Taylor Frankel knows good beauty inside and out. As the co-founder of cult makeup brand Nudestix - and the newly launched skincare brand Nudeskin - she's someone that knows what works.

We caught up with Taylor to find out what exactly is in her beauty bag. She shares her love of multi-tasking products, how her mum is her beauty icon and why she likes to keep it simple.

What is your morning beauty routine?

So, my morning beauty routine is very simple. So I actually use a very new skincare line called Nudeskin by Nudestix. And it's incredible. We're launched it in October. So, my first step in my morning beauty routine consists of cleansing. I actually use our gentle Hydra Gel Face Cleanser to gently remove any excess debris, oil makeup on my face.

I find that you know in the morning although we may think that our skin is clean because obviously we weren't wearing any makeup and we removed everything the night before. There is still oil and sebum that is produced overnight so it's always really important to cleanse first thing in the morning and the gentle Hydra Gel cleanser is so perfect for sensitive skin and so gentle. It has hyaluronic acid to hydrate and bergamot fruit oil which acts as an anti inflammatory and antiseptic to really help de-gunk pores and cleanse the skin and then I go in with my toner.

I use our 5% Citrus Fruit and Glycolic Glow Toner which helps to even skin tone, reduce darkness, brighten the skin so it's your deep pore cleanser, it's your skin renewal exfoliant and it's also your skin brightener. I use this probably three to four times a week but I find that it just smooths out skin texture decreases/minimises the appearance of pores.

It has grapefruit, lemon, lime, apple and orange. It's 3% glycolic and 2% fruit acids so it's incredible. It really helps to clarify pores and exfoliate the skin which is also great. Before makeup you want to always make sure that your skin texture is as smooth as possible. And then I go in with a moisturiser I use our Nudeskin Yuzu and Tumeric Moisturiser. It's your citrusy mask and daily moisturiser so you can use a light layer in the morning and then you can slather on a little bit of a thicker layer in the evening for more of a nighttime mask.

Yuzu is a very highly concentrated vitamin C. Japanese citrus fruit, so vitamin C as we all know is skin brightening, and also helps with hyperpigmentation it helps with dullness. It also has tumeric which is an anti inflammatory to the skin and also reduces redness and skin irritation. Yuzu is also helps to increase skin immunity. And I love it because Yuzu actually imitates your skin's natural lipid barrier, so it creates this light non greasy layer that just instantly penetrates the skin to provide all day juicy hydration without leaving this greasy film or being super oily prior to applying your makeup. So, that's like my everyday kind of like morning routine and then I have added a few more skincare products like a few other days a week.

And then I go in with my Nudestix products. I typically start with a base, so I use our tend to Tinted Cover Foundation which is really light it's like a tinted moisturiser.  It hydrates the skin. It also just gives you like such a beautiful sheer to medium coverage. And has 80 natural botanical extracts, it's just stunning on the skin I'm actually wearing right now. And then I kind of go into my concealer for a little more coverage. I use our Nudestix cream concealer, which again is a skincare infused concealer so it also helps to treat the skin. Then I go in with my brows I use our nudies so all of our nudies blushes, eyes, cheeks lips, if I'm like rushing out the door, a little bit of mascara.

I don't usually do my hair in the morning. I'm just that lazy because you know what, I just don't have time. Usually I'll like put my hair up in like a quick bun or I'll just put like a little clip in it and kind of call it a day. And that's my beauty routine.

I guess if we want to consider, making hot water with lemon in the morning my beauty routine, I do that as well because that really helps clarify skin as well and also just helps with detoxifying.

What is your night beauty routine?

My night routine is not so far off.

I would say instead of using the gentle hydrogels face cleanser, I use the makeup melt. So I use our Citrus Clean Balm and Makeup Melt. This is going to emulsify and melt away all skin impurities and makeup and also just cleanse the skin as well. That would be like the main difference. And then I'll also probably use the exfoliant at night, which is our our chemical exfoliant which is the Lemon-Aid Detox and Glow Micropeel which is incredible. It's a chemical peel that essentially just detoxes the skin, you know removes any excess makeup debris, dirt, oil, pollution, environmental stressors from the day and leaves your skin so soft and smooth and just bright. It's such a beautiful exfoliant.

And then I'll just leave a lighter a heavier layer of our Yuzu and Tumeric Moisturiser on my face because I do like a little bit of a deeper hydration overnight. It's pretty simple, that's pretty much it.

I do make myself some tea helps me calm down. I also love all of our skincare products, especially the makeup melt because it also has like orange peel oil, which acts as like an aromatherapy. So it's really calming and helps to de-stress. I also love to use like my Jade roller at night and in the morning. That really helps with like inflammation and circulation and blood flow in the face.

Describe what you do for a living? What does a typical day look like for you?

