Slay Good Girl! 20 Times Retta’s Rich Melanin & Glow Gave Us Life

St Jude 2026

Source: NBC / Getty

There a million reasons to fall in love with Retta. First off, the one-name actress is a triple threat being able to give you all the comedy on shows like Parks and Rec, all the drama (and tears) on her hit-show Good Girls and sis, can saaaaang! Sis, can kill any opera tragedy with that angelic voice.

Not to mention, she is gorgeous and a much-needed plus-sized and dark-skinned force that we need to see more of in Hollywood. And then there is her glow! It’s like she is radiating from the inside out. So what’s her secret? She told Bust in 2018 that some of her favorite skincare products include Comodynes Make-Up Remover Dry with Oats ($8) and Chanel Hydra Beauty Sérum ($135). “I don’t wash my face at night. I’m lazy and these towels clean off the makeup while moisturizing my face,” she said about the wipes, adding, “This serum is so light. It feels like nothing is on your face. I feel moisturized without feeling oily. I panic when I run out of it.” We also feel that her glow comes from having a great sense of self and a wonderful perspective on body-positivity and her optimism. In her 2018 memoir So Close to Being the Sh*t, Y’all Don’t Even Know, she talks so openly about her weight loss and how she lost 50 pounds, going from a size 28-18, maintaining a size 22 now. For her, in order to reach her goal, she had to learn to be content, not miserable, while embarking on this incredible journey. “The biggest lesson I’ve learned from this whole ordeal is that what I really want is not the skinniest body, it’s to live a life where I can just be a normal human being,” Retta writes. “You have to be happy in your regular life or you’re not going to survive the journey toward a goal. It’s the same with weight loss, you still have to be content. If you’re miserable the whole time, it’s gonna be too hard. You’ll get to that point where you say ‘fuck it’ and go ham on the entire contents of your fridge. I had to come to a place in my mind where I’m okay with where I’m at. Once you do that, the good stuff happens. You present as more confident to the world.” Love. So to celebrate this melanin goddess and the third season of Good Girls dropping on Sunday (Feb. 16), here are 20 times that Retta’s glow and optimism radiated from the red carpet and beyond.