Dua Lipa may be known for her husky vocals (which have casually helped scoop her six Brits, three Grammys and two Guiness World Records), but sat opposite her, chatting about #beautyfails, getting ready rituals and signature scents in a Parisian hotel room, I can vouch that her impossibly glowy complexion is pretty damn remarkable in its own right. Draped on a sofa in a black tank top and jeans with her dark hair tossed behind her shoulders and her makeup kept minimal, even going low-key Dua has a mega-watt aura.
Of course, away from music, Dua has alternative ways to express herself, whether it’s a new addition to her extensive collection of dinky-delicate tattoos, or via cute experimental beauty looks. On that front, she’s given us baby braids, spiky buns, butterfly clips, noughties frosted eyeshadow, dramatic money piece highlights, bold crystal nail art, and established herself as the unrivaled queen of Y2K beauty. NBD.
With her cool-girl aesthetic, party girl reputation, and army of followers, it makes sense that YSL Beauty chose Dua Lipa to be the face of their Libre fragrance – a scent designed to capture free-spiritedness, power, and independence in a single spritz. Now a new member has been welcomed to the gang, Libre Le Parfum, a spicier concoction that perfumer, Anne Flipo, told me was the “carnal, blazing, bold” big sister scent to the original’s “luminous, floral, sensual” fragrance – just before the big launch party kicked off and Dua danced – vigorously – with influencers, press and her trusted inner-circle squad (which included her designer bestie, Jacquemus), until the early hours. As for the newbie scent, orange blossom, ginger, saffron, tonka, and honey have been added to the OG DNA of lavender and mandarin orange to create a scent that’s as striking as its ambassador, in case you were wondering.
So, in the calm before the shenanigans, I stole ten minutes to drill Dua for all the beauty tea, or thé (when in France, etc). Here’s what she had to say…
“I’m super inspired by the cool makeup looks people are doing online…
I love experimenting with colors, gems, and glitter – and that’s also really fun for my tour. I get so inspired by fashion, traveling, and just people-watching. You experience so much from different cities, and the energy and you go to a fun club, and you see the dancers. I think that helps guide what I like to wear makeup-wise. Plus, just seeing people be really experimental and creative with their makeup online gives me inspiration. It’s so cool how expressive they are. It took me a little while to learn how to do my own makeup. I was very lucky that my makeup artist [@samanthalmua] sat me down and showed me how to use everything that was in my makeup bag, which was really nice. But I’m always so in awe of people who are so talented and doing cool looks and stuff, so I’m practicing.
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There’s nothing nicer than people saying “you smell really nice”…
It’s so funny because I really do carry a Libre bottle in every single one of my bags. It’s been my signature smell for four years since I’ve been working with YSL. A big part of it is that I felt involved from the beginning. When we were first talking about the campaign, they showed me the different options of fragrances before they chose the final one. And I still feel like I played a little part in choosing the fragrance itself. I think that’s why I’m even more attached to it rather than just the face of it. I feel like it’s very ‘me’. I get a lot of compliments as well on it. There’s nothing nicer than people going, “You smell really nice.” So I just stick to that since it works. However, I used to just have one fragrance for day and night, but I’ve seen the beauty in changing into the darker Libre Le Parfum because there’s something about having a little more of an elevated, stronger smell for nighttime, so I do play between the both – depending on my mood and depending on the day.
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I listen to Channel Tres when I’m getting ready to go ‘out-out’…
I love to listen to music when I’m getting ready. Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of Channel Tres. I’ve been a fan of his for a while, but then I saw him perform at Sziget Festival. I was there performing and he was on after so I went to check it out. I think I fell in love with him even more. So, that’s been soundtracking my summer. I’ve been doing a lot of getting ready to that.
With both music and beauty, it’s just about following your gut and trying things out…
Obviously, music and beauty are so different, but both are about expression. So in whatever way, it’s just about following your instinct and going for it. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Everything in life is just trial and error. You figure out what works for you, what you love, what you feel confident in, and what you feel represents you, and I think that’s the best way to look at things in general.
My best beauty hack is to pick one feature and accentuate it…
You know when you look back at pictures of when you were younger and you’re just like, ‘What was I thinking?’ – that happens to me a lot. But over time I’ve learned that less is more. When you first discover makeup you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m going to do the eyeshadow… and the lips, and everything,” but I think it’s really important to pick one thing to accentuate on your face. A lot of the time, if I do a dark eye or something, then it’s probably way less on the lips. Or I’ll do more of a lip and then no eye and just take turns. Same with my skin. Being on tour at the moment, and being tired and traveling a lot, it’s made my skin really dry. I kept trying all these different products and it was like ‘nothing’s working. A lot of the time, when I just let my skin be, or I put pretty much nothing on it – just a face cream or something – that ends up helping me way more than anything else. So now I’m like, ‘Okay. Maybe all my skin needs is a little bit less.’ We’re so programmed that we need more things. It’s nice to strip it back. I like to keep everything really clean, really easy. I love a hydrating face mask. But I tend to stay away from anything too crazy with my skin.
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If my beauty cabinet was on fire, I’d save these three things and run….
I’d grab my Libre for sure. Then probably eyelash curlers and a brown lipstick – and run. I’d be out of there.
One trend I could never get on board with is over-plucked brows…
I guess it’s not really in fashion anymore but I couldn’t do the thin eyebrows. My mum never let me pluck my eyebrows when I was a kid and now I’m like I can’t imagine myself with really thin brows.
I practice yoga religiously, it’s the only way I can zone out from all the craziness…
I’ve been practicing yoga for about seven years – just going to classes. But for the past, maybe three years, I’ve been doing it almost religiously. I dropped my album during the pandemic and I was doing a lot of press while everyone else was watching Tiger King. Yoga was my way of just zoning out of everything that was happening. When I first started, I saw it as more of a workout. Now, it’s turned into a form of meditation. It’s the only time when I don’t think about anything else. And it’s been really helpful because it’s an hour of my day where all I focus on is just a movement. I find it easiest to do it in the morning because I get a little bit lazy as the day goes on, I just want to sit. Or I’ll have work, like preparing for a show. In the morning, I know I have that time for myself and I’ve always carved out time for it. Although I would do an evening one if I needed. Tomorrow I fly to São Paulo super early. I have to leave my hotel at 7 am, so I’m not waking up at 5 am. But once I get there, I’ll definitely do some yoga to move my body.
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To get up every night and give my all makes me so proud…
This year, overall, has been a very ‘roll with the punches’ period with a lot of stuff happening. Getting up on stage – doing this tour in particular – has been so demanding mentally and physically. To know that I have the capability to get up every night and perform and really give my all has been really powerful for me to see. It takes a lot of dedication and I feel very proud of myself. It’s been a beautiful experience and this year has taught me a lot, and I feel very confident with myself which is really nice.”
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Originally published in Glamourmagazine.co.uk
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