Beauty Inside & Out: Ashley Tisdale

In the ultimate quest for inner beauty and outer glow, Marie Claire asks our favorite trailblazers to share intel on finding balance in their busy lives. Read it all here, in Beauty Inside & Out.

Sharpay Evans by day, “grandma” by night. At least that’s how the story went according to Ashley Tisdale. “My friends would call me a grandma when I was in my twenties, because I was someone who worked a lot and obviously had a lot going on in that time of my life. So I, to be honest, would never really go out go out. I would just hang out and watch tv—that was my type of self-care back then,” the actress tells Marie Claire. While “grandmas are cool” and binging 24 is a stellar use of time in our book, it’s natural for self-care routines to evolve. Fast forward through more acting roles, the birth of her daughter, and the start of her wellness website, and Tisdale's me-time rituals now look a little different. 

Mornings start at 6 a.m. with meditation and nighttimes end with spa-grade baths, both of which are made easier by Tisdale’s new Target-exclusive line, Being Frenshe. “My job is to take baths and take showers and indulge in self-care,” the High School Musical alum jokes. Of course, there’s also the marketing and less-glamorous day-to-day activities that come with running a business. But it’s all about balance, right? Here, Tisdale breaks down the habits, beauty products, and foods that keep her level-headed. 

Inner Beauty 

Early Morning Meditations 

Because I struggle with anxiety, I know I always need to be on top of my self-care, not just for myself, but for my daughter. I don’t ever want to be anxious around her or put my anxiety on her. I really make an effort to wake up early in the morning and meditate before I even grab her when she wakes up. When I’m feeling a little funky, I just acknowledge that I’m feeling that way and that that’s okay. I have tools to help myself and sometimes that means doing an extra meditation that day. I have a lot that I do and a lot going on, so it can be stressful. When I’m in a state of [being] overwhelm[ed], I can quickly say, Okay, maybe instead of doing just one meditation today, I’ll do two. Paying attention to those feelings and not being scared of them is what has helped me the most. 

Bathtub Time 

There are moments after my daughter has gone to bed that I’ll tell my husband I just need my me-time. And that definitely looks like a luxurious bath with candles and dim lights. I love to exfoliate and do a hair mask and have some rosé. I really love using my Being Frenshe bath bombs because they have a mood-boosting scent in them, which I absolutely love. I also love to do detox baths. Sometimes I’ll use the Goop Detox Bath Salts. I listen to spa music. I create a full spa experience. I really cherish that time and I really indulge. I started doing this during the pandemic. I couldn’t go to the spa and outsource that feeling of relaxation, so I started doing that home. And to be honest, I actually like it better at home—and it’s less expensive. 

Reiki Rituals

I’m someone who loves things like Reiki. When you have a really good Reiki teacher—that can change your life. My first experience was the most transformative. It was amazing. I don’t even want to explain it because people will think I’m crazy. I feel like I left my body. I was in the room, but I wasn’t physically in my body. It actually made me anxious for a second. I was like, Can I get back into my body? Obviously I did. When they talk about the higher self—that’s where I was. It made me feel like life made sense.

I was doing it regularly when we were in Malibu for the summer. We rented a place there and I did reiki sessions at a meditation place called the Mindry. Every single time it was a different experience and I loved it. When you come out of it, your nervous system is the calmest it ever is and you realize that’s how you should be operating at all times. It’s like a massage for your soul.

Outer Glow 

Science-Backed Skincare 

I love everything from my dermatologist. I'm a big fan of getting skin care from your dermatologist because I really feel like they know your skin the best. My dermatologist, Christie Kidd, has her own line and it’s not about having a huge routine, it’s more minimal. If I am wearing a lot of makeup, I’ll use an enzyme face oil from Mara. And then my skincare is Perfect Skin—it’s clean. Then I use just an eye cream and the PCA Skin Hydraluxe Intensive Hydration at night to moisturize.  

Minimal Makeup 

It's very natural these days. With a baby, you just don’t have a ton of time. I like glowy skin and lip balms. Mascara is very big for me, as is bronzer. I love the Kosas mascara because it's clean. I also can’t live without my Bobbi Brown bronzer. I’ve had it forever and I use it all the time. It kind of gives me a sunkissed glow—even in the wintertime. It’s matte, not shimmery, which I like. I also think the Rhode Peptide Lip Treatment is really amazing. I love to go out and have a moment where I can do some makeup—but it rarely happens. If it does, I’ll do a little cat eye at night and a bold lip to change it up. I used to wear a lot of makeup when I was younger, but I just don’t feel the need to anymore. 

Negative Heat Styling 

My hair journey has been a big one. We’ve been through a lot. Obviously back in the day when I was bleach blonde it was hard on my hair. I had extensions for so long, too. I quit extensions about six years ago and never looked back. The hardest thing has been hair colors. I love all the hair colors on myself and I feel like I’m one of those skin tones that can pull off a lot. I think I’ve done every single one of them, to be honest. The harshest was the pink though—it kind of killed my hair. It was a good era and it was so much fun, but I definitely had so much damage. 

Now I just really just love to take care of my hair just like I take care of myself. I love to do deep conditioners just rocking my natural hair. I have embraced my natural hair texture, which is curly. Sometimes it's wild and crazy, but it's cute and it's so healthy. Occasionally I'll just slick it back. You know there was that trend that was like If you only knew there was an Olaplex treatment in my hair? I've been rocking that for a long time. 

Recipe for Success: Ashley’s Lemon Poppyseed Muffin 

I'm a huge baker. But I’m also gluten-free and I'm also dairy-free, so I love to make gluten-free vegan lemon poppy seed muffins. It's one of my favorite things because there aren't a lot of places that are gluten-free and vegan to get baked goods. They’re homemade from scratch and they’re honestly not very hard. I obviously use gluten-free flour. It’s a lot of lemons. And there is some sugar in it—you can’t cut out everything. It’s just a recipe I found on Pinterest from A Dash of Megnut.