'Growing up, my older sister and my mom and were really good at being ladies. I would watch them put their makeup on in the mirror, and I was so fascinated. So at a really young age I got really good at doing my friends' makeup, and I eventually when to went to art school for college. I learned a lot about color theory and that sort of thing, but then I kind of realized I wanted to do hair and makeup instead of fine art. I dropped out and went straight into producing photo shoots in Detroit—I would style and do all the hair and makeup myself. Then I figured out that I needed to get out of Michigan to make it happen. I decided to move to LA because I only had $1,500 saved up and, at the time, I was 21 or 22 and looking into New York, but you needed like $10,000 to move to New York.
In LA, I dove head-first into the culture and became a national creative executive for a makeup brand called Napoleon Perdis. Then decided I really hated corporate life. It was an interesting job, but I decided it was time to do my own thing now or never. It was right when the economy crashed, so that was cool. [Laughs] I left that company and signed with an agent within the same week.
HEALTH & WELLNESS
Generally I try to keep things on the natural side because your skin is absorbing everything you put on it, so you might as well have it be medicinal and non-toxic, but I also don't mind a bit of chemical action as I get older. I take a lot of herbal baths. I boil herbs on the stove, or I'll do mustard-seed baths and bentonite clay baths. I also go into the steam room at my gym almost every day, which is really nice. You can make your own sage or cedar wood essential oil and use it as perfume or deodorant. It mixes with your own pH levels so if you sweat, it makes your sweat smell good.
I brew my own Kombucha, so I was trying to figure out what I could do with these extra babies that grow every time you make a batch—they're called SCOBYs, and they look like slabs of skin. I keep a special jar of them in my bathtub area in the dark with a cloth over it and use the actual Kombucha as a toner and the SCOBY as a peel. I've noticed it really cleans up my pores. If I do it at night, I'll wakeup and my skin feels tighter, clearer, and calmer. It's also a probiotic, so you're feeding your skin nicely. It's kind of gross, and your face smells like a foot, but I will say that since I started doing it, there are way less breakouts. I am very much into incorporating things into my life that are already here on this earth, because we kind of have everything we need already. Why not have something that's sustainable and good for you to make you feel beautiful?
SKINCARE
Every morning when I wake up, I wash my face and put on some sort of oil-based moisturizer. I like oily and dewy-looking skin, so rosehip seed oil is really good. Then I will put on Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Full-Coverage Foundation and blend it with the oil to give it what it needs. I'll just spot-conceal any pimples or blemishes with Almay Clear Complexion Concealer—it has salicylic acid in it, so I won't use it under my eye. I also love this Living Libations Breast Massage Oil given to me by Shailene Woodley. I put it on after the shower and use the excess on my hands for my face.
MAKEUP
In the daytime, I'm generally into eye makeup, but I don't really use eyeliner. Instead, I'll do a red-brown eyeshadow with an angled brush and kind of smudge it. I like it a little messy but still defined, to bring out my eyes. I use lots and lots of Tarte's Lights, Camera, Lashes 4-in-1 Mascara. It's not 100 percent natural, but it's more on the natural side. I love waterproof mascara, even though a lot of people are scared of it. It's hard to get off, but if you use some coconut oil, olive oil, or sesame seed oil to remove it, you're fine. After that, I put a little bronzer on. I like Tarte's Amazonian Clay Mineral Bronzer on my cheekbones—it warms up my face and is more matte than traditional bronzers with glitter in it. If I want a little color, maybe I'll use a little bit of peachy blush. Though, I'll switch it up depending on what color my hair is. The #1 thing that I always use is an eyebrow brush. I'm down for crazy eyebrows. I like doing a dark eyebrow with light hair. I'll use the Chanel Crayon Sourcils Sculpting Eyebrow Pencil in Noir Cendré— it's a little darker than my natural color, which is brown.
HAIR
I don't know what my hair routine is. I haven't figured it out, and I haven't known since forever. I don't like hair on me. I don't want long hair—I look like a mom from Malibu with it. I feel a complete loss of identity with long hair, but I don't necessarily like it when it's super-super short either. I'm taking Viviscal right now, which is a hair growth supplement, so my eyelashes and eyebrows are a little wild and out of control, but at least my hair is growing. I don't wash with shampoo more than maybe once a month, but I rinse it everyday because I work out a lot and sit in the sauna. I'll usually throw a little bit of blue or purple hair dye in my conditioner and let it sit a while. After a couple of days, I'll just throw some coconut oil in it to make it as dirty as possible. I would have been hot shit in the '80s, because my hair is like rocker-frizz without even trying. It grows in twelve different directions, so I just wear lots of hats. I also like the smell of dirty hairy—I don't know what's wrong with me. [Laughs]'
—as told to ITG.
Gloria Noto photographed by Rick Rodney. Interviewed by Jane Helpern.
