You’ve probably seen Cyrus Veyssi on your TikTok “For You” page, either giving you skin-care advice, bonding with their supportive dad (whom we know as Baba), or hilariously clowning straight men (obviously content we love). If not, you might’ve seen their face all over NYC buses last year in a Caudalie campaign. Veyssi is an Iranian American nonbinary beauty enthusiast from Massachusetts who started creating content in 2021 and became a full-time creator one year ago. Before that, they were working as a copywriter. Their career and content creation went hand in hand, especially since they’ve been a skin-care and beauty obsessive since childhood. Veyssi tells their stories about their experiences with makeup and skin care to their almost 2 million followers on TikTok and Instagram.
Their first-ever beauty purchase? A brow pomade and Maybelline mascara at CVS. “When I turned 11 or 12, I was in the bathroom plucking my brows because, at the time, those thin brows were in style; they were trendy. I was trying to look like that and I had bushy brows. I just remember my mom coming in and saying, ‘What are you doing? Your brows are a reflection of your culture. It’s something that we’ve handed down.’” They filled in their brows and started playing with mascara. “When I saw my lashes superlong, it was such an affirming thing. I was like, ‘Wow, I’m really beautiful,’” they said. “I look like my mom.”
Now Veyssi can tell me how many bottles of a product they’ve gone through without thinking twice. “I see it as an accomplishment. I take my skin care very seriously,” they said. They’re on their 15th bottle of Garnier’s micellar water and 28th bottle of Caudalie’s vinoperfect serum, but there are lots of steps and other products that Veyssi uses to get their skin so smooth and glowy.
Here is how Cyrus Veyssi gets their skin so good:
Step 1: Double-cleansing with Garnier Micellar Water and Dior Beauty’s La Mousse Cleanser
Before using a cleanser, Veyssi uses Garnier’s micellar water to hydrate their skin and get rid of any excess bacteria. They refer to the gentle cleansing water as a “magnet for picking up dirt or removing makeup.” Veyssi follows that with a dime-size amount of Dior Beauty’s La Mousse cleanser, a non-stripping cream-to-foam cleanser that froths up the second it comes into contact with water. It’s made with French water lily to soothe and hydrate the skin’s barrier. Veyssi has sensitive skin, so they have to be careful about what they use on their skin, and this has always left their skin feeling fresh and plump. “I only cleanse for 15 seconds because I don’t want my skin to be dried out,” they said.
Step 2: A Caudalie or Chanel Beauty essence mist for more hydration
“I don’t usually use toners and I don’t exfoliate that often because I have sensitive skin,” Veyssi says. Instead, they use a facial mist. Right now, the two main in rotation are Caudalie’s cult classic beauty elixir with rosemary and mint essential oils for an instant refresh, the spray that makes Veyssi feel like they’re at a spa in the south of France or Chanel Beauty’s Hydra Beauty mist with hyaluronic acid and vitamin C and E. Sometimes, they use both. They usually fan this into their skin and let it dry down before going to the next step.
Step 3: Layer on Caudalie Vinoperfect and Lancôme Génifique serums
This is Veyssi’s favorite part of their routine: lots of serums. If they had to choose two tried-and-true serums, it would be Caudalie’s Vinoperfect serum and Lancôme’s Génifique serum. They’ve gone through 27 bottles of the Vinoperfect serum, that’s how much they love it. It brightens dark spots and hyperpigmentation to even out the tone and has squalane as a hydrating ingredient. The Lancôme serum adds an additional layer of plumping and hydration.
Step 4: Moisturize with La Mer the Rejuvenating Night Cream or Estée Lauder Re-Nutriv
When it comes to moisturizing, Veyssi can be indecisive. When they’re leaning into their “bougie gay uncle” moment, they’re using La Mer’s night cream, and no it doesn’t matter if it’s day or nighttime, Veyssi loves the consistency of the firming cream for either “before I was lucky enough and privileged enough to work with the wonderful La Mer team, every Christmas I used to save up what I had and I would buy the Créme de La Mer moisturizer,” Veyssi says. When they’re not using La Mer, they usually reach for Estée Lauder’s Re-Nutriv because its texture is “lightweight and fluffy.” A dime-size amount is all they need for a smooth texture and healthy glow.
