Mishel Prada’s Must Haves, From an $8 Clay Mask to an Affordable Tin of Caviar

Mishel Prada has been up to a lot lately. The Dominican and Puerto Rican actress recently appeared as Frankie DiFranco in "Stone Cold Fox," which hit theaters and VOD in November. Between traveling for two indie films and filming episodes of NBC's "Brilliant Minds," Prada has also been leaning into another role she's long mastered: the ultimate hostess.

Known among her friends for throwing extravagant, restaurant-level dinner parties at her beautiful Los Angeles home - the kind that looks ripped from the pages of a design magazine - Prada recently hosted a holiday gathering complete with short rib guisado (which she proudly declared "came out a dream"), Cajun turchetta, and her very first jamón carving. She shared behind-the-scenes moments on Instagram, candles flickering across a table so romantically laid out it was practically cinematic. But romance, after all, is part of Prada's archetype. She's deeply passionate, with an innate appreciation for beauty, art, and life - qualities that make being the "hostess with the mostess" feel less like a hobby and more like a calling.

She's cooked for castmates before - including hosting Thanksgiving for the entire "Riverdale" cast - and while filming the "John Wick" spinoff series "The Continental," she even tracked down the only chef in Budapest who could secure her a turkey.

"Food is my love language, and it also came before I was acting. I was chefing a pop-up restaurant before," she tells Popsugar. "It's just always been something that I really love, and it's such a powerful way that we connect: we sit down, we break bread, and we share stories. It's my favorite way to show love - to feed somebody."

She's a natural nurturer. Her love is given freely, not out of obligation - something she believes she inherited from her mom, who passed away a few years ago.

"My mom definitely cooked a lot for us and always made such an effort to make us feel really special," Prada shares. She was so good at it. Even if I came and just wanted a snack, she'd have some ceviche [ready] and would get all these dishes from Goodwill, and she'd have a little martini glass and put the ceviche in there with like a plantain chip on the side with a beautiful napkin."

Prada, similarly, has great attention to detail - and beauty in general. "I love feeling really romantic and sensual, and I love beauty," she says. "I think that beauty feels very soothing and very intentional in what we curate. I want to have more of that. I think sometimes I didn't always feel like I deserved that, but going back to my mom, I see that it was something that she always did. There was always beauty in the house."

At 35, Prada could easily pass for someone a decade younger - thanks to great genes and a healthy lifestyle - but even she admits to sometimes feeling the pressure to maintain a youthful appearance as an actress. What she refuses to do, however, is buy into the patriarchal lie that women become less beautiful or desirable as they age.

"I feel hotter than I did at 20. I know how to do my makeup better. I know how to dress for my body type better. I know what colors look better on me - I am so much better," she says. "You could not pay me money to go back to being 20."

Prada says the best advice she's ever received about aging came from an older woman she met while volunteering at a retirement home.

"She said, have friends of all different age groups. You have older women who you're looking at and thinking, 'Wow, I can't wait to be you.' You got younger women that maybe you can mentor but can also teach you things, and then it doesn't feel like these very sliced experiences."

Ahead, Prada shares everything from her go-to terrine for hosting to her most affordable beauty buy, the heat protectant she swears by to keep her curls healthy, and her favorite indulgent, luxury snack.