Maria Thattil reveals her favourite skincare and beauty products
The former Miss Universe Australia, Maria Thattil, shares the three beauty products she can’t live without.
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I’m going to be honest, it took me 31 years to start getting comfortable with my make-up and beauty routine. It wasn’t that I didn’t like getting dressed up, I was just overwhelmed with all of the products and routines and layering of skin care etc … and so I did the bare minimum, a supermarket cleanser and a dollop of the cheapest moisturiser I could find.
With this in mind, you can imagine my excitement when I was offered a chat with maybe the most glamorous ‘slashie’ in Australia, Maria Thattil (podcaster / author / actor / beauty pageant titleholder / media personality), and have the chance to break down her beauty routine.
You might know her from handling the jungle like a legend in I’m A Celebrity …, or maybe you know her from playing Amira on Neighbours, you might even know her from her pageant days when she was crowned Miss Universe Australia back in 2021.
From her on-screen acting, to keeping her skin clear in the jungle, to engaging with her 256k Instagram followers, one thing’s for sure – this is a woman who has her beauty routine down pat.
The best part of her routine? Most of the products are reasonably priced. From a $39 foundation to an $11 sheet mask, here’s everything in Maria Thattil’s beauty bag.
WHAT’S IN HER BEAUTY BAG?
“If there’s like one product I have to wear just to look a little polished and put together … It’s definitely a good lipstick. And I also love a little bit of liner. So I’ll do one of two things,” Maria tells news.com.au checkout.
“One, I’ll wear a lipstick, and I like when it feels like a balm but it’s pigmented enough that it gives you a little bit of colour (Super Lustrous Lipsticks are really good for that) or I’ll use a lip liner and I won’t wear anything else and I smudge it. So I’ll line the lips, smudge it and it kind of just makes your lips look a little pouty without looking done.”
Revlon Illuminance Serum Tint, $38.95 at Myer
Revlon ColorStay Lipliner, $26.89 at Amazon Australia
Revlon ColorStay Xtensionnaire Mascara, $24.95 at Myer
PREPPING FOR A BIG EVENT
According to Maria, the secret to glowing for a full 24 hours all comes down to the prep you do the night before.
“To look polished, you kind of have to look like trash the night before – and that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make … [I] will look like a serial killer, with a sheet mask … get a full eight hours, drink lots of water so it’s really simple things like that,” she says.
Tranformazing Sheet Mask, $11 (single, $55 for a pack of 6) at Go-To Skincare
MARIA’S SECRET BEAUTY HACK
Maria also let me in on a “suss” beauty hack she swears by.
“I also have a little thing that I like to do,” she says. “You know when you wake up some days and you just feel a little puffy? I’ve got a little vibrating device that gives you microcurrents on your face and it looks a little suss in your beauty bag but I promise it gets everything right out there and you look incredible.”
FOREO BEAR Mini Facial Toning Device, $359 at Adore Beauty
THREE ITEMS MARIA WOULD TAKE ON A DESERT ISLAND
“SPF, we love healthy skin. I would also take maybe a little concealer and I would absolutely take my Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick – maybe not red, maybe blushed … I think like a nude blushed, that’s probably going to look a bit more like ‘she’s cute, desert island chic’.”
Dermalogica Oil Free Matte SPF 30, $83.66 (down from $94) at Adore Beauty
Revlon Colourstar Full Coverage Flex Wear Concealer, $26.95 at Myer
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Blushed, $15.95 at Amazon Australia
BEAUTY ADVICE MARIA LIVES BY
“The best piece of beauty advice that my mum gave me was it’s not what you wear or following a trend or copying an exact makeup look that you’ve seen. But it’s how you wear something and you feel beautiful, whether it’s a full face, whether it’s next to nothing, then that’s it. That’s all you need, confidence to wear something and it’s not even like a technical thing. It’s so true. It’s confidence in what you’re wearing.”
BEAUTY TREND MARIA WOULD NEVER DO
“There is a trend that I wouldn’t go near makeup wise and it’s because I did it when I was younger … When I was growing up back in the day, there was a trend where everybody wanted to look super tan so they put bronzer all over their face and sort of do the foundation lips at the same time. I did it. The concealer lips and the bronzer everywhere – and so you couldn’t catch me doing that again,” she says with a laugh.
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