Don't worry, this post isn't a collection of quotes from insanely attractive models encouraging everyone to be comfortable in their own skin and take pleasure in knowing that nobody's perfect. We threw in some actresses, an editor, and a few beauty gurus, too.

Drew Barrymore: “We are who we are—we should celebrate that. Stop fighting it, be silly, do what makes us feel beautiful. Happiness is the best makeup, period. When I’m a good person that day, that makes me feel happy. I feel attractive when I make my husband laugh. [Laughs] I really do. I’m like, Zinga, I feel so sexy! And I’ll be in sweatpants and a scrunchie, and I’m like, ‘Oh man, I just made him laugh. That’s hot!’ I like to play. I mean, come on. We could get hit by a bus tomorrow, and we’re going to have played it safe and conservative? Forget it. I want to try every hair color, I want to paint my face crazy colors for an M.I.A. concert, I want to work with CoverGirl and everything in-between. I don’t care what people think or say, I want to live. I want to have fun! We worry so much in life; I want to worry less.” [The Face: Drew Barrymore]

Poppy King: “I think I first started wearing lipstick when I realized that I have a very 'vintage' face. In 1989, I was still trying to look like the ’89 ideal, but as soon as I accepted that I looked more like a TMC movie, I embraced it, cut my hair, grew out my bangs, plucked my eyebrows, and put on red lipstick. I looked much better. It wasn’t so much that I constructed my identity as I was just going with it. I could have blown out my hair, or gotten a fake tan, or gotten my nose done to look conventionally pretty. But it’s a process of trying to work with what I’ve got, and represent who I really am: mind, body, and soul... Even though I’ve never felt great about the way I looked, I’m confident that I’m doing the best I can. Do I feel beautiful? No. But I feel all sorts of other things instead, like exuberant and glamorous.” [The Top Shelf: Poppy King, Lipstick Queen]

Liv Tyler: “When you put a bit more effort into some things, the results are wonderful, especially as a woman—in your health, your body, your skin, your hair. It can be about that extra five little minutes a day, 30 more minutes a week. Try to shut the world out. If you’re a mom, you just say, ‘OK, here, you’re going to watch a movie, I’m going to take a bath.’ Take the time to have a bath, to do a face mask. It really makes you feel better! And that is what makes you more beautiful—the inner-sparkle that shines out. My whole thing about skincare is starting from the inside, out. There’s no cream that’s going to make you beautiful.” [The Top Shelf: Liv Tyler]

Miranda Kerr: “You don’t have to be 100% strict with yourself. It’s about balance, being kind to yourself, and knowing what works, but not feeling like you have to do everything. For me, it's 80% health-conscious and 20% indulgence. I try to avoid saying 'always' and 'never,' because we're human beings, and it's not always possible. But, to be educated and aware of what you’re doing before you do it is the key.” [The Top Shelf: Miranda Kerr, Model]

Jane Pratt: “I didn’t get into makeup until my junior year of high school. I wasn’t like anyone at [my boarding school] Andover. I was a scholarship kid. I might have arrived with a tiny bit of blush from the drugstore and maybe mascara, and I thought that was 'wearing makeup.' That was the formative experience right there. Within the first couple of weeks, one of the girls in my dorm started to make a list of the pretty girls in the school. I was really dumbfounded. I had never heard anything like it. I was thinking, 'We’re all pretty!' I actually really believed at that time, because I had come from an upbringing where it was all very positive. My mom, an artist and a hippie, would talk a lot about beautiful women that we would see, but there wasn’t one beauty ideal. It was some inner-beauty or confidence she was responding to. I try to celebrate other women’s beauty in that way with [my daughter] Charlotte.” [The Top Shelf: Jane Pratt, Editor in Chief, XOJane]

Tom Pecheux: “One of the most exciting things about fashion week is that the models get to try so many different looks—each day is a new show with different makeup. When you are young, you don't necessarily know who you are. I think for them it is such a learning experience to see themselves in a different way in front of a mirror. They discover a new part of themselves that they never saw before, whether it’s through not wearing mascara, or trying blue eye shadow, crazy David Bowie makeup, or a red lipstick.” [Tom Pecheux on Makeup Journeys]

Anja Rubik: “It seems like, now, it’s fine for men to be sexual, but it’s still not OK for women to be sexual or sensual. And women have so many issues with themselves—their beauty, their bodies. Your life shouldn’t be built around trying to be beautiful for others. Women are turning to all of these plastic surgeries and other things to try to fit into this idolized, weird creature with big lips, big boobs, and a big ass, like a doll. But that’s not what sensuality is about. I appreciate that beauty is an individual thing. For me, the most beautiful thing in a woman is her charisma and her self-confidence.” [The Top Shelf: Anja Rubik, Model]

Victoire de Castellane: “Us women, we want two things: for men to like us, to find us attractive, and also for women to think we’re attractive. Women are more demanding of other women than men are. We are more into details; men are much cooler and more relaxed about it. But in the end, you’ll never relax if you’re always concerned with what people think about you, especially other women, the competition.” [The Top Shelf: Victoire de Castellane, Jewelry Designer]

Jerry Hall: “[Aging] is great—you just don’t give a shit anymore; it’s nice. That’s a bonus.” [The Face: Jerry Hall and Georgia May Jagger]

Olivia Wilde: “I think if beauty products allow people to feel more confident and to operate at a higher frequency in their life, I’m all for it. I hate the idea of beauty as an oppressive force that makes people feel terrible about themselves—this desire to look like someone else, to feel pressure, or to feel like one isn’t enough on their own. I’m all for recognizing one’s own natural beauty and harnessing that confidence and being a badass. I don’t agree with this perception that beauty products are inherently negative, that they’re a 'mask,' that you are covering up who you are or escaping something. I really think that people can become more in touch with themselves by expressing themselves through hair color, makeup, or fashion. My attitude toward that stuff is all about confidence, it’s about having fun with your look, as long as it makes you feel great.” [The Top Shelf: Olivia Wilde]

Victoire de Castellane: “You’ll never relax if you’re always concerned with what people think about you.” [The Top Shelf: Victoire de Castellane, Jewelry Designer]

Laura Mercier: “The approach to makeup, the technique, the way you look at yourself, the way you paint yourself, the way you project yourself, all the options in doing your makeup, it’s interesting. Say you’re a teacher for small kids, or if you have a big position as a career woman and do a speech in front of many people—your makeup has to be right. If you wear the wrong type of makeup, you send the wrong message. And it’s so true. In that respect, I think it’s nice to help women figure out what fits them, what they should go for—but with their help, not like a dictator.” [The Professional: Laura Mercier]

Charlotte Tilbury: “Makeup is a huge part of really enhancing and playing up somebody’s features to their advantage. Beauty is power, and makeup is something that really enhances that; it’s a woman’s secret weapon.” [The Top Shelf: Charlotte Tilbury, Makeup Artist]

Fernanda de la Puente: “At the end of the day, your health comes down to balance. It’s not only the nutrition of what you’re putting in your mouth, but also the types of personal relationships you’re having. That, too, is a kind of nutrition: who you’re talking to throughout the day and what types of experiences you’re having. We absorb all of that. If you want to be healthy, you have to really be honest with how you’re feeling about yourself and others. You are really a reflection of what’s going on inside of you.” [Dramatically Different: Fernanda de la Puente, Chef & Nutrition Counselor]