Dove Cameron on Drugstore Makeup, Hair Dye and Working With Diesel

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Welcome to The Glowdown, the series where we dive into the beauty secrets of our favourite celebrities as they get real about their routines and non-negotiables exclusively with us. Join them as they sit in our beauty hot seat, and we fire off a round of quick questions, giving you never-before-shared insight into the products they can’t live without, their secrets to getting red carpet–ready, beauty pet peeves and the genius tips they’ve picked up along the way. This is no-holds-barred beauty at its finest.

This month, we sat down with Dove Cameron. The 30-year-old singer and actress is the global ambassador for Diesel’s new fragrance, Only Desire. “I got really lucky because I’ve always loved Diesel as a brand,” Cameron told me. “I think they’re really cool and chic. They sent me the fragrance before I signed on, and I got lucky that I loved the scent and wanted to wear it.”

Below, Dove shares her go-to makeup products, her best beauty advice and why Anya Taylor-Joy is her ultimate hair inspiration…

Dove Cameron wearing a shirt and suit trousers with a red tie

1. Which beauty product gives you the biggest mood boost?
Perfume. It’s so tied to emotion; there are so many memories. I like to use scents for certain periods of time, or certain roles or music projects, so it feels closely related to that time and I can always go back there.

2. You only have one product to use for the rest of your life—what is it?
A super, super heavy moisturiser. I find that the thing that is most necessary to me is one of those creams where everybody is like, “the consistency is horrible!” It needs to feel like cream cheese. I know that if everyone in the reviews says it’s too thick, it’s going to be perfect. I love Weleda. I keep trying to find something different, but it’s the perfect thickness for me.

3. What’s the best piece of beauty advice you have ever received?
I’ve never really sought beauty advice. I feel like beauty is something so personal. Go after what inspires you; dress as the character you feel you are on the inside. I feel like it’s less about what beauty advice I’ve heard and more about what beauty advice I can give. Don’t lean into trends, don’t try to make yourself into what everybody else is doing because it’s never going to feel as magical as becoming the character you feel you are. My mum said something to me when we were both really young. She’s always dyed her hair this bright fire-engine red, and she is a brunette, but she’s never not been bright red. I asked her once when I was a kid, “Mum, why do you always dye your hair red?” and she said, “Well, because inside I just feel like a redhead, so why would I not? It’s part of my identity.”

4. Strong lip or a strong eye?
I think when I’m working, a strong eye is usually my preference because the camera picks up so many things; a strong eye really grounds my facial features. But in my day-to-day life, probably a strong lip because I don’t love to do eye makeup daily. If you throw on nothing but a red lip, it’s really the full look sometimes, and that’s much easier for me. I actually can’t do eyeshadow on myself!

5. If you could steal someone else’s makeup bag, whose would it be?
Jenna Ortega, because we have a very similar makeup aesthetic. I haven’t done the bleach brow since, like, 2022, but it’s one of my favourite things. I also really love any runway look from the ’90s. A lot of cool-toned, muted, soft smokey browns and neutrals—I love all of that.

A collage of images of Dove Cameron with a quote about why perfume is her favourite beauty product when she needs a mood boost

6. You’ve got a spot. Are you team pop it or team leave it alone?
Team pop it! Well, I don’t know; it’s 50/50. As you go, you have to be like…is this going to be a disaster, or is this necessary? It’s a case-by-case basis. I’m not the kind of person who goes and gets tons of facials; I’m not really a huge believer. I’ll handle it myself! But I am a big [spot] patch girl. I live in a patch if I have a spot.

7. What’s your signature fragrance?
Right now it’s Diesel Only Desire. I get compliments on it all the time, and I really like it because it’s very sweet, warm and woody. There’s a spice to it, but a lightness and an airiness to it; it’s a well-rounded, full fragrance.

8. You’re having your nails done. What’s your go-to colour?
My go-to colour is black. I just don’t like other nail colours! Sometimes I’ll do a red. I started doing red because of my fiancé…it’s very big in Italy to have red nails. Also, my mum has red toenails, so I was like, maybe I love red, but I just don’t like it. I really like black.

9. Name one beauty product that is always in your handbag.
I actually keep my full beauty kit on me, which sounds like a lot, but it’s not. Just the daily essentials in my handbag because I’m always on planes, in cars; sometimes I’m doing so many things in the day that in the morning it doesn’t make sense to have any makeup on, but then I might need to go to a chemistry test or might have to have a meeting, so I keep my lip stain, my lip liner, my mascara, my lash curler, my concealer…

10. Are you team dewy or matte?
It changes. For work, team matte because I hate the upkeep of keeping a dewy look. But day-to-day, I don’t usually wear powder. In my life, dewy; for work, matte. I’m practical!

An image of Dove Cameron in a black sparkly outfit with a quote about why she'd love to steal Anya Taylor-Joy's hair

11. The greatest drugstore product for under £10?
I do feel like drugstore mascaras are pretty superior. I don’t really have a favourite brand; I feel like they are all pretty solid. If I were to say a particular product, Aquaphor. It solves everything.

12. Describe your brows in one word.
I would say they are temperamental.

13. Confession time–how often do you clean your makeup brushes?
I would say once every two weeks, but that’s mostly because I don’t really use makeup brushes. I tend to use my hands or a Beauty Blender sometimes, but I just change them out because I get paranoid that I’m not cleaning them well enough.

14. Which celebrity’s hair would you love to steal?
Probably Anya Taylor-Joy, because I don’t understand how she keeps that platinum [hair] so healthy! Every time I see her, I keep forgetting to ask, “What are you using?” I swear the whole world wants me to go platinum again, and I’m like, I don’t know what to tell you; it’s so hard not to have all your hair fall off.”

15. Which era of beauty inspires you most?
Definitely the ’90s, but also, there are parts of the ’60s that are really interesting.

16. What do you do in your downtime to relax and reset?
The gym is really important to me right now. I find that if I expend physical energy throughout the day, I sleep better; when I sleep better, my brain produces all the chemicals I need for the next day. I’m trying to start journaling again. Honestly, watching a new movie that changes my brain chemistry.