NSMBL got the chance to talk to Kristen Stewart about her newest collaboration and her personal favourites, something that was hard to refuse of course! We were allowed to ask the beautiful actress, who just became the face of the new scent ‘Rosabotanica’ by Balenciaga, all kinds of questions. Kristen has started to like the fashion industry more and finds it more interesting, and she is very proud of her new campaign. Curious to see how the production happened behind the scenes, which products Kristen likes to use and how she feels about constantly being in the spotlight.
How does it feel to be chosen by such an iconic brand, Balenciaga, to become the face of the new perfume Rosabotanica?
It’s really incredible. I immediately took the chance to work with Nicolas Ghesquière. I met him during a photo-shoot when I was very young and he was the one who showed me how creative and unique fashion can be. When he called me for this product, I was very enthusiastic. It’s really cool because I usually make movies and this is not really my area. In this way I can combine the best of both.
In what way does this perfume fit your personality?
I sincerely think it’s a wonderful scent; Florabotanica (predecessor of Rosabotanica) I have used for a while now. When I was younger, I didn’t often wear perfume but this perfume showed me that it can really complete your look. I love using Florabotanica in the morning, it’s more natural and light. Rosabotanica is very similar, but it is more daring and stronger and it’s ideal for nights, to go to a party or dinner for example.
Mehr vom Interview Nach dem *KLICK*.
The Cut “Kristen, you have a little something in your hair,” one of Kristen Stewart’s people says during our interview in her hotel room, flicking a little piece of fuzz out of her side-parted hair. She turns back to me, mock-yelling. “Thanks a lot! You weren’t going to tell me it was there?” Stewart is nonchalant about the fuzz because 1. Her hair looks glossy and good anyway; and 2. She doesn’t spend much time thinking about beauty. Throughout our interview about her beauty routine and her repeat involvement with Balenciaga as the face of its new fragrance, Rosabotanica, Stewart has to resist the urge to air-quote the word beauty. The Cut talked to Stewart about her preference for puffy faces, gardenias, and hatred for hotel shampoo.Mehr vom Interview nach dem *KLICK*.
The Cut: How do you use scent as part of your acting process?
KS: Whenever I encounter a product that I’ve used on a previous movie, it will take me right back. [Snaps.) Sometimes there will be things I can’t use, even though it might work for a beauty regimen or something that works for the character. I’ll literally have to find another product to use.
So, something like really basic dry shampoo. I used it on The Runaways, and Joan uses that as well. I couldn’t use it anymore. I was just too reminiscent. Also certain lotions, and Rosebud, that chapstick in a tub? Rosebud lip salve. I used that on some movie when I was younger and then I used it again. And then it was like Whoa. It was too much. But with fragrance, no, it’s not a huge part of my process.
Claire UK Kristen Stewart is a red carpet natural, gracing the press pens with such elegance and ease – but the star admits that she hasn’t always been so comfortable with her style choices. While talking to the A-list actress in New York last week, we grilled her on style, beauty, and whether she has any wardrobe regrets (surely not) as she prepares to launch her latest partnership with Balenciaga, Rosabotanica.
‘Yeah, totally. Let’s see. Defnitely, I mean I’ve been doing it for a while so I’ve definitely seen fashions and been like “woah”,’ she said.
‘It shouldn’t be embarrassing because I was so young, but it doesn’t even matter how young you are, you’re just so, so embarrassed.’
Mehr vom Interview nach dem *KLICK*.
Style.com Sitting down with Kristen Stewart, I knew I wasn’t in for an interview with your typical, perky perfume spokeswoman who wants to pose for selfies and gab about her go-to mascara (although I asked). She was surprisingly real—wearing a black Balenciaga leather jacket, no nail polish, and her signature mussed-up waves. She was also very candid about the fact that what you see on the red carpet is the product of a talented team—she wakes up with “raccoon eyes” just like the rest of us. And if you’re wondering: She smiled andlaughed. Here, Stewart reveals her thoughts on the new Rosabotanica fragrance from Balenciaga (for which she is the face) and the two things you’ll never see her wear.
What do you like most about Rosabotanica?
It’s the perfect counterpart to Florabotanica, which I really grew to love and use constantly. I haven’t had much experience with fragrance, so it’s nice to expand my collection—even though I’m at two right now. It’s slightly warmer and a bit more bold; you get a lot of the rose in there. I might wear it at night versus day.
Where do you spritz it?
Classic spots: two under the neck and one over what I’m wearing so it stays on the clothes. Neither of them is too in-your-face—Florabotanica even less than Rosa.
Mehr vom Interview nach dem *KLICK*.
NSMBL: ...
