Poreless skin. Gleaming white teeth. Glossy hair. Turn on a reality television show this summer, and it’s likely the women staring back at you from the screen will have all three, plus an enviable collection of dayglow beachwear. But anyone who's a fan of the genre knows that none of these enviably gorgeous people wake up like this. It takes a lot of work (and money) to look that good.

Getting ready for a reality show is a multilayered effort, and often, the contestants onscreen have less time to gear up than viewers might think. The logistical sprint that ensues after they hear a “yes” from production is its own learning process, and repeat stars get better at figuring out their travel hacks with each new season.

On Netflix’s Perfect Match, everyone is a seasoned pro. The show gathers alums from across the Netflix reality universe (and starting this season, the broader reality TV-dating universe) to see who can build the strongest relationships. Eleven men and 11 women pile into a swanky villa in Tulum, Mexico, where they party, hook up, trade partners and complete challenges to see who is the most compatible. Whichever pair earns the title walks away with a free couples’ vacation.

As the show returns for Season 3 on Aug. 8, we chatted with cast members Amber Desiree “AD” Smith, Juliette Porter and Sandy Gallagher to find out how they prepared to be constantly camera-ready in the tropical heat.

AD Smith

Last seen on: Love Is Blind, Season 6

Estimated cost of show preparation: $5,000 to $6,000

Hot tip: Start shopping online early

Smith stole the hearts of Love Is Blind fans as a reliable, relatable source of commentary on Season 6, and she was open to finding love again on Perfect Match. When she got the final green light to join the cast, Smith tells Yahoo, she had about two weeks to get ready to film.

Then, “it's the reality TV show, hair, nails and clothes Olympics,” she says with a laugh. Because this process can be both a marathon and a sprint, Smith usually gives herself a head start by filling her online shopping carts with items she thinks she’d need for filming around the time that producers tell her she’s being “highly considered.” Then, she does some math.

“You're like, OK, if I'm probably gonna be there for about 30 days ... I need an outfit for relaxing, lunch, breakfast, dinner, dates [and] challenges.” Because Perfect Match involves a lot of pool time, that worked out to an “unlimited” supply of bikinis, plus “maybe 20” of everything else, “just in case.”

While producers typically suggest cast members bring two suitcases for the course of filming, Smith won’t take any risks. “I’ve shown up to sets in these islands with three and four suitcases, and I don’t feel bad about it,” she says.

All told, Smith estimates that her Perfect Match preparations cost somewhere in the thousands. It costs $700 to get her hair braided to withstand the tropical climate, and then she adds clothes, shoes, accessories and cosmetics on top of that. During her first reality show appearance on Love Is Blind, she covered all of her own expenses. This time around, she reveals, “your girl got a little bit blessed” — and brands sent her some supplies, which cut down her costs.

It’s not just about what you wear. Leaving the country means you have to be careful about which skin care products you bring; anything deemed oversize could be confiscated during travel, Smith says. Because of this, she got a facial ahead of the season. Knowing she’d be in a bikini all the time, she upped her usual cardio routine by spinning on her Peloton and doing Pilates.

Smith has two tips for anyone considering going on reality television: Time your Botox carefully and do your own nails.

“I always get my Botox before I get cast, and then I go back to my doctor, and she's like, ‘Absolutely not. I'm not giving you anything else,’” she says. “I haven't been able to get any Botox for my shows because I didn't know I was going to be cast for them, and I got it too soon. But every time I get back [from filming], I go right to my doctor.”

And as for the nails? She says just bring press-ons.

Smith’s biggest regret is getting a Russian manicure, which eventually grew out. She’s since realized that “you can pack your own UV light and do your own nails while you're there. Because once they grow out, it's a wrap.”

Juliette Porter

Last seen on: Siesta Key, Season 5

Estimated spend: More than $6,000

Hot tip: Triple-check your packing list

Porter was still a teenager when Siesta Key first debuted on MTV, in 2017. Her last appearance on the show came in 2022, and Perfect Match marks her first return to reality TV in three years.

While preparing for the show, Porter learned an important lesson — sometimes, it’s not what you spend, but how you spend it. Despite dropping $6,000 on clothes ahead of this season, Porter admits that she still showed up to the beach missing a few essentials.

“I didn't bring enough shoes,” she tells Yahoo, “and that decision is still haunting me, because in the first episode, I'm the only one that isn't wearing heels.”

Porter’s expenses extended beyond her clothes. Before production started, she bought new makeup to avoid running out while filming, got hair extensions, stocked up on self-tanner, had her eyebrows laminated and sprang for a Russian manicure because she heard they were longer lasting. Sadly, the manicure did not live up to its reputation.

“One of my nails popped off on, like, day three,” she says. “I was so mad. I begged [production] for superglue.”

One thing that Porter was pleased with? Her preshow Botox.

“I've had moments where I get Botox done, and I'm like, ‘my eyebrows are lower than they're supposed to be; I'm too frozen,’” she says. “But luckily for this, I think I got it done maybe a couple weeks before, so it set in properly.”

Through the years, Porter has amended her cosmetic enhancements. She no longer gets eyelash extensions because she prefers a more natural look, and while she did not get them done for any show in particular, she’s also offered fans details about her breast augmentation and nonsurgical rhinoplasty on social media. In our interview, Porter calls the latter procedure “incredible.”

“I liked my nose before, but I had a bridge on my nose, and she was able to basically give me a straight nose — kind of lift the tip up a little bit,” Porter says. “It's all essentially an illusion, and it's painless and easy and doesn't require anything under the knife.”

Sandy Gallagher

Last seen on: The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On, Season 3

Estimated spend: Somewhere in the thousands

Hot tip: Bring a portable hair straightener

Fans first met Gallagher on 2024’s The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On. Coming into Perfect Match, she’s the first to admit that she focused more on finding the cutest outfits and bikinis than on how much all of her preparations cost. Case in point: She brought one suitcase with just shoes.

“You know girls,” Gallagher tells Yahoo. “We want to wear new things for every event we go to. So I was like, ‘OK, I gotta get new workout clothes, new cocktail dresses, new bikinis, shoes, everything, makeup, hair.’”

Gallagher tried out hair extensions for the first time ahead of this season, which factored into the cost to maintain her look onscreen.

“I had to get all these new hair products, because we're in 100-degree humidity,” she says. One particular investment she made turned out to be a godsend: her portable hair straightener.

“You spend so much time getting ready in the car, honestly — waiting for filming and production,” Gallagher says. “I would never know that, had I not already gone through another show before.”

She got the straightener for touch-ups on the go.

“I was a little more prepared this time,” she said.

When it comes to skin care, Gallagher says, “I like to keep my face and my everything looking very natural, but obviously, just enhance where we can.”

For her, that included microneedling facials and around three Botox sessions per year (which cost around $500 an appointment).

“We don't want to go crazy on the fillers or different surgeries,” she says.

She does her own eyebrows, so she managed to save money there. One beauty procedure she loved? Having her lips blushed last summer, which essentially gave her permanent lip liner.

Like Porter, Gallagher stocked up on self-tanner ahead of filming, and to the envy of many, she also brought press-on nails and extra glue into the villa. “I, luckily, didn't have any issues with my nails,” she says.