Emma Chamberlain’s Key To Surviving The Day After The Met Gala

Emma Chamberlain is everywhere you want to be this spring. The content creator was first spotted at Coachella in April; now, weeks later, she’s checked off covering the Met Gala blue carpet for the fifth year in a row. Her secret to staying booked and busy (without the burnout)? Getting a coffee first thing in the morning.

The 23-year-old is known for her love of java. In fact, she tells Elite Daily she was referred to as “the iced almond milk latte girl” when she started her YouTube channel in 2016. These days, Chamberlain has a coffee brand — simply named Chamberlain Coffee — which sells cold brew, beans, matcha, and canned lattes.

Just four months after opening her first-ever coffee shop in Los Angeles, Chamberlain is getting back to her plant milk roots. The upcoming Forbidden Fruits star just partnered with Dove on its Plant Milk Cleansing Collection to release a limited-edition Oat Milk & Berry Brulee Latte at her cafe.

Since her first deodorant was Dove’s cucumber antiperspirant, a partnership between the two just felt right. Before stepping out at the Met Gala, Chamberlain even shared her plans to use her favorite scent from the collection, the Oat Milk & Berry Brulee, to wash up and wind down afterward.

Below, you’ll find Chamberlain’s other self-care must-haves, her complete morning routine, plus her favorite thing to do on the set of her feature film debut.

Elite Daily: Walk me through what an ideal “treat yourself” day would look like for you.

Emma Chamberlain: I sit a lot — whether I’m editing a YouTube video or recording a podcast — so I'm very sedentary on Zoom calls. I want to move during a day off, so perhaps a yoga class, then going to a brunch spot and getting a breakfast taco; I want to eat foods that aren't being cooked by me. Sitting outside at a cafe is always self-care; I absolutely love people watching. I also love just lying outside, silent, in the sun.

ED: What is your typical morning routine like?

EC: I wake up anywhere between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., depending on how late I was working. I make my coffee first thing, which right now is an iced latte with my homemade nut milk. From there, I put on workout clothes and go to a class. I like to try to move in the morning whenever I have the energy to do so.

After that, I immediately get in the shower and wash my face. Recently, I've been keeping it simple and using a gentle, medium-thickness moisturizer and wearing a coat of sunscreen. When I have the time, I'll do a little hydrating mask as well.

ED: Do you have a go-to sunscreen?

EC: I'm using the iS Clinical SPF 30 and I'm loving that one. The EltaMD one is also great.

ED: How does your routine change at night, when you're getting ready for bed?

EC: It’s definitely a more detailed routine. I'm cleansing my face with a gentle, milky cleanser. [Editor’s note: Her current favorite was just discontinued.] I will double cleanse if I wear makeup, but I don't wear makeup most days. If I do, I'll use some sort of makeup remover on a pad or a towel, and deep cleanse for about 60 seconds, really rubbing, getting everything off.

From there, I'll do a chemical exfoliant, an AHA/BHA sort of situation. I've been using a retinol oil every other night, followed by moisturizer. It’s the same one I used earlier in the day, followed by another oil. I'm loving oils at night. I always thought it would clog my pores and I avoided it, but I actually have found that oils help to lock in the moisture and keep my moisture barrier barrier-ing, if you will.

ED: What about when you’re getting ready for a big event like the Met Gala?

EC: The only difference is that I’ll add a professional facial. The week or two leading up, I'm doing my own little face masks at home, but most of my routine stays the same. I just want to feel good, and a lot of the stuff that's already in my daily routine makes me feel good.

For example, in the shower, I always use exfoliating gloves with gentle body soap. My favorite flavor is Oat Milk & Berry Brulee. That makes me feel so refreshed. The week before an event, my 30 seconds of exfoliating becomes two minutes.

ED: What’s your go-to self-care after the gala?

EC: I'm usually so dehydrated. When you put on a gown, you're probably not going to be able to go to the bathroom again for the rest of the evening, so I don't drink water. I have little sips, but you can't really drink. My stylist and I love to put on the most complex gowns.

By the time I get home, I'm filling up a huge water bottle with lots of electrolytes, a Liquid I.V., Ultima, or LMNT. Then I’m taking a long shower. Because there's a buildup of product in my hair and face, I’m exfoliating, using a physical exfoliant glove.

The next day, I wake up, and it's like it never happened. It's so weird.

Then I’ll sleep for as many hours as I possibly can. That's kind of how I reset after an event like that. It's trying to return to baseline through drinking lots of water and showering everything off. Even if it's 4 a.m. when I come back from an after-party, I am getting in the shower and taking everything off. The next day, I wake up, and it's like it never happened. It's so weird.

ED: You’re very busy. You just wrapped Forbidden Fruits with Lola Tung, Lili Reinhart, and Victoria Pedretti. In between those long hours of filming, what did you like to do on set?

EC: I was only there for a few days, but I had a specific routine. We were shooting at night, and somehow the team was able to do coffee runs at that hour. I was having a large cold brew or iced Americano and then an iced matcha latte with almond milk, and I was sipping on those throughout.

In between takes, I was talking to the team. I really love the communal aspect of shoots. A lot of the time I spent off, I was getting to know everyone and telling stories. I wasn't there as long as the other girls — they were there for something like 20 days — so I didn't get to the point where I needed to start reading a book or something. I was so lucky. It was so fun.

My purpose is to make people feel less alone, so I'm manifesting getting even better at doing that.

ED: What are you manifesting for yourself the rest of this year?

EC: I've grown up on the internet, and people have been with me through so many different phases. I've tried so many different things — some that have worked, some that have not. I've deviated from who I am, and I've returned to who I am. What I manifested for myself this year was to have a return to self, not only on a personal level, but also on a career level.

I want to further strengthen that sense of self, career-wise and personally, and do things that feel like an extension of myself. I want to do things I'm proud of and ultimately help me accomplish my goal in this life, which I would say is to make people feel good and to bring some sort of joy. My purpose is to make people feel less alone, so I'm manifesting getting even better at doing that.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.