Michelle Yeoh is a Malaysian actress who has spent decades working across both Asian cinema and Hollywood, with a career spanning action films, dramas and major musicals.
She originally trained in ballet before becoming internationally known for the physical precision and control she brought to action roles. Looking more closely at her beauty and wellness habits, one thing quickly becomes clear: skincare and movement are naturally connected in her daily life.
She stretches when she wakes up. She does squats while applying skincare. As she works serum into her skin, she also keeps her legs and body moving.
She pays attention to hydration, includes sunscreen in her outdoor routine and adjusts the texture of her skincare depending on whether she is in a humid climate such as Malaysia or somewhere cold and dry.
Her everyday makeup, meanwhile, is surprisingly simple and can be finished in around 10 minutes.
The person at the beginning of many of these beauty habits is her mother.
Michelle has spoken about growing up watching her mother carefully follow a morning and evening skincare routine, including rhythmically patting products into her face.
Another interesting detail is that Michelle’s habit of combining everyday tasks with movement is far from new. During a visit to Japan in 2005, she said that she stretched in bed after waking and did squats while brushing her teeth.
In Vogue’s 2024 “Beauty Secrets,” she demonstrated everything from the skincare traditions she learned from her mother to squats during skincare, sunscreen, climate-based skincare and her 10-minute makeup routine.
In 2025, she also spoke about long hikes and meditation as part of her current self-care, showing how her routine continues to evolve with her life.
Using Michelle Yeoh’s own interviews as the main source, this article explores her beauty routine, skincare, sunscreen, sheet masks, hydration, stretching, squats, walking, hiking, meditation, makeup and approach to ageing.
1. Beauty Lessons From Her Mother | Morning and Evening Skincare and Face Patting
When Michelle Yeoh talks about the beginning of her beauty routine, her mother is one of the first people she mentions.
In Vogue in 2024, Michelle recalled that some of her earliest skincare memories were of watching her mother carefully look after her skin every morning and every evening.
One habit stood out in particular: her mother would rhythmically pat her face with both hands.
Michelle jokingly described the movement as something like “martial arts for the face.”
Her mother was 83 at the time of the 2024 filming, and Michelle still speaks warmly about the beauty habits she learned by watching her.
Michelle herself also uses rhythmic patting motions when applying serums and creams.
She works gently around the eye area with her fingertips and continues her skincare down the neck as part of the same routine.
She also uses chilled rollers around the eyes and sometimes includes beauty devices around the jawline, but the central habit remains very simple: using her own hands and paying attention to how her skin feels.
Her mother influenced another part of her beauty routine too: her eyebrows.
Michelle grew up being encouraged to preserve their natural shape, and she still prefers to work with her own brows, filling only the areas that need a little definition.
The skincare she learned by watching her mother and the techniques she has developed over decades now sit comfortably together in her routine.
Beauty Trivia | Her Mother’s Routine Was Like “Martial Arts for the Face”
While recreating her mother’s skincare technique for Vogue, Michelle demonstrated the rhythmic face-patting motion and joked that it looked almost like martial arts. Coming from one of cinema’s best-known action stars, it is a wonderfully fitting way to describe the beauty habit she grew up watching.
2. Squats During Skincare | Nearly 20 Years of Everyday Movement
One of the most memorable habits in Michelle Yeoh’s routine is that she does squats while applying skincare.
In her 2024 “Beauty Secrets,” Michelle explained while applying serum that this is also a time when she would normally be doing squats.
She moved lightly as she spoke and joked about fitting in stretches and kicks at the same time.
This habit has a surprisingly long history.
At a press event in Japan in 2005, Michelle spoke about being able to train almost anywhere and described stretching in bed in the morning and doing squats while brushing her teeth.
By 2024, the same approach was still part of her lifestyle.
In an AARP interview, she said that she stretches every day. On airplanes she does leg lifts, she stretches in bed and she sometimes includes shadow boxing.
She also stretches while brushing her teeth or talking on the phone, and when a call is audio-only, she may add squats or leg raises.
For Michelle, movement is woven into the ordinary spaces of the day rather than being confined to one dedicated workout period.
That feels especially natural for someone who trained in ballet and later spent decades performing physically demanding action roles.
Pat the face. Do a few squats. Stretch a little.
The ease with which she combines these habits is part of what makes Michelle’s routine feel so distinctive.
Squats and stretching can be adapted according to fitness level, joint condition and exercise experience. The habits described here reflect Michelle’s own long relationship with movement.
Fun Fact | Her “Multitasking Squats” Go Back Nearly 20 Years
Michelle demonstrated skincare squats in Vogue in 2024, but she had already talked about doing squats while brushing her teeth back in 2005. Today she still incorporates movement into flights, phone calls and everyday routines. It is a long-standing lifestyle habit rather than a passing wellness trend.
