Anna Sawai’s Fresh Makeup Look

[bright music]

Hi, Vogue!

This is Anna Sawai, and I'm gonna walk you through

my morning skincare routine and my fresh makeup look.

I'm gonna clip my hair first.

I'm gonna wash my face with this.

I'm only gonna use that much.

[relaxed music]

Never drag the towel around your face.

You don't want friction.

We're gonna use this face mask today.

I've had this routine for maybe the last four years,

since I got into the acting industry properly.

[Anna laughing]

I can't smile in this. I look crazy.

So these are my tools. I start off with the big one.

You have lymph nodes around the neck,

so I'd like to just target that area.

[relaxed music]

Okay, so I also like to go into my scalp.

Now, this is not scientifically proven or anything.

I feel like I discovered this when Deborah on Monarch,

she does my hair.

She was massaging my scalp,

and I just felt like my face kind of lifted,

and it looks different after the massage,

and so I was like, okay, I can start doing this on myself.

Let me just use the tool that I have,

and then with the small one, I'll go around my eyes.

[relaxed music]

I hate wasting what's left in the mask,

so I'll just put it around my neck.

Next up is the vitamin C serum that I love from Farmacy.

They don't have fragrance in it.

When I was in elementary school,

my sister was in middle school,

she had already started doing her skincare,

and she told me that I should start early,

so I probably started when I was like 10.

Some moisturizer.

[relaxed music]

I am very good with my skin.

I will not sleep with my makeup on.

No matter how sleep deprived I'll be,

I still do my skincare routine.

Next step, very important step is sunscreen.

This is from Korea. There's no white cast.

It's very moisturizing, so it almost just feels

like you're putting on another layer of cream.

[relaxed music]

Last step is my Tatcha lip mask.

I've been using this since Shogun,

and we would prep my lips with this,

and it has a very cute little pink tint.

So first step is my foundation.

Actually, this is probably like a skin tint.

My grandma used to put on a lot of makeup,

and I was probably around five or six,

and I would ask her to put lipstick on me,

and she would put a little bit of blush as well,

and I was just so excited to go visit her,

'cause I knew that I'd be able to play with her makeup.

On Shogun, the makeup wasn't too heavy.

Back in 1600, they didn't have a lot of options for makeup,

so we did very simple, very white, pale porcelain skin

and some red lips.

[relaxed music]

Concealer, just a little bit under my eyes.

I feel like there's some darkness,

but I'm not gonna put it at the rim,

because I like to keep a little bit of the darkness,

'cause it looks like I have eyeshadow,

and I can just skip the eyeshadow step.

[relaxed music]

I'm gonna go in with some contour.

So I just do that, and I can already see the shadow,

so I just apply it on top of that, and when I blend it in,

I'm swiping upwards instead of dragging it down,

'cause I feel like that kind of helps keep it lifted.

[relaxed music]

I feel like the way that Japanese people do makeup

and people in the States do makeup is very different.

So Japanese people like to keep their face very pale.

There's not a lot of contouring.

Foundation is usually a little bit lighter

than your actual skin tone, whereas here in the States,

everyone likes to use bronzer,

they like to contour their face.

I'm also gonna put some in the inner corner,

a little beneath my brow,

so I'm just gonna create some shadow

and pretend like I have a high bridge nose.

[relaxed music]

So next up is brows.

I use a color that's not as dark as my brows,

so it's gonna look like that.

Just adding where I need it.

I'm gonna apply this MERIT blush.

I usually like to just do it directly,

because this one's very sheer.

The response that I've received from children

has just been so very meaningful to me.

I think the ones that mean the most

are the ones that I get from Japanese women,

and not necessarily older women, but some younger women

who feel like they've been pressured to act a certain way,

and people expect them, because they're Japanese,

to be very sweet and to be quiet, but that's not everyone.

There are many stories that I feel need to be told,

and I'm very excited to slowly get into them.

Next up, I'm gonna put some powder blush.

[relaxed music]

I'm also gonna put some on my eyes,

because I want to do a fresh sweet-ish look.

I'm gonna apply some highlighter.

I like using cream products, because I feel

like they just give you a more natural finish.

Apply a little higher than the blush, but not too high.

Just the tiniest bit.

When we're shooting, I always enroll in a yoga studio

that's nearby and just go on the weekends, go after work,

and that's how I calm down and just stay sane.

I'm gonna curl my lashes.

I love this eyelash curler from Addiction Tokyo.

It makes a really big difference.

I'm gonna put some eyeliner on, and what I like to do

is just put some in the inner corner,

don't put any in the middle,

and then put it in the outer corner.

[relaxed music]

We're gonna use a thin angle brush,

and I'm gonna put some product on it,

and then I'm just gonna flick it out.

Lash primer.

If I don't put any primer,

my lashes are literally gonna touch the floor.

[relaxed music]

So the next step is mascara.

I'm just gonna put it on the tip of my lashes.

'cause we have eyeliner,

and we don't need to accentuate the root.

I always take a spooly and just comb it through,

'cause I really don't like clumped up mascara on the lashes.

I want them to look very wispy.

I'm gonna powder my face, so I'd like to put it on the lid

and make sure that the brush has everything it needs,

and I'll go press on it.

[relaxed music]

After the powder, I usually put some brow gel,

just at the end.

I'm gonna bring that up a little bit,

but I do it after the powder, because I hate it

when you do it before the powder, and once the powder's on,

it has white, clumpy gel on your brow.

I hate that.

And then the last step is the lips.

[relaxed music]

Actually, this is the final step.

I'm gonna go back in with some of the contour

that I used earlier, and I'm just gonna use the tiniest bit

and just put it a little above my lips

and a little below it.

I have a very big secret to tell you.

So when I sleep, I sleep on my back.

I do not sleep sideways,

because there was one time that I napped,

and I'm not even kidding you,

this side had the deepest line ever,

and I was like, I am never sleeping on my side,

so I just use a nice, soft towel,

this one I brought from home.

I travel with it, and I'll roll it up,

and I'll just put it behind my neck and sleep like that,

and we were just facing up all night.

That's my best beauty secret. Hi!

All right, guys, that's the final look.

We did a very fresh, everyday look.

I hope you liked it,

and I'm about to go celebrate my Emmy nomination.

Thanks for watching!