One of my favorite Top Shelves? The one by the incomparable Tracee Ellis Ross. I’ve got that 3-year-old masterpiece memorized, backwards and forwards. Her favorite drinking water? Bottled in Arkansas. Her trusty facialist of 20 years? An LA favorite, Terri Lawton. But the thing about Top Shelves is that what is published is set in stone, and so much of what I know about Tracee—like how Bobbi Brown makes her preferred foundation and that Benefit’s They’re Real coats her lashes—is dated. But then there’s her Instagram! I landed on it a few years ago and it quickly became my real-time resource into Tracee's beauty routine. That place is practically a beauty blog, but since it's not exactly a beauty blog, some of her best beauty grams can get lost in the fray. So, I've made it easy for you with a little organization. I've gathered her best beauty grams and catalogued them for your reading pleasure. Below, Tracee's magnificently updated Top Shelf (kind of sort of), as told by her Instagrams:

SKINCARE

• Tracee loves a good face roller, for “sculpting” purposes. Some are blue, some vibrate, some are outright phallic—whatever it takes.
• A lot of beauty situations go down in her dressing room, like this moment where she doused her face with Jurlique’s Rosewater Face Mist before following up with a quick pat of a mysterious serum.
• Another dressing room gem: Eye patches for an early set day.
• Full body masking, Tracee-approved.
• Lest you forget Tracee’s serum-patting technique. Lots of vigorous tapping, slapping, and skin-lifting exercises here. She’s definitely onto something!

MAKEUP

• Everyone knows that Tracee wears the hell out of a red lip, particularly Ruby Woo. But! She’s got other reds up her sleeve, too: a NYX Lip Pencil in 824 Orange Red, and a NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in a similar shade.
• Also pictured, an eyelash curler that looks like Surratt’s, and a magnificent eyebrow marker that’s from MAC! Shape and Brow Tint in Taupe.
• And what’s more endearing: That Tracee lets her 7-year-old niece play makeup artist? Or the way Pat MacGrath’s VR Nectar eyeshadow excites Tracee almost as much as it excites me?

BODY/HEALTH

• Tracee isn’t one to dip into regular shmegular waters; her ‘happy place’ is in the Ligurian sea. She loves to swim…and who could blame her?
• Other forms of exercise include lifting weights at Heart and Hustle Gym, where she likes to hang out with Gabrielle Union and Mary J. Blige (just because), and jumping around or doing a bunch of donkey kicks at Tracy Anderson. These are the leggings she wears in that last video. You’re welcome...
• Nose-waxing is apparently as painful as it looks.
• One more takeaway: Tracee gets her eyes checked, and wears contacts, just like us! Stars...you know what they say.

HAIR

Tracee’s current hair favorites are a tough find (even her hairstylist is mum on revealing too much), but here are some takeaways I could gather:

• Tracee likes to diffuse her curls! Add Harry Josh’s Pro Dryer and diffuser to your cart if you want to match, but like Tracee, use heat wisely. Instead of straightening her hair for an episode of Black-ish, she wore a straight wig and had her own hair braided underneath.
• Sometimes, Tracee just enjoys the drama of a fluffy braid out.
• Also good for hair drama! Finger-detangling and using a Mason Pearson brush to tease out curls.
• And the question we’ve all been waiting for...silk pillowcase or no silk pillowcase? The verdict is still out on that one.

FRAGRANCE

• Her mother’s, of course.

SELF-LOVE (AND DIANA)

• It’s hard to believe that once upon a time Tracee was at odds with accepting her body…hear about it in her own words, with Conan O'Brien.
• And what do you do when your mom is literally Diana Ross? Sometimes, you take a double-take in the mirror and count your lucky stars.

—Utibe Mbagwu

Photos via Instagram