Pretty Little Liars’ Shay Mitchell on Humanitarian Work, Instagram Filters & Beauty Mishaps
PLL star Shay Mitchell reveals PLL shocking moments, new upcoming clothing line and her Instagram secrets. (Photo: Instagram)
Shay Mitchell is an actress, a model, a clothing designer, and a humanitarian… and her Instagram is pretty amazing. In addition her acting chops and on-camera gigs, the Pretty Little Liars star writes about tons of topics, including beauty, on her blog Amore + Vita. She enjoys covering food, fashion, travel, and décor too. “Traveling has always been a huge passion of mine, so those posts are always some of my favorites,“ says the 28-year-old.
The Canadian-born beauty isn’t just traveling for fun and work, but in order to volunteer as well. “Last year, I traveled to Nairobi, Kenya with Free the Children and helped to build a medical clinic to help sustain a healthy community,” says Mitchell. Her big heart doesn’t stop there. Shay partnered with the United Nations to celebrate World Humanitarian Day on August 19. It honors humanitarian work around the world. “The #ShareHumanity campaign is very important to me, because it honors selfless humanitarians and leverages the stories of humans who are struggling through the crises that exist in various parts of the world,” says Mitchell. “The organization provides education opportunities that might not exist for many of the youth that participate in the program.”
We caught up with the multi-talented star who spilled about the show, religiously taking off her makeup, and her favorite social media apps and accounts.
Yahoo Beauty: How are you similar to your Pretty Little Liars character?
Shay Mitchell: I always say that Emily is a great, loyal friend, and I like to think I have that in common with her.
If you weren’t playing Emily on PLL, who would you want to play on the show?
Hanna always has such great clothes. I also think Mona is such an interesting, complex character who would be fun and definitely different from Emily.
The next season of PLL starts five years down the road. What changes can we expect your character to have gone through?
Emily goes through a lot in those five pivotal years between high school and adulthood that change how she handles different situations.
Did you have any guesses as to who ‘A’ might have been over the years?
I gave up on guessing since I always ended up being wrong.
Was there someone that you wanted to be 'A’?
I always wished for it to be one of the girls because I thought that would be fun!
You have almost 8 million Instagram followers. What are your favorite filters and editing apps?
I love AfterLight and VSCO Cam for filtering.
Who are your favorite people to follow, and why?
Humans Of New York, Nat Geo, and Libby and Pearl is the cutest.
You post a ton of inspirational quotes on there too. What is your favorite at the moment?
It changes daily, depending on my mood and what I need to hear at the moment. I love quotes, because I feel they can have a ripple effect on peoples’ days. I find them on tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram. Friends now send me them!
How did your new athleisure line at Kohls come about? Is designing more clothes in your future?
A clothing line has always been something on my vision board – yes! I have an awesome vision board – and to be able to collaborate with Kohls to create clothing I truly enjoy wearing from spin class to set is something I’ve wanted for a long time.
What does your beauty routine entail?
Because I’m in makeup almost every day of the week for filming one thing or another, I am very good about taking my makeup off each night; cleansing and moisturizing. I also love a good face and hair mask.
Have you ever had a beauty treatment gone wrong?
Yes! I tried to straighten my hair when I was younger with an actual iron and it didn’t go well. I burnt the side of my hair off.
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