Kim Kardashian On The Beauty Hack That “Changed My Life, My Skin, My Confidence”

It’s no secret that Kim Kardashian is incredibly busy: She’s a mom of four, soon-to-be lawyer, and entrepreneur (see: her wildly popular SKIMs line, skin care brand SKKN By Kim, and new private equity firm SKKY). The mogul has no shortage of resume wins, but even with all those accolades, the people still want to know her beauty secrets — at age 42, Kardashian seems to be aging in reverse before our eyes. In an exclusive interview, Bustle caught up with the brand founder just last week at the opening of the very first SKKN By Kim Pop-up at Westfield Century City Mall in Los Angeles. Kim opened up, leaving no questions unanswered — including her first official on-record statement about the return of her beloved makeup and fragrance products (formerly under KKW Beauty).

If you’ve been watching the latest season of The Kardashians, you’ll notice that Kim — the former queen of contour — has adopted a more low-key, makeup-free look as of late. “I really have come into my own with beauty,” she says. “I’m wearing makeup [right] now, but I’m really confident in my own skin — that was new for me. It took me a minute to really want to just feel good without wearing makeup.” The star recognizes that getting into full glam can take hours and notes, “I’d rather take that time that I would have been getting my makeup done to just, you know, get school done or be with my kids.”

Still, she always seems to have an undeniably fresh glow. Her beauty secret? Amping up her exfoliating game with her favorite SKKN By Kim Exfoliator, then mixing the SKKN by Kim Oil Drops and Face Cream together and applying to her face. “It has changed my life, my skin, my confidence,” she says. “That is the key to the glow that just makes you look like you are radiating.” She still calls herself a “very matte makeup person,” but when it comes to just skin, it’s all about “feeling glowy.”

Kardashian takes that same hydration-forward philosophy into her body care routine. “I think body care is so, so important and gets neglected,” she says. And, like a true beauty lover, she treats her body with the same care as her face. “I will use the SKKN Toner ($45) all over my arms,” she says. “I’ve always done skin care all over my upper body [and] all over my thighs, too.” She also makes a conscious effort not to waste the skin care and body products she gets sent from other brands. “If there are other products that I’m testing and I don’t necessarily like the smell of it, I’ll use it [on my body],” she says. “Or if it is really hard to rub into your body, I will keep them and use them just for my feet. I will not let any beauty products go to waste.”

As the purveyor of many a beauty trend herself, Kardashian says that though she hasn’t heard of “slugging” — the viral skin care trend that involves applying a thick layer of Vaseline over your face to seal in moisture — she’s actually been doing it for years. “When Kourtney and I shared a room, we would always do that; put Vaseline all over,” she recalls. These days she’ll also “slug” other areas on her body, including her feet. “I have psoriasis, so I have to use specific creams for certain spots,” she says. “And sometimes if it gets really bad, like towards my feet, I have to wrap those areas with Saran wrap and then put my socks over it.”

And since beauty is clearly Kardashian’s forte, it only makes sense that her oldest daughter North, age nine, is a budding beauty guru herself. “It makes me so proud that her bathroom is like a hoarding station of beauty products,” she says. When asked if North has a beauty routine, Kim reveals that her mini-me uses the entire SKKN line — and even makes her show her how to use it. “She does it every single night! She puts on a little too much,” she laughs. “I think she sees me just doing it. But I’ll go into my jar of exfoliator and it will be almost gone.”

While Kim is focused on promoting SKKN’s nine-piece skin care range, she hasn’t forgotten about everyone’s burning desire for the return of her beloved makeup products, which included lip liners and contour sticks, as well as her best-selling fragrances. And just when we thought the interview was over, she dropped a bombshell: “Everyone asks and I have never answered that… it’s coming,” she says.

Kim divulged that everything will be in one place, housed under one brand, with one place to shop. “It will all be under SKKN, because makeup you put on your skin, skin care you put on your skin, and fragrance you spray on your skin,” she explains. No word on exactly when we can expect the new SKKN By Kim empire expansion, but she did note that it will be sooner rather than later. “I just want to make sure that everything is perfect and even better,” she says. “Everything you’re missing we will have: all the same lip liners, but new and improved. This is my baby and we will get it all there.”