Elle UK (Dec. 6th 2017)

Gwen Stefani Reveals The Beauty Hacks You Need To Know

Make-up tips, spiritual exercise and the beauty tricks you need to know. ELLE get personal with everyone's favourite singer.

From No Doubt to 2004's Love. Angel. Music. Baby (which was meant to be a quick side project, fyi, but brought us megahits like 'Hollaback Girl'), Gwen Stefani has always been our cool girl. The girl we always wanted to copy, no matter what she was doing (hello, platinum blonde hair).

Now the singer is a Revlon global brand ambassador, thanks in no small part to her obsession with their classic red lipstick.

ELLE meets the former front-woman on a properly freezing day to talk tour bus life, make-up inspiration and what she wishes 15-year-old Gwen had known…

Are you a beauty hoarder?

I love red lipstick. I have all the Super Lustrous Lipsticks. This is why it's so fun to work with Revlon; they hook me up with all this amazing make-up, which means I get to wear colours I never thought I would wear. You know what I mean, I would always normally go for a blue red, but it's been fun to explore all the different colours.

You must have a favourite shade?

I'm probably going to go with Cherries In The Snow. I'm a classic girl; I like that the colour has been around forever. It's that real old-school red.

What was the best beauty tip you were ever given?

Stay out the sun! Ok so you guys [in England] have no problem with that. It's funny though, because you definitely see it as you get older. Later in life, you're like "What is that?!", and it turns out it's from the sun and you're like, "Oh why did I do that to myself?". That said, growing up in California, I was pretty good. Not when I was a kid, but once I hit my twenties.

Do you have any friends or family that have any particular input into your beauty style?

My dad's sister was the make-up queen. My mum would always tell me stories of her sitting on the couch with all her make-up. She always went full blown with lashes, so I always think that maybe I took after her.

As for friends, I have my whole beauty crew. Everyone I work with is just as passionate about makeup and hair and style as I am, so we just have so much fun creating looks. We love to recreate anything that feels vintage; any decade like the 60s or 70s. Being on The Voice we did a lot of that, referencing all the old Hollywood stars. It's super fun.

Best cheat for tired skin?

Probably sleep. However, second to that, I think a lot of people will just keep piling one more make-up, more powder. Sometimes, if I have a really long day (like a 14-hour day filming The Voice) I'll just wash it all off and start over again for that fresh-face feeling. I only do my skin though, the ColorStay Foundation works so well I don't need to reapply elsewhere. It feels better than it looks though, you do pretty much look the same!

Talking of skin, do you stick to a specific skincare routine?

The one thing that I have really changed is trying to get all the makeup off. It was hard when I was younger because I was always on a tour bus, literally washing my face with bottled water, inside a bus. But the key is to keep it clean at night. Let your face breathe (because I really don't let it breathe at any other time). I'm such a make-up crazy girl, I love make-up.

How would you describe your fitness philosophy?

I've learned a lot about that. I used to do a lot of fitness and physical exercise, which I still think is really important, but spiritual exercise is the one thing that really got me to where I'm at. So I do that all day long, every day, and then if I get time I do my fitness.

What do you wish you could go back and tell your 15-year-old self?

Stay out of the sun! But apart from that, I would say listen to your heart. I've always listened to my heart, but I do think that sometimes I didn't listen to my instinct.

You're a Libra. Are you into star signs? How do you relate to yours?

I'm actually not really into star signs! But I think my star sign is quite accurate to my personality. It's that whole balance with Libra, and I'm quite peaceful, I don't like confrontation, so I guess maybe it does have some truth to it. It's fun to talk about, but I wouldn't run my life around star signs.