The Surprising Secret to Scarlett Johansson’s Skin
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On a recent Friday morning, Oprah Daily had the chance to pop over to the New York City office of The Outset, the skincare brand cofounded by Scarlett Johansson and its CEO, Kate Foster. The minimal, bright-white loft was doubling as a photo studio that day, so when we walked in, it was packed with bustling staff, a crew setting up the shot, and Johansson swiping her hands down her jeans as she stepped out of the building’s restroom, saying, “We need to order more hand towels!”
This is not your typical celeb-facing brand. While it recently celebrated its second anniversary and its 10th product (more on this new sunscreen in a bit!), Johansson spent five years—Foster joined after year three—working on the brand and its formulations before launch. “There was a lot of thoughtfulness and consideration,” Johansson shared after we ducked into a quiet office away from the swirl of the shoot and her packed schedule. There, she devoted more of her signature thoughtfulness to every question we lobbed her way.
The Outset recently turned two. Looking back, what was the aha moment that made you want to launch it?
We weren’t hit over the head with the idea; we spent a lot of time asking, what is true to us, and what do we really desire? There’s so much out there, and it’s a very crowded space, but still, we were missing a cohesive system. I’d been cherry-picking from different brands when what I needed was one easy-to-understand, transparent, essential routine.
Were you always obsessed with skincare?
No, but I used so much of it because I was looking for a solution to my acne. I started getting hormonal acne when I was 12 or 13, at a time when we’d wash, scrub, and dry out a pimple. Of course, we know better now, but cycling through peels, drying creams, masks with charcoal and tea tree oil, and Retin-A—these products were so harsh. On top of it, I was terrified of using anything that had oil or any kind of moisturizer. I had to wear a lot of makeup to cover up [my acne] for work, which just made it worse. Then, in my mid-to-late 20s, I was getting acne and wrinkles. I finally thought, I’m just going to simplify my routine and switched from all those products made for acne-prone skin to those made for sensitive skin. Just a week of doing that was healing.
Now that you are so skin savvy, what’s something you’d absolutely never put on it?
Mineral oil and petroleum. Those are just terrible for my skin. I end up getting little bumpy rashes and allergic reactions to them. I have very sensitive skin and just can’t use products that have those chemicals in them. I’ve learned my lesson.
Let’s talk about your newest product from The Outset. It took you four years to launch this sunscreen. What was it about this formula that made you say, “This is it!”?
We wanted it to be an all-mineral sunscreen, but we didn’t want it to leave a white cast all over your face. It had to be fragrance-free, hydrating, able to be worn under makeup—all while meeting our clean standards, which is really hard. Also, the FDA takes forever [to review and approve sunscreens]. But it’s here, and we're so excited about it. This is your fourth daily skincare step: Cleanse, prep your skin with the serum, moisturize, and then put on this sunscreen. I have melasma, and my dermatologist says, “Don’t even walk across the street without sunscreen on.” It’s the number one thing you have to use.
How are you passing on this knowledge to your kids, and what do you think about this “Sephora kids” craze?
It’s so wild. I’m learning all about this in real time. I have a 9-year-old, and while I don't have TikTok, our friends at Sephora tell us how they have all these teens and tweens coming in asking for all these crazy skincare products with lots of active [ingredients]—and then they’re having bad reactions to them. Meanwhile, my daughter just attended a 10-year-old birthday party the other day that was a spa theme, and she wants to go to Sephora and buy all this stuff. I said, “Rose, first of all, Mommy has a skincare line. And while I love that you care about your skin and want to have a routine, I would feel more confident if you’d use The Outset because you have this precious skin barrier and perfect skin and I don’t want to disrupt that.” She completely got it. And of course, I think it’s great for young people to be caring for themselves. But it’s important, I think, to know at which stage you need different products, because your skin is an organ that needs to be fed and respected.
What’s your philosophy on aging: Do you embrace it, or do you do whatever you can to counteract it?
I want to look like my best self. And I think there’s a balance between wanting to preserve a youthful appearance and embracing the changes. I’ve found that having a wonderful group of girlfriends and mom friends to talk to about all this stuff has made us all feel better about where we’re at. They’re so much more experimental than I am. I’m just terrified to try anything. I don’t want to look too different.
Also, I look at my face now, and I look more like my mom. My mom is very beautiful, and in photos of her in her 40s, she had four kids and she just looked like herself. When I see my face, I feel more like myself, too. And I'm proud of that.
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