Yahoo News Zoë Kravitz's Approach To Beauty Is So Refreshing
The music is deafening. Sitting in a tight corner of a room lit entirely by harsh red light, Zoë Kravitz and I are chatting about beauty when, somewhere in the vicinity, a phone keeps ringing. And ringing. Brinnng. But you can barely hear it over the thumping music and party chatter. I ignore it and keep asking questions. The lip-shaped telephones placed at the center of every lounge table are, of course, part of a gag at this YSL beauty party in Paris. Kravitz keeps looking around to see if anyone else is perturbed by the noise. Eventually she pauses our conversation, apologizes, and walks over to the ringing culprit at a stranger's table. Bending down, she picks up the lip phone. "Hello?" There's nobody really on the other line. But in that moment I realized why Kravitz-a YSL beauty muse, actress, and musician-has had such a meteoric career rise. It's not because she's the coolest girl in any room (though I'm sure that helps). And it's not because of her insane talent or familiar surname. It's because she's not afraid to answer the call-literally and figuratively. She could have easily asked someone on her team to deal with the phone, but that's just not her style. Kravitz is fearless when it comes to her career and her beauty looks. She's willing to undergo a complete transformation-even if it means shaving her head (a buzz cut might just be in her future). In our conversation below, Kravitz touches on how she relates beauty and health, joining the Lestrange lineage, and why going platinum was even more dramatic than it seemed.
HB: I want to start by learning your everyday beauty philosophy- what is your routine?
ZK: It's very simple. I think less is more in terms of makeup in general. I will always cover a pimple, though, I am vain in that way. I am so not about to leave the house with a pimple out. So not foundation, but something that will highlight, cover-up. And I will usually do a brow, I think it's something that is, especially being blonde, it's not makeup, but it's something that's a little more dramatic. Then something like a highlighter on the cheek. Just a fresh, daily thing-nothing too crazy.
HB: What is your earliest beauty memory?
ZK: Earliest beauty memory…. I always messed around with makeup. From a very early age, my mom would let me play with hers, and my grandma, and my aunts and stuff were always like, 'Let me put lipstick on her!' that they'd have in their purse. But I think just from a very young age I've had fun with makeup.
HB: Did you pick up any beauty tips from anyone in your family? Your mom, your dad, anyone?
ZK: The thing that they've always taught me is that beauty comes from the inside, and also that beauty stems from health. If you're not taking care of yourself, lipstick and foundation isn't really going to do anything for you. If your eyes aren't clear, your skin isn't taken care of, and you're not hydrated and eating well-all those things matter-so it's something that I really want to push when I'm talking about beauty. So that young people that are coming into their own don't think, 'Oh, what matters is the stuff I put on top of my face.'No, have to take care of your body, you have to rest, drink water, try to eat well, and then on top of that, you use makeup to highlight your beauty that comes from your health.
HB: Do you find that tricky since you're traveling so often?
ZK: I do find that hard, but there are so many tricks, like putting Neosporin in your nose on planes, and I always have echinacea with me, and I try and drink a ton of water. I try and use steam rooms and sweat things out. Travel sometimes can be difficult. I landed here yesterday, and to come here and represent a beauty company, you have to look good. So it's napping and sleeping, and not drinking on the plane. It's those little sacrifices that will ultimately make you look and feel better.
HB: And you're having a green juice right now!
ZK: It has vodka in it, though. [laughs]
HB: Let's talk about your next projects. You've had a couple of great things come out already-Big Little Lies is so good-but what are you looking forward to next?
ZK: Well, there are things that are coming out that I'm really excited about. There's a film called, I think it's called Rough Night now. The name was changed! It was originally called Rock That Body, Move That Body with Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Ilana Glazer, and Jillian Bell. It's about a badass chick crew, directed by a woman as well, and that's coming out in June. I'm just excited to see that because we had so much fun making it, and women being funny is epic. And then I have a film called Kin with James Franco, which is going to be really interesting, about a kid finding an alien gun and going on a road trip. I'm playing an exotic dancer that they meet on the road. And I'm doing Fantastic Beasts 2 this summer, I'll be shooting that in June or July. And I just finished recording my record, so we're kinda in post-production now, mixing and stuff. I have a lot on my plate at the moment.