I am the co-founder of Nudestix. So what does that entail? Usually, so I guess there's a pre-COVID and I guess a COVID way of life.

So, pre-COVID my life consisted of being on a plane every other week, which was insane, and also such an incredible experience. I would essentially travel to like all of our different markets globally, to educate, to meet with customers to meet with head offices, retail head offices, to host events to meet with media influencers. And I would just do that for like new markets and for existing markets when we're launching a new product.

It would be like, in addition to ensuring that anything when it comes to creative and social and marketing and kind of overseeing - making sure that, that's good on that end as well. There's a lot

And I guess now, my typical day, I come to the office a few days a week. I'm actually in our office right now by myself. Usually, the first thing I do when I wake up is I make myself coffee. I feel like that's like such a thing everyone's first thing. And then I kind of get right to it.

I have a dog. So I walk my dog in the morning, and then I sit down, I go through any of my emails that I need to answer immediately. And then I go through my checklist for the day. So maybe that's creating content for certain retailer, or hosting different social meetings, or creative meetings or getting in touch with our digital team for a variety of different things. Every day kind of looks different.

But like we do have kind of standing meetings every week to make sure that everyone's up to date. And you know, we're ready for any launch that's approaching. So usually it's a mixture of like different calls meetings during the day answering emails, creating content. And by the end of the day, I'll usually FaceTime my mom a few days a few times in there as well because we're always kind of playing catch up. So, even though my mom work together, we're not always together. So we always kind of talk to each other and like kind of update each other on like what's going on in different aspects of the business.

What I love about my job is like one day I can be like creating content the next day I can be in a digital meeting talking about our Nudestix.com strategy or social meeting or ad strategy. And the he next day like my mom and I are sitting down and we're working on product development and new shades going into next year and new products and packaging and so kind of is all over the place.

There's no typical day it's whatever, whatever we need to do that day we do.

What is the supermarket/ drug store/ chemist beauty product(s) that you use and love?

Right now I'm using Nudeskin which I don't know if you'd consider like a drugstore product. So I'm very excited about that. It's kind of like my absolute like I've been using it everyday for a year now and I'm very excited for everyone to try it.

If we're talking to supermarket drugstore beauty products specifically, I'm a big fan of like any like, micellar solution. French pharmacy products, I love like Bioderma or La Roche Posay. For me, like those are just like really great classic drugstore beauty products. Or even like an Embryolisse.

What is your main form of beauty body maintenance? What products do you use on your body?

So recently, I've been really loving the Frank Body coffee scrub. I've used them in the past, but as of recently, I think because we're approaching winter here in Toronto, Canada, and my skin's getting really dry. And I've just been using it a few days a week in the shower. I find that my skin is significantly smoother and glowier. I'm obsessed with that.

I've also been using the Sol de Janeiro bumbum cream, which is not just for your bum, but it's for your whole body. And I just lather that on right after the shower, or like in the morning, and I'm obsessed with it. Also, it just smells incredible.

How do you keep fit/ healthy? Does exercise form a large part of your routine?

That's a really good question. I would say pre-COVID, I was definitely lacking in that area. which did not benefit me from a mental health perspective. I think for me personally, and I'm sure for a lot of people - it is proven scientifically as well - a big part of your mental health and staying positive and staying healthy up here is ensuring that you're taking care of your body.

I think COVID had accelerated that for me, because firstly, I was home all the time. So I didn't have any excuse. I wasn't on a plane, I wasn't going from hotel to hotel, I wasn't going from meeting to meeting in different countries where I, my excuse was I just didn't have the time. And I didn't have the energy because I was so focused on working all the time that I just didn't have that the ability to focus on my fitness. Whereas now I've actually been working with a personal trainer and really getting my body healthy. And not just lean, but strong.

That was a big thing for me because when I traveled, I eat when I can, work out when I can, but like something has to give. You're focusing on so much like, go go go that you don't have the time to actually like be present and focus on your body. So I've been really focusing on being conscious of the food that I'm eating, what I'm putting in my body, I cook a lot of meals at home, I do a lot of grocery shopping, I live my by myself, so I do love to cook for myself. I like to get creative, and fitness wise, I again work with a personal trainer, and I try to be as active as I possibly can.

I have a dog, so I'm like trying to walk my dog two or three times a day and it's been nice outside up until now in Toronto. The weather whenever it's nice, I always just go for a walk and I think that's also great for your mental health. Like especially during COVID just like getting outside getting some fresh air going for a walk is super important. I would say exercise definitely pay plays a big part of my routine.

What cosmetic procedures/ professional treatments do you have as part of your beauty routine?

As of recently, I haven't done anything, I've really just been using our Nudeskin but I would say pre COVID, I probably did a beauty treatment maybe once every three months. I would do microdermabrasion facials. So, that's essentially just like a physical exfoliant. And it worked really well for me because I have really sensitive skin and I find that I also have super dry skin so especially after a season - like let's say we're coming out of summer - a time when you do get a lot of colour and you do get very tanned and that's a lot of dead skin that's built up.