Step 5: Apply an eye cream: La Prairie’s Skin Caviar and Olay Super Eyes
Next, onto the eyes. Veyssi’s favorite luxury eye cream is La Prairie’s skin caviar cream, a luxurious cream that makes the under-eye area feel firmer and appear brighter. When they’re prepping their face for makeup, Veyssi uses Olay’s Super Eyes, a vitamin C and caffeine eye serum, which not only brightens the under-eye area but also allows eye makeup to apply over it smoothly. Veyssi has choreography for applying eye creams: gently tapping their index finger under the eye and going up to the eyelid area.
Step 6: Use Dieux’s Forever Reusable Eye Masks
“I like to let the under-eye product sink in by using a reusable eye mask. So, I love this one,” Veyssi says. They use Dieux’s reusable silicone patches that cling to the under-eye for extra absorption. Veyssi usually lets them sit for 20 minutes.
Step 7: Apply a neck cream: Skinceuticals retinol neck firming cream
Because skin care doesn’t stop on the face, Veyssi uses a tightening neck cream next. “I’m a big texture person. I don’t love a serum for my neck, but I love that this is a cream formula that quickly mattifies into the skin very fast.” The blend of peptides improves the firmness of neck skin while diminishing any signs of aging.
Step 8: Hydrate lips with a mask or oil
To hydrate their lips, Veyssi bounces between Laneige’s plumping lip treatment and Neutrogena’s newest lip oil. The Laneige treatment is a formula with peptides and ceramides to strengthen the barrier of the lips, while the lip oil conditions the lips with hyaluronic acid and leaves a glossy appearance.
Step 9: Apply SPF
The last step is SPF. “You can have the most incredible skin-care routine, if you’re not using SPF, it doesn’t matter,” they said. Their rule of thumb? Three finger lengths full of SPF for the best coverage. Veyssi typically prefers non-mineral sunscreens because they don’t like the white cast that many leave. They usually wear Kiehl’s sunscreen serum, but recently they returned from Paris where they visited the European pharmacy and returned with La Roche Posay sunscreen that you can only get overseas, because of FDA regulations.
Step 10: Finally, because fragrance is a part of their routine, spray Jo Malone Wood Sage Sea Salt Cologne
Veyssi ends their routine with one final, final step: fragrance. Right now, their go-to daytime fragrance is Jo Malone’s Wood Sage & Sea Salt, a fresh fragrance with a hint of woodsiness.
On getting rid of acne: When you look at Veyssi’s skin, it’s one of the smoothest you’ll ever see. Their secret isn’t lasers or anything else; in fact, they’ve only ever used topical products in addition to being on Accutane in 2016 for five months. “I think it’s really important to talk about every part of a skin-care journey. I used to have pretty severe acne and I went on Accutane for five months, which, if it’s something that you’ve ever thought of doing, please just consult a derm and chat with them. Do not take advice from anybody who’s not a professional,” they said. Because of their Accutane journey, Veyssi no longer produces new acne and only has a breakout every few months. Still, the side effect that they experienced is just really dry skin, even to this day, almost a decade later. “I used to have oily/combination skin, but now I have dry skin, so I don’t break out,” Veyssi says. Because of that they have to be extremely careful about the topical products they put on their skin.
On makeup being “a form of forgiveness”: “Makeup is an act of expression, but I also think it’s a form of forgiveness,” Veyssi says. When they started to play around with beauty and makeup, it was just to make themselves feel confident being feminine and making their gender feel affirmed, but then it changed a little bit. “Makeup became a tool where every time I would do a makeup look, it felt like an apology to my younger self for anything I said was harmful. It’s like every makeup look I do is another apology and another apology,” they said. Now, putting on their favorite red lipstick is an act of seeing the beauty in themselves that has always been there.
On their definition of good skin: For Veyssi, good skin is healthy skin and taking care of your skin with a routine at least once a day. “Good skin from a surface level is skin that shows off your hard work, whatever that looks like. We all start at different levels with our skin care. Some of us are just born with porcelain skin forever and it’s going to be lovely and some of us age differently. For me, my acne scars and my hyperpigmentation are not reflective of whether or not my skin is good because I’ve come such a long way,” they said. Veyssi also never judges people on what their skin looks like because skin care fluctuates, “whether their hormones are changing or they’re just going through a phase, you never know, but I never judge.”
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