Sarah Michelle Gellar on NAD, Beauty Lessons, and Why the ‘90s Were Cool AF

It’s safe to say we’re in a full-on Sarah Michelle Gellar-ssance. Although the planned Buffy reboot was suddenly—and shockingly—cancelled, fans don’t have to wait very long to see her onscreen: She’s going back to her horror-movie roots in Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (in theaters March 20), which is already receiving rave reviews. (That doesn’t mean we’re not totally bummed, Hulu execs…)

Fortunately, Ready or Not 2 is the campy mix of humor and horror that SMG slips into so easily—and as a fan of the first film, she’s thrilled to join the cast. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done because it’s horror, it’s comedy, it’s drama. It’s also a love story,” Gellar tells Glamour, adding that “It picks up the second the last one stops.”

Gellar can also be seen as the face of Olay’s latest Regenerist treatments, and her relationship with the skin care brand runs deep. “It’s kind of a funny story,” she says, reminding that she’d been in Olay’s first-ever Super Bowl commercial in 2019 (also horror-themed, naturally). “I’m very particular about the products that I work with, I’ve been doing this long enough that I can’t represent something I don’t actually use or believe in.”

A self-proclaimed “science geek,” she visited the brand’s Cincinnati HQ to learn more about the advancements the brand has made in skincare technology, such as the Regenerist line. “What are we doing if we’re not learning from the things that come out? Yes, my mother had that pink jar when I was little, but now it’s the red jar and it’s even better,” she says.

Ahead, Gellar opens up about her skincare philosophy, the ‘90s trends she is (and isn’t) game to bring back, and more in this installment of Glamour’s Big Beauty Questions.

Glamour: How would you describe your beauty routine these days? Low-maintenance, high maintenance, somewhere in between?

Sarah Michelle Gellar: I hate to say high maintenance or low-maintenance. It’s simple in the sense that I definitely believe that you need three or four really good products. We get these TikToks and Instagrams sent to us, and we [think we] need things, but we don’t. It’s about the products that work and consistency. But I am loyal to my routine. It doesn’t matter how late I get home and how tired I am, the makeup comes off, my skin gets washed, and my products go on because you have to take care of your skin.

Have you always been regimented about your beauty routine, going back to your Buffy days, for instance?

Even before that, I did a show when I was a teenager and this makeup artist said, “We’re going to teach you how to take care of your skin.” I had my first facial, I think I was 16, and it stuck with me ever since then. I’m the person on the airplane that’s moisturizing their face on the airplane and spraying it down. It’s also [part of] my job.

There was another lesson too that always stuck with me, and costume designers always comment on it. They always had teenagers in and out of set and they would leave everything a mess. And they said, “If you don’t hang up your clothing, it’s not getting cleaned.” And so I don’t care how tired I am when I wrap at the end of the night, I always hang up my clothing. And a lot of actors don’t do that.

I’m sure the crew appreciates that. What’s a product that’s become part of your core routine at this point?