Helen Mirren is 75 years old and she’s glorious! One of my favorite things about her is that she’s one of the faces of L’Oreal. She’s had this gig for six years and she loves it, and loves their skincare line and being their brand ambassador. That was why she went to Cannes this year – L’Oreal pays their models to go to Cannes and represent the brand, so Helen was there as a pretty face, just the same as Bella Hadid. To promote the brand, Helen also chatted with People Magazine about daily beauty rituals and the pandemic (the Taylor she references is Taylor Hackford, her husband):
Her daily beauty ritual to help pass the time & give her some sense of normalcy. “Every day I put on makeup. I didn’t do it for Taylor because Taylor never notices. He asks if I’ve got makeup on or not and doesn’t really care, but he certainly doesn’t notice. He’ll sometimes say in a rather puzzled way, ‘Oh, you look really nice.’ You just associate the fact that I look nice with the fact I’ve just spent an hour doing my makeup! But I would put my makeup on every day and get dressed every day because I enjoy it. I felt like I was living my life properly. So, it was actually a good experience for me.”
She loves Cannes: “I have to say, I love it,” Mirren says of walking the carpet on la Croisette. “I love the opportunity to wear incredibly beautiful clothes. I appreciate the craft of couture. I’m a girl, I love, love dressing up. And then I’m perfectly happy to give it all away at the end of the night and go back to my scruffy, Bohemian outfits.”
What it was like being back on a red carpet post-pandemic: Mirren sums the experience up as “extraordinary…Having spent a year and a half sort of behind closed doors, I’ve forgotten what this was like. So a little bit intimidating. But at the same time, it was such fun.”
I could not sit down and put on makeup every dang day of normal life, much less pandemic life. Although I understand why it would be “just something to do” during pandemic life. You have the time, you have a makeup table, sure, have fun. My mother is like that, and I do think it’s more generational – women of a certain age were simply raised to always “put their face on” even if they weren’t leaving the house. They feel naked without makeup. But it’s harmless – Helen was obviously just doing it for herself, and I like what she says about Taylor not noticing either way.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
That dress ! Those emeralds! She is worth it.
I am bummed that i wont be able to go makeup free because we’re slowly getting back to some normalcy. My skin was doing so much better without all the makeup. I would just put basic cream and a sunscreen. and I loved that I am incognito behind my mask, I am still behind my mask, but now there’s more occasions where you’re allowed taking it off so you gotta look at least decent not to scare off anybody lol. My makeup however, is now much lighter than before.
I have been putting make up on Monday – Friday just to maintain some normalcy in my work routine. Since make up doesn’t really show on Zoom I have done all kinds of experimenting. It’s been fun.
I created my own DIY filter: I put a transparent tape over my laptop camera lol and put myself in a nice natural light for zooms – it’s nicely blurried, colleagues can still see me pretty well but they cant see all the flaws of my skin because I dont want to put makeup on. my skin has been doing so much better without all the makeup.
@myjobbistoprincess- transparent tape? I guess it works to somewhat blur, the image? That sounds interesting, thanks for the idea!
I too have been putting on makeup everyday. It makes me feel normal and happy.
Post-pandemic?? I feel like we’re far from over, sadly.
I put on makeup every day as well, but I’m not of the generation (29). I don’t do a full face really but I like highlighting my eyes and with my genetics I don’t have the option of going without undereye concealer unless I want a lot of “have you been getting enough sleep” and “are you sick” comments.
I don’t care if anyone else wears makeup, but I have noticed that in an office/even zoom environment people tend to treat makeup as a sign of professionalism – ie you care enough to look “polished” or whatever. I think it’s a sucky standard but that’s how it’s always been in my experience.
I live alone and have been working from home since March 2020. I would put a full face of make up on when I wanted to boredom eat. So I would get distracted and by the time I was done. The cravings would pass. Then I would go wash it all off. It’s fun and would make me feel normal for a little bit.
I just put on sunscreen if I’m home. But if I had a zoom, I would put on shadow, eyeliner and lip gloss and some kind of tinted moisturizer. I discovered I could skip mascara if I used extra eyeliner.
Now I’m back at work and we never stopped masking (and thank goodness, the guidance for fall is continued masking) and I’m missing the lip gloss. It was my last step before leaving the house and enjoy picking the perfect shade for what I’m wearing.
I love Helen but I would like to have a talk with whoever put her in orange 😂 but she is rocking that fit!
I don’t particular enjoy putting on makeup, but if someone does, I could see doing it every day during this, just to feel “normal” in an abnormal time.
I don’t think it’s generational. I am not of her generation & I put makeup on every day of my life because it think it’s fun. If it were a chore I wouldn’t do it. If I don’t put makeup on, I still feel sleepy — like I skipped my morning coffees. Now getting dressed…that’s part hit the skids when covid arrived. I may still be in my PJs, but I have makeup & sunscreen on.
I put on a little makeup every day because it absorbs the oil on my face.