Laverne Cox is getting beat by the gods. Known for her position as Sophia Burset on “Orange Is the New Black,” the actress will soon megastar in “Glam Masters,” a beauty opposition show premiering Wednesday night on Lifetime. Executive produced by Kim Kardashian, the display casts celebrity makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic, YouTube superstar Kandee Johnson, and Milk Makeup co-founder Zanna Roberts Rassi as judges.
Cox is the host, and even though she’s purported to be playing herself, she’s taken on a personality she describes as “a mixture of RuPaul meets Tyra [Banks] meets Oprah meets Heidi Klum.” Cox launched a music video titled “Beat for the Gods” on Friday to assist get into character. In it, she serves up operatic excessive notes, leg splits, and makeup-inspired rhymes like “lashes, mascara, a shadow within the crease, basis, contour, she’s sitting on fleek.” It’s a splendor bop — for the gods. WWD spoke to Cox final week about “Glam Masters,” her splendor habitual and the industry at big. Here, she opens up about every.
WWD: When did you start sporting make-up?
Laverne Cox: I started out carrying makeup in excessive college. It became an expression of my femininity and gender expression, all that; however, it was a manner for me to announce to the sector which you think you recognize who I am and what I’m about. However, this makeup is telling you a unique tale. It was a way for me to convert myself and how the world concept about me.
WWD: What’s your first makeup memory?
L.C.: My grandmother may additionally she relaxation in peace, her name became Emma Cox, she had this beautiful conceitedness, and I don’t forget sitting at her arrogance, the smells, the fragrance and then mainly the loose powder — she changed into very old fashioned. There became this huge powder puff and this big, antique-searching box of loose powder, and I was immensely eager about the unfastened powder. It felt so glamorous and smelled so excellent.
WWD: Tell me approximately your splendor routine. What kind of merchandise do you want?
L.C.: Sunscreen is high-quality, duper important, even for black parents because, even though we’ve safety from sunburn and all that stuff, the sun does age you. I try and stay out of the solar, and if I am within the solar, I wear a Neutrogena sunscreen. Moisturizing, ingesting masses of water. Estrogen modified my pores and skin plenty. Before I commenced my clinical transition, I had horrible pimples, and my skin turned into a disaster, and about 8 months into taking estrogen, it all cleared up. My pores and skin are exquisitely sensitive, so I need to be genuinely cautious about what I use — the whole lot’s hypoallergenic. I’ve continually had puffy eyes, so I use a de-puffer from Kiehl’s and that they have an eye cream that I do at night time as properly.
WWD: What’s your courting with your makeup artist, Deja Smith Davenport, like?
L.C.: I even have regarded Deja for 10 years. I met her through my friend Mila J [the recording artist]. I constantly did my personal makeup, I didn’t accept it as true with everybody, and when “Orange Is the New Black” got here, they had press stuff, and they were like, “You need a make-up artist.” So I requested [Deja] to do my makeup for press, which has definitely extended my beauty and appearance. Deja is a pal; she is a confidante; she beats me for the gods.
WWD: Who do you appearance to for glam inspo?
L.C.: Kim Kardashian currently did a search for her make-up line, and the appearance becomes so great, and I screenshot that and become like Deja, permit’s be inspired via this and do our model of this for my pores and skin. I love J.Lo; I love Beyoncé; Zendaya’s taking such splendid dangers and doing entertaining matters. For my tune “Beat for the Gods,” for the quilt artwork, and one of them seems, I located some suggestions from Grace Jones. I appeared in the beyond; I look at iconic things that I love, there’s Marie Antoinette idea there, too. We appearance anywhere.
WD: I study that you don’t put on makeup on first dates. Is that still actual?
L.C.: I’m the relationship a person now, so I haven’t had a primary date in half of a year; however, yeah, the nighttime I met him, I just become now not carrying makeup. I become unmarried last yr, and I turned into meeting guys online for the most element, so when you meet someone on Tinder or OkCupid or something, you don’t realize who they’re. If I become coming from an event or coming from paintings and I’m carrying makeup and assembly someone, excellent.
But if I actually have to time off, I’m now not setting on makeup for a few dudes I don’t realize. I try to agenda the date within a five-minute walk from my apartment ’cause I’ve treated loads of fellows standing me up. Dating in New York, men stand you up — my trans girlfriends address that. Schedule a date inside five minutes of my rental, after they get there, textual content me while you’re there — I don’t leave my house ’til they’re there — after which if it’s a dud, I get out in 15 mins.
WWD: I love that so much.
L.C.: Girl, no. The entire point in which you don’t position strength and effort into [it]. If you’ve met a person online, it’s now not the first date; it’s miles a screening. It surely must be a drink or coffee; it’s a screening procedure. Are they worthy of me installing effort for this date? And you then find out that.
WWD: What are some desires you need the beauty industry to deal with that it isn’t?
L.C.: Rihanna’s Fenty came out an ultimate year and had all the one’s hues of basis. Iman was one of the first people who had an organization years ago with shades for women of color. However, that also seems like an issue. We’ve, in reality, been approached about working with a makeup agency, and their services for ladies of color just weren’t there. I love that more groups are gluten-loose and vegan and don’t test on animals.
I found that I was gluten illiberal last year, and I cut gluten out of my diet completely, however it turned into nonetheless showing up in my weight loss plan, and my doctor said that it could be the lipstick that I’m sporting, ‘purpose you eat the lipstick. So now I have to wear gluten-free lipstick. I experience like there’s lip service to women of color in splendor ads. However, it’s like, if we don’t see ourselves for your advert campaigns, we’re no longer gonna buy from you ‘purpose we don’t assume it’s for us. We start to think it’s for us whilst there’s an effort to create hues that mirror our sunglasses and feature us for your advert campaign. Those are matters that we still need to work on within the splendor international.
