Sharon Stone Reveals the Iconic Face Cream Her Mother Gave Her

Photographer: Emma Summerton. Stylist: Simon Robins. Hair: Giannandrea. Makeup: Pati Dubroff. Manicure: Marisa Carmicheal. Set design: Din Morris. Production: Viewfinders. Shot at Villa Carlotta, Hollywood.
Photographer: Emma Summerton. Stylist: Simon Robins. Hair: Giannandrea. Makeup: Pati Dubroff. Manicure: Marisa Carmicheal. Set design: Din Morris. Production: Viewfinders. Shot at Villa Carlotta, Hollywood.

If you've seen even just a few minutes of Basic Instinct, you know just how much impact actress Sharon Stone has had on modern popular culture — and, more importantly, on beauty. For decades, she's been one of America's primary sex symbols, which, as Stone says in our November cover profile of her, comes with plenty of downsides, such as people not taking you seriously. However, she insists that "we should accept [beauty] and enjoy it as a gift from nature."

While we were getting personal with the actress about age, power, and gender dynamics, we naturally had to pick her brain about beauty, too. Turns out she carries a plethora of lipsticks at all times, like many of us, and still adores her mom's favorite old-school body cream, among other affordable staples.

Best beauty tip from work: "Do eye makeup before base, because a smoky eye will fall all over your face. It’s the Bette Davis eyes secret."

Best beauty tip from anywhere: "My mom was an Avon lady, and she gave me a jar of Avon Rich Moisture cream, and she said, 'Put this on morning and night and you’ll thank me for the rest of your life.'”

Biggest beauty regret: "When you’re young, people envy prettiness, [and] no one wants to tell you that you’re pretty. I wasn’t really secure in my beauty, because people weren’t secure enough to allow me to be beautiful. Now I look at films or clips and I think, Oh, I was such a pretty girl. I wish that I knew it."

Best character you've played, beauty-wise: "Basic Instinct was interesting because that was the first time anyone ever made me into a beautiful woman. And yet somehow there’s beauty even in characters that collapse. Like in Lovelace, where the character is an elderly housewife and a waitress, struggling and devoid of her beauty because she worked so hard and didn’t understand what she was meant to do and be. The beauty in some of these characters is such a tiny light — incandescent, more like candlelight, and more intriguing. It’s rare when we get to see what’s true about women. I find those small truths, the luxury of them, so beautiful."

From left: Rituals The Ritual of the Happy Buddha Happy Foaming Shower Gel ($10, Shop Now); Avon Rich Moisture Cream ($26, Shop Now)

Favorite facial feature: "I always thought I was lucky to have a pretty good nose."

Three words to describe your current beauty look: "Hanging in there."

Last product you finished: "Rituals makes a bath and shower foam called Happy Buddha that I’m nuts about."

In your bag: "A little roll-on of Kai perfume and a thing of Weleda Skin Food. It’s a really great cream that you can buy at Whole Foods — terrific for the face and body. And then I have five lipsticks, but I don’t know [all of the brands]."

From left: Weleda Skin Food Original Ultra-Rich Cream ($19, Shop Now); Kai Perfume ($78, Shop Now)

In your shower: "An array of scrubs. I’m very Scandinavian in that I think it’s important to scrub your skin. I’m not a person who believes in a ton of different steps — just clean your face well with hot water and scrub."

If you were to get a tattoo right now: "That’s one of those questions I’ve asked myself a thousand times. I don’t know if I would get one, but I just photographed this woman’s tattoo a week ago because I thought it was so beautiful. It said, 'Lord, let me shine, shine like the moon. It’s a reflection of you in all that I do. Lord, let me be the light of your truth, light of the world. I want to be used to shine for you.' And I thought that was a pretty exquisite thing to tell yourself to do every day. I do think, in the end, that we should do our best to shine."


More of our cover profiles:


Go behind the scenes of Stone's November cover shoot:

Watch Now: Allure Video.

Don't forget to follow Allure on Instagram and Twitter.

Originally Appeared on Allure