The One Makeup Rule Jenna Bush Hager Swears By (and It Goes Against Everything You’ve Heard)

You’ve probably heard the saying, “You have the same 24 hours in a day as Beyoncé”, which implies Queen Bey is one of the busiest people on the planet. But after chatting with Jenna Bush Hager, I might start subbing her name into the phrase. The TODAY host, author, and mom of three wakes up at 4:50 a.m., works out before her morning TV gig, and on the day I saw her, she hosted two events, did two outfit changes, and took lots of calls in between, all before racing home to do bedtime (her hubby was out of town). So of course I was dying to know, how does she tackle her to-do list without looking tired. Hint: She keeps her concealer close.

Jenna Bush Hager’s Hacks for Looking Great While Juggling It All

Go to bed early (like, really early)

We dove into bedtime routines, which for Jenna, start around 8:30 p.m. Her secret weapon? Letting her 12-year-old daughter Mila tuck her in. “If I’m exhausted, I’m like, ‘Mila, tuck me in.’” You better believe, as soon as Bean (that’s my son) is old enough, I’m totally stealing this.

Use makeup that works almost as hard as you do

Sure, we all have to get ready for work, but Jenna has to be TV-ready at the crack of dawn. “This is why I’m obsessed with this product [It Cosmetics Do It All Radiant Concealer; Jenna is a paid partner of the brand],” she says. “But I also like their CC cream. What I like about It Cosmetics is I feel like they’re kind of mirrored to the way women are, so they do multiple things. The concealer has serum and it moisturizes while it covers up my bags.”

Apply concealer with your fingers

“I usually use my fingers for everything when I’m doing my own makeup,” she says. Makeup artists agree that doing so actually warms up the formulas and helps them melt into your skin. “I put it under my eyes, I do a little bit on my nose line, between my brows, and on my chin.”

Don’t be a perfectionist

“I have had a really long day,” Jenna says. “I’ve gone from thing to thing to thing. So I put on the concealer in the car, and then I arrived with Julia, who works with me, and I’m like, ‘Is this rubbed in?’ I’m not a perfectionist at all, but I also want to look OK, you know, after a really long day.” 

Whatever you do, don’t powder

“I don’t believe in powder anymore,” she admits. “I like the dewiness; I like the less is more, which is why I like a highlighter. I don’t think you need to add anything after the concealer.” Insert a mind-blown emoji here because I powder after my concealer every day but I think that JBH might be onto something. When you don’t powder, you can reapply concealer throughout the day without it getting cakey. “I had an Imprint tea [event], and so I put it on right before that, and then I had meetings, meetings, meetings, and I didn’t need makeup, then on the way here, I added some lip gloss and more concealer—that’s all you need. The type of makeup I need can be reapplied before I go out, you know, like in between events, so this product has been a lifesaver.” 

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Jenna shared how her daughter Mila has started dipping into her makeup drawer. “She’s really age-appropriate,” she says. “She doesn’t wear it to school or anything. But I’ll come home, and my makeup drawer is completely disheveled. She’s so good at it, though,” Jenna adds.