Have you ever made a beauty/fashion blunder, for example by following a trend or wearing something you just don’t like anymore?
When I started in the world of red carpets and events I was still so young; when I look back now to what I was wearing then, I think ‘what was I thinking’ but it’s what I liked at that moment. When I was a child I really had no idea, which is actually kind of cute. I dressed like a little boy, which made me look a lot like my brother.
What are your favourite products that you use regularly?
A good moisturizer is very important, I love Dermalogica and Dr. Hauscka – and I also use Proactiv. Besides that I love dry shampoo and hair powder to volumize my hair. It’s not good to wash your hair frequently. It’s actually just important to stay healthy. Get exercise, eat well and every once in a while some green juice for an energy boost. I don’t really use a lot of make-up; at most I use a tinted moisturize because it’s better for your skin than a foundation.
What is the last thing you bought that you got really excited about?
Probably a pair of good sneakers. I don’t usually get excited from buying beauty products; usually more from a nice jacket or shoes.
How does it feel to be a beauty and fashion icon?
Thankfully it all went very naturally, it’s not something I really stop and think about daily. I realise that it’s very special that I get to wear the most beautiful dresses to events and that I’m meeting so many creative and interesting people. Some people don’t even realise how cool they are; you have those people who walk into a room and can fill that room with their energy. It’s really an honour to work with those people and be a part of the industry.
Is it sometimes scary to know that the whole world is watching you and judging everything you do and wear?
You can never make everybody happy, that’s something that I’ve really learned. My goal is to consciously try not to try to make everyone happy. If that’s something you want to accomplish in your life it’s really scary: you can never please everybody. As long as you make your own decision and do thing because it feels good to you, there will always be people who agree and people who don’t. It actually doesn’t even matter. Because at the end of the day, who really gives a shit what dress I’m wearing?
The Cut: ...
The Cut: What was your first scent memory?
KS: My favorite flower is a gardenia. My grandma had a big gardenia bush. And gardenias aren’t that common. When you find them, it’s always like, Oh, nice. And it’s my favorite flower now too, because of that.
The Cut: How was the creative process for Florabotanica different than Rosabotanica?
KS: My involvement didn’t change much, to be honest. I get to use it. I have nothing to do with making the fragrance. I just get to stand by and watch people do awesome things. I’m really close with Nicolas [Ghesquière] and this whole story behind it has been really cool. You don’t always find, in fashion, such developed stories. Sometimes it’s a bit more about how something looks, and ends there. Or with fragrance, this is a pretty picture and sells this perfume. This is a little more fun because it is about telling a story. That’s whyI’m into it and why I got into acting.
Florabotanica and Rosabotanica have the same setting. But with Rosabotanica, it’s about someone who has turned from a wide-eyed, yet hungry, fresh, green person. It’s someone who has been in this extreme environment and survived it. She’s grown with it. She’s taken the aspects she’s appreciated out of that environment and ignored the rest. She becomes a part of her environment instead of becoming this Alice in Wonderland type of girl who’s looking around and doesn’t recognize anything. It’s growing on her.
The Cut: What has surprised you about scent?
KS: Probably that I like it? I was never really a fan of the idea of putting on some synthetic scent. I didn’t like the idea of it. But when I started using it, it became a part of me. It felt natural.
Some perfumes just smell awful. They smell like your grandmother. This one never did to me. I genuinely use Flora all the time. Rosabotanica is a deeper scent to me than Flora. In this one, the rose is pretty strong. It’s [a] muskier fragrance. It’s the nighttime version, more serious. This is vague and kind of silly, but it’s like New York versus L.A. Or night versus day. Or red versus white. It’s the darker version of it.
The Cut: I saw you got rid of your cornrows.
Yeah, I took those out literally yesterday. They last about a week or so, if you are hard on your hair, which I am. I’ll re-do it at some point. I liked having it. It’s comfortable and keeps my hair out of my face. And I liked the way it looked. But you need to re-do it once a week, or else it will start to look gross. They were fuzzy.
The Cut: What is your beauty routine like?
KS: I use Proactiv. It works. It’s really good. I’ve used it for a long time. I’m reliant on it. I use their three-step [system]. And I try to moisturize more than I ever had. Apparently, that’s good for you. That’s about it. I drink a lot of water. Like, if you don’t drink water, you look awful. If you do, that’s a huge part of my “beauty” regimen, I guess.
I use mascara, eyeliner, and maybe some concealer. Chapstick. I don’t like color on my lips unless I’m doing full-on.
I don’t do much with my hair. When I’m working, I treat it so often. There’s heat or color on it. When I’m not working, I just like to let it be healthy. I don’t wash it every day. I like to switch up my shampoo. I like Kerastase a lot. I like using, going back and forth, using fully organic. People give me a lot of shampoo and conditioner, so I’m always like, what is that? I don’t always necessarily know what I’m using.