HB: You have a lot going on!
ZK: I kinda feel like I don't have anything to do, because I'm not shooting, and I just finished the record. Being home is like a vacation to me, so I'm trying to get my home together.
HB: Let's talk about Fantastic Beasts. I feel like there are so many expectations behind it, since you're joining this family that everyone knows.
ZK: Yes, definitely there's a lot of expectations. I'm more excited than I am nervous, because I feel like the group of people-even when I shot that one day, when I did my camera test with Eddie-everyone is so warm and so genuinely excited about being in that world. The environment is incredible, and they were very welcoming to me, and JK is so involved. The cast and David the director are so incredible, so it's more like I'm ready to jump in. I'm really excited.
HB: You're the YSL muse, so what are you top three favorite products?
ZK: So Touche Éclatis like an always have it, never not have it product, and Couture Brow is also really great. There's a marker and a mascara, and I use both of them. The marker will make it a little more intense, like fill it in a little more. There's color in the mascara, and I think that's really great because a brushed-up brow with a little bit of color is instantly very chic looking. Even like getting off a plane, Touche Éclat and the brow is all you need. And then their lipsticks, all their shades, are great, I have some red tones that I use for more of a night thing. And then there's the really thick eyeliners-the Kajals! Those are amazing. There's a dark green one that almost looks black, and then you get closer and it's a pop of color.
HB: And you don't have to spend like an hour painting your face!
ZK: No! It's very simple. And that's my approach to makeup in general, highlight something, what you love about yourself, but don't cover anything up, or distract from what you actually look like.
HB: And I feel like your glam team is really good about that, because they leave your freckles be.
ZK: Yes. I feel like whole idea with makeup is that I don't want anyone to think, 'Oh she's wearing makeup.' I just want them to think, 'Oh she looks good!' So when you look cakey, or you have too much on, and you actually see the makeup, the makeup isn't doing its job. When you use the makeup in a way where the people aren't thinking about the makeup, and they're looking at you, that's what we want.
HB: Finally, I want to know about your hair. You made a huge splash when you went platinum! So tell me what that process was like.
ZK: I did it for a film, I actually did it for the film Kin that I was talking about.
HB: Were you nervous?
ZK: I was, I was wanting to do it for awhile. I thought the platinum and the braids would be like an interesting combo that we hadn't really seen before. It was cool to do it for a character, and it really made that character specific. I'm still able to be me, but not the me that people really know. And then I was into it, but it's so intense for your hair. So I was like, let's keep it for awhile, because I probably won't do it again. The first time I did it, it was a lot of work to bleach all my hair-it was intense. And I had to do it a few times to get it lighter. And now the roots, they're okay–I had to unbraid my hair, bleach it, braid my hair– so it takes one full day. About 24 hours a month goes to my hair right now [laughs]. And bleaching your hair is hard, it's hard on your hair, so eventually I think it's going to have to be a buzz cut or something.
HB: Well I think people look to you as a hair icon –
ZK: Really!?!?
HB: Yes, it's true!
ZK: I feel like I'm boring because I have these braids all the time!
HB: But you don't see a lot of women wearing them.
ZK: Well, that was also my reason for keeping them for so long was that, black women have kinky hair, and we think we have limitations on what we can do. It's interesting that people think, 'Oh this is the only thing they can do.' But if you have blonde, straight hair and don't change it for 20 years-nobody thinks about it. Nobody says anything! But you have these, and people are like, 'You haven't done anything in so long!' It's my hair, it's how I wear my hair, and it can work in so many different characters and stories. I will change my hair or wear wigs or cut if off, for work and for a character, but there's also tons of different characters that can have hair like this. So I think its important to represent black women and our natural hair. Not wearing a weave is totally beautiful and acceptable.
HB: Is that what you look for, roles that allow you to be yourself?
ZK: No, because I like transforming. I'm totally down with doing what I need to do to make that person come to life. It's more about remembering what we're used to seeing as normal has a little bit of yourself, not everyone looks like me – and to bring that to the character. I think that's important because women that look like me need to see more of themselves in social media, in film, in music, so I try and rep!
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