PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a>\u00a0to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories.\n<\/p>\n Serena Kerrigan partners with Neutrogena.<\/p>\n
The New York native calls the partnership with Neutrogena a “dream” because she’s “been a fan” of the brand’s products since she was a little girl. The Vitamin C Serum, which she praises for its glow-inducing and plumping effects, has been key to embracing her skin as-is. “I feel like that’s really, really changed my skin,” she says. “It’s really amazing moisturizer.”\n<\/p>\n
“Even just five years ago I hid behind tons of makeup, eyelash extensions and I bleached my hair,” she admits, then shared her realization, “I think that confidence is really about learning how to feel really good in your own skin and taking off that mask.”\n<\/p>\n
“And that has been my development with skincare,” she shares. “The more confident I am internally, the more confident I am actually externally as well \u2014 and the one thing to continue that journey is by taking really great care of your skin and feeling confident and liberated to not wear makeup.”<\/p>\n
Serena Kerrigan.<\/p>\n
John Nacion\/Variety\/Getty<\/p>\n
Kerrigan rattles off a few of her holy grail beauty products that she’s been using this summer. “I would say I love a hypochlorous acid spray. I feel like that’s really good when you’re sweating,” she begins. Another must? “Sunscreen.”\n<\/p>\n
“Micellar water,” is also a go to of hers this time of year. “I love to do a double cleanse where I do that kind of more of an oily cleanser and then pair it with something a little lighter… In the summer, it’s really just about keeping it clean and exfoliating.”\n<\/p>\n
The TikTok star credits much of her confidence these days to “nurturing the relationship” she has with herself. In fact, making that a priority in her life has allowed her to enter a relationship with someone else, her boyfriend Felix Levine.\n<\/p>\n
While the TV personality deems her romance with him “love at first sight” upon first meeting on his Unlike Me podcast, it’s his ability to make her “feel safe” that she says sets him apart from other men she’s dating in the past.\n<\/p>\n
Serena Kerrigan and her boyfriend, Felix Levine.<\/p>\n
Serena Kerrigan\/Instagram<\/p>\n
“It’s about feeling being able to be naked in your skin and in who you are in front of them, not physically, but really just the most raw version of yourself,” she tells PEOPLE exclusively. “You shouldn’t feel any anxiety. You shouldn’t be editing yourself.”\n<\/p>\n
“That is what you need to look for 100% is safety,” she emphasizes of a partner. “Emotionally and mentally safe in front of someone, because at the end of the day, that’s who you want in a partner is someone that you could just be your 100% percent self with \u2014 and they’re going to love you for it.” \n<\/p>\n