8 Minutes With Hayden Panettiere: The Nashville Star Talks Makeup, Beauty and Style

I may or may not have come this close to asking Hayden Panettiere to harmonize with me when I interviewed her this afternoon. It was either that, or ask her if she would do some cheerleading moves with me.

Not that I’m a cheerleader… I just thought that might be kind of rad. Save the cheerleader, save the world?

You might know Hayden from this little show she used to do called Heroes. She currently stars on the hit show Nashville, where she plays singer/country rock star Juliett Barnes. Hayden, who lives in Nashville now where the show is filmed, is also a Neutrogena Beauty Ambassador.

We chatted about her must-have beauty products and a frightening thing called “tarantula lashes.” And I even got her to speak some Russian for me!

No, not as random as it sounds. 🙂 She’s engaged to world champion boxer Wladimir Klitschko, and she’s learning the language now.

I didn’t have a lot of time with her, but I totally enjoyed every minute. She was really down to earth and cute and completely normal, which shouldn’t come as a surprise at all, but with the media nowadays and the way people are often portrayed, you just never know. She also has the most beautiful skin.

Thanks for the question ideas on Twitter and MBB. I tried to ask as many as I could.

Hayden Panettiere talks makeup, beauty and style

Karen: I’m curious; have you noticed, like, how is style here in Nashville different from L.A. style? Has it affected your style at all as well?

Hayden: The style in Nashville is pretty laid back, and it’s also — it can also be kind of hipster.

Karen: Hipster.

Hayden: Yeah, and funky, and I love the way the girls dress here. You see a lot of fun cute little dresses and little boots, like what you’re wearing [she gestures toward my cat print dress, which I LOVE], but people tend to go a little more casual here.

I see a lot of cute hats, and I’m a big fan of hats, so it’s almost kind of allowed me to, um, re-embrace my personal style. Because in L.A., I felt like I had to put a lot more effort into it, because you know that you’re gonna be met outside your front door with cameras, and the topic of conversation is going to be your outfit or what you’re wearing, ya know, all that good stuff. So you get a little gun shy.

I’ve always been more of a tomboy and more laid back and more casual and comfortable. Over the years, I’ve definitely experimented with things, but it fits me here. It suits me here, ’cause it feels comfortable.

Karen: So what’s your everyday makeup routine like? You mentioned that you’re a tomboy, but are you more, like, minimalist makeup, or a glam girl, or somewhere in between?

Hayden: That’s another thing that’s kind of changed is that I’ve definitely stopped wearing quite as much makeup. I had times in L.A. where I wouldn’t wear any makeup at all, either, but when we went out to dinners and stuff like that, it was great to have fun with it, to dress up, to do more makeup, and when you see that here, it’s pretty rare that you see massive quantities of makeup here. It’s very natural, and I love that.

Can’t get enough of Hayden? Check out Neutrogena’s All Day Beauty series, which includes Hayden’s hair and beauty essentials, along with videos and additional tips.

I have definitely had my fun, and sometimes I’ll do a great nude eye with just a pop of red lipstick or, ya know, a more smoky eye with a nude lip, but my day in, day out look is, ya know, mascara, and in the summertime, it’ll be mascara and a little blush and lips, and that’s why one of my favorite products are these [Neutrogena] Moisturesmooth Color Sticks.

[Yesterday] I had about 10 of these in the bottom of my purse in every color you can think of. We love to use them on our lips, but we also like to put them on our cheeks and use them as a blush, and it’s great because sometimes I don’t want to carry this big purse, and I wanna wear, ya know, just shove my credit card, my I.D. and a little touchup in my jacket pocket.

This is perfect, ’cause it’s two-in-one, and, I mean, it certainly fits in a clutch, like what we wear down the red carpet sometimes, ’cause we all know that those teeny tiny bags are not quite functional. They’re fashion, not function.

Karen: Oh, yeah. Do you have a favorite color from the MoistureSmoothes?

Hayden: I love Juicy Peach. Posey? Posey is the blush/bronzer duo. There’s also a red-red, and then there’s almost like a purply one, but I like all of them. It just depends, and you can layer them, too, really easily, like, I’ll do a nude, and then I’ll take the red-red one and go along the inside of my lips so that it almost looks like you just sucked on a popsicle or a lollipop. It’s a great look.

Karen: I’ll have to try that.

Hayden: Yeah, it’s great.

Karen: Besides the MoistureSmooth Sticks, what are you —

Hayden: And mascara.

