Ava Phillippeis the newestPat McGrathmuse!
The 22-year-old rising star, who is the daughter of actorsReese WitherspoonandRyan Phillippe, stars in the campaign for Pat McGrath Labs' new limited-editionBridgertoncollection, launching on Dec. 26 onpatmcgrath.com.
“I was like …Pat McGrath is DMing me? Huh?” Phillippe recalls to PEOPLE of the “pinch me” moment. “I have such admiration for her. And for her to even reach out to me or think of me was flattering.”
Describing collaborating with the iconic, boundary-breaking makeup artist as a “joy” and “the most beautiful type of chaos,” Phillippe says seeing the campaign come together behind the scenes was a real highlight.
Courtesy Pat McGrath Labs
“We all knew what we were doing and we wanted to make it perfect,” she tells PEOPLE. “The team has such a commitment to detail and to creatively making it the best it can be. And problem solving and collaborating and being kind and friendly all in the process, even in the frenzy. Just to be a part of it in general is so special.”
McGrath and her team have been dropping hints about the capsule (in true cryptic Lady Whistledown fashion!) on social media, but Phillippe said she kept it a complete secret from her friends. The only person she confided in was mom Reese.
“The first person I told was probably my mom. Just because I was like, ‘Mom, I’m going to be going to New York,'” Phillippe says. “She did not give advice per se. She did want to make sure that I was going to be safe and that everything was accounted for and that I was going to be treated as well as possible. And I felt good about it. And I checked all those boxes and she said, ‘Go have fun.'”
Phillippe also credits her mom as well as her grandmother for showing her that makeup has the ability to empower anyone who chooses to wear it.
“My first memories of makeup are of [watching] my grandmother and the way she does her lipstick and her blush and her eyeliner. And the way my mom would get glammed up for events,” she says. “And just how it made them feel and present themselves was so cool as a little kid to feel like, ‘Oh, it’s an empowering thing.’ It’s not about changing how you look because you don’t like it. It’s really about making yourself feel powerful.”
That sense of instilled confidence has also encouraged Phillippe to explore at-home hair transformations. In fact, the hair color and cut she sports in the newBridgertonx Pat McGrath Labs campaign was her own work!
“I did chop it [my hair] myself during the pandemic, which was a choice. Not a bad one, not a good one, just a choice,” she quips. “I do my bangs regularly at the moment. This is my dye job. I’m really, truly the same person all the time, I think. But with the hair, I have this kind of inner sense that it’s really just hair and you only live once and might as well have fun with it — it’ll grow back. I don’t take it too seriously, and I do what feels right.”
Another person who has encouraged her to take risks with her beauty routine is Mother McGrath herself.
McGrath is continuing to inspire and empower her fans with the launch of her latest capsule, born out of “a mutual admiration” between McGrath andBridgertoncreator Shonda Rhimes. The modern take on regency beauty features a new MTHRSHP eye palette, glow and blush trio and highlighters, all made to flatter every skin tone.
Bridgertonx Pat McGrath Labs launches on Dec. 26 onpatmcgrath.com.
source: people.com
