"I've Dealt With Acne My Whole Life": 3 Products Vanessa Hudgens Loves

 Vanessa Hudgens is one of those actors who have catalogs of memorable roles to reference. There's Spring Breakers, there's Tick, Tick… Boom!, and yes, High School Musical (shout-out to everyone who watched it religiously when they were younger and tried their best to emulate Gabriella Montez, because same). While these iconic roles are nothing new, her re-entry into the beauty industry is. Hudgens's brainchild, Know Beauty, just relaunched with a single product: a clay mask that's meant to provide luxury results at an affordable price. 

Hudgens said she created the product out of personal necessity. "As someone who has extremely oily skin and problematic skin, I've dealt with acne my whole life, and I thought as an adult it would go away, and it hasn't. Clay masks have always been something that I’ve leaned on," she says. "But they've always been a little too drying for my skin, so I wanted to put my head together with my formulator to create a clay mask that is going to rid your skin of impurities and can also be hydrating to the dermis, have active ingredients, and help with fine lines… because that's something that I'm dealing with as well!" Keep scrolling to learn more about Hudgens's brand-new skincare product, plus see her other go-to skin-clearing products. 

Here's the product: the Glacial Bay Clay Mask, which is housed in a heavy, luxurious purple jar (that also happens to be fully recyclable). Hudgens says it took months to create along with the help of her formulator, Mary Berry. "I wanted to start by looking for an active ingredient, something that is really nutrient-rich," she tells me. "I'm a big nature girl. I love the holistic approach, and I feel like we can always turn to Mother Nature for remedies. We found this Glacial Bay Clay. It’s from an active glacier, so it’s packed with vitamins and minerals. I was like, great, let’s start there and then build on it with the things that make clay masks clay like kaolin clay and bentonite clay." 

The other star ingredient Hudgens wanted to incorporate was lactic acid since it's something she's seen improve her own acne-prone skin. "I feel like it’s such an underused ingredient and works wonders for people with problematic skin, so we made sure we threw that in there," she says. "Then, I was like, I'm aging and fine lines are definitely a thing, so it'd be great if we could find a natural ingredient that would help with that issue." That ingredient? Giant sea kelp, which is known for being antioxidant-rich and anti-inflammatory.