Millie Bobby Brown was 12 the first time she swiped on a lipstick. "I was sitting by my mirror in London, and I had been given an old bag of makeup from my friend," she told POPSUGAR. "I was trying stuff on, and it was obviously a hot mess. I put far too much blush on, I didn't know how to contour, and I didn't know how to apply mascara in the right way."
She'd gotten the urge, as one might, after shaving her head to play Eleven for a new little show on Netflix called Stranger Things. "Makeup became something I used to show my femininity because I had no hair," Brown said. "Girls can feel like their hair defines who they are, whereas for me, it couldn't. Nor does makeup define me, but it was something I wanted to do to spice myself up — make myself feel good. So I put it on, knowing I was probably gonna be bad at it, that it wasn't going to turn out well, but I did it anyway because I wanted to feel good about myself."
"Makeup became something I used to show my femininity because I had no hair."
"For so long, I've been in a makeup chair where I haven't been able to express who I am through beauty because there hasn't been anything for me to actually put on my skin," she said. "I realized there was nothing I felt worked for me, like what I was putting on my face wasn't good for me. Young people should get a chance to experience a good skincare and beauty routine that they feel comfortable with, and one their parents do, too."
Keep reading for Brown's must-have skincare product, how she preps her nails ahead of filming, and why shaving her head was actually "the most empowering decision I've ever made." (Hint: it's not all that strange of a reason, after all.)
How Shaving Her Head Shifted Millie Bobby Brown's Perception of Beauty
For anyone who's emotionally attached to their hair, shaving your head can be tough — especially for a teenager — but Brown says it emboldened her. "Shaving my head was one of the most empowering decisions I think I've ever made," she said. "It wasn't easy. Well, the shaving your head part is easy. Being in your own home: easy. When you step out into society, into the outside world, it becomes so incredibly difficult. The things people think about you is crazy. I always got judged for what could potentially have happened to me, when it doesn't matter what happened to me. You should be looking at my face and my eyes — it doesn't matter what happened to my hair."
That constant scrutiny from strangers had a major impact on her and those around her. "It made me grow up in a way and actually influenced my family and my fans to show that what's on your head doesn't define you. It doesn't mean you're a good person or a bad person; it just means you are you. I am who I am. I can choose what I want to choose. It's made me feel much more confident in the things I wear and the things I say. It's made me think not to judge other people."
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The 1 Beauty Move Millie Bobby Brown Does to Feel Empowered
Brown experimented a lot with different makeup looks during the time she had a shaved head, and it led her to one particular beauty move: "Lipstick, especially reds," she said. "The one bold thing I loved to do was my lips. That was my favorite thing. Think about it — a lip with a shaved head, that is pretty cool."
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Millie Bobby Brown's Secret to Great Skin
Image Source: Florence by Mills
While she was introduced to makeup early on, Brown didn't experiment with skin care until last year. "I'm very chill with my skin care — I keep it very simple," she said. "Moisturizer for me is number one. I don't usually like it because it can feel so heavy, but I also want it to feel like it's doing something, and this Dreamy Dew Moisturizer ($14) [from Florence by Mills] is so soft. It's not suffocating, but it also doesn't disappear after two seconds. It was hard actually to get that in between. Like there were so many back and forths of [the team] sending it to me and me saying, 'No, this can't be it — I can't even feel it on my face' to 'Oh my god, I feel like I've got a face mask on.' We finally found it, and I am so pleased with the result. I use it every morning and every night."
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On the Nail Art Millie Bobby Brown's Characters Wear
Brown is no stranger to bringing her nail know-how to the movie set — for the most part. "I'm filming [Enola Holmes Mysteries] right now, so I can't have any [fake] nails on. Enola Holmes does not have crazy nails. Eleven does not have crazy nails. I can assure you, she does not go to the nail salon and like, OK, ready, go," she said, laughing.
There was one slight exception, however: "In Godzilla vs. King Kong [Editor's note: the film is slated to hit theaters in 2020], I wanted my character to have army green nails so I brought the idea to set and they ran with it. She's cool. She's very much — Madison Russell is very much that tomboyish color. I felt like that was her."
"She's not in the beauty space, but in her own way Malala Yousafzai is so beautiful," Brown said. "She empowers and influences so many people. I actually just watched her documentary the other day, and I read her book last year, and for me, she's one of my big influences because she inspires so much positivity and love. That's something I stand for as well. And she's young like me, and yet she's so powerful — and she causes chaos and with her voice. The people are actually listening, and if they're not, she makes them listen. I love and live by that as well."
