The 4-Product Routine and Other Simple Tips from Budding Beauty Icon Amanda Sudano-Ramirez

When you’re Donna Summer’s daughter, two things are certain: You’ll be an absolutely stylish stunner and an even greater talent. Such is the case with natural beauty Amanda Sudano-Ramirez, one half of the up-and-coming folk/soul/pop band Johnnyswim.

“Always do what you love, that was her biggest thing,” says the singer of the advice her mother, who passed away in 2012, gave her. “She constantly taught us to be passionate about something and go for it.” The message stuck with Amanda and her sister Brooklyn Sudano, an actress best known for the TV series My Wife and Kids (Brooklyn is now also working on her own music career).

The budding singer joined a songwriting group in high school and worked with producers in college at home in Nashville. But it wasn’t until she met a certain someone in 2006 that her career really started to take shape. His name was Abner Ramirez, her husband and partner in Johnnyswim (the name is an inside joke between the two). The two made it official in 2009, when they got married and relocated to Los Angeles. Their first album, Diamonds, came out in April, and since they’ve been booked on Letterman, named an “Artist You Oughta Know” by VH-1, and added to this summer’s Lollapalooza lineup.

While we can’t get enough of Sudano-Ramirez’s voice, we’re crushing just as much over her stunning natural beauty (she has Italian, African-American, Cherokee, and Dutch in her blood). And we’re not the only ones: Sudano-Ramirez has appeared on Vogue’s pages and modeled, most notably for Louis Vuitton. Here, she shares her tips for nailing a clean minimal makeup look.

Back to the basics. “The hard part for me is I travel all the time, so between being on dry airplanes and wearing a lot of makeup on stage, it’s tricky to keep my skin healthy, especially because it’s really sensitive,” she says. “But when I start to panic that I’m breaking out, I remind myself to go back to the basics.” For her that means finding a cleanser and moisturizer that are as chemical-free as possible; we recommend the Rosehip Cleanser and Squalane Facial Cream from the ultra-pure line Indie Lee. Sudano-Ramirez uses Kiehl’s Ultra Moisturizer morning and night and “always drinks a lot of water. If you have good skin you don’t have to do too much with makeup.”

Get to know your skin care clinicians. Because that means they’ll get to know your skin! “I do facials every so often but not regularly. Since my skin is so sensitive, I tend to break out worse after a treatment,” she says. Once or twice a year, when she’s able to return to Nashville, an aesthetician friend gives her the spa treatment. “I go to her because she knows my skin really well. I haven’t found that person in L.A. yet.”

A four-products-only routine is totally possible. “I actually don’t love putting on makeup. It’s fun every so often, but putting it on every night for the stage, I get bogged down,” says Sudano-Ramirez. Off-duty, she sticks to a few basics, including foundation—applied sheer: “I like NARS’ Radiant Cream Compact Foundation. You put a little water on the sponge and you get this really nice light sheer coverage,” she explains. Aside from that it’s just: a quick lash curl followed by mascara, and then swipe-on cheek tint. We’re copying her ultra-simple routine with The Eyelash Curler and The Essential Mascara from Kevyn Aucoin, and just a touch of ILIA Multi-stick in Cheek to Cheek.