Going into the winter, if you don't exfoliate that and if you don't actually like remove all those dead skin cells then you're going to experience dryness or flakiness, and your products aren't going to work as well. So I find that microdermabrasion works really well for me and it doesn't matter what your skin type it - it is a really great treatment. That's kind of like my my one thing that I do consistently.

What do you do when your body needs to recover?

Sleep. I love sleep. I find that with my schedule, sometimes I have a hard time doing nothing. And I think I've had to retrain my body and retrain my mind to be okay with like being lazy on a Sunday ,which I never really did before.

I really like to do nothing. I sleep and maybe I even read a book. That's kind of what I feel like my mind and body need, just like a lot of just like relaxation. I've been told to take baths but I don't take a lot of baths, I rather just like nap. Nap it off.

You’re tired or rundown: what is your beauty hack?

Does coffee count? I would say lots of coffee, a lot of concealer.

A lot of coffee, a lot of concealer, and a lot of face rolling - jade rolling, a lot of gua sha rolling. First thing in the morning, if I am so tired and my face is just inflamed and puffy, I go in with a hot water washcloth and just pad it all over my face.

I use my skincare regimen, I go in with my moisturiser and then I'll use my jade roller and I'll put it in the fridge prior to. Then I'll use my Jade roller all over my face to reduce inflammation  and promote blood circulation. Also just to help with puffiness and I find that when you have a cool jade roller it works that much more. Especially if you have puffiness around the eye area.

What is the one non-negotiable in your beauty routine?

I would say non-negotiables, cleansing I will never go to bed with a full face of makeup. I have friends who will go out, go to sleep and they're not removing their makeup. I have anxiety about not taking off makeup. That's like my one thing like I can skip moisturising. I can, I don't care but I need to take everything off my face makeup wise.

As of recently, brushing my brows is always - even if I don't have to actually fill in my eyebrows, brushing eyebrows is like a no-brainer. Then for complexion, if I have my tinted cover and my concealer on I feel that much better in the morning.

Do you have a beauty icon? Who are they and why?

I'm gonna start with my mom because my mom is like timeless, a timeless beauty. She's also just given me so many and so much amazing beauty advice when it comes to just like taking care of myself and feeling good and feeling confident in myself. I remember even my brows, as a kid I had such thick brows and I remember I was like over-plucking and over tweezing and she would always say like no don't do that. Also when I was younger, she didn't want me to get too crazy into makeup. She said, okay you can wear like a little bit of mascara, or you can wear like a little bit of blush, but like that's it. So, she was definitely one of my beauty icons, or is one of my beauty beauty icons.

Also, I would say I love the 60s. I love Shannon Tate. I think she had such a beautiful look to her. I love that Bridget Bardot look as well. Another beauty icon I love is like a 90s kind of icon, whether it's like a Drew Barrymore or even like Cindy Crawford - like really natural. Even when I picked her, the Cindy Crawford image in my head, it's like that really beautiful like brown, brownish-orange lip with really clean skin. And really nice voluptuous hair. I just love that look.

What is the best advice on beauty you’ve received?

I'm gonna go back to the comment that I just made about my mom with my brows, she definitely definitely helped me not over-pluck and over-tweeze, which has been very beneficial beneficial in the long run.

What is the best advice on health you’ve received?

I would say balance, because I think as women, we tend to be so hard on ourselves. We tend to be so hard on ourselves and restrict ourselves. You know, diet culture, I think affects a lot of even like younger girls as well. I think for me, it's not being hard on myself and working on my fitness and also eating healthy but also not restricting myself from things.

I don't restricting myself from things that I that I want to indulge in or enjoy. So I think it's really about ensuring that you're living a lifestyle that's sustainable and not just going on like a quick fix that maybe will give you results in the short term but not necessarily make you happy in the long run.

I think making sure that you're just leading a healthy and balanced lifestyle and I know that's a lot harder than it seems. I feel like that's like such a classic thing to say, but for me that's kind of what I had realised. I'm like, all right, you need to just live a healthy balanced life, that's it. Also just don't be hard on yourself. Don't be too hard on yourself.

What is the one product you can’t live without?

I would say probably, definitely my Lemon-Aid Detox and Glow Micropeel because it's just my quick fix. It removes all skin pollution dirt, makeup debris. It just gives you such a glowing complexion and just smooths out texture and gives you such a brightening effect to the skin.

That's like my go-to right now and then makeup0-wise I would say either concealer or my Tinted cover foundation for sure. They just give me such a beautiful skin-like finish and when it comes to makeup, that's probably the number one thing that I can't live without - making sure that my complexion looks good.

And brows! If I can add brows in I would.