the highlighter goes under your eyebrow and in the corner of your eye. And then I do it on both my lips, my cheekbones and straight down my nose. You can literally use them everywhere.”
The Color: “After the Tom Ford, I’ll usually build color; I love to start with what I have from Gucci. I have a ton of Gucci that I found online and it’s really reasonable for how long it lasts. I love colors. I have green eyes and I like mixing greenish-blue colors, rose gold, silver, just gold, coffee and copper. They all blend well together, and I’ll use either a brush or I’ll just use my finger.”
The Everything Else: “I also use a lot of KVD Beauty—all her stuff. She has beautiful products.”
The Unwinder: “To unwind…well, I have a Peloton next to my bed, and right now, I have a treadmill in my living room. They work for me.”
The Class: “In some cities, there are gyms that are literally in an old movie theater. They are completely dark and, instead of seats, they have everything from treadmills to bikes to the ellipticals…all of the stuff. They usually put on an action movie that makes you want to run to it. You got to be a little careful because, sometimes, you realize you’re fighting while running on the treadmill. But I love it.”
The Leg-Sculptor: “Like I said, I have a treadmill in my living room and I put it at a steep angle and walk on it for like 20 minutes. You really start to burn fat when you do that. That’s important in strengthening your core. I’ve had injuries from the past, so I have to work on that core.”
The Core-Strengthener: “My mom taught me to do this when I’m standing around on-set: Spin my belly button to backbone. It gives you great posture. Any time you can think about doing it, just squeeze your belly button to your backbone and go all the way to your pelvic floor—it lifts you up! I’ve been doing it forever. Your body will actually start doing it naturally on its own every day. It’s better than sit-ups. Keeping your core strong is really, really important. I’m a gymnast; I’ve been a gymnast since I was young. I like to be strong. I’m a little one, and I have a daughter that came out one ounce from eight pounds and 21 inches long, which is crazy! But my upper body is strong, and my legs are strong, but I work on it.”
The In-Flight Fitness: “When I’m sitting on a plane for a long time, I’ll start squeezing my buttocks muscles and the back of my legs and my pelvic floor and just do a few rounds of 30 to 50 of them. You don’t have to be on a plane to do it. I will also stand at my kitchen counter and do the same thing.”
The High-Heel Workout: “I had amazing legs on Nashville because I had to dance and I had to do it in heels. Being in that high heel position gives you amazing calves and amazing legs. When I was singing and playing Juliet, I was in that squatting position. Not a full squat, obviously, but I would do this forward-walk thing. If you look it up, you’ll see what I’m talking about. Now, I’ll stand in front of a counter or anything like that and just go up on my toes like 20, 30, however many you can reps or 30 of them like four or five times. I’ll even sometimes put on high-heeled boots and go on my treadmill and do the uphill walk. You can do it anywhere at any time. Any time you can sneak it in.”
The Arm Move: “I like holding my arms out like a ballerina with the long legs. It’s probably technically Pilates…where you put your arms straight back, tighten your back like you are trying to hold a pencil in between your wings. Work those shoulder blades. You keep your arms stick straight, your hands, spirit fingers, and then just press them together. It’s an easy move if what I just described makes sense in your head!”
