Gwen Stefani on Why Women Are Lucky to Wear Makeup

Gwen Stefani on Why Women Are Lucky to Wear Makeup

Urban Decay cosmetics and Gwen Stefani have been teasing their makeup collaboration for what seems like ages. First, the singer and the brand teamed up for the Ultraviolet Edge initiative in March. Then a few weeks ago, they announced they had paired up again to create an exclusive eyeshadow palette. And now they're asking you to wait just a little longer. The palette doesn't launch until later this month. But to tide you over, we sat down with Stefani recently in Los Angeles to talk all things makeup. Listen in:

Lipstick.com: You're such a makeup girl. It's actually one of the reasons Urban Decay was so pumped to work with you.

Gwen Stefani: I don’t know why I've always loved makeup so much. It helps me get ready for my day and the stage. I just wrote a song called "War Paint." It’s tribal. It’s like this is how I’m going to face the world.

Lipstick: We always say that a bold lip will change your life.

Stefani: It really does make a huge difference. We’re just so lucky as women to be able to wear it. If you’re having a bad day you can change that. Guys don’t have a choice and just have to face the world like that. Could you imagine? Well they could but…

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Lipstick: Very true. So tell us, how did the colors in this palette come about?

Stefani: The [palette] fantasy is always to get what you want, what you wear, and to be able to take it with you, so you don’t have to bring all the other stuff. I just started digging through my drawers of my favorites, and I asked myself what is it that I cant live without? Generally I would say that I’m not a super-adventurous shadow girl. I’m all about a lip, eyebrow, and mascara, but through the years, working with different talented makeup artists, I learned how awesome eye makeup can be if you get it right. That’s how we got the colors we came up with.

Lipstick: Talk to us about how you use the colors in the palette.

Stefani: Steady (top row, second from right) is my super everyday basic color that I love, and I wear Baby (middle row, left) on top of that if I want more sparkle, and Pop (bottom row, left) on top of that for even more sparkle. Blond (top row, left) is the basic highlighter that I use right under the brow, and then I use the brown shades for the crease. And those are just the neutrals. I always use navy for a liner, and the gold (1987, bottom row, second from right) is something I’ve worn loads of times on-stage, and I love how that gold ended up looking. It’s so unbelievable. I would wear it for day. A lot of people wouldn't, but I would.

Lipstick: How many of these palettes do you own?

Stefani: I only have two of them. I already got through the [Steady color] in one, so UD sent me another.

Lipstick: Where do you keep your makeup?

Stefani: I take the palette with me, but I have a lot of makeup. I was a makeup artist when I was younger, but I'm not that good compared with my makeup artist, so I keep things pretty simple. I explore a lot with pink and nude lipsticks, but I love red lipsticks. I love a line and a lash and a brow. So I don’t need a lot, but I have a lot. It’s all there just in case—for Halloween or whatever. But I did go through my makeup collection a few months ago and have garbage bags full of old makeup. Then Urban Decay sent me new boxes of makeup, and I don’t know what to do with it, but I love it.

Lipstick: The shade names (i.e., Punk, Harajuku, Anaheim, etc.) in the palette have meaning for you. If you had to choose a song or album name for the palette as a whole what would you have picked?

Stefani: Well I did sort of because I named it Magic's in the Makeup, which is the title of one of my favorite songs I ever wrote. It's about being real and trying not to hide behind things and trying to be honest. It’s so funny talking about makeup because I could talk about it all the time, but at the end of the day, it’s makeup, you know? We get so much pleasure out of it.

Can I say something kind of crazy right now? I'm about ready to bust out of my cocoon right here. I'm in a weird transformation phase of my life with music, and the record, and things like that. It's a super exciting time for me. And one of the colors I always hated my whole life was purple, and [doing this collaboration] was weird because [Urban Decay cofounder Wende Zomnir] really likes purple. [When I met her] I was like "I really like her, but how do I relate to that? I can't wear purple." Over the course of the last two years, things have happened and changed, obviously.... And I thought, maybe I need to like purple now that I'm in this new life. I bought a pair of purple underwear, and then I had this weird revelation, like [Zomnir] is purple and now the palette is coming out, and I'm OK. I accept that purple is in my life. It's weird timing.

Lipstick: Purple aside, what's next for you and Urban Decay?

Stefani: It's basically everything I would dream. Everything that I would want. [Note: Stefani says this while tapping her finger near her lips. Hint, hint.]

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