Mariska Hargitay on Her Love for Gua Sha, Taylor Swift, and the New York Knicks

Ahead, Hargitay opens up about skin care secrets, aging as a woman in Hollywood, and creating a documentary about her mother Jayne Mansfield—plus, her love for Taylor Swift and New York Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson.

How has your beauty routine changed over the years?

Mariska Hargitay: I don’t have a big beauty routine, and I don’t want it. I’m so busy, and I don’t have time to do a lot of steps. So I put on the Skin Activator Hydrating & Firming Lotion, and I immediately feel armed and ready for the day. It goes on so easily; there are some lotions where I’m like, “Oh, I don’t like how it feels on.” But I love how this feels.

This idea of it waking up the sleeping surface—the cells on top— also gives me kind of a new confidence. As I get older, it just feels exciting to know that it’s science backed and medically proven and that it’s actually doing something to wake up these cells.

What’s a beauty or wellness trend you’re currently obsessed with?

I’m kind of a tried and true girl. I’m a big gua sha girl. That’s a game changer. I use the jade gua sha, but I have every kind of shape because once you figure out how to do it, I’ve been blown away about how effective it is and how it actually works. When I’m tired or I don’t sleep well, and I don’t sleep a whole lot, gua sha can wake me up and move everything around. All this science that’s coming out about lymphatic drainage and the fact that we have agency over it now, that we can also go, “Oh my God, I’m super puffy.” And then, we just start doing this 30 times and doing this 30 times and under the arms and behind the things. That was a game changer for me. That was really a game changer.

I feel like a lot of people don’t know how to gua sha correctly, too.

Well, every single Instagram post that’s out there, there are about 30 different ways to learn. So, if people want to learn, they can go there. It’s super simple. You go to the hubs of where the lymph nodes are and press it 30 times, sort of pumping.

What beauty rules do you think are complete B.S.?

People need to follow what works for them and what looks good on them. I don’t believe in trends that people are doing just to do because sometimes it doesn’t look good on you. People ought to not follow the trend, but what looks good on you, which is also really owning our own beauty and saying, “What is my brand of beauty? What is my authentic look or self?” I get worried about trends sometimes, when people follow them blindly without considering themselves first.

Have you felt pressure aging as a woman in Hollywood?

Yeah, I think everyone feels that, but the thing about growing into ourselves is that the pressure goes away as we mature and realize who we want to be as opposed to what people expect us to be. I feel less pressure about that now than I ever have.