When I meet Courteney Cox, she’s just stepped off the tennis court. “I just played tennis and so I’m sweaty,” she says as she greets me. (Cox is at her home in Malibu, so we’re speaking through Zoom.) The vision of Cox wiping sweat makes me think that she might be more chill and laid back than the character she played on that iconic ’90s sitcom. Although, in our interview, Cox is careful with her words in light of the SAG writers strike that limits her from speaking about past, present, and future acting roles.
Instead, we talk about beauty. Cox has a lot to say about what she does to keep her skin so good (she chills under a $6,000 red-light panel every morning). She wears Rare Beauty makeup and microblades her eyebrows. It all feels trendy and current, much to the dismay of Cox’s 19-year old daughter, Coco Arquette, who, according to Cox, is very-much in her ’90s era.
The following interview was told to Megan Decker and edited for length and clarity.
As someone who lived it, you must have thoughts on all these ’90s fashion and beauty trends coming back. What’s your read on it?
Coco, my daughter, is so mad at me for not saving all my clothes from the ’90s. But when I look [back], I don’t go, ‘Oh, I wish I could wear those clothes again.‘ Of course I didn’t save them. But it’s funny because all Coco wants is everything I wore back then.
From a beauty perspective, does Coco have any sensibilities that feel ’90s to you?
I won’t let her pluck her eyebrows. I mean I can’t tell Coco what to do, she’s 19. But she has incredibly beautiful arched, thick eyebrows. There was a time when she started to pluck and I got really anxious about it because I know if you pluck too much, they don’t grow back. Luckily she didn’t continue that and her eyebrows are still incredible.
Do you have regrets about your own eyebrows? They look great now. How did you get them back?
If you look back at old pictures of me, I had such thin eyebrows. I actually put Latisse on them. Everyone has a brow elixir and I tried those. But I think the thing that worked best for me was Latisse. Now, I microblade my eyebrows. Anything to save time.
Are there other beauty treatments you do that save you time?
The thing I love is retinol. That’s my go-to. Dermalogica has an incredible one called Dynamic Skin Retinol. [Cox is a brand partner.] It’s something I use every night. I believe in cell regeneration and this doesn’t make me irritated or peel-y, it just keeps my skin turning over all the time and I think that’s my version of a treatment.
What else do you do for your skin that makes a difference?
In the morning, when my skin is clean, I use a wet washrag. Then I put on the Biolumin-C Vitamin C Serum; I love it. Then I sit under a red light, a Lightstim Pro Panel. I invested in the real deal, like the ones you see in the facial offices. I lay there for 25 minutes. I don’t meditate, but it’s kind of a time where I can think of nothing as much as I can because I’m such a busybody in my head. Then I get up and do my day. I think my skin has gotten so much better since I started doing that.
What about makeup, what are your must-haves?
One thing I just started using is Rare Beauty, it’s an illuminator you put under your eyes. I mix that with a little Koh Gen Doh Liquid Foundation and the Sephora concealer. I mix all three together and I use a Rare Beauty brush and I put that under my eyes, around my nose. Then I use a blush by Merit. I curl my eyelashes and use [L’Oreal] Voluminous Mascara.
That’s a good lineup! Have you learned a lot about makeup recently, or have you been doing this kind of routine your whole career?
This is the only thing I know how to do. I always try to watch makeup artists do my makeup and I think I want to put on that highlighter. I sometimes want to do that thing, that dark thing, I forget what it’s called…contour. I don’t do any of that. But I seem to have gotten this down that even if I’m going to be photographed, it works.
What about your hair? Has it changed over the years?
But back then, [hairstylist] Chris McMillan was giving me the biggest bouffant hairdo, back teased, little flip ups.
And now?
My hair used to be completely straight when I was younger. Then my hormones changed and now I have really wavy hair. But I don’t like styling it. I have a blowdryer somewhere in the house but I don’t use it. I just want to wash and go. I really love all of Jen [Aniston]’s products, Lola Vie, but I just need something to weigh my hair down a little bit. I don’t dry it; if you see me, my hair is always wet.
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