Brie Larson on the Importance of Wearing Makeup for Yourself

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It takes a ton of trial and error before you can land on a lineup of products for your everyday skincare routine. For Brie Larson, the search ended when she was introduced to Decorté.

So when the luxury Japanese beauty brand approached the Academy Award-winning actress to front its latest campaign, which also coincides with its 50th anniversary, accepting the offer was a no-brainer.

"I was super excited when they asked me to be a brand muse because it’s so easy to talk about products that I use and like," Larson tells InStyle.

While the Captain Marvel star has her everyday routine set, she's been turning to "little extras" as a pick-me-up while social distancing at home throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Her go-tos include Decorté's Liposome Moisture Liposome Mask and Total Relief Eye Mask.

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"I find that sheet masks can really fix my mood, so I’m very sheet mask motivated," Larson says. "I love the under eye masks as well. Those are just little extra things you can add to your routine that feel luxurious."

On top of these little moments of skincare self-indulgence, Larson has also been finding joy in wearing makeup and dressing up for herself. And through all of the experimentation, she's truly learning to be more confident and comfortable in her own skin.

Ahead, the actress shares her quarantine self-care routine, what she's learned by doing her own glam, and why she opened up about her experience with rosacea for the first time on her new YouTube channel.

What has your quarantine self-care routine looked like?

For me, it’s been about creating some boundaries. When I’m at home all day, it’s really easy for everything to become one. When I wake up, I immediate look at my phone and start answering emails. Suddenly it will be dark outside and I’m still looking at my phone. So, I’ve started to make sure I have time in the morning and time at night for myself. Even if it’s just little things that don’t take up too much time but connect me to myself, like slowing down and rubbing my hands together and smelling my moisturizer before I put it on my face. Once the sun starts to set, I transition out of work mode into me time again. I wash my face or shower, change into pajamas, put a podcast on, chop vegetables, and slowly decompress and get ready for sleep.

Spending so much time at home has had a lot of us looking in the mirror and inwards at ourselves. How has this impacted your approach to your beauty routine?

For so much of my life, my hair and makeup routine has been me just sitting there. Whether I’m on a movie [set] or doing press, someone usually else does it. This is the first time in a really long time where it was all on me. I started this YouTube channel and I was like, “Oh man, I need to put makeup on.” It’s felt really good to do, even if the only outing I get is to the grocery store. I can put on lipstick and then put on a mask, and that lip is just for me. I get a little bit of pleasure out of the fact that I can care for myself however I want and it’s truly just mine. It doesn’t have to be for anyone else or some big to-do. It’s recognizing that now more than ever, we have to take care of ourselves so that we can be of service to the rest of the world.

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What looks have you attempted at home?

I’ve done micro trims with nose hair scissors. I didn’t go crazy thinking I had any right to be cutting my own hair. But, I’ve embraced the fact that it’s [quarantine] turned my brain and now anything goes. If I want to wear pajamas, earrings, and a red lip in my own home, I can do that. For me, this has been a little bit of an incubation time of getting back in my body, and doing what feels right to me.

How do you think this experimentation is going to impact your future looks once we’re back out in the real world?

We don’t know when that will be. I feel like I’ve learned so, so much during this time, and that I’m going to continue to learn, so I just can’t even anticipate it. The thing that I’ve learned most is to cherish is feeling confident in my own body and feeling safe at home. I’m realizing how much of my activism and what I bring out in the world is about that as well, and wanting others to feel this same confidence and safety in themselves.

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You spoke about dealing with rosacea for the first time in one of your YouTube videos. Why did you want to share your experience now?

I began to realize that a lot of times I was expressing myself through characters. For so long I didn’t want people to know too much about me personally because then they won’t believe me as other characters on screen, but I realized that me as myself is also representation on screen. I don’t want to keep acting like I’m perfect because I’m not. I’m a work in progress like everyone else, and I don’t want to go crazy thinking I have to maintain an image that doesn’t exist. That’s where it all came from. More than anything, it’s about keeping it human.

Which one of your characters do you resonate the most with during this time?

Carol Danvers will always live in me in some degree because she helped me grow into my adulthood. I now feel more comfortable, confident, and understand how much potential I have. I went from thinking I’m just an introvert with asthma to deadlifting 200 pounds. The other part is caring for our planet and other people by helping and protecting them. I’m just forever grateful to her and seeing how the image of what she represents has been a symbol of confidence for a lot of other people.