Isabella Briggs Talks “The Summer I Turned Pretty” and Acne

While each product featured is independently selected by our editors, we may include paid promotion. If you buy something through our links, we may earn commission. Read more about our Product Review Guidelines here.

There’s an elephant in the room when discussing “The Summer I Turned Pretty” with Isabella Briggs. The actor’s character, Denise, became a fast fan favorite when season three of the hit Amazon show premiered last summer. When a movie was announced after the show’s finale, fans assumed they would follow Denise’s journey with new love interest Jeremiah Fisher. But when pictures of the cast currently filming emerged earlier this year, Briggs was noticeably missing.

As I sit on a Zoom with her and ask her to appease our worry and at least hint at Denise’s possible return in the upcoming film, Briggs just laughs and keeps it coy. “I can’t really say much,” she says. “I am very, very thankful to have been a part of the third season, and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

With or without “The Summer I Turned Pretty” movie, it’s a big summer for her. On top of joining the group psychosis we’re all in and keeping up with the phenomenon that is “Love Island” (she, of course, is team #Brinity), Briggs has partnered with skin-care brand Face Reality as its new celebrity partner. A partnership, she says, that fully aligns with her personal skin goals.

“It’s not about perfection. It’s not about trying to reach unattainable or false promises,” she says. “It’s about understanding your skin and using quality ingredients within the skin care to just help better protect and heal and treat your skin, which I really love.”

She has been dealing with acne since she was 15, and her biggest struggle, she says, is the consistency of both the state of her skin and sticking with a routine. “There would be some stretches of time and weeks where I felt like my skin was relatively clear of acne and my texture was going down and I was finding a good routine. Then something would change, and then everything would come flooding back [and] my skin would be really congested,” she says.

For her acne, she’ll use the Face Reality 5% L-Mandelic Serum ($42) every other day and apply it under her moisturizer and SPF. “It does the job and is so gentle; my skin doesn’t have any adverse reactions to it,” she says. She also likes to use the Glycolic-Lactic Toner ($33) once a week to keep her acne in check. She’ll also add benzoyl peroxide to places where she’s breaking out; when she needs more hydration or if her skin is feeling irritated, she’ll grab the HydroCalm Mask ($42) and leave it on overnight.

This routine has made her feel more confident to walk outside without makeup and feel like she needs to look more done up than normal. “Even when I have little blemishes or hyperpigmentation, I found confidence within my routine and with what I’m doing,” she says. “I feel a lot more confident to just go out into the world barefaced.”

Her makeup is pretty minimal, focusing on just eyebrow gel for her brows and Merit’s Signature Lipstick in L’Avenue ($28). She leans towards autumn and brown shades, and also loves Merit’s Flush Balm Blush ($30) in terracotta.

To take care of her natural curls, she learned an important lesson while on set for season three of “The Summer I Turned Pretty:” use curly hair shampoo and conditioner. The Briogeo Curl Defining Hydrating Shampoo ($28) and Curl Defining Conditioner ($28), to be exact. “That’s a journey that I’m on right now: trying to figure out what products work best for my hair and what is necessary,” she says. “Because I have fine, mostly 3A hair, less product is more. My hair can get really weighed down by product. So making sure that I’m using things that work for me and that give me the results that I want.”

Coming back to discussing the beloved show, she appreciates the fans and all the love they have for Denise and the world of Cousins. Though she can neither confirm nor deny what’s in store for her in the film, just being part of the Jenny Han universe is a great privilege.

“It was just kind of cool to see how many people loved the show,” Briggs says. “I would be out walking around in the streets, and I would look into a bar, and they’d be hosting a watch party. That was just something that I personally had never experienced before, and it just made me really happy to be a part of something that brought people so much joy and brought people together. I just felt really, really grateful to be a part of something like that; it’s a really cool experience both as a person and as an actor.”

Audrey Noble is a beauty writer who covers breaking news, writes celebrity profiles, and does deep-dive features about the ways race, gender, sexuality, and other forms of identity impact society via the beauty industry. Previously, she was the beauty reporter at Allure and has held editorial positions at Vanity Fair and Refinery29. Audrey’s work can also be seen in PS, Vogue, Harper’s BAZAAR, Bustle, InStyle, WWD, and more