The Cut: So you’re not using hotel shampoo.
KS: I hate when I forget shampoo and I have to use it. Only because afterwards it feels bone-dry.
The Cut: Or it feels limp.
KS: Or that. And flat. Totally.
The Cut: How do you view beauty and your beauty regimen as part of your day-to-day routine?
KS: I’m super lucky because my job allows me to have fun and take things to the extremes. When I’m not working, I have a really basic regimen. I don’t think too much about my clothes [gesturing]. I don’t wear a lot of makeup. I’m always striving to get to the point where I look like I’ve woken up in the last hour. You know that look you get when you’re fresh-faced? You’re a little puffy but looking really good? That’s what I like.
The Cut: How do you keep that going throughout the day?
KS: I mean. It doesn’t. But that’s okay. I just like it when people look like they’re not trying. And the only way to do that is by not trying.
Claire UK: ...
We can’t imagine Kristen has anything to be embarrassed about when it comes to her sartorial choices. But she said: ‘I think the pictures that they took at the premiere of Panic Room. It’s like a popular image to show from when I was younger, you know, like “she was a kid!”. And I look at that and I’m like “Oh… my… gosh”.
‘I had like these baby hairs and I was being weird about them, so I was like, “I’m just gonna cut them off”. And I had like these little things like poking out from under my hair and behind my ears, and a ridiculous outfit. I did not know how to get dressed up at that age at all, I didn’t even know what I liked. I was just like completely… a goofy kid.
‘But it’s just funny to see like that goofy kid version – [because] when I should really be looking at old school photos, I’m looking at a red carpet photo.’
She told us: ‘I definitely look back and think, “Oh that wasn’t my best choice”, or that it was so obvious that I wasn’t comfortable in that. But at the same time, you know, I liked it then – you can’t really have too many regrets.
‘It is a good feeling though, when you get it right and you can walk tall. It shows, everyone can see that.”
Style.com: ...
Before you were introduced to Balenciaga, what was your go-to scent?
This is where I started. I started doing this when I was 22 or something. Possibly 21. I hadn’t really experimented with using fragrance.
So there wasn’t even a bit of Curve or cucumber melon body mist in the mix as a teenager?
No, I wasn’t that type of teenager. I started off well [she said, pointing to the fragrance].
Growing up in a family of all boys, how did you learn about beauty?
Sort of by default. It was never a huge priority for me when I was younger. It was something I had to do for my job and something that I always strained to do. I think I noticed a pointed difference in how I approached this whole world when I met Nicolas [Ghesquière] on a photo shoot. It was really concept-oriented, beautiful, and elaborate—the same energy I really appreciate on a movie set was on this photo shoot [with Bruce Weber for Interview]. [Nicolas] was so awesome and driven and clearly a very talented artist. He opened my eyes to that side of things. I would probably be a very different version of myself without [all this]. It pulls out slightly more buried sides of you. I grew up as a full-on tomboy—looked like a boy until I turned 15.
Somehow, I don’t think that’s possible.
Dude, you could not decipher between my brother and me.
Was your hair really short?
Yeah. I wore his clothes, full on didn’t care at all about anything—I realized I was a girl when I turned 14. It’s been a slow, steady progression, but looking at things now from the outside, I’m super into it. I like the extremes of [beauty]—I like that you can go really hard to one side or the other. I don’t like that middle ground that’s deemed “pretty” [she said, using air quotes].
We often see you in a smoky eye, but rarely a bright lip. Why?
I like a nude lip more, but I don’t like anything in between. So you’re right, if I’m going to do a lip, I’m going to do a lip. I’m going to do a really bold, deep color—usually red. Usually it coincides with the outfit; it depends on what I’m wearing. When it works, I think it really works.
What is the best beauty tip you’ve ever learned?
Water and sleep.
I suppose both are a rare indulgence for all of us.
If you think about it and you’re feeling kinda rough, if you just give yourself a nice week of treating yourself really well, you’ll look better. This is so lame—my answers are ridiculous right now—but if you’re happy, you look better. If you stay positive—negative people just walk around and…
Yep, nobody likes a negative Nancy.
The only reason I’m saying this is because I genuinely don’t have these beauty tips, but I try not to wash my hair so much because it gets dry. And that’s about it.
So how do you get your perfectly undone waves?
Well, my hairstylist woke up really early…I don’t really like to use too much heat on my hair when I’m not working. I think he used a few loose curlers and sort of [finger-combed] and used a little bit of hairspray. My hair was really clean, too, which usually I don’t like. I like to add volume with dry shampoo and mousse—I like to gunk it up. So I’m feeling fresh today!
