This makeup artist owes the glow she became Insta-famous for to skincare

“This is like a corset for the face,” says Nam Vo, as a buzzing radio frequency-charged handpiece glides across her skin. “It’s going to be hot, but suck it up, it’ll make you look snatched,” she advises me. We’re in cushy reclining chairs getting matching treatments at FaceGym in New York’s NoHo district, one of Vo’s regular pit stops on her quest for good skin.

Well, it’s not exactly a quest, because by some complex combination of genetics, self-care, diligence and being born under the right rising astrological sign, Vo already has amazing skin. She’s arrived at the precise golden formula to achieving a poreless, creaseless, buttery glow that just radiates goodness. It’s super annoying, really. So I’m actually the one on the quest—to find out how, exactly, she’s gotten here. Vo, a New York-based makeup artist is Instagram’s reigning glow queen, her grid populated by videos and pictures of her ‘glow jobs’ as she calls them—models given a makeover or ‘glowgasm’ that features a dewy, wet-look foundation, followed with major lashings of highlighter, making their cheekbones resemble a comet-tail of blinding light. Scrolling through her feed is truly going down an Instagram rabbit hole—you’ll be hypnotised enough to keep going and will emerge three hours later blinking furiously to settle your dilated pupils and jonesing hard for a highlighter fix.

Vo’s more focused on skincare and skin health than makeup, and I’m here to pry all her beauty secrets out of her. This, let me tell you, is no hardship, because IRL she’s just as her Instagram advertises: wickedly funny, ready with just the right bon mot for every situation. She calls herself and her followers, ‘dewy dumplings’, likening her post-glow job skin to the gleaming sheen on a freshly steamed dumpling. Below is how Vo gets her dim sum glow.

Being terrified of sun damage

Vo grew up in California to immigrant Vietnamese parents. “My mom had very bad melasma, and I have the skin I do today because of trauma and fear of that,” she says. Her mother made her walk home after school with an umbrella to protect her skin from the sun. “In Vietnamese culture, hands are an indication of your health, wealth, they’re very tied to concepts of fortune and good luck. So my mom made me wear gloves while doing errands.” Vo says she’s been wearing eye cream since she was 12 which she’d buy with money her mom gave her for pizza. “I don’t know how to ride a bike because my parents were scared of sun damage. I blame them for everything! But I’m a really good swimmer—indoor swimming, of course!”

Putting skincare and wellness first

“People are forever asking me what my favourite foundation is, and what’s the best way to cover texture or dark circles. That’s a back-to-front way of thinking. Instead of creating the illusion of good skin, I would invest that money on creating real good skin,” she says. Her other mantras are rest and gut health. “Skin is 60 per cent DNA, the other 40 per cent is your lifestyle and how you manage stress. You need to be sleeping and pooping well.”

Hitting the product aisles hard

“My skincare regimen is about constantly stimulating, exfoliating, hydrating, massaging, steaming and getting the blood flowing.” Vo changes her routine every three weeks because she’s constantly testing new products, but shares some of her stalwarts, like Tatcha Camellia Cleansing Oil, her favourite cleanser. “I use Lotion P50 by Biologique Recherche. It smells, but I have so many luxe products that this feels scientific and I think it’s working. I’ve used it for two years, I love it.”

Vo wasn’t a fan of Le Mer The Concentrate till she hit her thirties, and now her skin drinks it up. “I call it my expensive Neosporin. If I have a scar, rash or irritated skin, it’s my staple.” Vo’s sun protection routine is still in high gear, but she’s recently noticed a couple of freckles, and Ole Henriksen Truth Serum with Vitamin C has been her go-to to lift the pigmented spots. In the day she follows that with Shiseido or Clé de Peau moisturisers. “But at night, I oil it up, honey. If you look at my pillow it looks like french fries slept on it. I’m literally drenched in oil.”

Vo’s favourite leisure activity is to have a girls night where her friends and her get together to mask, eat and gossip (she calls it MEG night). The masks in rotation are Drunk Elephant Baby Facial, Natura Bisse Stabilising Cleansing Mask, Biologique Recherche Masque Vivant and Masque VIP O2, May Lindstrom The Problem Solver, Herbivore Blue Tansy Resurfacing Clarity Mask.

Getting professional intervention

Vo regularly hits up the pros: “I’m obsessed with my skin, I get a facial every week.” NYC’s Rescue Spa is on her list of favourites as is facialist Georgia Louise. She regularly stops by FaceGym where ‘trainers’ knead, massage and tone, giving the face a literal workout, and then zapping it with radio frequency to tighten and sculpt. Then there are LED light-emitting devices that she plugs in at home to plump skin and reduce wrinkles and acne. The ZIIP facial device is another magic wand Vo uses to stimulate collagen and elastin. So far, she says, she’s drawn the line at surgery. “I’ve never had plastic surgery and not that I wouldn’t ever get fillers, but not just yet. Between all the lasers, the stimulation and the facials, I’m more into preventative stuff. I also think let’s be real, we’re all ageing.” Vo agrees that her routine might be out of reach for the normal beauty enthusiast. “Unfortunately, beauty is expensive. But look into budget-friendly options. For instance, even a gua sha stone or jade roller will massage, sculpt and stimulate skin.”

Painting it on

Before every makeup job she undertakes, Vo spends 30 minutes prepping skin with various products, toning and massaging in oils and blotting them away. She aims to get skincare to do most of the heavy lifting, so her canvas is as perfect as possible. “I like makeup that’s 3D and makes it look like there’s light coming from the skin. I call it Jesus light.” Though she’s such a huge presence on Instagram, and uses several different products in her looks, Vo’s faces never fall into the ‘Instagram makeup’ arena, always looking super natural. “I’m not a big trend-driven makeup artist. I’m not baking, shaking and sautéing for real life makeup. There’s a time and place for that, which is the red carpet, or an ad campaign, because when you’re facing with a camera, it dilutes makeup by 30 or 40 per cent.”

Vo is currently obsessed with Ole Henriksen Banana Bright primer which she uses before strategically placing foundation and concealer where they’re needed. For Indian women, she spends a lot of time colour correcting the under eye before concealing. She uses Shiseido’s full coverage Future Solution LX Total Radiance Foundation as a concealer under the eyes. A compulsive blender, her weapon of choice is the pink egg. “There’s not a face I touch in this world that I don’t use the Beautyblender on.” After sculpting the cheeks with a light contour, she sets with a precision powdering technique using Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Finish Setting Powder. “Powder is not flattering everywhere. Powder the T-zone, sides of your nose, chin, middle of the forehead and keep the cheeks more glowy and oily. If it looks moist and wet, it’s fresher.”

Vo’s makeup is also known for heavily blushing cheeks. “Bronzes and earth tones are universally flattering, but I love a pink, peachy palette; it’s fresh and flattering whether you’re pale, dark or anywhere in between.” She achieves an intense flush by using a cream blush followed by a powder formula. “I want to create a hologram. I’ll do a pink cream blush, go on top of that with a rose gold, so it’s still pink but now with a gold tone. Then, over that I’ll do a champagne, to add more gleam and dimension.”

After this comes the main event: highlighter on the crescent of the cheek, down the bridge of the nose, and in the inner eye, again, layering powder products over cream ones. “If you look at my work, people think it’s the highlighter, but by the time I’ve swiped that on, her face is already perfected. It’s not a dry face that I’m putting highlight on; it’s the cherry on top of the final look.” A few spritzes of Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist later, your girl’s ready for her big moment.

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