Emily Ratajkowski reveals her daily routine, the content of her new podcast, and the difficulty of living in her body.
Model, mother, best-selling author, and Kérastase muse, Emily Ratajkowski (also known as
@EmRata), can now add the title of podcaster to her impressive resume. Here, she talks to Hannah Coates, beauty and wellness editor at Vogue.uk, about her French drugstore product preferences, her instincts, and why she's obsessed with TikTok.
Her morning wake-up routine
Emily Ratajkowski - "Well, I have a son, he wakes me up! The first thing I do is change his diaper and feed him, then I get coffee and watch him while he eats. Once that's done, I take care of my skin. I've gotten a lot better about that. In my early 20s, I was like, "I'm not going to take care of this," but now I put on sunscreen, and use toner and moisturizer. I have a whole routine. Then I get dressed, hopefully quickly, because my closet is relatively tidy, and I go out.
Her secret to great hair
I have relatively new bangs. I always say, even in private, that Kérastase really changed my hair. When I signed [to be an ambassador] with them about five years ago, I didn't know any good hair products, and while I'm pretty good with makeup, I'm not very good with hair. I always thought I had bad hair and that I couldn't do anything about it. What's great is that now I don't have to do much for my hair because it's all about care and maintenance. I love the Extentionist line because it makes my hair grow so fast! I'm someone whose hair reaches a certain stage and then breaks, but with this shampoo, it grows to a longer length. I also really like the oil, it's light and smells wonderful.
His new podcast "High Low."
It airs two episodes a week, sometimes three. The first episode is a conversation with a guest, hosted by me. The second is a solo episode, called "EmRata asks", in which I ask a question and investigate. The third episode is a subscription-based episode, where listeners can give feedback and send in their thoughts, voice notes, and DMs and we open up the conversation. I've been working like crazy on this project, I'm really excited.
Her skincare routine
I wash my face every night, well, I try to. I use Bioderma: it's a French pharmacy product that is an incredible makeup remover. It is the only one that allows you to do it efficiently without leaving traces on the skin and without drying it. After I wash my face, I use Biologique Recherche Lotion P50, some people don't like it, but I'm someone for whom retinol is too extreme, so Lotion P50 is a happy medium. It balances my skin and I layer it over a fairly thick moisturizer.
Her favorite drugstore products
In addition to Bioderma, I love Biafine. I had a really horrible sunburn and this is the only thing that cured it. I also love Aquaphor, another amazing product from Eucerin. I also feel like drugstore makeup has a bad reputation, but I think it's really good. I have some amazing highlighters and products that are really great. Plus, my friend who works in makeup development told me, "I assure you, they all come from the same factories, it's just the packaging that changes!".
Rituals that help her relax and disconnect
I watch an hour of TikTok, that's how I disconnect! There's nothing else that's more entertaining or relaxing to me. My algorithm went crazy for a moment, so right now I'm all about the "Sbagliato". I also love story times, where people say "one thing about me" and launch into a story. I watch for three minutes and then launch into the second part. TikTok is not like a social network. It's like Netflix or Hulu, not like Instagram, and I've learned a lot. It's fun and it makes me feel good about human beings.
What she thinks of social networks in general
It's both a place where I feel like I'm in control and a way to connect directly with people, but also a totally toxic waste of time that makes me feel like I'm not present the way I really want to be. It's both. I have a complicated relationship with it. I set the timer on Instagram for an hour and I usually go over that. I wish I had more advice on this!
Her experience writing her book My Body.
I want to say that I didn't know I was writing a book about my body until it was practically written and I was looking for a title. I realized that what I was writing about was the commodification of my body and my image, and even the violation of my body, not in the industry, but as a young girl. It definitely changed my relationship with my body. My editor had advised me that the last essay in the book should be hopeful, a moment where you take stock of where you are, but I didn't feel that way. I was going through a difficult time.
So I wrote about the birth and release of anger. I knew I was missing a big part and it took me until the end of the deadline to figure it out. I couldn't think of a time when I had been able to be in my body and enjoy it. And then it came to me in the middle of the night, and it was a bike ride I had taken with friends while I was pregnant. I didn't care what I looked like and I was able to enjoy a day because of my body. Since that research experience, I have been able to take more moments to appreciate my body for the life it creates, rather than how it looks.