3. Hydration, Sunscreen and Climate | Skincare That Changes With Her Environment
One topic Michelle has returned to repeatedly when discussing beauty is hydration.
In Vogue in 2024, she mentioned drinking water as an important part of her own beauty routine.
With a career that involves frequent international travel, staying aware of hydration is one of the simple habits she keeps in her day.
Another regular part of her outdoor routine is sunscreen.
During her 2024 beauty video, Michelle explained that she was heading out for a hike and therefore chose a more substantial sunscreen for the day.
She has also reflected on spending long periods in the sun when she was younger and now includes sunscreen as part of her everyday routine.
One particularly practical aspect of Michelle’s skincare is that she changes the texture of her products according to the climate.
In humid places such as Malaysia and other parts of Asia, she prefers lighter lotion-like textures.
In colder, drier winter conditions, she reaches for richer and creamier products.
After years of travelling around the world, she has learned to choose a routine according to both the climate and how her skin feels.
Temperature, humidity, season and location all become part of that decision.
Her skincare routine reflects a flexible approach: notice the environment, notice the skin and adjust accordingly.
Beauty Trivia | Her Skincare “Changes Clothes” With the Climate
Lighter textures in humid Asian climates, richer creams in cold and dry weather—Michelle adapts her skincare to where she is. For someone who spends so much of her life travelling, skincare becomes almost like clothing: something chosen to suit the environment.
4. Sheet Masks as Travel Companions | Walking, Hiking and Meditation
Michelle Yeoh is also well known for her love of sheet masks.
In a 2022 Vogue interview, she talked about enjoying face masks, neck masks and masks designed for the jawline.
At the time, she said she could use one mask a day and sometimes two on travel days.
With a schedule that often involves flights, filming and major events, the time spent wearing a sheet mask also becomes a small moment of self-care.
Another long-standing part of her routine is walking.
Around the 2022 Met Gala in New York, Michelle told Vogue that she had taken long walks through Central Park both the day before the event and again that morning.
At the time, she sometimes walked around four to six miles, treating the activity as both physical movement and a chance to focus her attention.
She has even described walking as something that feels meditative for her.
By 2025, Michelle said that long hikes had become another activity she enjoys.
Where she once spent more time running on paved roads, she now enjoys spending longer periods walking in nature.
When discussing self-care in 2025, she also mentioned stretching, eye masks, face rollers, workouts, enjoying food and wine, and meditation.
One particularly unexpected detail is that Jet Li helped teach her meditation.
Both are closely associated with action cinema, so the idea that their connection also included learning how to spend time in stillness makes the story especially memorable.
Walk. Spend time outdoors. Move the body. Make space for quiet.
Michelle does not treat beauty, movement and self-care as completely separate categories. They come together as different ways of creating time that feels good to her.
Because she is physically active and washes her hair frequently, Michelle has also talked about allowing her long hair to air-dry at home.
Professional styling belongs to shoots and events, while everyday hair care can remain simpler. It is another example of the balance she creates between work and private life.
Wellness Trivia | Michelle Learned Meditation From Jet Li
When discussing her current self-care in 2025, Michelle revealed that she learned meditation from Jet Li. Their shared history in action cinema makes it an especially interesting contrast: their connection involved not only movement and martial arts, but also learning how to spend time in stillness.
5. A 10-Minute Makeup Routine | Light Base Makeup and Natural Brows
Michelle may wear dramatic and highly polished makeup for films and red-carpet events, but her everyday routine is surprisingly simple.
In Vogue in 2024, she said that she likes to finish her daily makeup in under 10 minutes.
One of the most important parts of the look is the texture of her base makeup.
Michelle prefers a light finish that still allows some of her natural skin to show through.
She uses a natural-looking foundation, adds a small amount of concealer where needed and applies a cream colour slightly higher on the cheeks.
From there, she may add bronzer, eyeliner, a little mascara and lip colour.
Her eyebrows also reflect something she learned from her mother: to value their natural shape.
Rather than dramatically reshaping them, she keeps her own brows and lightly fills areas where she wants extra definition.
For films such as Wicked, however, she enjoys more theatrical makeup designed around the character.
Michelle takes an active interest in hair and makeup discussions and thinks not only about what looks good, but also about why a particular character would choose to look that way.
There is the everyday Michelle, and then there are the people she plays on screen.
Her enjoyment of both sides reflects the perspective of someone who has spent decades using beauty as part of storytelling.
Makeup Trivia | Her Natural Brows Also Come From Her Mother
Michelle’s full, natural brows are another part of her mother’s influence. She grew up being encouraged to preserve their natural shape, and today she continues to work with what she has, adding only a little definition where she wants it.