Karen: What are your other must-haves — the things that you would freak out about if they were discontinued?

Hayden: Well I kind of love this [Neutrogena Healthy Volume Mascara] because I’m blonde, so I have blonde lashes, so I look about 12 if I don’t have mascara on. They won’t let me in anywhere! [Laughing] And it’s been great for my lashes because a lot of the time we wear false eyelashes all day long, and it’s so drying to put fake eyelashes on, and then when you pull them off your eyelashes come out.

A lot of mascaras will give you tarantula, crispy, crunchy lashes. But for the first time I’ve actually been able to not wear any fake eyelashes, and even on the show, it’s high def, and you can see it. If you’re paying attention, you can see when I am and when I’m not, and recently I’ve stopped wearing fake eyelashes even during performance scenes because my eyelashes have been allowed to grow, and they’ve gotten really thick and long.

Karen: I bet it’s kind of liberating not to have to wear them. They can be a pain.

Hayden: I mean, they can be a blast; they really can, but you want to be able to have the choice.

Karen: Yeah, for sure.

Hayden: And then this stuff [Neutrogena Long Wear Liquid Makeup] has saved my skin because we work for 12-16 hour days, and we’re doing performance scenes or sweating, and then we’re putting powder on because we’re shiny, and then we’re putting more base makeup on. Getting your makeup to last 12-16 hours is a feat, but the Long Wear allows my skin to breathe all day long, and I know that it’s healthy for my skin. I don’t have to worry about my pores getting as clogged. With HD TV, like — everything’s in HD, and you can see everything.

Karen: It doesn’t mess around.

Hayden: You can see every pore. You don’t want to look like you have a pound and a half of makeup on, where it’s thick. We like the no-makeup makeup look, and you wanna look dewy and glowy, and you wanna look like you woke up, and that’s just how your skin looked.

Karen: Your skin’s beautiful.

Hayden: Thank you. Well, try it out.

Karen: Do you have any other skin care secrets? Are there any other skin care products you swear by?

Hayden: This — the [the Neutrogena Triple Repair Hair Care System] has changed my hair because it’s so humid here. I chopped my hair because it was so damaged. I had to start from the beginning. I hadn’t found it [Triple Repair] yet.

I don’t mind giving it [my hair] a big-deal trim and starting fresh. It’s the same thing. We’re sweating. My hair is super curly, so those curls start popping up, so you’re blowdrying it again, you’re flat-ironing it again, you’re putting spray on it again, and this has really repaired my hair so that it doesn’t frizz as much. It doesn’t curl up as much, and it’s smooth, and it gives us a great foundation to work with. I actually wash my hair more often now because I know that it’s healthier to re-infuse it with moisture.

Karen: Speaking of hair, are there any hair mistakes you regret? Like any…

Hayden: Yeah, I died my hair a horrible shade of red, a heinous shade of red. [Laughing] My boyfriend’s calling me carrot. I mean, it was fun for like two seconds, and then once it started fading it turned the most heinous shade of orange.

I remember meeting my boy’s parents and his mom for the first time, and I was in between — in the transition from red back to blonde — and I looked like a calico cat! It was so unattractive, and they couldn’t speak any English at this point, and I couldn’t speak any Russian. I told him, ‘Tell them my hair isn’t usually like this. Please just let her know.’ [Laughing] Not that they cared at all or were judging me based on my hair, but I was so insecure. ‘Just let her know I said that in a little segue in the conversation. Throw that in there.’

Karen: Are you learning to speak Russian now? Can you speak any Russian?

Hayden: I can. I can speak a little Russian now.

Karen: Say something in Russian?

Hayden: [What sounds like Russian] I love Neutrogena. [Laughing]

Karen: So are you ready for the hard-hitting stuff?

Hayden: Oh, yeah.

Karen: OK, lipstick or gloss?

Hayden: I go with lipstick.

Karen: Smoky eyes or winged liner?

Hayden: Smoky eyes.

Karen: Red lips or nude lips?

Hayden: Red.

Karen: Glitter: yes or no?

Hayden: No.

Karen: Alright then! [Laughing]

Hayden: I like nude lips too. I mean, you never do the smoky eye with the red lips. You gotta choose one or the other.

Karen: I feel like you gotta be high-fashiony to do that.

Hayden: We rocked it once, but I was wearing leopard.

Karen: Well, there ya go! [Laughing]

Thank you, Hayden and Neutrogena!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen