7 December: Selena graces the cover of a special edition of WWD Magazine

Selena looks beautiful as she stuns for a photoshoot & graces the cover of a special edition of WWD Magazine.

Full photoshoot: gallery.armyofselenagomez.com

“Knowing that we’re doing an important thing while selling these products is super rewarding,” said Gomez, who has been transparent about own mental health journey, including coming to terms with Lupus, depression and bipolar disorder.

“Every time I meet someone in passing, and I am completely being honest with you, it’s always about Rare Beauty,” she told Beauty Inc of her El Segundo, Calif.-based “accessible prestige” brand, which has 100 employees. “It’s actually become more about that. And it’s really nice. I’m always delighted and honored, but that’s usually what I get stopped most about. And it’s really been such a crazy experience, because we’re so new.”

What do they say besides asking for a selfie? “I definitely get a lot of love for my blushes. So people will be very vocal about that. Or they’ll say they love the line or they love the messaging. A lot of people talk about how awesome it is that we’ve tried to make an inclusive brand. Truly for everyone.”

“It’s really the opposite of a fad brand,” said chief executive officer Scott Friedman. “What we’ve talked about from the very beginning is trying to develop products that people are going to want to use forever.”

“We center everything on wanting people to take care of themselves and love who they are, and have a safe place to share their stories,” she said. “I’ve heard really beautiful moments, like having someone walk through a divorce and actually being able to feel like she had a community to turn to. And then I will hear a young girl who has had self-esteem issues for so long and she dealt with a lot of mental health. And it’s just incredible to see how Rare has created that space.…I always cry when we read the comments.”

“We’re constantly wanting to know how we can do more, and what our community needs. Everything we create has them in mind. So, for example, I love a really strong brow, and we launched a dual-ended product that was multifunctional with a tinted brown mascara on one end and a pencil on the other. But we noticed that the community was actually preferring one side over the other and not using both. So we decided to reformulate and come out with two great products that have been really well received,” Gomez said of listening to the customer.

“Professional makeup artists are very threatening to me because they’re the ones that have probably tried every product under the sun,” she said. “And both of my makeup artists use it on me. I wore it to the MTV VMAs, I wear it on most of my films and on ‘Only Murders in the Building.’ We all definitely enjoy using my products.”

“A lot of times when you’re doing certain music videos, you are doing extravagant looks. I feel like I use that information to say, ‘How do I make it easy so I can achieve a really nice look but without having the 17 steps to do it?’” she said. “That’s been my biggest lesson is making the products accessible and easy to use.”

“There’s tons of things that I’ve learned through working on myself, by taking time away, learning DBT [dialectical behavior therapy] and CBT [cognitive behavioral therapy], which are skill sets I can use for whenever I feel overwhelmed, or I feel all of the emotions coming to a place that I slipped a little bit,” she said. “I can get down and I still have those days. But I am a big advocate for therapy and I believe in finding the right person, too, because you have to be careful who to trust. And I think being around people who may have walked through similar things has also been helpful, being around someone older, or even just a best friend, that’s like, ‘Yeah, I know how a panic attack feels, let’s talk about where it’s coming from,’” she continued.

“And sometimes I just like to be with my sister who’s 10. She just makes me feel good. I like to light candles and pamper myself a little bit. And then other days, I’m not gonna lie, it’s just really hard, and I have to pop on a funny movie just sit there and allow myself to feel what I need to feel.”

In her personal life, she turns to mom, Mandy Teefey, for support. In the makeup space, she has a lot of respect for Rihanna. “She is who she is and she’s proud to be that. And I love that she has done what she’s wanted to do with her life and takes control of it. It’s really admirable.”

She’s never gone to the Fenty Beauty founder for advice, though. “I’m too scared — and I feel like she’s a mom and busy,” Gomez laughed.

For the future, she said, “My dream is to continue to build the community and also build the brand to be a household name, where it’s not even necessarily associated with me, and hopefully people can enjoy it without even needing to understand me. I feel like we’re going in that direction.”

“I think my version of beauty was a bit affected because I’ve been working since I was seven and I’ve always had makeup on,” she said. “I can’t think about how many hours I have spent in the chair because it kind of depresses me a little. But I genuinely feel like I am happy whenever I get to do my makeup now. And I get to feel really positive about the experience.”

Looking back, she would tell seven-year-old Selena, “Have fun and know that you count and matter without all of that makeup. And love yourself a bit more because I found it really hard to for a while.”

Source: wwd.com