ELLECANADA.COM 69
beauty
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ZENDAYA HAS JUST been announced as a Lancôme Global
Ambassador when we sit down with her at the Four Seasons in
L.A. With a poise and sense of style that belie her 22 years, she
looks every inch a face of the luxury beauty house, but how does
she feel to be joining a group of such formidable women, like
Penélope Cruz and Lupita Nyong’o? Excited? Nervous? “Very
honoured! And very lucky,” says Zendaya, as she leans back on
the sofa with a smile.
Timing is everything, and, Zendaya explains, it was the right
moment for her to join the Lancôme family as the face of its
new fragrance, the chypre-floral Idôle. “I’m stepping into a new
phase of my career and my life—coming into my womanhood
and really becoming an adult,” says the actress, singer and rising
style star, who turns 23 this month and is currently starring in
the gritty HBO teen drama Euphoria. “So when it came to the
beauty space, Lancôme felt like a step into that mature world.
It has a certain elegance and timeless class that aligns with what
I want to do.”
The fragrance is a feminine, worldly scent that feels fresh and
familiar at the same time. Familiarity is something Zendaya can
relate to when it comes to perfume. “Scent memories are every-
thing,” she says, giving the example that if she smells something
that reminds her of the hair gel her older sister used to use, she
is right back to “being a little kid getting [her] hair done.” The
California-raised star says she realized recently that she will now
be associated with “being someone’s smell,” adding excitedly,
“I get to be a part of that journey for them.”
Like many of her generation, she is hyper-aware of the impact
she has on her fans, including the 58 million people who cur-
rently follow her on Instagram. When asked if she feels pressure
to represent her generation or to be a voice of empowerment,
she admits, “It’s sometimes very hard to think about everyone
and everything before I do something, but even if it’s at my own
expense, I try to do what’s best for everyone.” She adds: “I was
talking to my mom the other day, and she said, ‘You realize you
are the only one who cares as much as you do!’ [Laughs] In this
industry, people don’t care as much as you care. So that’s the
hard part: being one of the few people who really, really care!”
She shakes her head, thinking of the struggle. “What does that
[responsibility and] balance look like without letting it weigh too
heavily on you?”
Zendaya might be too considerate of others, but there is one
area where she is unbothered by what others think: her fashion
sense, which she honed at an early age thanks to parents who let
her explore self-expression. “They just allowed me to pick out
what I wanted, which helped with my sense of self,” she says.
“That kind of freedom—wearing what I liked and it not being
about matching or creating outfits—it helps in the beginning. I’ve
gained a lot of confidence [in how I dress] and find fashion to be
very empowering because I’ve allowed myself to stop caring. And
I think that’s an exciting place to be.” SCENT OF
A WOMAN
Inside the
making of Idôle.WHEN CREATING A
fragrance that embodies
the strength and indi vidu-
ality of a woman, three
heads (or noses, to be
more accurate) are bet-
ter than one. Shyamala
Maisondieu, Adriana
Medina and Nadège
Le Garlantezec worked
collaboratively on dif-
ferent elements of Idôle,
blending together notes to
“create a perfume that’s
glowing from the inside,”
says Maisondieu. The
Isparta-rose-petal essence
was specifically created
for Lancôme and is at the
heart of the scent, but the
beloved traditional bloom
was given a fresh twist
with the addition of clean
notes of pear, bergamot
and jasmine. “This is an
intimate perfume for your-
self,” say the perfumers,
adding that they created
it for the woman who
wants to feel empowered.
The design is also an
expression of that power.
“It’s the bottle of the next
generation—we’re in
a new era of change,”
says Chafik Gasmi,
who designed the sleek,
15-millimetre-thick objet
d’art, which looks—and
feels—like a lightweight
cellphone. “The time has
come for luxury to be
less bold,” says Gasmi.
“Something that is subtle
and uses less material
and more emotion.”