When I ask Andie MacDowell to share her favorite feature to enhance, I'm of course expecting us to gush over her legendary mane. The actress and model has long been known for her gorgeous curls, after all, arguably even more so since she fully embraced going gray back in 2020. She's inspired crowds of women to cancel their coloring appointments and let their own silver strands grow in with glory.
We did eventually chat about the perfect lavender-hued conditioner to brighten up her strands (more on that later!), but the bulk of our conversation actually centered on a much smaller area of real estate—her brows. "I love to do my eyebrows. Even if I go to the grocery store, I would do my eyebrows. I don't care about anything else," she tells me. "It changes how you look completely. … You can look put together just by doing your eyebrows."
As someone who succumbed to the pencil-thin arches of the '90s ("Don't pluck your eyebrows. I told my girls not to," she fiercely warns), MacDowell has her brow-thickening routine down to a T. "As you age, you lose them. So I really like to fill them in. Mine can get a bit unruly—they have a kink in them—so I have to make sure that they stay in place," she explains. That said, she doesn't recommend anything fancy. A drugstore pencil does just the trick, whether she's off to the market or striding down a runway at the Place de l'Opéra during Paris Fashion Week (which she did, as a matter of fact, soon after our video call).
"It's a beautiful moment to finally be out there. It's a short-lived moment, so [I'm] enjoying every second of it," she says of the star-studded L'Oréal Paris Le Défilé show. She certainly exuded this bright, dazzling energy on the runway—and her brows looked impeccable, if I do say so myself. Ahead, find the exact products MacDowell used for a stellar brow game, plus her other nonnegotiable drugstore beauty staples.
"When I was young, [my brows] were thick and perfect. As I've aged, they've thinned out, especially on the ends," MacDowell shares. "Then they can grow crazy and have a little loop." She swears by this retractable, waterproof eyebrow pencil to fill in the gaps. "It's just as good, if not better, as the super-expensive ones," she shares. You heard it here first!
Recently, she decided to pair her go-to pencil with the brand's strong-hold gel (another budget-friendly winner at $15). "I work long hours, and we work really fast on the TV show that I'm doing, and in the photographs, I would catch my eyebrows [sloping] down," she recounts. "We had done everything—we'd painted them in, tried some product—and then when we got this product, they didn't move. That's my newest addition."
"I love a red lip with just highlighter on the eyes and some mascara. I think it's a really bold, very French look—I love to do that," MacDowell adds. In terms of highlighters, she loves L'Oréal's Lumi Glotion, a liquid glow-enhancer that effortlessly sinks into the skin. I personally echo her praise, for what it's worth—once you go Lumi, you never go back.
"Years ago, I had a makeup artist show me a way to really help your lipstick stay. Take a [tissue], divide it into two pieces, take the individual piece, and put powder over it. Pull it off, [and] it really sets your lipstick," she says. She swears by this hack especially for precise lip looks, such as a bold red hue.
I'd be remiss not to include the stunning pink hue MacDowell wears on our call. She doesn't typically stick to one signature lip color, calling her collection a "crayon box" when it comes to favorite hues. "We did purple shades on my eyes, and then I did a pink [lip]," she notes.
"I'm big on moisturizing," says MacDowell, who credits her glowing skin to this rich, creamy confection. "Moisturizing preserves your skin. It helps your skin stay healthy and luminous." Her makeup routine leans pretty minimal most days (aside from well-groomed brows and the occasional red lip), so she always likes to make bright, hydrated skin the main focus.
Of course, we also had to discuss her iconic silver strands. To keep her tresses bright, she swears by this color-depositing shampoo-conditioner duo. "It's lavender. It's not purple," she says, which is great for gray strands that tend to be more porous. (Dark-purple formulas can sometimes stain the hair purple.) "It is better than anything out there," she adds. "It just makes your hair really soft, and it brings out the color. … Over time, silver can become [too] gray-looking, and this brings it back to silver [with] nice highlights."
As anyone with curls knows, humidity can easily wreck your immaculate style. Luckily, MacDowell has a little tip to maintain a frizz-free blowout (like the one she sported at Le Défilé). "Elnett Hairspray—just putting some hair spray through my hands and pulling [the lengths of my hair] will help those little frizzy pieces stay down," she explains. She uses a praying motion with her palms as she smooths down her strands.
I'll be personally adding this to my bank of beauty tips as a fellow curly girl, especially after seeing her sport a smooth, bouncy blowout on the Le Défilé runway.
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