I Met Ashley Graham at a Bar and Learned All Her Beauty Tips

Welcome to Beauty’s Night Out, a series dedicated to the need-to-know beauty conversations dominating the nightlife scene. Expect a first look at the latest trends, behind-the-scenes tutorials, and loads of going-out inspiration as you get all dolled up—all you need is your favorite playlist. This time around, we’re getting a glimpse into a night out with supermodel Ashley Graham, who serves as a global brand ambassador for Revlon.

Meeting Ashley Graham at NYC’s Keys & Heels feels like the ultimate paradox. The speakeasy-style cocktail lounge, hidden behind a locksmith shop, is mysterious, almost labyrinthine, before you slink behind its doors and are greeted by sumptuous velvet couches and a backlit bar. Graham, on the other hand, is disarmingly warm as she beckons me to a corner booth and announces I must try a glass of Lucci, her dry sparkling Italian Lambrusco. “I never forget a face,” she declares after immediately recalling our last conversation two years ago, when I interviewed her at an Ulta meet and greet. Her walls are glass. With Graham, what you see is what you get: a grounded, confident, easygoing individual you definitely want to have drinks with.

We’re currently clinking glasses to Revlon ColorSilk’s After Care Collection and discussing her night-out beauty staples (quite fitting on an actual night out, no?), and it only takes a few minutes for her to divulge the hilarious going-out flashback forever burned into her brain—one that other A-listers of her caliber might keep close to their chests. “One of the first dates my husband [Justin Ervin] took me on was karaoke with a bunch of friends. I was really getting into it because I’m a karaoke fiend, and it was Beyoncé,” she reveals. “I was getting down to my knees, and my pants ripped from the back seam to the front seam. I was mortified. Everybody was laughing—I was laughing too—to the point where my husband actually took a photo. We still have the photo 17 years later.” I have to imagine she keeps it in an album next to glamorous red carpet looks, such as her recent Met Gala ensemble, which featured a custom Di Petsa dress, Zales jewelry, and a chrome “dipped” manicure. I call that range!

Today, selecting the right playlist remains integral to her getting-ready routine (“Everything is about the music,” she notes) with hopefully fewer wardrobe malfunctions involved, along with a collection of hair, skin, and makeup items that always come in clutch. Discover all her forthright tips and recommendations below.

(Image credit: YSL; Ulta; Amazon)

Graham’s going-out prep always starts with hair, and when I ask about her go-to ‘do, she’s quick to respond, “Definitely a bouncy blowout.” It’s exactly what she’s sporting during our chat—a loose, airy style with long, face-framing layers. While her hair can hold onto a blowout pretty well (“I can always go to day two or day three, depending on how hard my workout was,” she notes), she adds that freshly washed strands make all the difference. Ask any hairstylist, and they’ll agree: A stellar hair day starts in the shower. The Revlon ColorSilk After Color Shampoo and Conditioner have been her washday staples since they launched this past January, as both formulas preserve vibrant color and repair breakage—and healthier, stronger hair appears way shinier, as you likely know. “I have been begging them to make the conditioner for years now since I started using the hair dye,” she adds. “It only came with a tiny, little packet. I was like, ‘This needs to be in a jar, you guys.’ And then, finally, they made it. So, you’re welcome!” To reap its shine-boosting benefits on the go, she’ll apply (and reapply) the brand’s After Color Serum, which also seals split ends upon application and smooths frizz.

While her hair sets and cools, she’ll move on to makeup then hop in the shower. Yes, I also did a double take. “I know that sounds weird, but I think the steam makes it glowy and dewy,” Graham explains. “It’s kind of the same notion as spraying rose water on your face before or after makeup. It just sets it so beautifully and makes it less cakey.” My beauty-editor brain is, for lack of a better word, boggled. I ask her if it’s some sort of gatekept makeup-artist technique that somehow hasn’t hit the mainstream, but nope. She’s sworn by the routine since middle school. “I realized, ‘Oh, I forgot to wash my body.’ And then I was like, ‘Oh, look how good my makeup looks.’ It was self-discovery,” she adds.

(Image credit: TheStewartofNY/Getty Images)

Still, Graham does love a rose water mist for on-the-go touch-ups and will often toss one into her going-out bag. “I went to Korea and found like a million different rose water sprays,” she shares before crowning D’Alba’s White Truffle First Spray her current favorite. Also nestled in the bag are two lip products—namely, Revlon’s Super Lustrous Lipstick in Bare It All and PhotoReady Instant Plump Serum in Magically Inflated. “I actually wore it at the Met,” she says regarding the latter. “It’s so gorgeous.” That night, she tucked it into her bronze YSL Satin Evening Clutch, which has a sleek, sculptural silhouette that, surprisingly, “holds everything,” she notes. “A girl in the bathroom [at the Met] had the exact same bag as me. I was like, ‘That’s how you know.'”