My Beauty Hack — Genoveva Umeh’s secrets to a flawless makeup look and controlling acne-prone skin 

 

Discover award-winning actress Genoveva Umeh’s skincare secrets and makeup routine, designed to control acne-prone skin while achieving a flawless, radiant glow.

 

A minute into the video, one thing about Genoveva Umeh becomes clear: she’s charismatic and lively; no wonder she has a successful career as an entertainer. She poses questions and riddles for the camera. She has a whimsical approach to every step of her routine. Her energy on the screen is infectious, and halfway through, you find yourself unable to recall if the minutes have truly gone by. This is truly the magic of Genoveva Umeh, a star of the big screen.

Genoveva’s path to the spotlight is as intentional as her acting. Born in Enugu, Nigeria, she moved to the United Kingdom at age 12. While she pursued and completed a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree with honours at the University of Surrey, her heart belonged to the arts.  

She balanced her university studies with training at the prestigious Identity School of Acting in London. In 2018, she made the bold leap back to Lagos to chase her dreams full-time, and that eventually led her to the inaugural cohort of the EbonyLife Creative Academy in 2021, serving as a crucial launchpad.

Since then, she has given us scene-stealing performances in Netflix’s first Nigerian original crime thriller series, “Blood Sisters” (2022), as Timeyin, a troubled young woman battling addiction. She brought effortless charm and high-spirited energy to “Far From Home” (2022) as the free-spirited, ultra-stylish Zina. Her performance as Anna in the acclaimed Prime Video original “Breath of Life” (2023) won her the Best Supporting Actress trophy at the 2024 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA). Most recently, she played the intense, character-driven role of Derin in the survival thriller “The Herd”, which earned her a Best Lead Actress nomination at the 2026 AMVCAs.

In this edition of #MyBeautyHack, Genoveva walks us through the steps, tips, and tricks behind a signature glow. She gets personal, discussing her skin issues, the products she swears by for Lagos’ humidity, and how you can achieve flawless skin too.

 

Read also: My Beauty Hack — Tiwa Savage’s no foundation makeup routine that she spices with a shot of Don Julio

 

Genoveva Umeh’s skincare routine for acne-prone skin

 

Every touchpoint of your skincare routine is important

The video opens with  an enthusiastic Genoveva with a pimple patch, and she addresses this immediately, saying, “Yes, I have a pimple patch because girls have acne.” She is right, we have gotten far enough in society to stop portraying women, especially those in the public eye, as being human and having the same skin struggles everyone has. 

This takes her to the first step; she washes her face. She is not into double cleansing, but she has two cleansers and switches between them. One is the Rejuva Duo cleanser, and the other is the Face Facts Hydrating Gentle Cleanser. Genoveva doesn’t have to say it; it is clear that she loves both because she really tries to persuade the viewer to buy them. 

As she looks into the camera, she says, “It has got glycolic acid, 5% glycolic, 2% salicylic acid”, as she points at the Rejuva Duo cleanser. For the Face Facts, she describes it as a “gentle cleanser”. Then, she breaks the fourth wall and gestures to the camera, asking, “So which are we gonna use?”

She is an actress, so I think it is fitting to say that I won’t reveal the spoilers about which product she ended up using. But in the meantime, I will let you know that Genoveva also hates the moment after you wash your face and you have to remove the “gunk” from your edges.

An important step for her at this moment is the water used to wash her face. This is a touch point often overlooked, despite being vital, because sometimes, the problem is your environment, and not the product. To solve this, Genoveva strictly uses bottled water.

“I live in Lagos,” she jokes, “I think that I developed something called hormonal acne because I wasn’t using bottled water [to wash her face].” Not one to forget, she takes us back to her cleansers and asks, “Which of the cleansers do you think I used?” If you guessed the Face Facts Hydrating Gentle Cleanser, then you are on the same wavelength as Genoveva, because that was her choice, too. Her reason was that she wanted something normal and gentle, because there is a lot to come.

 

Skin treatment works best with professionals involved

Another thing that becomes clear as Genoveva goes on is that she is loyal to a certain skincare brand called  25 Pskyn. Pronounced as “25 skin”, we learn every day, and she provides more facts about the brand than you could imagine.

She starts with the 25 Pskyn Liqueur Super Antioxidant Serum and affirms, not thinks, “you will see fantastic results in a month”, as she did. She applies three drops to each of her cheekbones and then massages them in. Once she is done, she lets it sit and settle into her skin for three minutes.

As time goes by so slowly, she reveals that she is susceptible to beauty microtrends. “Any sort of skincare that I see on the internet, I’m like so intrigued. I’m spending all my money on it.” She then asks, “Are you like that?” Responding herself, “I bet we are all like that.”

