Mandy Moore on Her Low-Key Beauty Routine and 25 Years of ‘Candy’

Even over the usually cursed light of Zoom, Mandy Moore is glowing.

Of course, a few days after our interview, I learn that the This Is Us star is, in fact, pregnant with her third child with husband Taylor Goldsmith. But at the moment, I am taken aback by her luminescence—so much so that I immediately add Eucerin skin care products to my shopping cart. Moore, who recently partnered with Eucerin on its new “Expect More” campaign, has always been a “long, long, longtime fan” of the brand. “I have been a user of the Advanced Repair Lotion for years and years, as long as I can remember, and then had more recently been introduced to all of their face products and sun care,” she says.

When the soon-to-be mom of three isn’t juggling acting, music, or her new podcast, spending time with her family is priority. Her sons, Gus, 3, and Ozzie, 1, keep her and Goldsmith’s hands full, so skin care needs to be efficient for the whole family. “Life is busy, as it is for most people. So I like products that are effective,” she says.

Ahead, Moore opens up about her low-key glam routine, her early career moments (I don’t know who needs to hear this, but “Candy” turns 25 this year), and more.

Glamour: “Candy” is one of my all-time favorites from that ’90s pop era. When you look back on that song, what stands out?

Mandy Moore: Besides some fashion that I cringe about and some unfortunate hair and makeup choices [laughs], I mean, I think back to that time, and I have a lot of affection for that 15-year-old Mandy, and I’m grateful to her. I’m grateful for where I started, and that I’m still able to do what I love now, 25 years later. I can’t believe that I managed to get through that time relatively unscathed. It’s just wild. It feels like it happened to somebody else. In a way, it’s still so tangible and visceral—that time and those memories and MTV and touring with NSYNC and those sorts of things. But also, I feel so far removed from it, that it’s like I’m thinking back to a movie and someone else that lived it.

Like it was you, but it was also somebody else at the same time.

Yeah, totally. That couldn’t possibly be me. I feel like I’m in such a different place in my life now, and thinking back to being a pop star now and what that means now, it’s just such a different definition. I definitely couldn’t have handled it now. But without the advent of social media, I think compared to what I think young people live with now, it just felt so insular and so much smaller that made it more manageable.

Another throwback: Glamour recently declared that the choppy bob is back, and it instantly brought me back to your iconic look in How to Deal. Would you ever do a haircut like that again?

Sure, yeah! I get a little scissor-happy and I love change. I love leaning in to that when it comes to hair. Whatever, it grows out, not a big deal. I’ve always been a big proponent of having fun and changing a look in that sense, hair color or a haircut. So yeah, I feel like I wouldn’t be opposed to going back to a fun choppy bob, especially if it were for work purposes. That feels fun. I’m just putting it out in the ether: If some job comes along that’s like, “We need her to cut her hair off,” sign me up.

Let’s talk summer beauty essentials. What are some of the products you can’t live without?

I do love anything with hyaluronic acid in it, so I’ve been a big fan of using the Eucerin Moisture Boost Serum, and then they have a daytime moisturizer that has SPF in it from the same line, the Immersive Hydration line. So I combine that with their mineral sunscreen, which I also love. It’s tinted, so I like the two-for-one. It eliminates having to put on a tinted moisturizer or foundation or something. So I’ll mix this with the moisturizer, and then I try to keep it simple in the summer.

I get ready early in the morning before the boys wake up. So it’s got to be something that’s going to have staying power. I get ready at 6 a.m., and it’s going to last me until I am putting them down for bed at 7.

I’m a big eyebrow person, and I’m fortunate enough to be friends with the Streicher sisters out here in LA. And Kristie Streicher’s done my eyebrows forever, and she has a great line of products. I love her eyebrow gel. She has, I think, a dark brown tinted one that I use, and then if I want some extra hold, she has a clear one.

I have kind of sensitive skin, so I try to keep the makeup on the simpler, cleaner side. I love lines like Merit, Kosas, and Saie. I love Tower 28 mascara. Then I’ll do a fun bright, bold lip and maybe if I really want to pump it up, incorporating some sort of bronzy cheek situation that I could also put on my eye.

Eucerin Face Immersive Hydration Moisture Boost Face Serum

$20.00, Amazon

KS&CO Sheer Tinted Brow Gel

$36.00, KS&CO

Tower28 MakeWaves Mascara

$27.00, Sephora

Do you have any exciting plans for the summer? How do you keep two young sons occupied and busy?

This is our first summer where our oldest guy is three and he’s going to go to day camp, which will be fun. And just spending a lot of time outside and then trying to find ways to keep our little guy occupied as well. We have a couple of fun family trips planned. We’re going to go see Dad play on the road [with his band, Dawes], which is great. We’ve gone here and there when they were much younger, but now I feel like they’re more aware of what Dad does.

I feel like we have a busy enough plate where I’m very excited, but I don’t feel overwhelmed that we’re overbooked for the summer. I’m excited for warm weather, for sunshine, for going to visit friends on the East Coast. My guys are sort of at an age now where there’s definitely more of an awareness about the world, and so I’m just excited to experience it with them.

The Eucerin campaign is all about maximizing your daily routine, so what does a day well spent look like for you?

In a perfect world, sleeping really well, which is normally the deal. I’m very, very lucky in that regard. Maybe not sleeping in late, but everyone sleeping well, waking up happy, ready for the day. Then an adventure with the boys in the morning. Maybe going to have some sort of yummy treat—going to a bakery or something and having a doughnut or croissant—and playing outside, being in the sun. Maybe ending the day post-nap hanging with friends.

And everything always revolves around food, so I think that my mind is just always geared to like, okay, when’s the next meal? But we’re big fans of spending time with friends that have families as well, so the kids are occupied, and we’re also stimulated as adults and parents. And definitely having some sort of music is a through line throughout our day. It’s a huge part of mealtime for us. It’s a huge part of our time spent in the car. I think my husband has always either got a guitar in his hands or he’s DJing or something.

Lindy Segal is a freelance lifestyle writer and editor whose work has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, Fast Company, InStyle, and others. She also writes the Substack newsletter “Gatekeeping.”

Originally Appeared on Glamour