Model and actor Andie MacDowell is one of the longest-serving spokespeople for L’Oréal Paris. She spoke to Britten Fashion‘s senior beauty and wellness editor, Lauren Murdoch-Smith, during a trip to Cannes with L’Oréal Paris, the festival’s official sponsor.
On her approach to daily skin care and makeup
I moisturize a lot, non-stop! I also can’t leave the house without doing my eyebrows. One thing that happens as you get older is that you start to lose your eyebrows, so don’t pluck your eyebrows, which is something I tell my daughters. I always fill in and build up my brows, and that helps frame your face – it just wakes you up, brings your face to life. I also like a little blush, but it looks like I’ve been out in the sun or working out because I always look pretty when I’ve worked out, so I get to different places than people would normally blush.
About glamor makeup
When I do glam makeup, I like to wear a strong eye. I like what my makeup team did last night [at the amfAR gala]. You think that as you get older you won’t be able to do such brave things anymore, but I don’t think that’s true at all. I think you can do it forever. I mean, look at Vivienne Westwood. She looked fantastic. You know, I think it’s good to be brave. Sometimes I want to go for a softer, softer, fresher look, but sometimes it’s good to be a little provocative. Wear a stronger look and bring out that energy. I like that too.
About seasonal beauty
I always moisturize and also wear a lot of sunscreen because I live by the beach. I have to put it on. I don’t change that much from season to season, but sometimes I do change my nail polish! I think summer calls for corals or peachy colors and you also have to think about your skin tone if you have a tan, and then of course in the winter or around Christmas it turns red, right? As you enter fall, you may be thinking of more fall colors. You could even consider that with lipstick. So the colors I use match my skin. You may want to apply a little gold shimmer depending on whether you get sun or not. For me, I can’t help but absorb the sun – even when I put on sunscreen – I absorb the sun so my skin gets tanned. That’s really how I wear color, by looking at the color of my skin and accentuating my skin with my makeup.
About any beauty or wellness lessons passed on to her daughters
I think they absorbed a lot of things growing up in my house. But you know, I always want my kids, all three of my kids, to wear sunscreen because my dad had skin cancer, so it runs in the family. And I have to be careful with that too. Both of us [Margaret] do yoga, love our sleep and eat very well. She was also a dancer, so she is very disciplined.
I used to do spa times with both my girls, which was fun, one of the best times. It’s my fondest memory with my girls: they would always talk to me when I was in the bath, they would put their feet in it and we would stay there for a long time. I miss those days; I should persuade them to come over sometime and do it again!
About the feature film she likes most about herself
I’m not ashamed to say it because I thought that might sound like something, you know [arrogant]– but knowing how many people I’ve helped by embracing my curly hair, it has to be my hair. I have people come up to me all the time and say, “You helped me like my hair!” I guess it’s not always the most popular. Mine is very curly, but also a bit frizzy. I don’t mind – I like it and I’ve helped women embrace theirs. My hair is very curly, and it’s very frizzy, very curly and I like it! So if it helps other people say, “Oh, okay, I like it too,” then I like mine too. It’s interesting because a lot of women struggle with that. They don’t like it. It’s nice to have your hair blow-dried for events, but I would never do it in my everyday life. I’m looking forward to washing my hair and just letting it be its curly self and just let it do what it wants.
