The actress opens up about her skincare woes and the pressures of living in the public eye.
“I know nothing about skincare. I am the customer “Millie Bobby Brown says She’s reacting to my reservations about an 18-year-old starting a skincare brand. With the market saturated with celebrity cosmetic lines, a new brand’s appearance begs the question, “Why?”
Florence by Mills will be three years old this August, and Brown has no plans to halt its expansion. She sits down to discuss skincare, social media, and Stranger Things while performing, operating a beauty brand, and being a teenager.
Brown is expanding her Florence by Mills range with an acne-fighting ‘Clear the Way’ collection that includes a clarifying face wash and mud mask to help deep cleanse your skin. Acne is a problem for many teenagers with fluctuating hormones. She’d wonder why she was getting pimples when attending red carpet events. “I’m absolutely a victim of my skin,” Brown acknowledges, referring to the terrible acne that plagues her during some of her most prominent (and public) times. Skincare has been a learning experience for the British adolescent. “I would go to the red carpets and walk out wondering, ‘Why did this pimple suddenly appear?’ and ‘Why is my skin not enjoying this foundation that these people are putting on me?” she explains. A personal relationship with your skin is a journey in discovering what your skin likes and needs (and what it doesn’t). Brown has learnt that you can’t hide your skin—”I wanted to add more makeup to cover it,” she says, “but you have to love it and listen to your skin.”
The clarifying face wash contains niacinamide, a trendy beauty buzzword, to help manage oil. Salicylic, glycolic, and lactic acids are also present to assist decrease pores while smoothing fine wrinkles and texture. The Clarifying Mud Mask extracts all impurities by unclogging and reducing pores with charcoal and salicylic acid. The mixture contains kaolin clay to exfoliate the skin and lavender and tea tree essential oils to relax it.
“I’ve been seeking for a skincare and beauty brand that will curate ingredients and products that are appropriate for my complexion,” Brown says, confessing she’s spent 2022 learning about new skincare trends and understanding her skin, its issues, and how to solve them. Brown is cautious of making her products “clean” and cruelty-free by avoiding additives like silicone and SLS/SLES. Brown, on the other hand, is concerned not only with what’s in the items, but also with how they make you feel. She feels that beauty is subjective and that it is up to each individual to interpret.
In an age when filters allow people to flaunt invisible pores and flawless beauty, I ask Brown how social media impacts her. “I try to stay off social media as much as possible,” she says dismissively. The phone call has suddenly become heavy. We don’t confront the elephant in the room, but you can feel it. Brown has received unusually harsh criticism from the Internet, in contrast to her co-stars and other performers her age. Whether it’s reaction over text messages between her and Drake or criticism for her wardrobe, the headlines are laced with a weird cynicism. Which is strange given that she is literally a child. In 2018, she took a public hiatus from social media and, in Beyoncé-style, locked the world off to her personal life, vowing that her accounts would only be used to promote her work. For many, the age of 18 marks a turning point. I shiver in fear at the thought of her 54.3M followers feeling free to comment. “I think what people forget is that just because my job is in the public eye doesn’t mean everything has to be.” It’s about me going through personal stuff and wanting to keep it personal,” she explains, apparently frustrated that she needs to justify herself. I agree with her, despite the fact that I haven’t posted in nearly three months. “Sometimes I need a mental break from it,” she says, relaxing slightly. It’s a difficult relationship with social media—sometimes it’s amazing, sometimes not. I want it to be a cheerful, positive place where individuals can come to be accepted.” When she talks about how she wants the Internet to work, it’s clear she’s imagining a space that doesn’t yet exist in her reality.
When she isn’t busy expanding her beauty empire or combating online haters, she is working on her first acting gig. At the time of our chat, she’s driving away from the set of Damsel, the new Netflix fantasy film in which she stars and executive produces. With a new season of Stranger Things available for binge-watching, Brown praises her castmates, with whom she has grown up over the past four seasons. She adds a pleasant truth while discussing what goes on behind the scenes: “All of [us] are fantastic singers.” The Duffer Brothers have revealed that Season 5 of Stranger Things will premiere in 2024, bringing the series to a close. Will there be a musical episode? A Broadway musical? “Stranger Things on Broadway is coming soon,” Brown laughs.
Danielle James is an award-winning businesswoman, fashion and beauty journalist, and co-creator of the show Safe Space, which encourages viewers to have difficult talks with people in their lives. She has written for Allure, Essence, Nylon, The Grio, Huffington Post, and other publications, and her specialty is in retail, fashion, and beauty. Danielle enjoys writing about new trends and is passionate about making beauty and fashion accessible to everyone. Model Citizen is the founder of a sustainable fashion firm that promotes peer-to-peer apparel sharing and supports young designers. Ms. James enjoys brunch, travel, volunteering, and spending time with friends and family when she is not working.