Still on the three-minute clock, she gives a piece of advice on 25 Pskyn and reveals that they have a walk-in store in Lagos. You can book an appointment and constantly go in for skin consultations every month. “Which is what I do,” she says.

As the minutes are almost up, she shows another 25 Pskyn products that she loves. The 25 Pskyn Mandelactone advanced acne serum, which she currently only has the refill version of. She explains that its use is as an “Advanced acne control serum”. She expresses that “It basically prevents recurring acne and it helps you keep your skin controlled.”

Then, for her nighttime routine, she opts for the 25 Pskyn Trinity pads instead. Don’t be tricked by its name; these pads also act as an acne control serum. In her words, “When I tell you this thing is magic… If you have got acne the night before, and you just go in, and put it all around your skin,” then she furthers, “and leave it in for five minutes, then moisturise. You will wake up the next morning, and that acne spot will be dried up.”

Beyond her acne issues, she also struggles with hyperpigmentation. To combat this, she uses the 25 Pskyn Pigmablend cream and 25 Pskyn Pigmaforte cream, which she got from the walk-in store. Ultimately, Genoveva admits that she is a 25Pskyn lover: “Anything 25Pskyn, I think it is fab.”

 

Skincare does not stop at treatment; hydration is vital too

 

After minutes of letting her serums set on her skin, she grabs her Rejuva Skincare Cicazin moisturiser. She does something rather peculiar with it. She chooses to apply her moisturiser directly onto the right side of her face. The next shot sees her spreading it around her face, from her cheeks to her jaw and forehead. As she rubs it in, she shows us a throwback photo to represent how far her skin has come from being acne-riddled. To that, she says, “I am grateful to God.”

For her, the moisturiser also has to “marinate” into the skin, and she dances to kill time. The next item in her routine is the Rejuva Skin Shield Invisi-Block SPF 50 PA+. It is a sunscreen, and she once again does the “Genoveva method” of applying moisturiser. This is a way of saying that she applies a line of sunscreen to the right side of her cheek and then spreads it.

She knows that her methods are unpopular, and yes, she has heard of the two-finger sunscreen application method. But before you ask, she would like you to remember that she is a “working girl”. She explains further, “Do you know the price? In this economy?” You can’t have her pouring excessive sunscreen now.

With that aside, she “loves sunscreen”. She compares her feelings about sunscreen to wearing a comfortable bra. “It makes me so comfortable when I am out and about.” She also admits that she is not quite the “reapply your sunscreen every two hours” girl: “I top up when I remember,” she says. That brings her to her next hack: if you are going to apply sunscreen often, then you need to have a hand sanitiser on standby.

She massages the sunscreen into her face, neck, behind her ears, and chest. It soothes her, and so does her next-but-last step in her skincare — lip treatment.

 

Don’t forget about your lips

She uses the Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask while admitting she struggles to pronounce the name. Thanks to her, we can say “25Pskyn,” but for “Laneige”, you might have to ask someone else. 

While she refers to it as a lip balm, it is a lip sleeping mask and is ideal for the nighttime. However, she loves to use it during the day. As she applies it, she massages it into her lips and explains that if you put it on at night, it is “guaranteed you’ll wake up, and your lips will still be soft.”

 

Read also: My Beauty Hack — Lydia Balogun’s on-the-go travel makeup routine for oily skin

 

Hair care

 

In a bubble braid hairstyle, she takes us through her current steps to maintaining the hair she has. Playfully, she starts, “I know what you are thinking: just three products.” She repeats, “Just three products as she gestures to the three products standing on her beauty counter.

Nevertheless, she kicks off with what she calls the “holy grail”, the Melaninloveshair edge control. It is a product that she picked up in Houston earlier this year because she ran into a 19-year-old Nigerian girl making it. She explains that the girls said to her, “You put it on, you lay your edges, and it doesn’t move.” Genoveva affirms that every part of that statement is true: “It really doesn’t move.” It also has no white flakes.

Another tip she has picked up along the way comes in a bottle called Malibu Sun Clear Hair and Scalp Protector SPF 30. Yes, it is sunscreen for your scalp. “I like to spray my scalp before I step out,” she says. “It feels like cold air on your scalp,” she warns, “I don’t know if it is working; it is just something I picked up.”

 She is also keen on hair protection. This urge stems from the fact that she plays young characters on screen, and youth requires a certain level of hair, or at least not a receding hairline. So for healthy hair, she uses The Ordinary Multi-peptide Serum For Hair Growth. She also admits she can not vouch for the results yet, “It is new, so I do not know if it works, but it feels good massaging my scalp.”

Most times, she is sporting a protective hairstyle. For her, this is because it has a freedom to it. She also loves updos and hairstyles that give her a “snatched” facial look. “It makes me look younger,” she expresses.

