Beauty Inside & Out: Teyana Taylor

In the ultimate quest for inner beauty and outer glow, Marie Claire asks our favorite trailblazers to share intel on finding balance in their busy lives. Read it all here, in Beauty Inside & Out.

As a singer, songwriter, actress, choreographer, and, of course, a My Super Sweet 16 star, Teyana Taylor’s schedule has historically erred on the busy side. But there was always time for a little self care: a moment of peace and quiet in the shower. Then, she became a mom to Iman, 6, and Rue, 2, and, as she puts it, everything went out the window. “Becoming a woman, that transformation from a girl to a young lady and then into a mom, I really had to dig into self care because my body changed. It heals differently, it heals slower,” the “Bare Wit Me” singer tells Marie Claire. “I really have to carve out that time.”  

She embraced a “less is more” motto, learned how to sneak in a moment of bathroom silence at the crack of dawn, and most impressively, has both of her daughters practicing meditation. “The power of prayer and meditation gives you good skin,” she jokes. Well, that and XEOMIN, an injectable that she credits for “snatching” her forehead and bestowing a never-before-obtainable glow. Here, the multi-hyphenate walks us through the beauty products, centering rituals, and habits that help her get through the day. 

Inner Beauty 

Secret Showers 

I try and do this whole we're on a schedule thing. Everybody in bed by 9 o'clock, da da da da, right? And 9 o'clock most likely means that they're gonna wake up super early. So now what I have to do is wake up extra early. I have to roll out of bed and sneak into the bathroom. The moment I get naked to get in the shower, I hear mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy. By the grace of God, they're shorter than me. So I kind of just make it happen. As a mom of two, I just make it work. There’s no real “carve out” time. My youngest is in her terrible twos stage so she’s busy and all over the place. I just try and fit it in when I can. 

Group Meditation

I’m a meditator. I have my singing bowls and different things like that. Sometimes  guided meditations are perfect because they’re quick meditations that help you with your breathing and give you affirmations. Then, you have meditations where you just go with the flow and everything is just quiet. It depends on what it is that I'm feeling. Sometimes I just wake up super early and watch the sun rise. I pray, give thanks, and go about the day. 

My kids actually meditate with me. I meditated my whole pregnancy. Of course Eryka Badu was my doula, so that was even more amazing. She’s able to have the kids all aligned and everything like that. I think from meditating so much when I was pregnant with my youngest, she became the hippie of the family. She’s super mellow; she’s the flower child. When it comes to meditating, she just taps in. I just bought this property in Morongo Valley, near Joshua Tree. When she gets out there, she kicks her shoes off and goes outside with just her little Pamper on. She don’t wanna have no clothes, she doesn't wanna have no shoes. I call her her little Tarazana. 

Making Time for Movement 

You know what's crazy? I always tell people, I feel like dancing is really, really underrated in the fitness world. There’s more awareness to it now, but years ago people didn’t believe that I really didn’t go to the gym. The gym is just intimidating. You go to the gym, you see these people rah-rah-rah and it’s a lot. It’s literally dance that has kept me in shape and, at the same time, being an entertainer. I can rehearse 12 hours straight. I love to rehearse. I love to perform. My body is always in its best shape during tour because I can literally dance the whole two hours that I'm performing. For me, it’s dancing that helps get my day started. My kids love to dance, too. Whether we’re dancing to a record of mine or dancing to Cocomelon—it’s all still a part of just moving around and getting the day going. 

Outer Glow

Subtle Injections 

I always had, what I call, the little slinky dog across my forehead and then my 11 lines—I call them my Chicago Bulls lines. A lot of my friends have gotten fillers and Botox. But as I did my homework on it and studied up, I decided to try XEOMIN. I love how my face would look snatched when I put my wigs on. With XOEMIN, I realized I didn’t have to have a wig or a snatched ponytail to achieve that look. I don’t wear wigs or snatched ponytails 24/7 and I don’t always wear makeup, but now I can run out and just be snatched. I have a strong face and I love my face. I’m a super confident woman, but this just took me to the next level of confidence. I would make certain faces where you could see my slinky dogs and Chicago bulls and I was able to fix it without surgery. I thought that was pretty cool. 

What I love the most is that I still have my expressions. I’m still able to look upset or surprised. You know, I’m an actress, so I didn’t want to lose that. XEOMIN is also formulated without all the unnecessary, toxic ingredients. I like to make sure that whatever I’m using is safe and clean. 

Less Is More Skincare

The first thing I do is a strawberry scrub. I do that probably twice a week, especially when I wear makeup on set. It’s really great when I feel like I need to get all the stuff off. Even just being in Joshua Tree, there is a lot of dust and sand. Then, I follow up with a soy face wash. I love a good moisturizer. I think moisturizer is very important and I like to look dewy.

Minimal Makeup

I definitely have to make sure I always have a brow. No matter what, always make sure you have a good brow. I love Spiked and Stud by MAC. [They're] the really, really skinny [brown stylers] that come with the spoolie at the end. But if you can’t make it over to MAC, literally go to CVS or Walgreens. As long as it’s a skinny pencil with a spoolie at the end in an espresso or dark brown, you’re good. Then you just need a good lip gloss.

Signature Scent

I have a signature scent, but it's not one thing. I'm a concoction kind of girl. I put like six different things together. Everybody knows that I’m the queen of sharing my beauty hacks and secrets, but one thing I have to keep a secret is my scent. Everybody always tells me, Oh my God, you smell so good, what do you do? I just gotta keep it to myself because I love to smell like myself. At one point, one of my favorite perfumes was Baccarat Rouge 540. But it got to the point where everybody smelled like Baccarat Rouge 540. Now I have a very unique scent that I created.

Recipe for Success: Teyana's Red Velvet Cake 

I make a red velvet cake with white chocolate chips inside. Because it's a cake, all the chocolate chips go to the bottom. It makes this white chocolate crust at the bottom and then you pair the cake with some vanilla Haggen Daz ice cream. That’s a gift of pleasure. I will make that any moment. I’m like the hood Betty Crocker. That’s what they called me back in the day in Harlem, when I was 13,14, 15. I would bake cakes for the basketball games, people’s anniversaries, or guy’s girlfriends. 

But if I don’t have the time to make my red velvet cake, it has to be the Chick-fil-A oreo milkshake. Even when I know I'm dead wrong and I should not be doing it, I have to get it. I fall for the Chick-fil-A Oreo milkshake every single time. I swear to God, I can have that every single day—two, three times a day.