Natalia Dyer's skin care routine includes putting potatoes on her eyes

Natalia Dyer may moonlight as our beloved Nancy Wheeler in Stranger Things (AKA one of the few people on the planet who can genuinely pull off a perm), but in real life, the actress is generally dealing with more dermatology-centric issues than Demogorgon ones.

“I have always had pretty finicky sensitive skin; I broke out a lot when I was a teenager,” Dyer shared in a recent Vogue video. The way she handles it? A less-is-more approach that favours calming, replenishing products over anything active. “I read this book in my early twenties called “Skin Cleanse”; it basically asks you if your skin’s freaking out, to just take a step back and stop doing everything." Simplicity is key for sensitivity, after all.

So if you’ve been waiting what feels like your whole life for a celebrity-approved sensitivity-friendly skin care routine (or just want to hear about the aforementioned vegetable-related hack), allow Dyer to point you in the right direction…

Natalia Dyer’s exact skin care routine

“I go back and forth with cleansers depending on what my skin needs. I’ve been using this one from my dermatologist, it’s just a really gentle oatmeal cleanser,” Dyer shared, first applying the NYDG Colloidal Oatmeal Cleanser ($48USD at NYDG but not currently available in Australia).

“My next step is this little Alastin Restorative Skin Complex ($199USD at Alastin but not currently available in Australia). It’s just really nourishing and hydrating. Something that I use when my skin is feeling a bit sensitive is this [Zo Skin Health] Rozatrol ($91USD at Zo Skin Health but not currently available in Australia). It’s this nice, easy serum that kind of helps with redness and takes away some of the irritation.”

Okay, we know there's a lot of 'not available in Australia' going on thus far, but sit tight: other options are coming...

“This is the moisturiser that I’ve been using recently,” Dyer noted, dabbing on the La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Face Moisturiser ($47.90 at Amazon). “I love this brand; [it's] very gentle. Whenever my skin is freaking out, I’ll go back to them. They have this Cicaplast balm that’s really, really good.” She’s talking about the La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5 Balm Barrier Cream ($19.95 at La Roche-Posay), which we can confirm is genuinely worthy of said “really, really good” status.

She’s also a fan of tension-relieving tools, opting for a stainless steel gua sha ($16.49 at Amazon) to relieve tightness around her jaw. “This I use pretty regularly because I carry all my tension in jaw. When my jaw relaxes, I think everything relaxes a bit more.”

“Next I’ll go in with this sunscreen,” she explained, applying the ISDIN Eeryfotona Actinica Mineral Sunscreen SPF50+ ($139.36 at Amazon). “I’ve been trying to be better about wearing sunscreen. This one’s really light and easy and goes pretty well under makeup.”

Up next? Eye cream, or rather Crème de La Mer ($265 at David Jones) used as eye cream. “Eye cream was actually the first beauty product I think I ever invested in,” she shared. “I think I must have been 14 or something; I always had really dark circles, and I was just so self-conscious.” The same luxurious tub of goodness also acts as the final step of Dyer’s complexion prep: “I like to use a little bit of this as sort of a primer; it just helps everything be a little bit smoother.”

As for the beauty product/finishing touch she can’t leave the house without, Dyer admitted in a recent Cosmo UK interview that it’s “probably lip balm”, calling herself a “big lip balm user”. While she confessed that she rotates between brands, she did shout out the Burt’s Bees Pomegranate Moisturising Lip Balm ($4.99 at Chemist Warehouse).

Natalia Dyer’s kitchen beauty remedies

But while her routine is fairly straightforward, Dyer's 'biggest beauty secret' is a little, er, quirky. Quirky but genius, that is! “I haven’t done this in a while but raw potatoes on your eyes just kind of wakes [you up] – forget cucumbers; just raw potatoes," she told Cosmo UK. "It really does something. You gotta try it – it really always shocks me a little bit.”

She's not wrong; on top of the fact that the mere coldness of a potato slice will work wonders for puffiness and inflammation around the eye, they're also rich in enzymes, vitamin C and starch, all of which have the ability to brighten and nourish the skin.

Potatoes aren't the only 'product' she pulls from her kitchen, though – Dyer is also a fan of DIY face masks. "I did go through a phase where I was making these yoghurt, turmeric [and] honey face masks and I did think it was pretty brightening but the only thing is that it was quite hard to get off.” But hey, what's a little mess when radiance levels are at stake, right?!

Main image credit: @jacobrozenberg

After more celeb-approved skin care buys? Here are the moisturisers the stars slather on...