Beauty Detail
The Cult Favorite Beauty Device Kristen Bell Can't Live Without
The actor shares her entire skin care routine.
In Bustle’s Beauty Detail, we dive into the beauty bags of our favorite talents for intel on the rituals that keep them glowing and the MVPs (most valuable products) they can't live without. Here, Kristen Bell tells Bustle about her very chill beauty routine and her go-to self-care practice.
Kristen Bell isn't interested in a maximalist skin care routine or a 10-step makeup look. “It has to be easy. I don’t want a product that has a crazy-specific way to apply it or has to be done at a certain time,” she tells me over the phone. As she talks about her beauty regimen, it becomes clear the actor and entrepreneur has a very chill approach toward skin, hair, and makeup.
Her routine has gotten even more minimal over the past year in quarantine. “I’ll go weeks without having anything on my skin makeup-wise,” she says. That said, she’s just like everyone else who picks up an eyeshadow palette or a lipstick out of boredom: “Sometimes I’ll just remember how fun it is to play with colors and do a full face of makeup with lashes for no reason whatsoever."
Her go-to beauty look? “There’s nothing that makes me feel more pulled together than a bright lip,” she tells me. “I find that even on my sixth day of wearing my sweatsuits, I’ll put on a bright lip and I’ll be like, ‘Welcome back.’”
When asked about her hair care routine, Bell says she doesn't have one at all. "The only way it's changed [over quarantine] is that I really applied the lyrics, 'If you can see it from the front, wait till you see it from the back,' because it's two different people," she jokes. "When I'm on Zoom, I absolutely only do the front and the sides, and the back is whatever it is. If it's matted from the pillow, no one can see it — so my thought is, who cares?"
Bell's affinity toward easy, multi-purpose beauty led her to launch her own line of skin care products. Her brand Happy Dance — which officially launches on Ulta's website March 5 and in more than 500 stores March 15 — harnesses the soothing powers of CBD with its self-care essentials, and Bell says the multi-use aspect of each product within the collection was important to her. "The goal behind Happy Dance was to create three products that fit into your normal beauty routine," she says. "They all sort of come to you and it's [all about] ease of use."
One Happy Dance product she's been particularly into lately? The Stress Away CBD Bath Bombs — because her bathroom is the only place where she can really indulge in some alone time. "Here's what I've found about the bath," says Bell. "As a mother of two young children, there's no way to escape them. It doesn't matter if there's a lock on the door — their fingers are coming under. The only place you can escape to is the bathtub, because nobody wants to see their mom naked. It's perfect. So once a week I get 20 minutes of solitude, and the CBD bath bomb is the perfect thing to use."
As for the rest of her beauty routine, here's what's in her current rotation.
Her Fave Lipstick
"My absolute number one go-to [lip] is the color Perfect Day by Ilia. I love, love, love Ilia lipstick — they're super moisturizing but they don't smear. I love Perfect Day because it's not red, it's not pink, it's not too light... it's really the epitome of a lipstick color. Like what you'd see on Mad Men." [Editor's note: Perfect Day is discontinued.]
Her Multi-Purpose Balm
"I didn't realize this when we were developing it, but [this product] really does it all. It can be my moisturizer. I use it as a hair mask. I use it after I shave my legs. I use it as my eye makeup remover. I use it as my cuticle cream, and as a lip balm — I've yet to find something it doesn't work for. There are just two ingredients — the full-spectrum CBD and the coconut oil. I carry it in my purse, and it's been a real lifesaver."
Her Go-To Fragrance
"Fragrance affects my mood. I don't use too much, but I like it to feel clean and light. I just switched what I use, but it's the same brand, Nemat. My mom used to wear white musk when I was little — she wore Jovan White Musk from the drugstore, and I loved it so much that now I've started wearing this white musk oil. I just put a tiny bit on my wrist and behind my ears every morning."
Her Everyday Beauty Tool
"I'm absolutely addicted to my Clarisonic. My skin can't do any of the resurfacing peels or glycolic acid or anything like that, so I've had to find a way to exfoliate in a non-irritating fashion. The Clarisonic allows me enough turnover of my skin cells each day without it being irritated. If I don't use it for three days, I do notice that I'll break out simply because the dead skin is building up. If it ever breaks, I'll have to buy it on the black market — hell or high water, I will have one of them in my hands."
Her Makeup Essential
"I'm usually using a makeup product like the Tata Harper [multi-use] pot that can be used on my eyelids, on my cheeks, and on my lips and be done with it. I love the Tata Harper one so much because it's this gorgeous terracotta color."
Her Fave Moisturizer
"As I've gotten older, my skin has just wanted more and more moisture, and I oddly feel that's what's kept it looking young. It's sort of the equivalent of those 80-year-old women you see in Greece who still look 30 because they apply olive oil on their face. I'm using the cream by La Mer right now and I love it."
