Cult of Celebeauty
Blake Lively On Skipping Conditioner, Smelling Edible & Her New Beauty Brand, Blake Brown
“If people didn't know who I was, didn't care who I was, or hated me, I wanted them to still love the brand — because I think it's that great.”
There's no denying that Blake Lively is a bona fide beauty icon, and not just for her signature Rapunzel-like hair. The actress and former Met Gala co-host’s name is synonymous with glamour, so when whispers of her own beauty line began circulating, we couldn't help but perk up. With the successful beverage brands Betty Booze and Betty Buzz already under her belt, Lively is no stranger to branching out into the lifestyle space. Now, the It Ends with Us star has officially entered the beauty world with Blake Brown — a haircare collection inspired entirely by her personal hair regimen and created in collaboration with beauty licensing company Give Back Beauty.
In the crowded sea of celebrity beauty brands, only a few have ascended to cult status (see: Fenty Beauty by Rihanna, Hailey Bieber’s Rhode, and Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty). Their secret? Besides offering top-tier products, it's the genuine connection they forge with fans with every launch, and their commitment to staying authentic through the journey. Lively’s new Blake Brown brand hopes to follow suit, offering premium, salon-quality hair products at an accessible price point.
“Blake Brown has been more than a seven-year labor of love,” says Blake Lively. "I was determined to bottle up a premium, salon-quality haircare line that’s cleaner, cruelty-free, easier, yummier, more sustainable, and more accessible than anything I saw out there.”
Bustle was invited to an exclusive press preview to hear about Blake Brown from Lively herself. Below, find out everything you need to know about Lively’s new beauty venture, Blake Brown.
About Blake Brown Beauty
From the very start, Lively envisioned Blake Brown as a deeply personal project, merging her name with her dad’s to create a label that felt uniquely hers. “My dad's last name is Brown, and my dad took Lively from my mom,” Lively explains. “It was a way to honor him, in a sense, and I wanted it to have my name in it because it is really personal to me. I put so much work into it [and] everyone assumes you slap your name on something that it's at least half-baked [already]. But this was not even a little bit baked [before I started].”
Blake Brown boasts eight different haircare products, including shampoos, masks, a styler, and a mousse. What sets it apart is its unconventional approach to hydration: instead of a standard conditioner, the brand features Nourishing and Strengthening hair masks that seamlessly integrate into any routine. While Give Back Beauty’s Corrado Brondi expressed concern about skipping a conditioner (and missing out on potential sales), Lively was resolute. “I use masks every single wash — I don't want to offer a conditioner just to offer it,” she says. “The people who do stick with this formula will see a difference in their hair.”
For Lively, crafting the fragrance profiles of her products was a top priority, drawing inspiration from her own scent favorites — which includes candles from Diptyque and Le Labo, and fragrances like Tokyo Milk and the now-discontinued Burberry Beat — to create a multi-sensory experience with notes of sandalwood, vanilla, and amber. “I like smells that smell like home and food,” she says. “I don't want to literally smell like food, but I tend to have a bit of a gourmand palette. If something makes me salivate, then I'm like, ‘I want to be near that person.’ There's a yumminess to it.” She adds, “The overall fragrance profile feels identifiable enough that it can still be a unique experience for whoever is wearing it.”
How Blake Lively Wears Blake Brown
Lively created Blake Brown to be a staple in every person’s hair care routine, with the intension of minimizing the need for excessive product use. “The goal was that it starts with your shampoo and your mask,” she explains. “So, if you use a great shampoo, mask, and a leave-in, ideally you don't have to necessarily put any heat on your hair. You can maybe let it air dry or you can put it in a bun or ponytail, and you can start to wear and tear less on your hair.”
Since creating Blake Brown, Lively has been solely using her products. “I’ll go between [the strengthening] shampoo and mask, and the nourishing set,” she shares.
Since creating Blake Brown, Lively says she’s been solely using her products. “I’ll go between [the strengthening] shampoo and conditioner and [the nourishing] set,” she shares. “Between washes, I'll [alternate] the two, but if you don't have all four, just go-between. Sometimes I'll use up the shampoo before I use the mask, and I'll move on to the next one. It doesn't have to be an exact science.”
Her secret weapon, however, is something called a Pre-Shampoo Mask. “You get your hair wet, you get in the shower, you get your hair wet, you put this in,” she says. “It’s a treatment that happens overnight or 20 minutes, whatever time you have.” Another hair secret? “I never put any conditioner above my roots,” she says.
The most remarkable thing about Blake Brown is probably the price point — the products range from $18 to $25, which aren’t drugstore prices, but still feel more accessible than the luxury hair care brands Lively was using for years before launching her own line. “I have transitioned from the products that are four times the price and my hair has never been healthier or smelled better,” she says.
And when it came to a launch partner, Lively said there was only one retailer she wanted to launch her brand with — and that was Target. “I love going to Target. I trust Target. When Target has something, I'm like, I know it's going to be good, I know it's going to be good quality. It's going to be cool and it's going to be relevant.” she says. “My husband always makes fun of me because if I drive by [one], I'm like, I can't focus.”
At the end of the day, Lively says her goal is to have Blake Brown stand on its own, whether or not people realize she’s behind the brand (even though her fingerprints are clearly everywhere — and not just because she hand-drew the bottle designs). “I wanted it to be something that felt like it was truly coming from me, but I didn't want to rely on my name that people knew because that also feels a little bit like cheating,” she says. “If people didn't know who I was, didn't care who I was, or hated me, I wanted them to still love the brand — because I think it's that great.”
Blake Brown will launch on July 31 and will be available exclusively at Target and Target.com starting August 4, 2024.
