Beauty Detail
Grace Van Patten's Beauty Routine Changes With Her Hair Color
The Tell Me Lies star shares the products in her current rotation, including the face-depuffing hero she swears by.
In Bustle’s Beauty Detail, we dive into the beauty bags of our favorite celebrities and talent for intel on the rituals that keep them glowing. Ahead, Grace Van Patten dishes on what she’s currently binge-watching, the most LA part of her beauty routine, and her go-to lip combos.
Four years after moving to Los Angeles, Grace Van Patten has picked up a few West Coast tendencies. For starters, the born-and-bred New Yorker is “trying to get into electrolytes.” She’s also gotten a lot better at doing absolutely nothing — though you wouldn’t know it from her ever-growing résumé of leading roles. “The everyday pace out here is a little bit slower,” the 29-year-old actor says. “It kind of forces me to take the time to relax and recharge.”
When Van Patten packed up and moved cross-country ahead of the Tell Me Lies premiere, she had already traded her natural brunette for a California-ready blonde. Since then, her hair color has been anything but static: She went light brown for The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox in 2025, and, most recently, copper for an upcoming role — a shade she ended up liking so much that she decided to keep it around, at least for now.
“It’s fun to try different hair colors because I feel like different sides of my personality come out,” Van Patten tells Bustle over Zoom. “My outfits start to change, and the makeup I use starts to change. Like, I've been really into browns and maroons lately. My clothes used to be either black or white, and now, I’m wearing color more.”
In the past, switching up her hair has also helped her draw a line between herself and her characters: Van Patten previously said she dyed her hair espresso brown after wrapping the first season of Tell Me Lies as a kind of “cleanse.” These days, though, she’s gotten better at disengaging from work mode without such a dramatic switch.
“I love a bath. I love to sit at home. I love to just veg out in front of the TV all day with a red light mask,” she says. “Right now, I’m in the middle of this HBO docuseries Monsters of God.”
Makeup is optional on those days off, and when she does reach for anything, it’s minimal: a little concealer, highlighter, and lip liner — all by Charlotte Tilbury, with whom Van Patten recently teamed up for its Airbrush Flawless campaign. “It’s so rare to find products that melt in and look like skin, but also have skin care-infused ingredients,” she says. “I really try to take care of my complexion when I’m not working because it goes through so much on the job.”
Ahead, Van Patten shares the products in her current rotation, from a depuffing wand that’s become her early-morning hero to the fragrance she can’t stop wearing.
Her T-Zone Finishing Touch
“I never thought I would enjoy loose powder, but this one is unlike any I've ever tried. It's so lightweight that I don’t feel it on my skin, and when I get oily or sweaty, it blurs everything so effortlessly but still looks like skin, which is kind of unbelievable to me.
I like to take the little heart puff it comes with, which is so cute, and use it on my T-zone, under my eyes, and on my chin — just the spots where I don’t want any dewiness. I actually like to keep a little bit of glow on my cheekbones and eyes.”
Her Minimalist Hair MVP
“I honestly don't even brush my hair. It’s naturally wavy, so if anything, I polish the texture and use an anti-frizz serum to tame those flyaways, especially in this heat. I love Roz, and I’ve been using the Milk Hair Serum a lot. I love the smell of it as well.”
Her Brushed-Up Brow Staple
“My mom told me never ever to touch my brows, and I've listened to her mostly — except, I occasionally pluck the strands that are a little wild. But when I go to an event or red carpet, I like filling in just the sparse areas with an eyebrow pencil and brushing them up a tiny bit. I keep my brows pretty simple.”
Her Call-Time Essential
“This wand has been a lifesaver for me, especially on early-morning car rides to set. It gets really cold, which is great for depuffing my skin. But it gets really hot, too — and if you hold it on your temples, it can help with headaches.”
Her Current Fragrance Fixation
“I’m constantly changing my perfume because I always feel like there’s something better out there that I’ll like more. My whole family makes fun of me because I’ll smell every bottle in every store, even if it’s just the duty-free shelves at the airport. The one I’ve been wearing for a while now, though, is Piano Santal.”
Her Go-To Lip Combo
“Charlotte Tilbury’s lip liners never get old to me. If I’m using a darker shade, like Iconic Nude, I like putting a lighter lipstick just in the center to give it some more dimension. But when I want a glossier look, I pair the Blush Lip Tint with the Pillow Talk lip liner. I usually stay pretty close to my natural lip line. If anything, I go a little bit higher on my Cupid’s bow. But I’ve also been really into just doing a pinky nude liner and putting some Aquaphor in the center.”
