Leighton Meester may have the poreless skin and beguiling brown eyes of her fabulously flawed character, Blair Waldorf, on CW’s “Gossip Girl,” but that’s where their beauty similarities end.
Blair is anything but easy-going, says Meester, who takes a more relaxed approach to her looks.
“Her hair is very structured, she has perfect curls, perfect waves, a perfect blowout at all times….it really seems like she has a hairstylist doing her hair everyday,” she says.
Meester first came on the radar with a returning role as an uber-sexy virgin pop star on the HBO series “Entourage,” but her starring bid as the designer-clad Upper East Side mean girl on the CW drama has launched the actress, and “Gossip Girl”, into international recognition. Waldorf is as famous for her grandiose (or self-serving?) schemes as she is for not having a hair out of place while executing them.
As the new ambassador for Herbal Essences, Meester says she’s learned a thing or two about her mane, like accepting its natural texture – stick straight – and keeping it simple when she’s not working.
“When you get so used to seeing your face with makeup on, and seeing your hair styled perfectly all the time, you sort of lose touch with how beautiful you are naturally, and how great your hair can look if you just take care of it,” she says.
That’s why on days when she’s not working, Meester keeps her beauty regimen simple, with foundation-free skin, curled lashes, a little blush and sometimes a colourful lipstick. As for her hair, she uses Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner (her favourites are Long-Term Relationship and Hello Hydration), followed by the Tousle Me Softly finishing touch cream for texture, and sometimes a few turns with a curling iron. The starlet’s beauty tips are down-to-earth, too, like wearing sunscreen and “spraying a little hairspray on a blush brush and sweeping it over hair to get rid of flyaways.”
Speaking in a suite at a hotel in downtown Toronto, Meester sports a candy-pink lip (which, coincidentally, matches the brand’s packaging), delicately-applied blush, and a gentle smokey grey eye that’s highlighted with satin peach shadow. Her makeup isn’t low-key, but it accentuates her natural beauty, giving her a slightly playful feel.
As the face of a re-vamped brand (once famous for it’s “orgasm” commercials), Meester is undoubtedly beautiful, but offers a relaxed vibe and approachability that not every starlet shares. When her affiliation with the hair care company was announced last April, “Gossip Girl” fans were shocked that co-star Blake Lively, known for her bodacious blonde waves, wasn’t snatched up for a hair campaign first.
“What makes [Leighton] such a fantastic spokesperson is this inner sense of self-possessed confidence,” says Charles Baker Strahan, celebrity stylist for Herbal Essences. Does she have any bad beauty habits?
“He’ll never admit that I ever did anything [wrong],” the actress answers for him.
It’s true. Strahan is positively animated about working with Meester. He says it’s a real collaboration to create a new look for each event. For example, he says, when they are getting ready for something like the MTV Movie Awards, Meester will send him pictures of styles she likes in magazines and he’ll use them to find something that suits her. His favourite hair tip is for women to go after the look they want – whether it’s buxom body or sleek and straight – but allow time before an event for a “happy accident,” like pinning back a few locks at the last minute.
“It’s almost like creating a character,” says Meester. “So if you’re going for a look that’s modern and fresh, you use very natural, neutral makeup – same with hair. It goes the other way around too – sometimes we do a really intense red lip and curl my hair and make it big.”
Now that she seems to have her beauty routine figured out, is there any look from her past that Meester regrets?
“Hot rollers…and too much bronzer,” she says with laugh.
