Why KPop Demon Hunters’ May Hong Didn’t Prep Her Skin for the Oscars

Pre-Oscars panic is basically mandatory, unless you’re May Hong. When I called the Korean-American actor, best known for voicing Mira in the animated phenom KPop Demon Hunters, ahead of Sunday’s Academy Awards, she was bare-faced and allegedly “breaking out.” It’s nightmare fuel for most, yet, to her own surprise, she was completely unfazed. “Usually I’d be agonizing,” she explained. “I don’t know what’s happening, but I don’t care.” That laissez-faire attitude is hard-won. Hong has gone from maximalist product junkie to meticulous ingredient detective, copy-pasting INCI lists and vetting everything from moisturizers to exfoliants in her battle with fungal acne. The result is a routine that reads less like a vanity shelf and more like a lab protocol. As she gears up for the peculiar high-glam theater of awards season, we get into manicures, microcurrents, and why no-makeup makeup will always reign supreme.

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OLAMIDE OYENUSI: Hey. Where are you?

MAY HONG: I’m at home in Bed-Stuy. 

OYENUSI: I’m in Manhattan. This rain is gross. I guess to set the scene for the readers: is it a bare-faced or full-glam day for you?

HONG: Very bare faced. I’m breaking out right now.

OYENUSI: I don’t see a single pimple.

HONG: Just over here, this activity.

OYENUSI: It’s giving freckle.

HONG: [Laughs] Yeah. Usually, I’d be much more bummed out about it. Especially with the Oscars coming up, I feel like I’d be agonizing over what to do like, “Shit, I have to fix this before this date.” I don’t know what’s happening, but I don’t care.

OYENUSI: Well, that’s great. Walk me through your daily skincare routine. Do you have any non-negotiables for morning and night?

HONG: It took me a really long time to figure out that I have fungal acne that gets activated with certain ingredients, so I’ve had to really pare down. I actually did a beauty interview, I don’t know, almost 10 years ago now, and I was using a thousand products. It was very maximal. But now, a non-negotiable is ketoconazole shampoo. It’s basically for dandruff. It’s either bright red or pink, and it’s medicated. And in the U.S., of course you have to get a prescription, but everywhere else you can just get it at the drugstore. So I recently picked some more up in Thailand when I was there being part of Arden [Cho]’s movie. I also used to over-exfoliate, for sure.

OYENUSI: Your face or body?

HONG: My face. I was doing way too much. Anyway, I use Sofie Pavitt Mandelic [Clearing serum] every day, and I really notice when I don’t use it.

OYENUSI: Do you double cleanse? 

HONG: I’ll use Bioderma to wipe makeup off and then wash my face, but I’ve moved away from oil cleansing because of the fungal acne stuff. A lot of oils will activate a breakout.

OYENUSI: What’s your go-to moisturizer with that in mind?

HONG: I’m sad that I have to do this, but I have to go on this website called folliculitisscout.com, and I have to copy-paste every ingredient list to see if it has ingredients that cause malassezia, which is the bacteria. It’s basically a yeast that grows, and then that makes you break out. They’re not pimples either. It’s just a reaction. It’s tiny bumps. It seems like there’s something in it, and then you pop it and there’s not. It’s really crazy.

OYENUSI: Are they red? Is it more like a whitehead?

HONG: It looks like a whitehead. It looks like multiple whiteheads. I’ve ruined my skin trying to pop it and then realizing that it doesn’t have a seed, and then that gets infected and then becomes an actual active pimple. 

OYENUSI: Not popping pimples is really difficult. It’s too satisfying.

HONG: That’s why it’s Starface for the win.  It’s such a lifesaver, because you have to put the sticker on. Oh yeah, and my moisturizer is from a Korean brand. It’s by S.Nature, and it’s called Aqua Squalane [Moisturizing Cream]. I’ve bought it so many times.

OYENUSI: I’m glad that you brought up Korean skincare. It has changed my life. What other products do you like?

HONG: I like the MEDIHEAL pads.

OYENUSI: Toning pads?

HONG: It’s the Phyto-Enzyme Clear Peeling Pad, and they’re single-use pads that are pre-soaked. And that’s my physical and chemical exfoliation. I think I used to do too much, and all of Korean skincare is about consistent, gentle exfoliating. What else did I recently buy? I just put it in an Olive Young order.

OYENUSI: Ooo, I’m tapped into Olive Young. When you feel a breakout coming, do you have an emergency protocol?

HONG: I’ve never been through what I am going through right now, obviously, with K-Pop [Demon Hunters] and the schedule and flying so much and all of this stuff. I can handle it, but in October it came to a head where I just was so fucking stressed out, and I had really unexplainable, intense amounts of just breaking out. You know when you have an “I don’t recognize myself” skin moment?

OYENUSI: I either need to get my hair done or go to therapy.

HONG: Yeah, it was just fucking stress. So honestly, I think that it’s about staying consistent. Of course there are topical answers to problems. I emergency-called Sofie, because she’s a personal friend of mine. I was just like, “Help me.” It was this panicked text like, “Can you get me in? Can I get something, anything?” Of course, an emergency mandelic peel will do something, but it’s also mental health. It feels like you’re doing something for the problem, but that’s as much of the process as the topical solution. It’s not like, “Yeah, okay, now I’m saved,” or whatever.

OYENUSI: Maybe for the next two days.

HONG: [Laughs] Yeah. I think more than anything, it’s about trying to be less stressed. And I’d say normally I’m not a super stressed-out person.

OYENUSI: What’s your sign?

HONG: I’m a Scorpio. 

OYENUSI: I had to ask, partially because I just wanted to, and also because you were like, “I don’t get that stressed.” 

HONG: [Laughs] I’m the first day of Scorpio. I’m a Libra-Scorpio cusp—October 24th.

OYENUSI: Spooky. Do you wear sunscreen every day? Is it in your moisturizer?

HONG: I’ve been bad lately and not using it. I don’t know why. Maybe that’s my little rebellion.

OYENUSI: Do you use tools like a gua sha, LED mask, anything like that?

HONG: You know what I use? I use a ZIIP.

OYENUSI: What’s that?

HONG: It’s a microcurrent and nanocurrent device. And you just put a conductive gel on your face, and there are multiple programs that you can select from an app on your phone, and you just follow that. I really, really notice it. But mine broke, and then Sofie recommended this other brand that FaceGym uses. Basically, it just snatches your face. I’ve taken before-and-after photos multiple times. I consistently use it when I have events and stuff, and your eyebrows are just so much higher. But I try to lead up to it.

OYENUSI: I know you have an art school background. I’ve noticed artists are always really good at makeup, and doing a full glam. But you’re also a model, and that’s typically more bare-faced. If you could only choose one for the rest of your life, which would it be?

HONG: Bare face, for sure. 

OYENUSI: Are you good at doing full glam? I just assumed.

HONG: I am.

OYENUSI: Of course.

HONG: I actually feel really confident about doing my own makeup, and I do think that it has to do with being an artist. Even when I work with makeup artists, I always insist on at least doing my own lashes and my brows. It’s really hard for me not to want a little bit of control over things, or I’ll always tweak. This is going piss to makeup artists off. Fuck.

OYENUSI: [Laughs] I actually have a question that says: “Do you ever tweak what the MUA is doing on set?”

HONG: Yes, yes, yes. I recently was on set and I asked some other actresses, “Do you go in after people?”  And all these actresses were like, “Of course I fix it a little bit in the way that I like.” So it’s not just me. I’m not the monster fucking with other people’s work.” It’s a weird boundary because it’s their work, but it’s my face.

OYENUSI: Do you have a concealer or foundation that you trust not to betray you in harsh lighting? Do you even use foundation?

HONG: I don’t like to use full-face foundation. I have multiple colors of the Clé de Peau stick concealer. I just take a little brush and dab a little bit onto it, and I mix colors to color-match. I’ll just put little dots and just tap, tap, tap. Imagine Photoshopping, clone-stamping your face. You know what I mean?

OYENUSI: I do. Sometimes foundation can make you look older in a way that’s not always the most appealing. 

HONG: I do not like it. When I have too much makeup on—especially when I have too much contour-type of stuff on—it makes me feel dysphoric. It ages me, I think.

OYENUSI: So bronzer or blush—which do you prefer?

HONG: Blush. Always.

OYENUSI: Do you have a go-to lip combo?

HONG: No. If I’m going out, I don’t really love carrying a bag. I’m a jeans-and-pockets guy, so I’ll just have a lip balm in my pocket. It’s like lighter, lip balm, and some lip color that I’ll also use on my cheeks.

OYENUSI: What does your body-care routine look like?

HONG: I will go to King Spa in New Jersey. [Laughs] Oh, god. Do I have to start think about being naked in a different way? I don’t know. That’s something I’ve been thinking about where I’m like … no one recognizes me. I’m a voice actor.

OYENUSI: Do you like that?

HONG: Yes. It’s amazing. I love that I’m not recognized.

OYENUSI: A bit undercover. Is there a specific manicure that you like?

HONG: Simple. I love a fresh set, because I’m too tactile of a person and I need to be able to do stuff. I end up wrecking them or clipping them, or even ripping them off. It’s crazy.

OYENUSI: What’s your current nail color?

HONG: Like a wine red. It’s so old. Look how much it’s grown out.

OYENUSI: That’s up close. If someone were to clock you for that they’re doing too much. Ok, speed round: a current beauty trend that you want to try?

HONG: I really love watching crazy K-beauty makeup where it’s just tiny, detailed highlight-and-contour stuff. Because Korean beauty contouring is so different from Western contouring. They use a lot of cool gray, where you just want to contour an entire plane of your face to make it look narrower rather than defining certain areas or trying to make your nose look more sculpted. I like watching it in an ASMR way. 

OYENUSI: I understand that. I like to stick with what I know.

HONG: My mom just taught me from such a young age that wearing makeup where it almost looks like you’re not wearing makeup is the best. It shouldn’t be obvious. But now, being photographed more for award season and all this stuff, I’m like, “Oh, you have to do a little bit too much because a flash will wash you out.” So if I were to do my own makeup, it just looks like I’m not wearing any makeup. But I realize you have to go overboard for photos at events. I feel like I’m in drag when I do all this award stuff. I’m so butch on a regular basis, so then when I get dressed for awards stuff or whatever, I feel like I’m in full high-femme costume—and that’s the makeup too.

OYENUSI: Well, have fun at the Oscars. I’m excited to see your look.

HONG: I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to wear. You’re lovely. Thank you.

OYENUSI: Of course. Bye.