Dove Cameron has an Emmy, a second studio album on the way, and a skincare reputation that follows her everywhere she goes. She is thirty, famous, and — by her own cheerful admission — not exactly the most relatable person on the planet. So when she finally puts her name on a beauty product, it is worth paying attention to how she got there. This is her first-ever collaboration, and it is with Curology: a four-product range called the Ethereal Glow Collection, built around the way she actually looks after her skin.
Cameron is careful about the whole idea of a celebrity product. She told Byrdie she has never been the kind of person who wanted her name on something just for the sake of it. She likes to do her research, she likes to genuinely love what she is backing, and she has a real problem with working with too many brands at once. It is not only about watering down the trust of the people who follow her, she said — it is about not really standing behind what she is promoting. So she researched, and she worked intensely with the Curology team before agreeing to anything.
What sealed it was a conversation with Dr. Whitney Tolpinrud, Curology’s Chief Dermatologist and Medical Director. Tolpinrud told Cameron she understood her skin in a way Cameron herself did not, and Cameron was hooked. She described Tolpinrud as remarkably perceptive — the kind of person who tells you something about yourself that seems impossible for them to know. That research-backed, science-backed, expertise-backed approach was the point for Cameron: as someone who wants skincare tailored to her, the idea that the brand might know her skin better than she does was, in her words, super exciting.
The collection launches on Tuesday, October 27, and it is a tight four-product range: the Shed the Day Cleanser, the Ethereal Primer, the Sugar Venom Lip Treatment, and the Lethal Glow Moisturizer. It is the first of three collections that Cameron and Curology plan to release together over the next year. Kathy Savitt, the CEO of Curology, said in a press release that Cameron understood the chance to bring together two worlds that rarely meet at this level — the medical rigour of a dermatologist-developed skincare company and the cultural reach of a singular creative voice — and that the result is a line with both clinical credibility and a dynamic identity. The packaging, the interviewer notes, is gorgeous. Then the conversation turns to Cameron’s skin, her routine, and her philosophy.
The short version, in Byrdie’s own summary box: her skin type is combination, her concerns are dryness and sun protection, and her favourite ingredient is ceramides.
About Her Skin
Cameron describes her skin as combination and slightly dry, and she is quick to point out that it is worked hard. She wears a lot of makeup, she is on planes constantly, and she moves between different climates all the time. She would not call it everyman’s skin, but she calls it the perfect testing ground for every product, because her skin needs different things at different times. She is never dealing with just one thing.
Her Skincare Priorities
Keeping her skin barrier healthy is something she has really prioritised, especially at thirty. Her skin has changed a lot over the past few years, and she thinks that is normal. The aim now is to keep it as healthy as possible — hydrated, protected, calm — and to do the right things to it rather than too much. Her skin in her twenties was a lot more sensitive than it is now, and she puts that down to doing too much: too many products, too many actives, too many exfoliants, everything at once, which left it reactive. Now she is much more focused on the right ingredients to keep her skin glowing, clean and fresh, and on properly removing makeup, oil, dirt and impurities.
How She Worked With Curology
The process, she says, was very thorough and very collaborative. Once they started developing the products, the team would send her samples, she would test them, and she would give her feedback. She was very involved in the formulas, the packaging and the fragrance, and she wanted to be sure the products were genuinely good and genuinely effective. They worked on the formulas for a long time, the packaging for a long time, and the fragrance for a long time. The first thing she said was that she wanted the products to be really good for the skin, but also really beautiful.
She was paired with Dr. Whitney Tolpinrud, and their first meeting set the tone. Cameron told Tolpinrud what she likes and does not like, what she has tried and has not tried, what she wants and does not want — and Tolpinrud told her what her skin needs. It was very collaborative, Cameron says, and she stayed very involved in the formulas, the packaging and the fragrance, because she wanted to make sure the products were really good and really effective.
That involvement came naturally. She has always been an extremely skincare-obsessed person, she says, and she has always believed in the power of skincare — and in the power of Curology, especially.
Her Favorite Part(s) of the Line
Cameron is formula-focused first, and she is a big fan of all four products. First was the formula: she wanted to make sure the products were effective and that they had peptides and ceramides, which she knows the audience wants and loves just as she does.
