Tavi Gevinson on How to Break the Beauty Rules and Win
Tavi Gevinson, the 19-year-old style wunderkind, actress, and now beauty pro, reveals her unconventional hair and makeup wisdom.
By Maureen Choi
She’s always been a career trail-blazer: Starting a subversive style blog at age 11 and turning it into a full-blown website (rookiemag.com) by 15, transitioning into acting and starring in a Broadway play (This Is Our Youth) at 17, then setting her sights on the beauty industry and inking a deal with Clinique 3 Step Skincare by her 19th birthday. Gevinson’s secret to making it all happen? Doing things her way. She explains:
Her beauty motto: “Do and wear whatever you want. When I was younger, I felt like my features were sort of irrelevant. But now I see beauty as a tool that helps you become the person you want to be.”
Her favorite beauty look on a woman: “A strong brow, natural everywhere else.”
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Her borrowed-from-the-boys hairstyle: “Slicking it back like David Bowie from his Low album era makes me feel like I’m not susceptible to dumb sh-t.”
Her favorite feature: “My eyes have the coolest options for makeup—they fluctuate between blue, green, and gray.”
Her skin care strategy: “I wish I’d taken better care of my skin in high school. I’ve gotten more serious about everyday maintenance.”
Her style epiphany: “I learned in high school that it felt worse to second-guess my wardrobe choices than it did to be made fun of. When I’d change my outfit to something more “normal,” I’d come home to the stuff I’d really wanted to wear and think, I should have worn that!”
Her cat-eye trick: “The key is to think of it as a triangle. Do dots at the inner corner, outer corner, and outer crease of your eyelid, then connect them.”
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The last beauty thing she googled: “Organic deodorant from Soapwalla ($14, soapwalla kitchen.com). It works great, but it’s not an antiperspirant, so when I’m like, I can’t sweat today, I’ll use the regular stuff.”
Clinique 3 Step Skincare System ($64, clinique.com)
Her sleek styler: “I’m a busy woman, so I let my hair air-dry, then run this essential oil (Sparrow for Everyone True Essential Oil, $88, sparrowforeveryone.com) through with my fingers to make it less fluffy.”
Her beauty icon: “Willow Smith is amazingly confident in her work and makes me feel like I can do anything.”
Her favorite hair hue: “I had gray hair when I was 13, because I dyed it blue and didn’t bother to color it again once it faded. I think it looked kind of dope.”
(Photos: Gevinson: Danielle Levitt/August; Products: Josephine Schiele)
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