I Tried Cassie's Famous 4 A.M. Beauty Routine From "Euphoria", And I'm Sorry But No Hook-Up Is Worth This Much Effort And Damage To The Skin
It's safe to say that I — along with almost 14 million other viewers — am hooked on the dark and provocative HBO drama Euphoria. Every Sunday night I eagerly tune in to see what will happen next with Rue and the crew.
HBO / Via giphy.com
After almost three years since the first season premiered, our prayers were answered when Euphoria returned for Season 2 last month. As expected, this season does ???? not ???? disappoint ???? and basically after every episode airs, social media goes into a frenzy dissecting each scene and every character's storyline — including the now-infamous 4 a.m. skincare routine done by Cassie Howard.
If you don't watch the show or you need a refresher on Season 2, Cassie (played by Sydney Sweeney) is hooking up with Nate Jacobs, who is her best friend's on-and-off-again boyfriend (played by Jacob Elordi), a character who you love because he's hot but who you also hate because he's a terrible person.
Cassie becomes obsessed with Nate and in the third episode of this season, she begins waking up at 4 a.m. to undergo an extensive beauty regimen to impress Nate. The intense routine involves everything from massaging tools to hair-curling ribbons.
Since the episode aired, Cassie's 4 a.m. routine has been all over TikTok, with people doing their own version of it. Of course, I decided to try out Cassie's early morning beauty routine myself.
Before trying it out though, I asked Dr. Diane Madfes, MD, FAAD, a New York-based dermatologist, whether Cassie's lengthy routine is actually beneficial for the skin.
Note: Cassie's extensive routine consists of a lot of products so I found inexpensive versions of some of the products — in addition to using some I already owned. The only two steps of Cassie's routine that I skipped were: 1) self tanner because I didn't trust myself not to make a mess in my bathroom. 2) the nose hair trimming because that was something else I didn't trust myself with.
Here's how it went!
STEP #1: Wake up startled to a loud 4 a.m. alarm.
Peanuts / Via giphy.com
I counted this as the first step in the process because showing up is sometimes the hardest part, right? (Especially because I cried a little on the inside when I set my alarm for 4 a.m. the night before.) In no way did I go to bed early enough for such an early rise, but I figured by the time I was done following Cassie's routine, any puffiness or dark circles I woke up with would be gone.
Dr. Madfes said she appreciates Cassie's commitment to a skincare routine but it's definitely overboard. "Something Cassie is missing in this routine is a glass of water when she first wakes up. The benefits of beauty sleep outweigh her 4 a.m. wake-up call."
STEP #2: I tried my best to avoid falling asleep in the shower as I washed my hair, and exfoliated and shaved my legs.
I stumbled into the bathroom with my eyes barely open and turned on the shower. As Cassie did, I washed my hair before exfoliating my legs. In the scene, Cassie uses a small round brush to get the dead skin off but I didn't have the same brush so I instead used an exfoliator sponge. From there, I shaved my legs — I definitely missed a few spots due to my sleepiness — and then toweled off.
STEP #3: I put my robe on, wrapped my hair around heatless hair-curling ribbons, and stuck on under eye patches.
Let me tell you, wrapping hair around a curling ribbon is no easy feat at 4:15 a.m. Once my hair was setting to hopefully become voluminous curls, I peeled off two under-eye patches by Meaningful Beauty that I already owned, and stuck them to my under-eye area. As you might able to tell from the picture above, this was a struggle.
STEP #3: I depuffed my face and sculpted my jawline by using an ice roller.
Since I felt groggy, I looked forward to using a freezing cold ice roller on my face to bring down any puffiness I had. In full transparency, my ice roller from Amazon has been sitting untouched in my freezer for probably six months so this thing was very frozen. In the scene, Cassie is seen using her ice roller along her jawline so I did the same. I might not have rolled it as aggressively as she did but I got the job done!
Dr. Madfes approves of Cassie's ice rolling and use of under-eye patches. "Ice rollers are great to use in the morning after a long night to immediately decrease puffy eyes followed by gel eye patches," she told BuzzFeed. "The immediate hydration in the under-eye area helps fill fine lines and minimize dark circles."