6. From Ballet to Action and Beyond | A Lifetime of Staying in Motion
To understand Michelle Yeoh’s wellness habits, it helps to look at her lifelong relationship with movement.
She began studying ballet as a child and once hoped to become a professional dancer.
Her career eventually took her into action cinema, where her body became one of her most important tools for performance and storytelling.
Through physically demanding films including Police Story 3: Super Cop and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, movement gradually became part of her everyday life as well as her work.
During her 2005 visit to Japan, she spoke about being able to move and train almost anywhere, and reports from the event even described her using a water bottle in front of her to work her wrists while sitting at the press conference.
That same philosophy remains visible today.
In AARP in 2024, Michelle said that she stretches every day.
She moves her legs on airplanes, stretches in bed and sometimes practises shadow boxing.
She turns ordinary moments—brushing her teeth, talking on the phone and travelling—into opportunities to keep moving.
After decades of action work and the injuries that can come with such a physical career, Michelle has also spoken about becoming more attentive to how her body feels as she moves.
By 2025, she described a shift from the running she once enjoyed toward longer hikes.
Ballet, action cinema, running, walking and hiking have all appeared at different stages of her life.
The form changes, but staying connected to her body through movement has remained remarkably consistent.
Alongside more structured exercise, she continues to value simple movements such as walking, stretching and paying attention to posture.
7. “Less Is More” | Beauty, Ageing and Becoming More Herself
Looking at Michelle Yeoh’s beauty and wellness habits over time, one phrase she has used to describe her approach to beauty stands out.
That phrase is “Less is more.”
In a 2022 ELLE interview about ageing, Michelle spoke openly about accepting age as a natural part of life while enjoying masks, creams, lotions, sunscreen and, when she chooses, aesthetic treatments.
Within that discussion, she described “Less is more” as the approach that works for her.
The same sense of simplicity can be seen in her 2024 everyday makeup routine.
A light base that allows the skin to show through.
Natural brows shaped by advice from her mother.
A few touches of colour, finished in around 10 minutes.
Her skincare follows a similarly flexible principle: choose what suits the climate and what feels appropriate for her skin at that moment.
In her wider life, she also continues to choose forms of movement that feel enjoyable now, from stretching and walking to long hikes.
Michelle has not described beauty and exercise as one identical philosophy, but both parts of her routine reflect an ability to recognise what she needs and continue with what feels sustainable.
She approaches ageing in much the same spirit: as part of life, and as something that can be met with curiosity rather than fear.
In 2023, Michelle became the first Asian woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once, and she has continued taking on new roles, including Wicked.
With experience comes a deeper understanding of her body, her face and the things that make her feel most like herself.
At the end of her 2024 “Beauty Secrets,” Michelle returned to a very simple idea.
Be yourself, and stay true to yourself.
Touch the skin the way she learned from her mother.
Adjust skincare according to climate and season.
Include sunscreen and stay mindful of hydration.
Enjoy makeup that works with her natural skin and brows.
Keep walking, stretching and moving in ways that suit the body she has today.
And sometimes, spend a long day hiking or make time for meditation.
What emerges from Michelle Yeoh’s beauty and wellness habits is a flexible approach built around knowing herself, adapting to change and continuing to choose what feels right for her.
Final Thought | The Goal Is Not Someone Else, but a Better Version of Herself
At the end of her 2024 Vogue routine, Michelle spoke about the importance of being herself and staying true to who she is. She also described wanting to keep becoming a better and kinder version of herself. It is a message that extends well beyond skincare and makeup and captures the spirit of her broader approach to life.
References
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Vogue (2024) — Michelle Yeoh’s Guide to Skincare Squats and a 10-Minute Makeup Look
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Vogue (2022) — Michelle Yeoh on sheet masks, brisk walks, exercise, hair care and lessons from her mother
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AARP (2024) — Michelle Yeoh on daily stretching, leg lifts, shadow boxing and incorporating movement into everyday life
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L’OFFICIEL Canada (2025) — Michelle Yeoh on stretching, hiking, meditation, self-care, food and enjoying life
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ELLE (2022) — Michelle Yeoh on ageing, skincare, sunblock and her “Less is more” approach
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Cinema Today (2005) — Michelle Yeoh on morning stretching, squats while brushing her teeth and everyday training
This article is based primarily on publicly available interviews, beauty videos and press appearances featuring Michelle Yeoh through 2025. It summarises her personal experiences and lifestyle choices relating to beauty, skincare, makeup, movement, walking, hiking, meditation, self-care and ageing. Skincare products, beauty devices, aesthetic treatments, exercise and meditation practices can be adapted according to individual skin, health, fitness level and lifestyle.
