Sometimes, when you look at a celebrity’s skin, you might wonder just what her secret is. Sure, celebrities are often able to afford top-of-the-line, expensive skincare treatments and many receive Botox and other injections on a regular basis. But, in some cases, the secret to a celebrity’s great skin is actually a lot less expensive than you think and something that is within reach of the average person. While you’d think they’d want to keep their skincare tips and hacks top secret, plenty of famous people are all too happy to share what makes their skin seem to glow.

Petroleum Jelly Makeup Remover

You know that it’s important to remove your makeup at the end of the day. Leaving it on overnight leads to clogged pores, blemishes, and can make your skin look duller and older. While you can invest in fancy eye makeup remover, you can also take a page from Jennifer Lopez’s playbook and use relatively inexpensive petroleum jelly, or Vaseline. It doesn’t cost much, and it’s great for removing eye makeup and other cosmetics. As an added bonus, petroleum jelly is very moisturizing, so it can help soften dry skin.

Jennifer Aniston is another celebrity who’s learned the secret power of Vaseline, but for a different reason. The former Friends actress applies it under her eyes before bed each night, to help keep that area moisturized and to help minimize crow’s feet and wrinkles.

Sugar Scrub

Although you probably want to limit the amount of sugar in your diet, for the sake of your weight, skin, and overall health, applying sugar to your skin is a different story. One way to make a DIY sugar scrub, which helps soften and exfoliate your skin, is to mix two parts sugar with one part olive or coconut oil.

You can also use sugar as a facial exfoliant and cleanser, like actress Jessica Biel. She adds a touch of sugar to her regular cleanser to help exfoliate her skin. Another trick is to sprinkle sugar over the cut portion of half a lemon, then rub the lemon against your face in a gentle, circular motion. The sugar will deep clean your skin while the lemon juice acts as an antiseptic and astrigent.

Creative Moisturizers

You can invest in a fancy, anti-aging moisturizer to keep your skin looking soft, supple and dewy, even as you older. But, plenty of celebs have found that some products designed for different reasons often do the trick. Pop country star Shania Twain, for example, swears by Bag Balm. What’s Bag Balm, you ask?

It’s a salve created back in 1899. The original purpose of the product is to ease chapping and irritation on cow’s udders when they are milked. Although still used by farmers to help out their dairy cows, the product is also used for a number of other reasons today, among them to make celebrity’s skin softer. If you’re dealing with dry facial skin, a container of Bag Balm costs less than $10 and is often worth the investment.

Aquaphor might be a healing ointment doctors recommend to patients after laser skin resurfacing or other resurfacing treatments. But, the ointment has other benefits, as actress Lucy Lui discovered during a recent film shoot. The actress was working on scenes in very cold temperatures and dabbed a bit of Aquaphor on her face. She found that brightened her face, and made her skin look fresh, so she renamed the product “Aqua-for-everything.”

Chilled Washcloths

After facial plastic surgery, you might be advised to use cold compresses or cold cloths to help reduce swelling. According to supermodel Rachel Hunter, cold washcloths can be useful in everyday life. The model keeps a stash of washcloths in her refrigerator and claims she learned the trick in Japan. The cold cloths help make her pores look smaller and are a great way to soothe tired eyes and to reduce puffiness in the eye area.

A Dash of Oil

Gwyneth Paltrow might be known for recommending pricey beauty and health tricks, out of the reach of the average person. For all her recommendations for $250 juice cleanses, though, she does have one trick that’s relatively affordable. The actress turned lifestyle maven claims to use Omega 3 oil on her skin, to keep it looking radiant and youthful.

French actress Marion Cotillard also uses oil to keep her skin glowing. But, Cotillard uses argan oil, from Morrocco. The oil has been used by people for hundreds of years, not only to keep skin soft and moisturized, but also to keep hair shiny and soft.

It can be fun to try some of the tips from celebrities or to see if their skincare hacks work for you, too. But, if you’re looking for results that are little longer lasting or that don’t require applying Vaseline to your face, it can be worth it to speak with a facial plastic surgeon about your options. In the Virginia Beach area, Dr. Kyle Choe can recommend skincare treatments, injections, or even surgery, depending on your goals. To schedule a consultation with Dr. Choe, call 757.389.5850 today.