Charli xcx’s Beauty Icons Are “All the Monicas”

Charli xcx has never shied away from pushing the boundaries. Two summers ago, with Brat, she took us to the club, then the afters, then another club, then—well, you get it. As she played the life of the party at the center of the world’s dance floor, the pop star translated that innovative ethos to her self-presentation, which, like her art, was raw, edgy, and never without a bit of wit.

All along, YSL Beauty has been working with Charli to make some of her biggest beauty moments come to life (the singer is also a longtime muse and friend of Saint Laurent Creative Director Anthony Vaccarello). She used products from the house’s makeup line for the festival premiere of The Moment (the hypermeta mockumentary about the rise and fictional fall of the Brat era), her custom, elegant Saint Laurent look at this year’s Met Gala, and most recently, for her lane-swerving “Rock Music” video, in which she’s equal parts stripped back with a totally bare face and highly glam with a glittering, smoky cat eye—the two sides of the Charli xcx coin.

It’s a natural step in the creative partnership, then, for the announcement that Charli xcx is YSL Beauty’s newest US Local Ambassador. She’s in good company, joining Amelia Gray, Lila Moss, and Laura Harrier in officially partnering with the brand. YSL Beauty has just launched its new Skin Affair Soft Glow Cushion Foundation, a lightweight, medium-coverage liquid foundation arriving in clutch packaging, and to celebrate, Charli xcx fronts a campaign shot by director Renell Medrano. The video follows Charli through four stages of “artistic becoming,” exploring the tension between the private self and the public performance that the three-time Grammy winner and increasingly in-demand screen actor knows so intimately.

Charli chatted with W ahead of the campaign’s launch to share some of her favorite beauty tips, tricks, and regrets (or lack thereof):

What’s one YSL Beauty product you’d recommend for a night out with your friends?

I love the lip blushers. They’re so easy to use, and you can really kind of smudge them into your lips. I like that they're matte, and it just feels pretty effortless when you wear them. If you’re on a night out, I feel like you can really just throw it on even without looking in a mirror, which is kind of how I like to do it, like—in the car to the party. It’s very on the go.

Are there any beauty icons you admire at the moment?

I love Monica Vitti. And I love Monica Bellucci. All the Monicas. [laughs] Plus Béatrice Dalle, she's so punk and cool.

Are there any makeup or beauty moments you regret from when you were younger?

No, I'll just go with no regrets, you know? I think it's fun to experiment with makeup when you're younger and not take it too seriously, and just have fun being young. You only get to be a kid once. It doesn't need to be serious.

Do you have any makeup non-negotiables for when you’re on stage?

I guess I don't. I'm never one for too much on stage, just because I'm always moving so much. I don't really like to wear powder on stage. I like it just to all feel very natural—like no lashes, nothing like that. Less is more.

Is there a beauty trick that you've learned that you wish you had known sooner?

Sometimes I'll hairspray my brows, which I think is a really good one. It's probably not very good for you, but they really stay. And I guess I still don't know how to curl my eyelashes with an eyelash curler, so hopefully one day I'll learn how to do that.