Madelaine Petsch is everywhere these days and that’s no exaggeration. When the 23-year-old isn’t clocking hours on the “Riverdale” set, she’s doing makeup tutorials on her YouTube channel, strutting down the red carpet, or sharing beauty advice on-the-fly. It goes without saying that taking the occasional break is absolutely necessary. But when you’ve got so many (awesome) things to do and thrive on the busyness of it all, improvisation is necessary.
In Petsch’s own words, the actress (and new Bioré ambassador!) tells StyleCaster everything she does to make sure her health—mental, emotional and physical—remains a top priority, even though she’s constantly on-the-go.
On Self-Care
I’m huge, I mean huge, on self-care. I’m an advocate for when you feel like you need to stay home, just stay home. I’m really big on things always smelling peaceful; like lavender’s always in the house and I’m saging when I feel negative energy. I’m just very in tune with how I’m feeling and I do listen to my body when it says I need to relax. Then there are days when I’m off and I want to work out every single day, so I have to make sure I keep that in line with feeling like I’m recharging at the same time.
Lavender’s always in the house and I’m saging when I feel negative energy.
On Travel
I’m a workaholic, but I find ways to fit self-care into everything I do. I know I’m going on an airplane tonight, so I’ll probably fit in a Bioré Self Heating Mask when I’m in the airplane bathroom. It’s amazing because you can put it on for one minute and take it off versus having a creepy mask on your face. Masks are sticky, so if I fell asleep, it would get everywhere. I always carry around essential oil with me, so I’ll take a moment to recharge, breathe in a different room, make sure that I have everything I need and then go back into the day. I don’t like time off, but I like taking care of myself, so it has to go hand in hand.
Source: Instagram
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On Her Comfort Meal
Actually, I’m really into spicy tomato soup. Isn’t that weird? I’m not really into comfort foods or anything. I feel like I eat pretty clean. I’ve been plant-based my whole life, but I like anything spicy. And anything with a spicy soup is my kind of self-care. I want to feel like I’m bundled, especially in Vancouver where it’s so cold. You want to bundle up with a good book and some soup.
On Fitness
I have a personal trainer, which I think kind of goes with the whole recharge thing, because working out is one time when I don’t want to be thinking. If I’m going to recharge, I want to have my brain completely turned off, and with a trainer, I have the ability to do that. Not everyone has the ability to do that, I totally understand that, and there are apps to help as well. But my personal trainer helps to turn my brain off for an hour and I don’t think about anything else except what she tells me think about and I love it. That’s my recharge moment and hour to myself even though I’m with someone else.
I like to make everything a little bit of a ritual because I don’t have a lot of time to myself.
MORE: Hilary Duff on Self-Care and the Ultimate Day Off
On Makeup
If I can avoid putting makeup on, I usually do, because I wear it for work. But If I am going out or something, I like to give myself enough time to enjoy getting ready. And I like to do it sitting on my bed with all my makeup in front of me while watching TV, and a little mirror so it feels very peaceful. Maybe a cup of coffee. I like to make everything a little bit of a ritual because I don’t have a lot of time to myself, as we know. So everything has to be kind of precious.
I always have some kind of lip balm in my purse, and Fenty Beauty foundation, which I’m obsessed with. I’m also loving the tarte gifted Amazonian clay smart mascara. I’m not a germaphobe, but I always have Wet Ones to be as clean as possible. And I try to keep some kind of eyebrow thing in my bag, maybe like the auburn Brow Wiz from Anastasia Beverly Hills.
I now finally now feel comfortable without makeup on.
Source: Instagram
MORE: How ‘Riverdale’ Helped Madelaine Petsch Overcome Her Bullies
On Skin Care
Bioré Pore Strips is the first skin care product I’ve ever owned. When I was eight years old—and at that point I probably didn’t even have blackheads—but I saw them in movies and stuff, and I was like, “I want to be like a grown up!” So my mom got them for me and I felt very official, and I’ve been using them ever since. I knew [Bioré] was looking for a new ambassador this year and I told my team that I was a huge fan of the brand. They reached out and it all worked out. It’s nice to really stand behind the product.
I do genuinely use it and it smells amazing. And then they sent me the new Baking Soda Acne Cleansing Foam. They were like, “Tell us if you like it,” and I was like, “I love this stuff!” I also found Glossier’s Balm Dot Com. The rose one is stupid good, like a little exfoliating on the lips.
I like helping people feel confident in their skin because that was difficult for me for a long time.
Source: Instagram
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On Building Confidence
I like to use my platform to inspire people, to make them feel happy, and to give them information. Like when we did that [“Riverdale”] episode about sexual assault, Bioré actually helped me do a PSA about sexual assault and I put it on my Instagram and my youtube, and I gave people information they needed if they’ve ever gone through it. That’s the kind of stuff I like to spread on my platform.
In addition to that, I like sharing no-makeup selfies and making people feel confident in their own skin because that’s something that was very difficult for me for a very long time. I now finally now feel comfortable without makeup on. Society has this standard where women have to wear makeup and then you don’t want to do it because you want to stand up to society, but then you’re like, “But I like wearing makeup!” So it’s a fine line. I like not wearing makeup sometimes, but when I want to wear it, I enjoy putting it on. I can take that hour of virtual self-care time and it’s more of an art form and expression, versus, “I have to look pretty for everyone else.”
In our series, “Operation Recharge,” we task celebrities and influencers with sharing what self-care means to them, as well as the activities, products, and treatments they indulge in for downtime done right.