With a starring role as Sokanon in the Discovery Canada series Frontier, Edmonton, Alberta-born Jessica Matten is passionate about looking and feeling her best, both on screen and away from the spotlight. The Indigenous star is a firm believer in self-care and simplicity, whether that means her love of natural beauty products or her fitness regimen. Real Style spoke to the talented and beautiful Canadian actress about her skincare tips, hair care routine and more. 

Frontier airs tonight at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT on Discovery Canada. To learn more about Matten’s character and Season 2 of the historical drama series, check out our feature interview right here. 

Real Style: Tell us all about your signature beauty routine. 

Jessica: I am quite simple with that. My thing is what everyone has been saying forever- hydrate, drink water. We are all like “yeah, yeah, whatever,” and then you know what, I started doing that and it does work. So, hydrating, exfoliating is a big thing for me, and I am starting to move away from chemicals and have started getting more natural products. I keep it very simple. Especially with the kind of lifestyle I lead, I am training a lot so I try not to put too much on my skin.

Real Style: What are your best skincare tricks and techniques, with the cold and drying weather of Fall/Winter 2017 here? 

Jessica: I am big on Omega oil and I do strongly believe that what you put into your body will show up on your skin, especially because I have sensitive skin as well. Whatever I eat, it is going to show up the next day or give it three days. It has also forced me to maintain and become very aware of what I put into my body. I try to eat organic as much as I can, and I know that is not always realistic for everyone, but I try to focus heavily on greens and get my three meals in a day.

Real Style: What are some tips for maintaining dark, luscious hair such as yours?

Jessica: My hair is naturally really curly. It drives all the hairstylists, on every set that I’ve worked on, crazy. A hairstylist on another show that I am working on right now introduced me to a product line called Hask. It is paraben-free. I use the oils a lot. I try not to wash my hair everyday if I can get away with it, so it doesn’t strip my hair of all the essential oils in it.

Real Style: Do you follow any fitness routines for staying healthy and in shape?

Jessica: I have always been a fan of aggressive sports. I was in Muay Thai for a while, then I switched off to straight up boxing. I like to do high intensity circuit training as well. And I started incorporating weights into my routines about three years ago. And I wonder why I hadn’t started that sooner because I realized that I was wasting all this time on a treadmill. Now I’ll only do like fifteen minutes cardio and then focus on some heavyweights. I would say about three, four times a week. I also listen to my body, if my body is in a lot of pain, I will go easy on it for a week if I have to. I also realized there is no point in being hard on yourself with anything. Especially in today’s society, with the media and trying to live up to these impossible standards. I’ve learnt to just block that out and be happy with what I was given. I find that just learning to stress less about all of that stuff actually helps.