Paige DeSorbo Is Totally Cool With You Seeing Her Acne

Before reality TV stardom and a hit podcast, Paige DeSorbo was just a girl growing up in New York—albeit a lucky one. You see, she floated through middle and high school with clear skin, nary a blemish in sight despite a less-than-regular cleansing schedule.

Then junior year of college came along and bam: breakouts. She couldn’t figure out why the pimples were popping up, but the trend continued… and continued… no matter what she tried.

“Adult acne is just the absolute worst. I think it’s 10 times more embarrassing than having acne in high school, when you’re ‘supposed to’ have it,” the Summer House star tells Byrdie. “I feel like it’s extremely traumatizing to be in your 20s and just know like, ‘Okay, I’m going in for a job interview and I look like I’m 16 years old because I’m breaking out so badly.’ It’s been like 10 years of being up and down. Sometimes my skin is great and I’m like, ‘I cracked the code.’ And then a week later it’s breaking out horribly.”

Until now, perhaps? After a decade of back and forth, DeSorbo is ready to go all in on her routine., and is partnering with Face Reality to make it happen. Through the new collab, DeSorbo will overhaul her at-home skincare regimen—heading to routine in-clinic treatments and skin check-ins with facialist Madalaina Conti—with a goal to achieve clear skin within 90 days. Ahead, everything to know about the Bravoleb’s skincare journey, in her own words.

Why She’s Open About Her Acne

“I think I went through such a journey with being on reality TV my first year to now, oh my gosh, my seventh year,” DeSorbo, who joined the Summer House cast in 2018, explains. “When I first started I was so embarrassed of my acne. I’d always be in my makeup.”

While a majority of viewers are close in age to the New Yorker, the 2020 launch of her podcast, “Giggly Squad,” introduced her to a larger (and younger!) audience.

“Now I feel almost a commitment to girls that listen to show my real skin in the morning,” she adds. “I can do that on reality TV, which feels like such a blessing. [I can show] that no one waking up in the morning looks perfect. Like, ‘these are all the pimple patches I have now.’ … We can all relate in that way.”

On Her Skin Goals

At the end of her initial three months with Face Reality (while the Clear Skin Method is a six month program, the company promises visible results in 90 days), DeSorbo hopes to not have to wake up, touch her face, and “see if anything literally grew overnight.”

“I [want to] wake up and be like, ‘I’m gonna to look in the mirror, rinse my face, do my moisturizer, and it’s gonna be absolutely fine,'” DeSorbo explains. “I feel like when you have big things coming up and you’re stressed and you’re anxious, sometimes your body just reacts and you break out. I’m very much that kind of person, so I’m excited to not break out right before I have something huge going on.”

Her Favorite Travel Skincare Tips

When it comes to travel, DeSorbo isn’t about to streamline her routine. “I’m a big fan of checking a bag,” she says. “I’m never not checking a bag and I think it’s men that started the whole ‘you can only bring a carry on’ thing. Get out of my face. I am always making room for my skincare and my makeup products. I feel like that’s a non-negotiable.”

Because she bops around so much (from home in the city to filming in Montauk and visiting her beau Craig Conover in Charleston), sticking to her lineup is that much more important. There’s a sense of grounding in routine—even of the cleanse, tone, moisturize variety.

Her other best beauty travel tip? Good ol’ Aquaphor.

“I’m always going to be a huge fan of Aquaphor. My tip has always been, if I’m not doing a full look in the airplane bathroom—because I could never–I’ll put Aquaphor on my eyelashes, my eyebrows, my lips, and my cheekbones. It has saved me in so many different situations.”

The Skincare Tips She Picked Up from Her Summer House Co-Stars

Another of DeSorbo’s best beauty tips comes from her fellow Summer House cast member Ciara Miller.

“I used to just dry my face—this is actually disgusting, honestly—with whatever was around. If there was a towel that I had showered with earlier in the day, I was using it. I didn’t care. And I remember one time Ciara was like, ‘That’s disgusting.’ You need to be using these face drying cloths. Honestly, they have changed my face.”

On Her Current Skincare Routine

DeSorbo’s current routine, which she discovered with the help of Conti, includes six steps in the morning and six steps at night—a simple list in the grand scheme of things. When she first got her products, she took her beloved label maker and got to work tagging them. “AM step one.” “AM step two.” You get it.

“It’s a pretty easy routine. Cleansing with Barrier Balance Creamy Cleanser , toning with Moisture Balance Toner, 8% L-Mandelic Serum, hydraBalance Gel, and Antioxidant Peptide Eye Gel, moisturizing with Clearderma Moisturizer, and Ultimate Protection SPF 28 Lotion in the morning. At nighttime it’s the same thing, washing my face, using a toner using the hydraBalance Gel. And then once a week I use the Glycolic Lactic Toner. On nights I don’t use that I use the 5% Advanced Acne Med. It’s just like a thin layer mask that you leave on for 20 minutes. And that product, I feel, has made such a difference.”

With self-diagnoses and novice skincare recommendations running rampant online, DeSorbo was thrilled to talk to an esthetician who could tell her what was what with her own personal complexion.

“I was always under the impression that I needed to be exfoliating all the time, because I’m so oily. And she’s like, ‘If you could stop doing that, that would be amazing,'” she notes. “It’s just nice connecting with someone who knows what they’re talking about. … You have to pick what works best for your skin, and I feel like this was the time that I did that.”

Her Best Advice for Somone Struggling With Acne

No, she’s not an esthetican (that’s why she’s seeing one!), but DeSorbo does know what it’s like to deal with breakouts.

“My best advice is that it’s okay to be frustrated on the days you’re frustrated,” she says. “It’s okay to not want to wear makeup and just be completely over it and go somewhere barefaced and be like ‘this is what my skin is.’ I felt way more empowered once I felt comfortable being like, whatever. This is what my skin looks like.'”

Also, “There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel. Something will eventually work for you, you just have to be patient and figure it out.”