STEP #4: I used a fancy-looking gold massager on my face.
Another tool Cassie whips out as part of her routine was a fancy-looking gold face massager. I found this lookalike one from Amazon and after a few swipes across my forehead, I was...obsessed. It felt like the little balls on this massager really got the blood flowing on my face. Since I've never known how to properly massage my face with my hands, this tool easily took the guesswork out for me.
Despite me enjoying the process of massaging my face, I was still grumpy at the fact that Cassie was doing all of this for a guy! ?? In the scene, she also used a jade roller at some point but I skipped that since both of these tools achieve the same results — and Dr. Madfes agreed.
"There are so many rollers in this routine. Golden face massager, jade roller, and gua sha all give the same benefits to the skin. These tools give the face a lymphatic massage and help with better absorption of topicals," said Dr. Madfes. She said instead of wasting your money on all of these tools, choose whichever one feels the best in your hands and stick to that.
STEP #5: I then attempted to massage my décollage area with the same fancy gold massager.
Cassie brought the top of her robe down below her shoulders to massage her décollage area, which felt very unnecessary, but I went with it anyway. Let's just say that I was confused and wasn't sure if I was doing it right.
Dr. Madfes weighed in: "The gold massage roller is overkill for her. The décollage skin is thin and actually gets incidental sun damage during the day. I’d rather see Cassie use a vitamin C serum and sunblock to prevent future damage."
STEP #6: The massaging didn't stop there. I then used a small t-shaped massager tool on my forehead.
At this point in the scene, Cassie has her hair out of the curling ribbon, so I did the same and put my hair in a low bun away from my face. The gold massager I purchased came with a T-shaped tool, which looked like the same one Cassie used in her routine. She is seen using it on her forehead — I'm assuming to prevent wrinkles — so I followed suit. After I massaged my forehead, I glanced at the clock and couldn't believe it was already 4:40 a.m. This process was dragging on!
STEP #7: I used a gua sha along the neck.
Cassie is one detail-oriented gal! I put down my T-shaped tool to then pick up my gua sha from Sephora to use along my neck. She is seen bringing the tool up her neck so I did that too. I admittedly don't use my gua sha as much as I probably should — so it was nice to whip it out and use it to ~sculpt and elongate~ my neck.
STEP #8: I slapped on a freezing cold face mask.
Leave it to Cassie to hook up with Nate a few times and then proceed to do this very lengthy, involved beauty regimen to get his attention. ?? One of the last steps in this routine was putting on a face mask. I didn't have a mask that covered my entire face like Cassie's did so I took my trusty eye mask out of my freezer and snapped it behind my head. I admit that I looked pretty wild. While the mask chilled my eyes, I proceeded to the last step in this process.
STEP #9: I vigorously applied body lotion all over.
I left my frozen eye mask on while I rolled up my sleeves and rubbed the same SheaMoisture body lotion Cassie used all over my arms and legs. I thought $9 was expensive for a bottle of lotion but I had to admit, my skin had a nice shine to it, it felt super moisturized, and smelled yummy. Bravo, Cassie!
In the episode, Cassie is seen brushing her skin every day and Dr. Madfes discourages anyone to do that. "Cell turnover on the body is 14–21 days. It's better to do this step once a week or before self tanning or cellulite creams," she said.
In this episode, Rue (played by Zendaya) narrates the scene where she mentions that it took Cassie three hours to get ready for school and those hours included this routine. When I was done applying the body lotion, the clock read 5:20 a.m. So I assume the rest of the time included Cassie applying her makeup, picking out an outfit, and finishing her hair. Either way, I was exhausted after 80 minutes of skincare.
"Routines are great but this one in particular is an excessive one and is not worth the time and energy," said Dr. Madfes.
"Skincare should be fun and unfortunately Cassie has made it into a chore. She goes a little overboard with all of her steps and the benefit to sleeping later outweighs half her steps," she said.
Although this routine was very extensive and some of the steps and products were not necessary, there is something to say about waking up earlier than usual and taking some time for yourself first thing in the morning. If you're looking to do a morning self-care routine, just make sure you're doing it for yourself.