"In Vogue they called me the ‘beauty experimenter,’ because I change my hair so much. I’m the one who can always be counted on to change my color and cut and everything [for a role]–I do get kind of itchy for change when I’ve had the same for too long. I don’t even know my natural color! After all the changes, Olaplex is apparently the only reason I still have hair on my head. I always go to Mark Selley, who’s at Nicky Clarke. He has magic hands and a lot of willpower.

I suppose it’s good I’m that way because of the severe makeup changes an actor goes through. I’ve been acting for a long time–I started when I was 12. I had an amazing drama teacher in school, and then during one of our lessons, a casting director came and asked me to audition for a film called Miss Potter. I met my current agent through that. My most recent project is a Netflix show called Gypsy, which came out last week, actually. It’s about a therapist, played by Naomi Watts, who starts to get a little too interested in her clients’ lives–I play one of her clients, Allison, who is a drug addict.

Acting has influenced my approach to beauty in both practical and fun ways, as well as influencing my style. I do like to be more adventurous–for some reason I feel safer in that. I recently watched Play It As It Lays, and I saw Tuesday Weld wearing this bright cobalt blue eyeshadow. Since then I’ve been experimenting with oranges, blues, purples... I’m really digging the bold eyes–the blue one I’m wearing today is a Marc Jacobs Highliner. Back when my hair was red, I did a lot of pink glittery eyes with Barry M glitter, which stays on well and is really affordable. I enjoy the brightness of it. And I’m always using black liquid eyeliner, always the cat-eye. Or, I like a big doe-eye–it’s my go-to. For that I use MAC Haute and Naughty mascara, which I’ve now stepped up to the Ultra Black shade. It has two sets of brushes and it’s really good. I just find that other mascara clumps.

For special occasions, I like the Juice Beauty CC Cream in Natural Glow with a Laura Mercier powder and a Stila concealer. Then either Benefit blusher or Lily Lolo in Tickled Pink and Just Peachy. For contour–I suffer from chipmunk cheeks–I’ll use the Delilah Matte Bronzer in Medium Dark, and the Hourglass Ambient Light Powder. And I either like a strong lip or no lip at all. Nars Heatwave is a bright red, and then Hourglass Icon is a darker one, they’re both so good. Sometimes I’ll use the Neal’s Yard Wild Rose Beauty Balm on my cheekbones to highlight, and then I use it to remove makeup as well. It’s one of those products, it just does it all.

My skin gets really dry and stressed from all the traveling I do so I’ve had to find reliable products to help that. I work with Justine Jenkins a lot, and she has a wealth of knowledge about products, especially cruelty-free brands. Murad’s a really good one–I love their eye creams. Otherwise, Pai is really nice, because they’re an organic brand that has lines for most skin conditions. When I’ve been traveling a lot, I use both the Pai Camellia and Rose Cleanser and the Day Cream every day, twice a day. And I’ll mask with the Pai Rosehip Bioregenerate Rapid Radiance Mask. My skin’s rather difficult to fix and I’m incredibly sensitive. It’s funny because I actually did a beauty feature like a year ago where the whole piece was about 'How To Maintain Flawless Skin,' and halfway through I had an intense allergic reaction to one of the oils they used. They had to cover up the redness and hives with makeup, Photoshop the hell out of it all… [Laughs] Anyway, I’ve learned to be careful."

–as told to ITG