Gwen Stefani Interview Urban Decay Collaboration

She hates the color purple.

Image Source: Kirbie Johnson

Well, she used to! "One of the colors I always hated my whole life is purple," said Gwen. Urban Decay's signature color is purple, which could be awkward. "It was weird, because I was, like, 'Wow, (Wende Zomnir, cofounder of Urban Decay) really likes purple, and I really like her, but how do I relate to that?'"

But Gwen explained how changes over the past couple of years have encouraged her to try new things. Accepting the color purple was metaphorical for accepting bigger adjustments in her life.

"Over the course of the last two years, things have happened and changed, obviously. Like the last Harajuku collection I did, I let lavender be a part of it,” she explained. "I know this is really dumb . . . but I thought, 'Gosh, maybe I need to like purple now that I'm in this new life!' And I bought a pair of purple underwear! I just had this weird revelation that now it all makes sense."

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She has a favorite filter.

Image Source: Instagram user kirbiejohnson

Perhaps it isn't her favorite, but after the interview and before some selfies went down, she grabbed my phone, picked the iPhone filter "Instant," and started snapping away. The rock star knows how to work her angles!

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If she wasn't a performer, she'd be a makeup artist.

Image Source: POPSUGAR Studios / Alex Van Brande

And her first job was doing makeup in a mall! "They just put you back there, no training," Gwen said. "That was my dream. If I wasn't what I am now, I'd be a makeup artist.”

(Pictured: swatches of every shadow in the Gwen Stefani x Urban Decay palette.)

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She doesn't know how to perfect a smoky eye.

Image Source: POPSUGAR Studios / Alex Van Brande

Gwen tends to stay consistent with her makeup, and as we went through all the shades in the palette, she explained which shades she wears the most. Her two go-to highlighters are Blonde and Bathwater; Steady is her base. Baby, Anaheim, and Zone are also among her favorites.

"When I wear makeup, I'm not that adventurous," Gwen said. "I have my thing that I do and that I've always done. I wanted something that was super reflective of what I wear every day."

When it comes to the bolder colors in the palette — all found in the last row — she has a strategy when wearing them: Harajuku, the blue-pink, is worn with lots of lashes. She'll use Danger, the navy, as a liner. And she'd use Serious and Blackout for a smoky eye, but even though she's great at doing her makeup and creating her signature look, she admitted she's not good at doing a smoky eye on herself.

Overall, she wants everyone to know that while the shades aren't going to be as bold as she sometimes gets with her hair color, the palette reflects who she is. "Some people will be surprised that it's kind of neutral," she said, "but if you go back and look at my makeup, that's who I am."

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Her first Urban Decay product is a classic.

Image Source: Urban Decay Cosmetics

When asked about her first memory of using Urban Decay, Gwen told us it's a cult classic! Gash — a dark, cool-toned red lipstick — was the first product that introduced her to the brand. It's a bit darker than the red she wears now, but it seems fitting that Gwen would gravitate to such a sultry shade.

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That furry bra moment might not have happened.

Image Source: WireImage/Barry King

Gwen admitted she wasn't always such a beauty buff, explaining how that infamous fuzzy bra look came to fruition . . .

"I was so naive — I didn't know what was good or cool or anything," she revealed. "My success, weirdly . . . I'd run into amazing talented people, and someone would give me something, and I would wear it. Like, 'Cool, I got this furry triangle bra — I'm going to wear it to the MTV Awards because I got it for free!'"

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Her craziest makeup mishap left a scar on her face.

Image Source: WireImage/J. Vespa

When asked about her biggest makeup mistake, she delivered a crazy story: she got a chemical burn from dyeing her eyebrows!

"One time I did a shoot for MTV, and there was this close-up picture of me with bindis all around my eyes," she said. "It was on billboards. And they go, 'Oh, let's bleach your eyebrows so we can do really skinny eyebrows.'" Gwen said she left the shoot loving the look of bleached brows, but if you've ever bleached your eyebrows before, you know they come back in looking patchy and yellow.

She went on: "So Thanksgiving weekend, I went to my parents' house in Anaheim, and I was, like, 'I'm done, I've got to take care of this. I need to dye them back,'" Gwen said. Because every beauty supply store was closed, she went to a salon — which you think would be the safer bet, but it wasn't. "[The salon employee] said she could do it, and she put the product on my brows. It was burning and burning. And it’s literally stained like a tattoo onto my face . . . "

After leaving without paying, she asked her mom for help. "She took me to the emergency room, and they said, 'Wow, this is gonna be permanent.' I had chemical burns. But I survived! I do have a scar, though. It's white."

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Her grandmother helped create her signature look.

Image Source: FilmMagic/Earl Gibson III

Gwen's signature look — red lipstick and a cat eye — didn't evolve until after she left high school.

"I loved anything with a cat eye," she enthused. "I was fascinated with that. I started doing that in ninth grade, but at that time, I was wearing a lot of frosted lips. I was doing this more mod look. I never wore red lipstick until after high school!"

After her mod phase, her grandmother was the one responsible for helping her find her style. "My grandma had bought me a tube with a long wand," she said. "It was a deep burgundy. I was in my Honda Prelude, and I looked in the rear-view mirror and said [to myself], 'That's you!'"

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She used to do her own makeup for shows.

Image Source: WireImage/Gabriel Olsen

Before achieving international fame, Gwen depended on herself to get glam — and lived at home well past high school.

"I lived at home until I was 25," she said. "When Tragic Kingdom came out, I had my own makeup box. I had no makeup artist. I had no stylist. I went on tour and I said to my mom, 'I think I'm going to be gone a couple months.' I was gone two and a half years!"

And as the only woman in the band, it wasn't always a glamorous lifestyle! "I had to do my makeup in disgusting bathrooms in a compact," she revealed. "I didn't have a runner. I didn't have anything. When I used to put those little gems on my eyes, I used to take them off every night and be, like, 'OK, save them for tomorrow!' It was ghetto. But I think one of my biggest joys and blessings is success brought me all of these talented people."

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She gave an assistant a dream job.

Image Source: Getty Images/Tim Mosenfelder

While discussing how she keeps track of all her creative ideas, Gwen talked about her team, specifically Jolie Clemens, her "right-hand man."

"I have a girl named Jolie," she said. "She is a graphic artist, and we met because she was answering phones at my management office. When I did the Rock Steady record, I said to her, 'I want it to look like Stephen Sprouse graffiti art,' so she did a mock-up. I was, like, 'Damn, that looks good. Let's just use that!'" Jolie went on to work with Gwen on packaging for her solo record and currently works with Gwen on all her design projects.

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She revealed the title of a new song she wrote.

Image Source: Instagram user GwenStefani

It's called "War Paint." We aren't sure if it's confirmed to be on the upcoming album or not, but she said, "It's all about facing your life and facing yourself. Who am I today? What do I feel like?"

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