Anyone who grew up in the late ’90s will be more than familiar with Britney Spears‘s many beauty looks over the years – from the “Baby One More Time” pigtails to the frosted eyeshadow and poker-straight hair of “Oops!… I Did It Again” – but what does the singer herself have to say about hair, make-up and skincare now? As she launches her new gender-neutral fragrance, Prerogative, Vogue speaks with Spears about her iconic beauty personas, her skincare secrets and the power of scent.
On fragrance
“I haven’t put out a fragrance in a very, very long time and I wanted to do something different. It’s empowering, I like the name of it, it’s basically no judgment. I like that when you’re wearing it you feel confident and that’s the message that it sends. I have a good group of people around me and I have my kids, so I’ll even ask them what they like so I can open my mind to different things and what people feel. I’m pretty proud of it and a lot of my friends and family like it too.”
On her different beauty personas
“I like it when I change it up and there’s no specific character, you know? When there’s a bunch of different characters involved. I think one character is kind of boring and that’s what most people do for videos and stuff like that. So I think “Toxic” is one of my favorite looks because it was like a superhero and imagination type thing. There were so many superheroes she turned into, kind of like a superwoman. So it’s kinda cool.”
On make-up
“I like to experiment with different things. I like to use mascara but for a show I’ll darken it up. I think it’s fun to use different pale shades and pinks in eyeshadows. I like a kind of gothic look in most situations but I think it’s better to use light colors to open up your eyes.”
On her ultimate beauty advice
“Less is more. I don’t really like a lot of make-up. I have to do that for my show, for presentation, but in my day-to-day life I’m a T-shirt kind of girl. Because I have to wear so much make-up in the shows, when I’m off I wear mascara and that’s it. Too Faced’s Better Than Sex is my favorite.”
On fitness and health
“There’s beautiful gyms at each place I go to – the place I’m at now actually has a spectacular gym – so I do go to the gym but then my show is such a workout in itself too! And I love spas. I have a really great place that I usually go to where they do everything.”
On skincare
“I like toners. I’m all about a good astringent toner before I put my moisturizer on. I can’t just put moisturizer on – I have breakouts because I work out. I don’t actually get zits or acne, I just get these red marks where it’s, like, about to break out and it shows up like a rash on the side of my face. So I like for it to feel like zingy clean with astringent. Then I like La Mer – I think it’s beautiful – but I haven’t founds an astringent that goes with La Mer yet, actually. I usually use Elizabeth Arden astringent, or I use Neutrogena… I use a couple of different astringents actually. And I love to play with products too.”
