Chloë Grace Moretz: "Hardly Anyone Drinks Anymore"

From ELLE

Famous actors with beauty contracts tend to fall into two camps: Those who tolerate press duties and those who don't. Before meeting Chloë Grace Moretz, the face of Coach Eau de Parfum, I expect the expected–she might not be down to talk scent memories and skincare secrets. A quick refresher: Not long before our interview, the 19-year-old actress reportedly split from her equally famous boyfriend. Shortly after–but completely unrelated–she announced her resignation from all upcoming movies. For some celebrities, a breakup with a side of time off might be code for "meltdown." For Moretz, it's quite the opposite.

A staunch Hilary Clinton supporter and feminist, the Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising star recently went back to college in a different way, this time encouraging students to register to vote.

All this is to say, I stand corrected. Moretz is disarmingly cool (and not in a phony best-friend-experience way). After our interview, the plan was to get dinner for her brother's 30th. "I have the power of planning this entire celebration," she told me. "Like, I planned last night and we just stayed inside and I got him a bottle of champagne and a bowl of French fries, and we spent the whole night just talking and hanging out, but tonight we're going to Café Clover and then we're gonna go and see things." I.e. stars, they birthday just like us.

Here, Moretz talks about everything from drugstore makeup and working out less, to finding real friends and what time off really means.

You probably get sent beauty products nonstop. What's an actual game-changer for you?

Pat McGrath's highlighter. That [has] literally changed my life. First of all, I wear over the counter, cheap drugstore makeup. I wear a lot of Revlon and L'Oréal. I wear Revlon bronzer. My expensive stuff is Chantecaille concealer, that's the one I live by, with a Revlon bronzer. When I travel, I need to be able to replace it quickly, so I know I can always go to a Nordstrom and get Chantecaille. So that's a staple even if I'm in Ohio or something. Then the thing I guard with my life is my Pat McGrath.

Did she send it to you?

Oh, yeah. We're friends. She's literally like one of my moms. She carries me around; she's one of the best women that I've ever met. I've known her since I was 14.

What has she taught you about makeup?

That it's fun and to stop being so serious about it. You can wear a glitter lip if you want to, and you can also wear no makeup if you want to. She always says, "you are beautiful because of who you are." She always reiterates to me that you're beautiful because you're fun and you enjoy just playing around. I think people get really stuck trying to be sexy or trying to be beautiful, and that's what ruins it. Just be and let it enhance you.

What makes you feel the most fun and comfortable, and your most 'you' self?

A red lipstick look if I'm going out. That's fun, comfortable; it gives me a little flare. I always feel like kind of rocker, it's just my bent. It's just what I've always gone to. My mom would love really light colors growing up, so when I became a teenager I was like, 'eff this!

So I know that you're pretty into working out.

Yeah.

I read that it's seven days a week.

Yeah, I've cut down a little bit because I was over-doing it. I got a little crazy. I do it like five times a week, not seven.

I feel like it's become the new normal.

It is. It's the '80s again in the sense that we're all doing fitness classes again. You have Body by Simone, you know you have Y7 for yoga, which is fun. I think what's cool is they're integrating the club culture with working out, which is smart. I think we're a super-fit culture; our generation is super fit right now.

Right, like the not drinking thing.

Yeah, it's amazing. Hardly anyone drinks anymore. If they do drugs, it's usually legal marijuana, and not many people smoke, especially in L.A. But I feel like New York is still smoking. It's a New York vibe. In L.A it's so clean now. Everyone's super clean now and they all drive Priuses.

You've been open about the pressure to live a certain way, and being made to feel good one day and being made to feel shitty another day. Does that still weigh on you?

Of course. I mean I'd be lying if I said I didn't. I think everyone deals with the eyes on you when you walk down the streets, imagine that enhanced tenfold. But what I've done is try to just look within myself. It sounds selfish sometimes, but I'll literally be getting in a fight with someone or someone will be trying to fight with me, and I'll be like, "I'm not gonna do that," because I literally can't. ... It's not selfish to say that. You have to think about yourself and think about where you are and if you're happy. If you feel good and you feel happy, then that's the path you should be on. That's what I've been doing this year.

I pulled out of a lot of my movies because I just want to reevaluate every place that I am. I want to make sure that everything is true to me as Chloë and makes Chloë happy, not just the audiences or my people. I just want to make sure that I'm putting out content that is progressive and interesting and is furthering me as a person.

How do you weed out the people in your life who maybe don't have the best intentions? How do you keep the right people around you?

I try to think about when I'm at my best self, and when I'm at my best self, it usually means [I'm] around the right people. I've realized that when I've done things that I actually regret, it's been the people that I've been around that have either not stopped me or have influenced me in that direction. So I think it's really just truly evaluating your friendships.

It sounds silly, like, "you are who your friends are." My mom always used to say that and I used to be like, "you're so stupid. I am who I am." But if you're around people who are negative and are just sycophants ... and steal your light, then that's a bad person, and you need to truly cut them out. It's hard to cut them out but you will feel so much better after.

If you're gonna have some time off, what's your best way to spend it?

I just try and think about getting myself in the best state I can be. For me it's mental health, it's physical health, and it's clarity. It's just feeling grounded, you know what I mean? I think you really get caught up in this system of the world―the Instagram world, society―we really get caught up in what our friends want and what our jobs want. I think the priority in life is to feel secure and safe and solid, truly. Just feeling good, just being okay with sitting alone. I think that's a big thing people need to realize and get used to, especially our generation, that it's okay to be alone. It's good to be alone, and you need to be able to sit by yourself and just be peaceful and silent, and learn to read a book again; learn to just be. It's hard to be when you are so used to static input.

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