Rihanna’s 10-Second Trick For Making Any Foundation Look Glowy

The clock struck midnight last Friday, April 26, when Rihanna arrived fashionably late to a private party in a Downtown LA warehouse celebrating the launch of her just-dropped Fenty Beauty Soft’Lit foundation. The 36-year-old singer was unmissable in her long blonde hair, bronzed skin, and dewy makeup (courtesy of longtime makeup artist Priscilla Ono).

Even though she arrived in the wee hours of the night, attendees couldn’t help but notice that the island-born artist was serving a beach-ready look.

“I want to go back to Barbados so badly and get a tan,” the nine-time Grammy Award winner joked to Bustle in an exclusive interview. When asked what she was most excited for this summer, “My fantasy would be [to wear] a thong-kini, but that’s not gonna happen this year,” she laughs. But even so, she’s capturing that same vibe with her beauty aesthetic of “great skin, glowy makeup, and Soft’Lit foundation,” she says.

This endless summer energy is exactly what inspired Fenty’s new foundation, which Rihanna herself has officially dubbed “golden hour in a bottle.” The $40 product is the second complexion product from Fenty — the first being the cult-favorite Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Foundation (also $40), which changed the game for inclusive shade ranges when it launched in 40 shades (both products now come in 50).

Rihanna admits she has always been a matte finish girl, mostly because she prefers a high-performance foundation—but she isn’t always in the mood for a full-coverage face beat. On her off days, she prefers to keep things simple. “I like to mix my moisturizer and foundation if I want it to give that sheer look,” she says. “But now, I don’t even have to do that, because I have Soft’Lit foundation, baby.”

With this new launch, her goal was to create a complexion product that had the same longwear capabilities that Fenty is known for, but with more luminosity. “This is a more casual foundation,” she says of the lighter-coverage formula, which is both hydrating and glowy (but somehow magically reduces unwanted shine).

Now that she has both options in her collection, she can’t choose a favorite. “It depends on the mood, the season, or the weather, but right now, I’m really loving natural, healthy skin, and this foundation mimics the beauty of skin,” she says.

To keep her complexion naturally radiant, Rihanna has adopted a more minimal approach to her skincare routine. Like all moms juggling career and family life (she shares two children with artist A$AP Rocky), she says how much time she puts into getting ready depends on the day and how much time she has. “Most days I just need it to be quick and easy and not complicated,” she says. “My skincare routine is as inconsistent as I am.”

No matter what type of day she’s having, her routine is “all about great hydration,” she says. To keep her skin quenched, the Fenty founder mostly relies on a simple three-step system. “I need clean skin, a toned face and I need moisture on top of that, and I’m out.” For the job: Fenty Skin’s Start’r Bundle ($84), which includes the Total Cleans’r Remove-It-All Cleanser, Fat Water Niacinamide Pore-Refining Toner Serum, and the Hydra Vizor Invisible Moisturizer with SPF.

At the end of the day, Rihanna is just like the rest of us. “I feel like everything looks better with a tan, blonde hair, good skincare, and Soft’Lit foundation,” she says. Amen to that, sis.