Actress Reese Witherspoon is no stranger to fronting beauty brands. She has served as the face of Avon and Elizabeth Arden, both well known for their skin and makeup portfolios. But recently Reese’s interests turned to clean beauty. According to Reese, she discovered clean beauty brand Biossance at her local Sephora and ended up buying a bunch of products in the brand’s lineup, one that sits under the Amyris umbrella and is best known for its cruelty free, sugar cane-derived version of squalane.

“I loved them so much I gave them to my mother. She loved them so much she gave them to my sister-in-law, and I just thought this is such a great product,” Reese said during a recent Zoom interview promoting its newest item, Squalane + Copper Peptide Rapid Plumping Serum.

“It is clean. It is effective. It is luxurious,” she said, adding that she wanted immediately to get involved with the brand. Her rep called Biossance, which led to a meeting with Biossance President, Catherine Gore, who met and talked with Reese about the science of the brand and its commitment to sustainability and clean beauty. Soon, a partnership was born: in April 2021 Reese was named Global Ambassador for Biossance.

During its beauty editor Zoom, Reese talked about her journey to clean beauty, which has been guided by her decades’ long movie career where skin care plays a huge part of her life.

“Whether it’s prepping my skin for makeup in the morning, taking makeup off, or rejuvenating my skin that’s been depleted all day, it’s a whole process, right? And it’s so important,” she said. “You know when your skin is good and healthy because it looks better on film, all of that. I’ve always been very thoughtful about it.”

In 2022, a new campaign featuring Reese will launch that she’s “excited to see come alive.” Reese is also putting together curated packages that will make “gifting so easy.”  She’s also excited about the transparency certain beauty brands offer consumers and their communities.

“It used to be a closed-door industry, and now, there’s a thoughtfulness there,” she said. “The women at Biossance are moms, they care, they believe in lifting all women up,” she said. “Who makes the things and how they make them are just as important as how the products work,” she said, adding that the entire leadership team at Biossance is comprised of women, and it was great to join a female-led environment.

As for Reese’s favorite Biossance products, she travels with the Squalane + Vitamin C Rose Oil, the Squalane + Omega Repair Cream, and the brand’s lip balm. “I carry that lip balm and use it on my nose, cheeks if I have windburn,” she said. “I use it on my kids and my dog’s nose, too.”

When asked about her first skin care memory, Reese said it was learning to wash her face properly. “We’ve all made those mistakes going to bed with makeup. I learned the hard way to take it off every night,” she said.

Reese noted that the best piece of beauty advice came from her mom, about the benefits of blush. “My mom, a teacher at the state university, was obsessed with blush,” Reese said. In the mornings, Reese would watch her put on makeup and skin care products. “She’d always present herself beautifully and said if you don’t feel good, you can fake it,” Reese added.

What’s Reese’s biggest skin care goal? The actress said that her skin changes every three to five years. “I’m always trying to stay in front of it,” she said. “So, discovering these products has been helpful. On film, it helps to have good skin. I have a full routine in the morning and at night and I never deviate from it,” she added.