Photo Credit: Shutterstock
A flawless facial finish starts at clean and effective skincare, and nobody models that better than nineteen-year-old natural beauty, Emily Alyn Lind, herself. With perfectly poreless skin peeking through underneath her soft blonde subtle bangs, we trust that Lind knows a thing or two when it comes to skincare; fortunately, the Gossip Girl reboot star is definitely not stingy with her keys to a radiant complexion. When starring on a show as elite as Gossip Girl, the reboot, a youthful and vibrant glow is absolutely essential, of course, but no look is truly complete without a certain level of drama. New York native, Lind, expresses her character, Audrey Hope’s, flair for the dramatics, which echoes her own, with a bold and signature red lip. The HBO Max starlet dishes all of the details of shooting Gossip Girl, the reboot, in an intimate Vogue get-ready-with-me style interview, while revealing her 7 step guide to achieving an effortlessly eye-catching red pout fit for New York City’s finest young socialite.
There’s no shortage of beauty secrets spilled as Emily Alyn Lind walks Vogue through her everyday skincare regimen, finally finishing with a tutorial to her quintessential red lip. Lind begins by cleansing her face using a dermatologist prescribed Sodium Sulfacetamide and Sulfur cleansing solution which she attributes to her aforementioned smooth and spotless skin. Emily candidly opens up about her past struggle with cystic acne, aversion to Accutane, and instead, names this miracle product her holy-grail solution. Next, the soft-spoken and relatable teen moisturizes using Trader Joe’s oil-free antioxidant facial moisturizer. Lind loves these uber accessible products claiming she’s tried many alternatives but nothing leaves her skin quite as nourished, unblemished, fresh-feeling, and her quite as satisfied; with gentle effectiveness and cruelty-free production at those price points, we too are impressed. Lind, a self-proclaimed “sunscreen-obsessed-human,” recognizes the importance of SPF yet discloses that she hasn’t always been so adamant about protecting her healthy skin. She opts for cult favorite, Supergoop matte sunscreen, to preserve her perfect complexion while keeping unwanted shine under control even on the most humid of New York City summer days. Following sunscreen, Emily shares another dermatologist-backed product, a prescription gel to be applied prior to skincare, a soothing and shimmering pink lip gloss by Dior, and finally, it is time for the long-awaited makeup tutorial.
Lind’s rule of thumb when it comes to makeup is sticking with the basics, she swears by a natural yet air-brushed and sculpted base juxtaposed with an attention-grabbing lip in rouge. To start off, Emily generously applies Glossier’s light skin tint for sheer yet effective coverage, before concealing dark circles under her eyes and illuminating the high points of her face. She softly sets her face using both Gucci’s slightly tinted matte natural powder, and a drugstore mattifying sheer powder, by Flower Beauty, over top. Emily does away with excess shine and sticks to a more classic, and timeless, textureless facial base finish. Emily’s look of elegance continues with bronzer, the rising statuses Kevin Aucoin’s sculpting powder to reintroduce warmth and depth into the hollows of her cheeks, jawline, and temples. Finally, she lightly grazes Dior powdered highlighter over the high points of her face and finishes the base with a shiny Chanel liquid eyeshadow appropriated to create a long-lasting nose highlight.
A natural eye look compliments Emily’s anticipated rich red lip, so she opts for a subtly sparkling neutral-toned light shadow with brown pencil eyeliner and long wispy mascara accents primed first with her trusted, and according to her, very necessary, Gucci eye primer. While brushing and setting her feathery brows with a Gucci brow pencil and Glossier Boy Brow, Lind names her biggest makeup inspiration, her Gossip Girl castmate Zion due to her mastery of the famously coveted “no-makeup makeup look.” Finally, Lind indulges us with her eagerly awaited seven-step red lip tutorial. By exfoliating her lips with a dry towel, Emily purges her lips of dry skin and naturally plumps her already full pout. Next, she carefully applies a ruby-hued lipstick and neatly wraps a sheet of toilet paper around several times into a “perfecting brush” of sorts. Emily cleans up the edges of her lipstick and moves on to the next step: wiping away the lipstick on her cupid's bow and blotting it back on for a more worn-in red lip look. To complete the tedious process Emily briskly sets the lipstick with powder before reapplying the product with her finger for a brighter, classy red.
With a demanding but durable red lip process like this, Lind is surely a perfectionist or at least has an eye for precision and detail. We see, and love, these traits in Gossip Girl’s Audrey Hope, and we cannot wait to watch the rest of the airing season. Perhaps Lind’s luxurious red lip will make an appreciated cameo, and if not, we’re certain Emily’s on-screen looks will be just as elegant.