I meet with Courtney Eaton, who plays the polarizing Lottie Matthews on cult-favorite TV series Yellowjackets, on Zoom just two days after the season 2 finale airs. After getting over my initial shock at her Australian accent, I enthusiastically ask how the reaction has been to the show's shocking finale. (Don’t worry: This is a spoiler-free zone.)
“It’s been pretty crazy,” Eaton says with a laugh. “I think this season especially has been just steering away from Reddit and the reactions because it just feels like so much pressure this season. But from the bits of responses I have seen, it’s not what anyone expected, which fits our show.”
As for how Eaton feels about all those Reddit theories overall? “I went on Reddit during the first season and have friends that will send me some theories, and my manager sends me funny ones on that. But I don’t know what it is about this season that it just scares me to go on it, and I don’t want to disappoint anyone,” she says, pointing to some especially outrageous theories she’s seen and found entertaining.
“There is a good one where people started being like, ‘There’s time travel in this show,’ and I was like, ‘Holy crap!’ Honestly, anything could happen in this show, so I don't blame them.”
Eaton, who is as bubbly, friendly, and affable as one can be be, seems nothing like the at times ominous character she brings to life onscreen. Still, she insists that she has more in common with Lottie than one might think. “Lottie and I share a very similar brain, and I think in a lot of situations, the way she reacts, I would also react,” she says. “Maybe not starting a cult or trying to hunt people down [laughs], but I think one of our biggest shared traits is that I would say that I’m an empath and I’m highly sensitive to those around me. And that’s one of Lottie's main driving forces in the season.”
That doesn’t mean the actor is not prepared to wash Lottie away at day’s end, though. “I remember when I was younger on films, I’d just rip off the prosthetics and think, I’ll take my makeup off when I get home,” she recalls. “But now I just want to cleanse myself, and it’s probably partly to do with the show and character and wanting to leave that at work. It’s important for me to take it all off.”
Washing one’s face before bed is always hard work, but doing so while working on Yellowjackets is an especially ambitious feat. “By the end of filming, no matter how much you scrub off, you will still have a layer of fake dirt on your face a week after wrapping,” she explains. “So I’ve definitely become more vigilant with my skin care routine and just the things that we have on set.”
As one might suspect, consistently removing fake dirt from the face has taken its toll on Eaton’s skin. “Once we get into filming, my skin gets quite tired really easy and dried out, especially with prosthetics,” she says, explaining that alcohol is pretty much the only thing that successfully removes all those remnants of fake dirt. “It’s not really gentle stuff on your skin.”
Yellowjackets tells the story of a team of female high school soccer players who survive a plane crash and must survive in the wilderness—so I can’t help but ask Eaton: If you were stranded and only had one beauty product, which one would you choose? After a few moments, Eaton has her answer. “Aquaphor,” she says. “I feel like that’s going to do everything I need it to medically, and it can moisturize. It does everything. I feel like it could heal a wound if I put it on it—but don’t take my medical advice.”
Ahead, Yellowjackets’ Courtney Eaton shares the entirety of her non-wilderness—and fake-dirt-removal-surviving—skin care regimen for Glamour’s Drop the Routine.
My cleansers
I use Youth to the People Superfood Antioxidant Cleanser and the Farmacy Cleansing Bomb, and double-cleanse with those.
My serums
For vitamin C in the daytime, I use the Sunday Riley C.E.O Glow. At night, after I take a shower, I do the Dr. Jart+ Ceramidin Skin Barrier Serum Toner and the Sharni Darden Retinol, and just a moisturizer and lock it in. It’s pretty simple.
My moisturizers
I use the Kate Somerville Goat Milk, and I’ll mix in some of the Drunk Elephant bronzing drops. Sometimes, if I feel fancy, I use the Dior Capture Totale Super Potent Eye Serum, which I got gifted. I like the applicator, it just feels fun if you throw it in the fridge.
My peel
Once or twice a week, I do a peel. I use the Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Peels.
My SPF
For sunscreen, I use Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen and EltaMD UV Clear Broad-Spectrum. I have olive skin, and a lot of sunscreens give me a white cast, so I like these because they don’t give me a cast and feel pretty light.
My devices
I use a gua sha especially on my face. I have really bad neck and shoulder attention, so I’ll do it mostly along there. And I use NuFace every night, too, right after getting out of the shower, while my face is still wet.
My lip balm
I mostly just stick with Aquaphor. I’m not a big lip balm person; my lips don't get too rusty. And I always get scared that, what is it, that if you use it too much that your lips will get addicted to it and be bone-dry? So I only really use it when they’re like, gross.
Danielle Sinay is the associate beauty editor at Glamour. Follow her on Instagram @daniellesinay.
