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There’s something deeply intimate about Zooming with music icon Gwen Stefani from her glam room in her Los Angeles home. Despite us meeting through a laptop screen, I manage to get a good look at her sanctuary and creative space. On the wall there are framed retro photos of her idols—recognizable names from the world of film and music—a black-and-white striped ceiling is bold and inviting. “It’s not ever going to be finished,” she says of the room, “but it’s where I spend a lot of my time these days.”
It’s only fitting, given that Stefani could spend all day talking about her newest endeavor: clean-beauty brand, GXVE by Gwen Stefani. Sold exclusively at Sephora, the line debuted in March with the I’m Still Here matte liquid lip selling out in its first week. Based on those stats, the GXVE team is expecting more of the same with the newest drop in the collection of high pigment lip formulations—Xtra Sauce, a liquid, extreme-long-wear liquid lipstick with a vinyl finish and ultra shine.
Stefani launched her brand during an especially competitive time in the beauty space, and she knows it. “People warned me [about creating a beauty line], but I didn’t care,” she says matter-of-factly. “I knew that the one thing that would make it different was this is something that’s so real and authentic to who I’ve always been since I was a little girl. I feel like I’m definitely doing what I was meant to do.”
While the 52-year-old isn’t the first beauty founder to have a makeup obsession that started in childhood, she does have a background in the industry that many may not be aware of. Stefani worked at the makeup counter at her local department store in Anaheim, California, in the late 1980s, where she honed her technique on customers who pretty much just wanted a free gift with purchase.
“I was a fake makeup artist in the sense that they never trained me and I didn’t ever report to anybody,” she tells Glamour. “I found magic in the makeup. It’s not even about how people look; it’s how they feel. Once that makeup goes on, the confidence that comes with it is what stayed with me.”
She continues: “I’ve always tried to just live my purpose, but even more now that I’m more mature and more aware of my faith and gone through so many things that forced me to say, ‘Okay, I don’t care about anything else. I just want to do what my purpose is.’”
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Stefani says that starting her own makeup brand reminds her of her No Doubt days, when no one told her how to dress, apply makeup, or what to do. In many ways it’s a full-circle moment. “[GXVE] was almost like my backup plan in life that I’m getting to do now, but I get to kind of do both [as a singer and creator], which is so great,” she says. “And also be part of this influencer movement that’s happening, where we share our secrets and our tricks and learn from each other. It’s a super beautiful community.”
And it’s just another reason why the new Mrs. Shelton loves her always-in-progress glam room. “Makeup is one of those things that I could talk about all day long and never get tired of it. I love glam. I never like going to the event [I’m getting glammed up for]. I’m always about the [process].”
So what are her tried-and-true glam rules? For Glamour’s Big Beauty Questions, the mom of three tells us the beauty hack she swears by as well as the new tip she just picked up.
Glamour: What do you love about your new liquid lipstick, Xtra Sauce?
Gwen Stefani: I had written a song, two years ago now [called “Slow Clap”], and I had that lyric in there (Walk into the room like a boss, slow clap / Putting on a little extra sauce, slow clap). This formula is ridiculous. It does not move. I’m pressing hard, it will not come off. And it’s long-wear and clean, but it also has a shine to it, which I’ve never seen before.
I’ve also never revealed my color formula all these years. I just felt uncomfortable representing a color. I don’t wear one color, but I started to when I came out with the Original Recipe, which is our matte lipstick. It’s the one I probably wear the most because it’s super comfortable, it stays in place, and it’s long-wear. I just really love that vintage, old-fashioned kind of matte lipstick. And now those are coming in all new colors.
How long does it take for you to do the perfect, precise, camera-ready red lip?
I could do a perfect red lip in less than a minute. In fact, I never worked with a makeup artist my entire career, really, other than one here or one there. I had a bad experience when I was doing [an early] No Doubt record. This guy came and did my makeup for the artwork and I remember thinking I looked ugly. I was like, “I look prettier when I do my makeup,” but I was too scared to say something. I still look at those pictures and I’m like, “Ugh.” After that I took it into my own control.
