What This Beauty Founder and Influencer Does to Prep Her Skin in the Morning

What's the first thing you do when you get out of bed in the morning? A well-rounded morning routine sets the tone for the day and gets you prepped—both mentally and physically—before you dive into a packed schedule filled with emails, chores, happy hours, workouts, and more. Our series Morning Person profiles those who have mastered the art of the morning routine.

Tune in every week here and on our Instagram to learn exactly how the pros get it all done before the sun comes up, from their go-to breakfasts to their a.m. workouts.

If you’ve ever been curious about a buzzy, new skincare product, treatment, or ingredient, chances are that Susan Yara has already done a deep dive on it on her YouTube channel. As the founder of Mixed Makeup, a digital destination for all things beauty, Yara has helped to educate her over 1.35 million subscribers by breaking down complex skincare routines and ingredients. 

Last year, Yara was able to turn her passion and expertise in skincare into Naturium, her own line of clinically effective and clean products. Since testing different skincare formulas and samples is technically part of the job, Yara has become especially reliant on a few key products in her routine to help prep her skin for a long day of video shoots, mom duties, and everything else in between. 

Keep scrolling to see exactly how this clean-skincare founder and content creator starts a typical workday. 

6:30 A.M.

I have two alarm clocks that wake me up on different mornings. Either my 4-year-old son, Nikash, will hop into bed with us and cuddle, or our 18-month-old daughter, Ayla, will start stirring in her crib, and we’ll hear her through the monitor. It truly depends on who wakes first!

7 A.M.

The next hour is hectic! I’ll glance at my phone to make sure there aren’t any fires to put out, but for the most part, I try to keep my mind clear the first hour I’m up and focus on my mom duties before I start work. My husband and I split family duties. He makes coffee and breakfast and packs my son’s lunch while I play with the kids and make sure they eat.

8 A.M.

I love to get in another cup of caffeine in the morning, but I hate the jitters I get from too much coffee, so I make myself a matcha turmeric latte using a blend from Golde with almond milk and a dash of honey. Once I drink it, it’s time for me to get ready for the day and do my skincare routine, which, by the way, counts as work! I constantly test out new products to share with my viewers for Mixed Makeup, and I also test out lab samples for my own skincare line, Naturium, so each routine matters. Plus, it’s a moment of alone time. I don’t get a lot of that working from home.

I splash some water on my face and pat it dry. I find most days I don’t need to use a cleanser in the morning, and my skin stays more balanced since it already tends to be dry. I deal with melasma, which is a form of hyperpigmentation, so I’m all about skincare ingredients that lighten discoloration. That’s why I pat Naturium's Alpha Arbutin Essence 1% on my skin to hydrate it and help even my skin tone.

Next, I always pat on a vitamin C serum for the brightening benefits and also because it helps boost the protection you get from sunscreen. People don’t realize that! Vitamin C and SPF are your shields against UV rays and free radicals that cause your skin to prematurely age!

I never skip a moisturizer to lock in all the work I put in with my routine. I’ve been loving the Farmacy Honey Halo Ultra-Hydrating Ceramide Moisturizer because it replenishes all the lipids you need to keep your skin healthy and dewy, but it feels really light. I love a thick moisturizer at night, but in the morning, I tend to wear moisturizing sunscreens and don’t want to overdo it.

Last, your skincare routine doesn’t matter if you don’t wear sunscreen. My go-to lately is the EltaMD UV Restore SPF 40. It has a slight tint to it, so it makes my skin look flawless, which is all I really want when I’m home most of the day.

9 A.M.

Each day can vary for me. By this point, I either start virtual meetings for Naturium, answer emails, go over our content for Mixed Makeup, or start getting ready for a video shoot. Today, I happen to be doing the latter. We try to be efficient and spend an entire day shooting videos so that we can get ahead on our editorial calendar and don’t have to shoot more than once a week. 

I love to have my friend and makeup artist Nikki La Rose glam me up. It has become part of the routine and makes me feel ready to tackle a day on camera. I started to have her come in regularly after I had my first baby because I didn’t have the energy to get myself ready. I know there are moms all over the world that do it, but it was a treat for me, and I fully believe in self-care in whatever form you can get it. When you’re a new mom, it’s hard to pull yourself together, so it’s nice to have someone there to make you feel your best. Plus, everyone seems to leave me alone when she arrives, too. It’s like my family knows that work starts now.

10 A.M.

I drink a mug of bison bone broth from Kreation to get myself through until lunch (and I cross my fingers that it will help boost collagen and help my skin glow) and then get started on our videos.

10:30 A.M.

Our first video shoot typically starts about now. We’ll get in about four to five videos—either for my personal YouTube channel or for Mixed Makeup, so it’s going to be a long day!

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