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PHOTOGRAPHS BY NICO BUSTOS FOR LANCÔME ©2018,LANCOME.CO.UK. STILL LIFES BY PIXELEYESBeauty‘WE NEED TO REMEMBERTHAT THE THINGS THAT MAKEUS “NOT PERFECT” ACTUALLYMAKE US INTERESTING’chronicanorexia. So, I just felt that, in order to truthfully
speak in my book and play this character in the movie, I was
going to have to draw on my own experiences. [When Lily
was 16, she began starving herself, exercising obsessively
and became addicted to diet pills]. It was terrifying knowing
that I was putting those things out there and people would
know my innermost experiences. But it felt like it was the
right time, and it connected me with so many people around
the world and hopefully made them feel less alone.
I have proven to myself that I can endure a lot of
ups and down, and still stay clear on who I am.Part
of that has to do with surrounding myself with the right
people. Some of my closest friends I’ve known since I was
five, and they are the ones who know me best. Even though
I love the fact that such a positive community has been
surrounding my social media, I also set boundaries for
how much I reveal about myself. I am doing my craft, but
try to balance sharing my life and being that open book with
acknowledging that there are things I want to keep private.
Being present is so important. I used to think ‘what
if’ so much.You can’t live like that, so I remind myself
to stay in the present – enjoy where I am in the moment
and what I am doing, rather than always thinking ahead
and stressing. I also can’t be my best emotional self if I’m
not taking care of my core. I’ve started sleeping with white
noise in the background. It creates a hum to help calm the
mind. I take time to meditate with the mindfulness app
Headspace, too. There’s a lot of peripheral noise in any
industry, especially this one [the film industry], but as long
as you continue to focus on the voice in your head and your
gut instinct, the right things will come.■
Lily Collins is the face of Lancôme’s new Advanced Génifique
Youth Activating Concentrateyou just don’t want to stand out in that way. I preferred to
blendin, so I tended to shy away from accentuating my eyes
because I thought maybe they are too big as well, and how
can you do big eyes, big eyebrowsandbig lips? Then, I fell in
lovewith mascara. I have used Lancôme Hypnôse Custom-
wearVolume in 01 Noir [£25.50] since I was a teenager. I love
the cat-eye look and the way my lashes curl out when I use it.
‘Different’ is a wonderful word.We’re all different and
it’s what makes the world go round. When I was six and first
moved from England to LA [after her parents, musician
Phil Collins and actress Jill Tavelman, divorced], there were
cultural differences right away. Obviously, I didn’t sound
the same, and my brows were maybe more European. I just
felt a bit like an alien. As mental health is such a huge thing
for me, I’ve been involved with the anti-bullying campaign
Go, and We Day events, where I speak to kids in the US and
UKabout empowerment and self-worth. I also use social
mediaas a platform, as I really believe that a lot of things
would change if we just think about our issues and articulate
our feelings, as opposed to keeping them bottled up. We
become more confident, too, when we remember that the
things that make us ‘not perfect’ are actually what make us
growinto more interesting human beings.
When I turned 28, I felt ready to talk about my
eating disorders.At the time, I was writing my book
Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me, where I discussed
things I went through growing up. I was also filmingTo T h e
Bone, which was about a young woman suffering with