Hilary Duff On Aging: Her Best Beauty Hacks, Favorite Skin Foods & More

This series typically highlights icons 40+ with multiple decades of beauty experiments, tips, and defining habits under their belt. But as someone who has been working in the industry since the age of 6 (and became a household name not long after), Hilary Duff certainly has those formative years of experience. 

At 35, the actress and mom of three carries a wealth of insider knowledge and a unique perspective on aging in the spotlight—I'd say it’s pretty uncommon to have millions of people trailing your major skin shifts, from teenage textural concerns to that very first fine line. And besides, there’s no one more iconic than Hilary Duff. 

"I think that once you start experimenting with makeup and skin care, you have to just really find out what works for you. Everybody's skin is different, everybody's face is different. 

"I wear so much sunscreen. My bag is usually filled with a couple different kinds for different things that I'm doing outside, whether it's sitting in the park while my child's playing soccer, or if I'm playing tennis. I always want to feel like I'm combating pollution, gravity, and all of that stuff, but it should feel good.

"I love EltaMD—the one that's tinted. I just really like the texture and the coverage. The color's really good for me. I don't love pink tones; I love yellow tones for my skin. 

"So my makeup artist is here, and we were recently talking about this. It's weird to think about a ‘hack,’ because it's usually just something that you do naturally [and] in a hurry. 

"But we were talking about this, and it is genius: When you are putting mascara on and it transfers somewhere, most people wipe it and then it [smears]. And then you've destroyed your makeup, or it's just a bigger mess. Instead, let it dry, finish what you're doing, and then take a dry spoolie and fleck it off. It comes right off.

"I think that probably as I get older, lasers, peels, and things like that are going to be more important to me than what foundation works the best. But I'm already doing pretty minimal stuff daily. 

"I love a highlighter, and I love glowy skin. I love to curl my lashes, put mascara on, and use a little brow product and comb them up. It's gotten really fast, and it's gotten really minimal, and it feels so much better. 

"I love my silk pillowcase. I think that makes a difference for split ends and just keeping your hair [healthy]. 

I take collagen powder. In the morning, I usually make a smoothie, and I try to get a lot of my protein and my greens in there. I totally believe that eating [healthy] fats makes your skin look good. Avocados…bacon sometimes can fall under the same category. [Editor’s note: You heard it here first—bacon is skin care!] 

"[Although] I haven't been loving eating meat a lot lately, so I'm trying to get [protein] in with vegan protein powder…I've been more into fish than meat lately. But it's really important as you're aging to get protein.

“Honestly, getting a really great night's sleep, waking up on the weekend with my family, and just being in the backyard, all of us in our natural state. That makes me feel the most confident, the most happy, and the most beautiful. Usually when I feel confident and happy, I feel beautiful.

“Waking up, opening all the doors in our house, having the dogs running in and out, going for a swim, ordering a delicious coffee, and getting a workout in.

“We've recently been going bowling as a family, which has been so much fun. They have these funny little rails on top—it almost looks like a ski slope. You wheel it up to the lane, and [the kids] just drop the ball in. It's very cute. So the whole family can do it. [My son] Luca is at this age where when he has a sleepover, I barely see them. So it's actually really fun to just have them running amok.