You’ve had various hair colors, ranging from blond to black. Which do you think suits your personality best?
Probably brown hair. When I’m blond, I feel very blond. I like having darker hair, but to have jet-black hair, it is a thing. It becomes your look a little bit. I like to stay neutral. When I’m not working, I like to be ready to sort of—it sounds lame—but transform. If I’m ever definitively something, I’m always like, Oh, God, well now I’m going to have to change that soon anyway. It’s always very fleeting.
You’re famous for your porcelain complexion. What’s your secret?
I use the Proactiv [three-step system]. It really works for me. I’ve used it since I was a teenager and I just sort of kept it going. And if I stop [my skin] will go crazy. Maybe that’s not true, but I’m just going to hold onto it while it’s working. I try to moisturize a little bit more because it has a tendency to dry your skin out a little bit. I like Dr. Hauschka and Dermalogica [products].
Do you have any tricks for getting a smoky eye—at least when you’re doing it yourself?
Yes, that’s a very different situation. I’m actually really lucky because I don’t have to do much makeup because I have raccoon eyes—they are so dark. It’s good and bad for me—it’s not just the top, it’s the bottom, too. That I roll with. I use concealer for the bottom. I use black eyeliner and mascara messily, smudge it, and literally that’s it.
What are your go-to goods for that look?
I switch it around often. I’m given a lot of makeup, so I just use what I have. I’m not that specific. It’s fun when you do find something that really is awesome.
So what’s an example of a product that’s really awesome?
There’s actually this [black] eyeliner from Topshop. It’s inexpensive, really good—I buy five of them at a time because they stop making stuff like that. You’ll find something you really dig, and then it’s gone.
What is your biggest beauty mistake?
There have definitely been a few because I’ve been doing this stuff since I was so young. Literally, at 12 or 13 I was walking my first few red carpets. So I bet if I looked back through a few of those photos…I mean, it doesn’t really matter because I was 12, 13, or 14, so it’s hard to harshly judge myself—but I’m like, What were you thinking?! But I do take credit for all of it, the good and the bad. I was into it then, so there ya go.
Gotta own it. So who is your beauty icon now?
I just worked with Juliette Binoche, and really, it’s alarming almost, her beauty. When she walks into a room, people gravitate toward her. You can’t help but look at her. This might sound a little ridiculous, but genuinely she has a grace that’s undeniable. She’s really a woman to look up to. She’s amazing.
Is there something you would never try, like, say, teal eyeshadow?
I feel like I’ve done teal eyeshadow! I probably wouldn’t do black lipstick, unless we were doing some weird, high-concept shoot, which could be cool.
Never say never, I guess.
I don’t like peplums [she says with gusto]. It’s insane that they exist. There are one or two things that the stylist I’ve worked with since I was kid, since I was literally 13, will never get me in—like a high-heeled boot.
Wait, why?
They’re great on other people. I just have this very odd aversion to high-heeled boots and peplums.
Hey, everyone has their thing. What was it like to play a female soldier in Camp X-Ray?
She’s an interesting girl, that character, because the times where she feels most comfortable and most like herself is definitely when she’s in uniform. So trying to find her outside of uniform was interesting because it was very bare, but not necessarily in a good way. She has to build herself up a little bit before that vulnerability is an attractive quality. Every time she put on the uniform, it was like you bind the hair, you wear no makeup, don’t pluck your eyebrows, and you take any chance of being considered pretty away. It’s like you’re not going to think about it, it’s not even an option. My makeup artist was awesome. She added a lot of freckles and made me a little bit sun-damaged—it was really subtle, you wouldn’t notice unless I said it. Then you’d be like, Wow, I can’t believe that’s makeup.
So I assume that meant less time in hair and makeup every day?
It was really quick. It was pretty amazing.
Of all the characters you’ve played over the years, whose beauty look do you identify with the most?
It’s tough because the characters I’ve played are very specific and slightly extreme, like the ones who actually have definitive looks—like Joan [Jett]. Some of the other parts that I’ve played are just very normal, just a girl. In a very boring way, just because I’m fairly simple and practical—I’m sure people will love this—but Bella in Twilight is pretty straightforward. And to be honest, that’s very much like who I am. At the same time, if I think about what I aspire to…all of the characters in On the Road, as much as it’s a period piece and it’s hard to identify with the specific clothes, the garments themselves, the way they wore them is so cool. We’re not used to wearing dresses and stockings, but they were. So it was taking those things and making it look like it’s not formal in any way. I like things that look lived-in.
As long as they’re not a peplum or a high boot.
Absolutely not.
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