A nun has gone viral for sharing her skincare routine and lifestyle tips that helped her look younger.
Sister Claudette Monica Powell, 55, from New Jersey, has a TikTok account where she shares inside information of what life is like in the convent.
She posted a clip on her TikTok account named @nunsenseforthepeople, in response to some comments she received on her videos wanting her to “drop the skincare routine.”
In the skincare clip, which gained 277,000 views and 50,000 likes, Sister Monica captioned it with: “I thought people would be asking questions about transubstantiation and Gregorian chant, but the ladies want the nunly skincare tips.”
She began the clip by saying: “a bunch of really nice ladies have left comments on here saying that they think I look a lot younger than I am, and I just want to say thank you. That’s really nice.”
Sister Monica explains that she doesn’t really have a skincare routine, but claims that she has probably fewer wrinkles than someone else her age and told her viewers why.
The nun described that she doesn’t use beauty products because they are a “rip off” but washes her face daily with Aveeno oatmeal body wash for babies, and shoots videos in low lighting to protect her skin. She also advised using a parasol and an umbrella or sunshade when out in the sun.
She also makes sure to film her TikTok videos with “good lighting,” which she learned how to do from her days working in the professional photography business.
“Whenever I shoot these videos I shoot them in really good lighting, low lighting is a girl’s best friend,” she explained. “Trust me on that.”
Sister Monica has been a nun since 2012, after giving up her job as a photo editor to dedicate herself to her religion.
She also revealed that she has sensitive skin and is highly allergic to many bath care products.
Sister Monica’s additional reasoning for sticking with an affordable oatmeal-based product is due to her not wanting to spend a lot of money on beauty products because she’s unconvinced of the beauty industry. All in all, she washes her face once a day.
“Carry a parasol and shoot in low light and use baby stuff on your skin,” Sister Powell said to summarize her routine.
Sister Powell also notes that since the late 1990s, she hasn’t been able to go out in the sun and experiences “migraines” from it.
“Maybe someone in their thirties who hasn’t slept in like a month-and-a-half?” she jokingly said. “I’ll give you that. In person, I assure you, you would look at me and say “that woman is 55 years old.”
Sister Monica’s TikTok followers were shocked that she considerably looks younger than she really is, with people leaving comments on her video.
“It’s because she doesn’t constantly deal with men’s audacity,” one person said.
“It’s because you’ve been living without men,” another one added.
“It’s called no husband no kids,” a third one joked.
“I bet swearing off men helps too,” another commenter said.
To which Sister Monica replied, saying: “Not gonna lie. I think the absence of relationship stress helps.”
Sister Monica was surprised by the amazing response to the video saying: “People have been extremely nice, I thought only four or five people would see the video.”
“People saying I look like I’m in my thirties and hilarious comments saying it’s because I have no man to stress me out makes me laugh so hard. I am amazed at how kind and supportive people are on TikTok,” She added.
Sister Monica is the Sister Superior at her convent in New Jersey, but before starting religious life at 46, she spent 20 years working as a photo editor in Hollywood and studied acting at NYU.
Sister Monica joined TikTok to make “random funny videos” for friends and her sisters but found herself becoming TikTok famous after a video she made about a wild turkey terrorizing her New Jersey convent blew up last month.
“I started getting more and more followers,” she told Insider. “So I said, if people want to ask me questions about the religious life, that would be great.”
“But they started asking me about my skincare routine,” she continued. “Literally, nobody in my entire life has ever asked me for beauty tips ever.”
She joined TikTok on June 10, 2021, and uploaded a video where she describes what it’s like to be an Episcopal nun.