Jenna Ortega's ideal night out begins with a drink somewhere comfortable. Not a curated venue, not a fashionable destination, not the right scene — somewhere where she feels comfortable in a public setting. Then, ideally, old regulars at the bar. Then, if it is a club, a conversation with the DJ about whether they will play her music. Then, once all of that has happened, a long drunken walk home while listening to something. She describes this as her perfect night. There's nothing I love more, she says, than being drunk and going for a walk and listening to music. This is either the most relatable thing a famous 22-year-old has said in an interview in 2025, or it is exactly what you would expect from someone who gets ready by playing The Stooges.

The interview is part of Night Moves, InStyle's ongoing series about how notable people get ready for an evening out. The format covers music, vanity products, evening bag contents, and the theoretical scenario of who you would want to get ready with if the constraint of mortality and fame were removed. Ortega's answers to all four are consistent with what her public persona suggests and more specific than you might expect: the playlist runs from proto-punk to Motown to noise rock. The ideal pre-game companion is Joan Crawford, chosen for being jaded by the whole thing. The evening bag is currently just her phone.

Ortega is a Dior Beauty ambassador, which provides context for why Dior Rouge lipstick and Dior Diorshow Waterproof mascara appear on her guaranteed-vanity list. What does not follow from the ambassador relationship is the specificity of her descriptions — the mascara she uses religiously and says does not move, the Dove Cucumber deodorant she was wearing during the interview and volunteered without being asked. The Dior products are expected. The Dove is not. That gap between the expected and the actual is where the interview becomes interesting.

What Her Ideal Night Out Actually Looks Like

The ideal night out that Ortega describes has almost nothing to do with the kind of night out that gets photographed and written about when a famous person attends it. There is no exclusive venue in her version. There is no guest list. There are old regulars at a bar, a conversation with a DJ about music choices, and then a long walk afterward in whatever direction feels right.

The drinking first, then going out sequence is a logistical detail that tells you something specific: she is describing the night out of someone who finds public spaces slightly challenging and has developed a reliable method for making them manageable. A drink somewhere comfortable before the actual event is a social calibration strategy. It is also an entirely normal thing that a large number of people do without discussing it in interviews.

The long drunken walk home is the detail that has received the most social media attention from the interview, which is understandable — it is the most specific and most self-contained image in her answer. A person walking alone after a night out, listening to music in the dark, is a recognizable experience that does not require any celebrity context to land. Ortega describes it as the best part. That is the kind of thing you say when you mean it rather than when you are constructing a persona.

The music she is listening to on those walks, almost certainly, overlaps with the getting-ready playlist she describes elsewhere in the interview. 'Dirt' by The Stooges, Lydia Lunch's 'Heartattack and Vine,' the Four Tops, Swans — none of those are nighttime walk-home songs in the conventional sense. All of them are nighttime walk-home songs in her sense.

The bar preference for old regulars is the social preference of someone who does not want to be recognized and does not want the energy of a room that is performing for itself. Old regulars are performing for no one. They are simply there, in the way they are always there, and a new person can exist in that room without generating particular attention. For someone famous at 22, this is a reasonable thing to seek out.

Jenna Ortega in the Rouge Dior On Stage campaign — the lipstick she names as a guaranteed vanity product before every night out.

The Evening Bag — Honestly Just Her Phone

“Can I be honest? Right now, my evening bag is actually just my phone. If I go to a Dior event, I've got Peter Phillips looking after me, so that's easy. Me in my personal life? I might do a lip balm of some sort, and then my ID, credit card, and that's about it. I would much prefer to use pockets.”

The evening bag question is a standard format in celebrity beauty profiles, and it typically produces a list of products that constitute a portable beauty touch-up kit. Ortega's answer constitutes a principled rejection of the format's premise. Her evening bag is her phone. On a more accessorized evening, a lip balm of some kind might be added. Her ID and credit card are the other required items. She would prefer pockets.

The preference for pockets over bags is a position rather than a casual preference — stated directly and with a degree of conviction that suggests it has been arrived at through experience rather than theoretical consideration. Pockets are functional. Evening bags are a form of inconvenience that fashion has decided is appropriate for women at events. Ortega's answer is that she would rather not deal with it if she can avoid it, which she mostly can.

Beauty Vibe in Three Words

WRITTEN BYNatalie Avery

Natalie Avery covers the full spectrum of modern beauty — from lab-backed skincare breakthroughs to the cultural conversations driving clean and conscious wellness. Her writing brings both scientific grounding and genuine enthusiasm to every story she tells.