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It should come as no surprise that in our poll of the best hair and makeup looks at Monday's Met Gala, Blake Lively beat out 13 other celebs, including Beyoncé, Emma Stone, and Taylor Swift, for the top spot. Her retro waves were perfection—a fact which I couldn't help mentioning (several times) when I spoke to the actress the day after the event. "Oh wow, oh wow! Thank you, thank you, readers!" she said. "I can't take any credit for that!"
This was just one of many times throughout our conversation that she sounded genuinely humbled (and even a little amazed) by her glamorous life. Watch Lively tell us all about her beauty secrets, her family, her charity, and yes, her handsome husband Ryan Reynolds.
First, we need to discuss your poll-winning hair.
"Hairstylist Rod Ortega did a take on a victory roll, which was a big 1940s thing. They normally roll both sides, but we had to feature those gorgeous Lorraine Schwartz ruby earrings that she actually made for me that day, which was pretty special."
Tell me more about the getting-ready process.
"It’s such a fun process in the lead up, starting with Gucci sending sketches of the dress and saying, 'OK how can we adjust this? How can we push the limits because it’s the Met Ball?' So that process, working with Frida Giannini [Gucci's creative director] and the design team, started maybe two months ago, which was a lot of fun. And then saying, 'OK, now how can we interpret this in a fun way? You know, not just do an all rose gold dress, so what will pop it in a different way?' Then talking to Lorraine and asking what kind of cool ruby pieces did she have, and calling Christian [Louboutin] last week and saying, 'I don’t know what shoes I’m going to wear!'
I’m just so geeked out by the fact that these people are kind to me and are my friends. So, it just makes getting ready fun and easy, but I never get used to it. I look at my inbox leading up to the Met, and I see an email from Lorraine or Christian or Frida and I think, Oh my god. I’ll take a screen grab of my phone, like I can’t believe these people are emailing me. It’s pretty cool. But that’s not every day for me. It’s normally emails from my mom or my sister."
Speaking of your family, is there anything they've taught you about beauty that you still do today?
"I have two older sisters and my mom, of course, and they’re all people who I’ve looked up to so much, but they were always so innately who they were; they never tried to look like someone else. They always just had their own personality, and beauty shined through. And they’re all very, very different. My sister Lori is very sleek and refined and elegant. My sister Robyn is very bouncy and has a more playful, flirty style. And my mom is very eclectic and almost bohemian in a sense. So it was kind of neat to have different women inspiring me. I feel like have a piece of them in me. And my dad shops at Costco, so there’s that. Kirkland Signature all the way."
Our dads have that in common. Changing gears, Gucci Parfums just pledged to donate a minimum of $1 million from sales of five of their fragrances to Chime for Change, an organization cofounded by Frida, Salma Hayek Pinault, and Beyoncé that helps support women's rights around the world. Besides being the face of Gucci Premiere, what inspired you to get involved?
"And besides Beyoncé? You forgot that part... You get to follow the organization that you align yourself with, and you get to see where they are meeting their goals and who it’s helping and how through Catapult, the crowd-funding site that powers Chime for Change. I think that fact is very important for this generation that has the Internet, that has social media, that has these things that feed it knowledge every single day. So it makes sense in a charity why you would want to have that immediate feedback and see what your donation is actually doing. It actually prompts more out of you than just a donation in that you become more personally invested... and then again, it all goes back to Beyoncé."
While we're on the topic of perfume, do you remember the first fragrance you wore?
"I don’t because it was just my mom’s perfume, so whatever she would have, I would wear. And my mom did this thing—and it’s probably why I do it—she would have a different perfume for different occasions. She had an evening perfume, one for summer, one for winter, and they all defined different aspects of her character. But they were all very specific. One was flirty and lighter and feminine, and one was more weighted and masculine. So I would always mix perfumes because I felt like I have so many different facets of my personality there wasn’t one that represented them all year-round. I was excited when I smelled Gucci Premiere because it had the masculine notes, it had the wood, the leather, the bergamot, that citrus and floral smell—and I was so excited because I didn’t have to raid my husband’s cologne cabinet anymore and try to mix it with whatever perfume it worked with. My concoctions were not so strong."
I once read that you had more than 100 perfumes in your collection. Is that still the case?
"One hundred?! People always make up numbers. It's so crazy. I read somewhere that I have 12,000 pairs of shoes, which I wish was the case! But 100? No. I probably have, like, 20. It’s still a lot—but 100 is like Hoarders."
You mentioned your husband. Does Ryan ever try to steal any of your beauty products?
"No! I'm not married to Ru Paul. He's very different."
Hey, no judgment! But OK, I hear that you're a great DIY-er.
"I don't know if I’m great at it, but I do it. I mean, I cut my own hair a month ago and one side was three inches shorter than the other."
What about DIY-ing any of your own beauty products?
"I haven’t done it, but I’m excited about the fact that you can do that. I’m always obsessed with the most recent produce or the health thing that's good for you, that you consume, that you put in your mouth for your body. But to think that your can put it on your face and your skin as well, that's really cool, but I'm also a little scared. My mom does her own stuff with household products. It sounds like she's making meth, but she's not, she's making beauty products. It actually works. I don't know what she does, but she’s a bit of a genius with that stuff. I haven’t been so bold to put nail polish remover on my face. Maybe one day." (Editor's Note: We're 90-percent sure she's kidding. Either way, don't do this.)
To donate or find more information on Chime for Change, visit chimeforchange.org.