When I did my solo record, I let this makeup artist that was working with the Harajuku girls do my foundation, and I loved it so much, I was like, “Okay, you can do my makeup.” But I’ve just been very controlling about it. Nowadays I’m the opposite because I’ve met some makeup artists that are so unbelievably gifted. I think it comes down to the fact that the community is so open to sharing.
I got in a situation at the Met Ball where I did a trial with a new person because the makeup artist I wanted to use wasn’t available. We did a makeup playdate with this new girl. It was so fun and they’re both super talented and I learned so much. But when it came to the Met Ball, she had an emergency and couldn»t do my makeup. And I brought my kit, thank God. I had to do my makeup.
Fill in the blank. I love my hair when...
It’s not broken. I never love my hair, because my hair’s always broken. I’m sure that there’s a lot of people that feel that. You can see it’s broken right here.
What is one beauty rule you think is B.S.?
There’s a lot of product out there that is B.S. I see some girls trying to sell all these layers of things that you need to put on before you put on makeup. And some of it’s right, and some of it’s not.
What’s one beauty rule you swear by?
Overdrawing of the lips works. It’s real. I did it one time when I first learned it, and my kids were calling me out, like, “What did you do to your lips?” They’re teenagers, so they know what’s going on. I was like, “No, I swear. Let me take it off and I’ll show you. This is overdrawn right here. And when you overdraw the top lip like that, you just get this really pouty [look].” You see people hacking it all the time and it works.
What’s a beauty trick you recently learned?
I just started doing this thanks to a makeup artist, which is sometimes doing your eyebrows first before you put foundation on. It’s a really great way to start because your eyebrows frame your face. So depending on if you want to highlight them or not, that’s something that has helped me a lot.
Since you travel so much, is there a city or a country that gives you the greatest beauty inspiration?
I think [South] Korea right now is probably the leader in innovation and skin care. I would love to go there. And when I start doing more skin care, [I want to see] what’s out there because they are on top of it.
Let’s say you can only use three products for the rest of your life. What are they and why?
I’d probably use my Original Recipe lipstick, because that’s my go-to, and then I would use Hella On Point, which is the greatest eyebrow pencil to ever be created ever. It’s so skinny so you can get perfectly detailed. I’m obviously going to call out all my own stuff, because I’m into myself. [Laughs.] I also really love our eyeliner formulas in the shade Spiderwebs. If you have an eyeliner, a brow, and a lip, I feel like you can get away with no lashes. It gives me more of a punk rock look, but you can do it.
I love your eye shadows too. The quad palettes are great colors with subtle neutrals and shimmers.
Thank you. They have so much coverage and blend so well. They’re not too dry or too creamy. I really wanted to start with neutral colors, which is something that I’ve always worn. I don’t really go with the big colorful palettes normally. Especially at this age, I just want to look pretty and the best I can look. And of course we’re going to get fun and bold and get more colors in the future, but that’s where we started.
I remember interviewing you at our Glamour Women of the Year Awards in 2016, and thought to myself, She has the most luminous skin I’ve ever seen in my life.
The magic’s in the makeup! Look at me. I completely broke out all over my chin this morning. Everybody deals with it. We all deal with it. That’s why makeup’s so awesome. I just hope that everybody finds something in my line that represents them. And with GXVE Beauty, every name behind each color is something to do with my life. Rosewood Street is the first street that I lived on as a little girl; Loara is my high school. Stomp Box was our rehearsal studio that we rehearsed as No Doubt. So it’s just been really fun to develop and personalize everything based on my history.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity, and as of June 9, this post has been updated.
Jessica Radloff is the Glamour senior West Coast editor and author of the soon-to-be-published book The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series (October 11, 2022). You can follow her on Instagram @jessicaradloff14.