 

Her off-duty makeup look

 

Firstly, she is not an everyday glam girl; she knows that if you run into her, six out of ten times, she just has a bare face. But she loves make-up, and wants to share her favourite look. 

 

Foundations, blushes, and baking

She starts with the Prep + Primer Natural Radiance. It is a primer that she jokes “costs a lot”, and by a lot, she says “80,000 naira”. The amount had her thinking for days, but she has not regretted it. As she applies it to her T-zone, she reminisces about the day she bought it.

The next step is her foundation. As a dark-skinned girl, she has spent her years experimenting, and now she has two favourites. The MAC Studio Fix Fluid SPF 15 Foundation NW 55 and the Yanga Beauty Smooth Match Foundation SmF11. According to her, “these two go together, real bad.”

She mixes them on the back of her palm and applies them with the dot method on her cheeks, before blending them in with a wide-mouth brush. Surprisingly, the next product she grabs is the CPD 4-in-1 blush palette. Before her concealer or bronzer, she applies an orange blush, a heavy amount, too. She jokes about “Blush blindness” but continues: she puts it on the edge of her eyes, then her cheekbones and blends it upwards, saying, “Go high.”

After, she picks up three concealers, the Smooth Match Concealer by Yanga Beauty in shades SM4, SM5, and SM6. She applies the lightest shade at the edge of both sides of her nose, then the second lightest shade on the centre of her undereye, and blends them into each other.

As expected, some parts of the blush disappear, so she reapplies it and proceeds to contour with the darkest shade of the concealer. She contours her cheeks and forehead and says, “Blend up”.

Then she bakes the look with the Nuban beauty oil control setting powder, in shade caramel. She lets the Nuban powder set as she plans her bronzer steps. Picking up the Vee Beauty Cosmetics 8-in-1 powder palette, she settles on the light brown powder to add brightness and “control the oil”.

 

The eyes are the windows to the soul, and so is the eye makeup

What is a makeup look without a daring eye look? Genoveva doesn’t know either, so she pulls out a Maybelline Brow Inserts multiplying pen & brush. It is an eyebrow strip, and she is learning to use it. She fell in love with it when she saw its mouth was shaped like a brow, and that’s why she bought it.

She succeeds in applying it, and that gives her the confidence for the next step, the Absolute New York black out 24 hr eyeliner. She draws a subtle wing on both eyes, and with a close look, they are not identical. She sees this and laughs, saying, “sisters, not twins.”

Her eyelashes are next, but she can not find her mascara. She would love you to know that she applies it to both the top and bottom lashes, but she has to move on to what’s next again — her false lashes. She shares that a trick is to blow on them before glueing them on, so they don’t disgrace you.

 

Lips don’t lie

As she comes to the end of her routine, she talks about a product she believes is truly “amazing”. It is the Okeeffe’s lip repair unscented lip balm SPF 15. She recounts how “amazing” the product was when she was on acne medication.

Another product dear to her heart is the Yanga Beauty Gloss Pop in brown. Although she uses it akin to a “lip stain”, she has used it to the point that the name written on the body has “peeled off”.

Lastly, she picks up the Vee Beauty Cosmetics 8-in-1  powder palette to finish up. She loves the way the makeup looks and is excited to go out tonight. Her plans are simple, like everyone else, she will be watching the World Cup with friends, but with a gorgeous face beat!

 

Read also: My Beauty Hack — Laura Ajayi’s all-day lasting off-duty supermodel makeup routine

 

Genoveva’s beauty products 

Skin care

Rejuva Duo Cleanser

Face Facts hydrating gentle cleanser

25 Pskyn Liqueur Super antioxidant serum

25 Pskyn Mandelactone advanced acne serum

26 Pskyn Trinity pads

25 Pskyn pigmablend cream

Rejuva skincare Cicazin moisturiser

Rejuva Skin Shield Invisi-Block SPF 50 PA+

The Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask

 

Hair care

Melaninloveshair edge control

Malibu Sun clear hair and scalp protector SPF 30

The Ordinary Multi-peptide Serum For Hair Growth

 

Make up

Prep + primer natural radiance

MAC Studio Fix Fluid SPF 15 Foundation NW 55

Yanga Beauty Smooth Match Foundation SmF11

CPD 4 in 1 blush palette

Smooth match concealer (SM4 , SM5, SM6)

Nuban beauty oil control setting powder

Vee Beauty Cosmetics 8-in-1 powder palette

Maybeline brow inserts eyebrow multiplying pen & brush

Absolute New York black out 24 hr eyeliner

Okeeffe’s lip repair unscented lip balm SPF 15

Yanga beauty gloss pop in brown

 

Read more: My Beauty Hack — Tomi Ojo’s hydrating skincare routine and the no-makeup makeup she swears by

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