Actor Anna Sawai likes her mornings nice and smooth—starting with the way she dries her face. “Never drag the towel around your face; you don’t want friction,” she instructs. Herewith, the Shōgun star reveals the rest of her tips for a gentle, skin-soothing regimen and fresh makeup look.
After washing her face, the Emmy-nominated actress applies a moisturizing mask and lets it sit while she sees to some de-puffing drainage. She runs a large face roller over the lymph nodes on her neck and works it across her face in swift, upward strokes, then uses the tool for a quick scalp massage. “This is not scientifically proven,” she cautions, but nonetheless shares her theory that a good scalp massage can lead to a lifted face. For something that is clinically tested, Sawai reaches for a vitamin C serum, then follows the brightening step with a careful application of Tatcha’s Water Cream. “I am very good with my skin,” the New Zealand native acknowledges. “I will not sleep with my makeup on, no matter how sleep-deprived I will be.” Like any skin-care savant, Sawai applies sunscreen religiously; the last step of her skin-care routine is a “cute little pink tint” courtesy of Tatcha’s lip mask.
The 32-year-old starts her makeup regime with an Hourglass skin tint and a trip down memory lane. “My grandma used to put on a lot of makeup. I was probably around five or six and I would ask her to put lipstick on me,” she says. “I was just so excited to go visit her because I knew that I’d be able to play with her makeup.” Sawai chases the skin tint with an under-eye dab of Merit concealer, then uses contour to “keep it lifted” along her cheekbones. Next up: Eyebrows. “I use a color that’s a little lighter than my brows,” Sawai says, brushing Tokyo Addiction pressed powder onto her arches. When it’s time for blush, she opts for a sheer wash of Merit’s balmy formulation, topped with Charlotte Tilbury’s Cheek To Chic Blush. “I’m also going to put some on my eyes,” Sawai says, coloring her lids with the candy-pink powder. “I want to do a fresh, sweet look.” Creamy highlighter adds a natural, luminous cheek finish—then it’s time for some lash love. A few pumps of Tokyo Addiction’s eyelash curler “makes a really big difference,” Sawai says, batting her newly curled lashes before applying Shiseido’s inky eyeliner. Using an angled brush, she creates sharp flicks to finish off her eyeliner look, then swipes on an eyelash primer. “If I don’t put any primer, my lashes are literally gonna touch the floor,” she quips, before using black mascara as the finishing, lash-lifting touch. Moving onto her lips, Sawai dots her pout with a sheer wash of color; she wraps it all up with “the tiniest bit of contour” above and below her lips.
With her fresh face intact, the actress is ready to drop her biggest beauty secret of all. “When I sleep, I sleep on my back. I do not sleep on my side,” she says, recalling a time when she did dare to sleep on her side—and woke up to a giant crease in her skin. Never again! “I just use a nice soft towel, and I roll it up, and I’ll just put it behind my neck and sleep like that,” she says, demonstrating her skin-saving, supine trick. “That’s my best beauty secret.” And with that, Sawai is off to celebrate her Emmy nomination, heading onward and (sleeping) upward.
Director: Gabrielle Reich
DP: Alex Hass
Editor: Evan Allan
Associate Producer: Lea Donenberg
Production Manager: Natasha Soto-Albors
Production Coordinator: Ava Kashar
Associate Talent Manager: Phoebe Feinberg
Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch
Post Production Coordinator: Scout Alter
Supervising Editor: Erica DeLeo
Assistant Editor: Billy Ward
Associate Director, Post Production: Nicholas Ascanio
Filmed at: The Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad
All episodes of FX’s Shōgun are available on Hulu. Pachinko season two premieres globally Friday, August 23, on Apple TV+.