Second was the packaging. It is something you might actually want to keep visible in your bathroom, she says, because the products are that beautiful. They feel like little jewels you do not have to tuck away in a drawer. They are so special.
She also loves the foaming cleanser — an incredible foaming cleanser is something she always looks for — and she really loves the Lethal Glow Moisturizer, which gives her the glass-skin look she is always trying to achieve. In the end, though, she says she does not have a favourite, because all four are so intensely and well formulated. She cannot encourage someone to try them enough.
How She Got Into Skincare
She has always been into skincare, she says — always into beauty, makeup, hair, fashion, all of it — and it started when she was really young. She was obsessed with The Wizard of Oz. She was obsessed with Judy Garland, with the makeup, the hair, the costumes, the whole thing. She was obsessed with the idea of transformation, of becoming someone else, of becoming a character, of becoming a different person, of becoming a better person.
Her father was a huge skincare person, and he taught her about skincare. She has been obsessed with it since she was a child. She was always the kid who washed her face, put on moisturizer and put on sunscreen — always the kid who took care of her skin.
Her Morning Skincare Routine
She has been living with this product line for a while, she says. She wanted to be the tester, the audience and the ultimate fan before it was rolled out.
She waits a little while before she does her skincare routine. She will drink some water, have some coffee, do some stretching, answer some emails and do some journaling. She likes to have some intentional time before she starts her day. She likes to be very ritualistic about her skincare routine. She does not like to just blindly do it. She likes to be very intentional about it.
She starts with the Shed the Day gel-to-foam cleanser, which makes her skin feel super fresh but never tight. If she has time, she will do red light therapy right after the cleanser, because red light should go on completely bare, dry, clean skin. Then the Lethal Glow moisturizer, and some gua sha. She recently got a skincare fridge — a gift from a friend who knows how much she loves skincare — so she uses ice-cold products from the fridge on her skin in the morning, which feels amazing. Then the Ethereal hydrating blur-based primer.
That is it. She keeps it simple, because with this line you do not need that many products. The ingredients are so active and they do so much, she says, that you do not need a whole routine.
Her Evening Skincare Routine
At night, she double-cleanses. Her first cleanse is to remove makeup, oil, dirt and impurities. Her second cleanse is with the Shed the Day Cleanser. She will also use a sheet mask if she feels her skin needs a little extra love, or if she has to be encouraged to go to sleep. She loves a sheet mask, she says — it is like a little treat for her skin, a little ritual for her.
Then it is Lethal Glow, and then Sugar Venom on top of everything. That is it. She keeps it simple, because with this line you do not need that many products. The ingredients are so active and they do so much, she says, that you do not need a whole routine.
Her Skincare Philosophy
For Cameron, it is not about the products — it is about the ritual. She is a very ritualistic person. She likes to have a routine, a ritual, a moment for herself, a moment where she is taking care of herself, doing something for herself, being intentional about her skincare routine. Skincare, she says, is a form of self-care and a form of self-love. It is a moment for herself.
The Skincare Steps She’ll Never Skip
She will never skip cleansing, moisturizing and sun protection. Those are the basics, and she will never skip those. She will never skip her lip treatment. She will never skip her moisturizer. She will never skip her cleanser. She will never skip her sun protection.
How Her Routine Has Changed Over Time
Her routine has changed a lot over the years. In her early twenties, she was doing a lot: a ten-step routine, a lot of actives, a lot of exfoliants, a lot of everything. Now she is much more focused on the right ingredients to keep her skin glowing, clean and fresh, and on removing makeup, oil, dirt and impurities. She is much more focused on the basics, the right ingredients, the right products and the right routine.
She used to be obsessed with trying new products. Now, she says, she is much more focused on what works for her skin.
The Best Skincare Advice She’s Received
The best skincare advice she has ever received, she says, is to keep it simple. Less is more. Do not do too much. Do not use too many products, too many actives or too many exfoliants. Do not try to do everything at once. Just do the basics, the right things, the right ingredients, the right products, the right routine.
And, she adds, the best advice is to listen to your skin. Your skin will tell you what it needs and what it does not need, what it likes and what it does not like. Just listen to your skin.
