Vanessa Hudgens Relaunches Know Beauty with the Ultimate Clay Mask

The actor and beauty founder tells InStyle all the exclusive details on the latest from her skincare brand.

You have two options when realizing that something is no longer working for your skin. You can spiral, or you can pivot. Luckily for fans and beauty lovers everywhere, Vanessa Hudgens and her skincare brand chose the latter option.

"It's like the [Aaliyah] song [says], 'If at first you don't succeed, just brush yourself off and try again,' Hudgens tells InStyle over Zoom.

Know Beauty, which the actor originally launched in 2021 with singer Madison Beer (for this relaunch, Hudgens says Beer has decided to take a step back but still supports from afar), was first introduced as personalized skin care. Consumers were asked to take a DNA test to help curate the best products to address their needs. But she says that the original concept just wasn't resonating how she wanted it to. While it is not easy to basically start from scratch, she and the Know Beauty team made the hard decision to try something completely new.

"We had to take a good, hard look at ourselves as a company and figure out what's going to give us a reason to exist," she says. "Know Beauty now is designed to solve one problem at a time. Just to be able to put all of the focus and attention into one thing, I think, is really important [to] give it the time and attention it deserves."

For this rebrand, the focus is acne. To help combat pesky breakouts and control excess oil production, Know is launching just one product as an exclusive to Amazon: The Glacial Bay Clay Mask. "Clay masks were always something that I loved the idea of, but [they] were always just way too drying, and I couldn't use it consistently," Hudgens says. "I was like, 'Okay, this is it. This is our place. This is our little niche spot in this very overloaded marketplace to really make a mark, and to have a product that doesn't exist.'"

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It's a common problem that those of us with acne-prone skin know all too well. Like finding a needle in the haystack, there aren't many mask options that give you both hydration and treatment. Acne-prone and oily herself, Hudgens has always been on the hunt for products that do both, trying everything possible to keep her skin clear and smooth in the process.

Know Beauty's clay mask is made with nourishing ingredients such as sea kelp, Canadian colloidal clay, kaolin, and bentonite clay. The formula also boasts Lactic acid, which not only keeps breakouts at bay but also provides gentle exfoliation and excess oil control to reveal a smoother texture and more radiant complexion.

It also only takes four minutes to use, and you can put it on in the morning, at night, or whenever you want to take some time out for yourself. "Pour yourself a glass of wine, put on the mask," suggests Hudgens. After one use of the mask, I've found my skin feeling soft and bright, with any breakouts starting to decrease in size. This truly is the perfect re-introduction to the brand for fans of the last launch and for newbies looking for something that will help treat acne.

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It's an exciting time for Hudgens, both professionally and personally. On top of the relaunch of Know Beauty, she recently got engaged to longtime boyfriend Cole Tucker. But she's not filling out mood boards with wedding inspo just yet. "I don't really think that; I think that it's important to keep yourself at a place where you feel confident and ready for anything," she says. "That's why I think it is so important to really take the time to care for yourself and your skin so that you always feel your best."

As for those High School Musical reunion rumors, nothing is confirmed about her actually returning to the franchise that has a stronghold over all of us millennials. But if she were to guess where Gabriella would be after all these years, she says she wouldn't be surprised if her character ended up loving skincare as much as she does.

"I feel like she's very grounded. She's very low-maintenance," Hudgens says. "Maybe she would get into skincare, honestly, because I feel like she's expressing herself through the arts. But I feel like she was always very grounded [and] really like the girl next door. So yeah, I feel like she would totally get into skincare. Maybe she and Troy would do a Know Beauty mask together."

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