It wouldn’t be the Nineties without Pamela Anderson.
The model and actress became one of Hollywood’s most recognizable sex symbols over the past decade, long before the likes of Kim Kardashian and Megan Fox. Her influence remains profound in modern pop culture, especially during the resurgence of the Nineties and early 2000s fashion and beauty aesthetics.
From whale tails to low-rise jeans to baby tees, cool, laid-back, slightly cheesy style has been appealing to Gen Z and young millennials for two decades, so it’s no surprise that many look back to the fashion and beauty looks of a young Anderson for inspiration.
With her shaggy blonde hair, crop tops and bodycon dresses, Anderson is a Pinterest-ready favorite for many fashion lovers. But it was her signature Nineties makeup that really made her famous, leading the masses to copy and create their own look. Wherever she goes, Anderson always wears thin eyebrows, thick smoky eyes and full lips.
Now, Anderson is finally revealing the secret to her signature beauty look. In a recent interview with Elle, Anderson described her aesthetic as “wild and uninhibited.”
“I don’t know if it’s a defense mechanism,” she said, “I’m just like, ‘I’m going to have fun.'”
As for how she achieves such a beautiful look? She “puts on makeup from the day before and a little bit of glitter from the night before.”
“That stuff never leaves you!” she joked. “I’ll be volunteering at my kids’ school and I’ll see myself in the mirror and I’ll have glitter all over my face. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad mom because you’re covered in glitter.”
Anderson also briefly touched on her ’90s fashion moments, especially her crochet look.
“I don’t even know how they stick, but they did,” she said. “I remember Tommy [Lee] and I would ask, ‘What can we wear that’s fun and crazy?’ I remember going to the Oscars in a denim mini skirt, a D-Pimp necklace, a button-down shirt, and next to Elizabeth Hurley in a Versace gown.”
“Now, everything is curated. We’re inspired by those looks now because we lacked that uniqueness. We want that uniqueness. I never thought that those looks that we put together would end up on mood boards.”
While her style and beauty moments have secured a timeless place in the fashion world and mainstream pop culture, Anderson now takes a more minimalist approach, opting for a makeup-free look.
She chose this path after her go-to makeup artist, Alexis Vogel, passed away. “She was the best. After that, I was like, without Alexis, I’m not going to wear makeup,” she said.
But she added that the change “felt freeing and fun and a little bit rebellious.”
“I think we all get a little weird when we get older,” she said. “I look in the mirror and I kind of laugh at myself. I’m like, ‘Wow, this is really… what’s wrong with me?’ It’s been a journey… I feel like I’ve grounded myself in it. I feel good. I’m in a good place.”