Jackie Kennedy's Skincare Routine Was Surprisingly Simple

It's been 25 years since Jackie Kennedy Onassis's death, and like a true icon, her influence is still routinely felt — from her tailored fashions to her signature bob.

Another key element in the elegant First Lady's aesthetic, of course, was her flawless skin. She kept her makeup looks understated throughout her life, paying special attention to the products she chose and how she applied them.

In a biography chronicling both Kennedy Onassis (née Bouvier) and her younger sister Lee Radziwill, The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee, authors Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger recount Jackie's beauty routine as a Vassar student.

The French literature major detailed her skincare ritual as follows:

"Wash your face with hot water and a rough was cloth and really rub, with upward strokes on the cheeks and forehead … Rinse with cold water: the shock will stimulate circulation and leave it tingling. With the same upward motions massage in a rich cream before retiring. Do this for about two minutes and wipe off what is left so you won't find it on your pillow the next morning."

At this point in time, the "rich cream" in question was Dorothy Gray's Special Dry Skin mixture, but in later years she switched to luxury brand Erno Laszlo ($275).

During her time in the White House she began using a peroxide rinse for her teeth to combat the nicotine stains she'd accrued from years of smoking. She took up the habit as a teenager and continued to smoke two packs a day for the bulk of her life, but was incredibly careful about being photographed doing so.

For more about the legendary Jackie, check out The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters.

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