Penelope Cruz shares her beauty secrets

Penelope Cruz shares her beauty secrets: "Mascara is the little black dress for your eyes"

Tousled chestnut hair, smoky eyes and pillowy lips permanently set in a knowing smile – actress Penélope Cruz’s beauty calling card is a winner, onscreen and on the red carpet.

It was her performance as Maria Elena in Vicky Cristina Barcelona that won her an Academy Award and ignited a romance with now-husband Javier Bardem, and surely kohl liner and ruffled hair is (partially) responsible.

Penelope in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Growing up in Madrid around her mother’s beauty parlour, Penélope’s fascination with beauty started at an early age. “I fell in love with Isabella Rossellini when I was 13,” she tells Hello! “She was strong, independent, confident, charming and romantic – everything I thought was feminine and beautiful.”

Penélope, 40, followed Isabella’s footsteps when she became a beauty ambassador for Lancôme. “Trésor was my first perfume; the brand’s been a part of me for a long time,” Penélope says after nearly five years working with the Paris-based company. “I’ve loved their idea that beauty should not be a constraint but something liberating and playful.”

The mother of two – who recently filmed the drama Ma Ma (to première later this year) and directed a short film for lingerie brand Agent Provocateur – proves that juggling a fast-paced career, motherhood and marriage is as effortless as a hair toss.

Here, the star shares what it means to truly be beautiful and why she admires French women:

How would you describe your signature beauty look?

On days that I’m not working, I like to keep it natural, but I always wear mascara. It’s the little black dress for your eyes.

What about your red-carpet look?

Getting dressed up is always fun, it’s like getting in to character. Makeup changes how you feel, the way a haircut or new dress does. I love strong eyes. I finally learned how to do my own eyes, but it has taken me so long to master. I think eyes are the most important feature. They express feelings that words cannot.

What makes a woman beautiful?

It’s about deciding to love and respect one’s self and really becoming your best friend. The older I get, the less interested I am in pretending to be something I’m not. I’m more comfortable with showing people exactly who I am.

As the face of a Paris-based brand, what is your vision of a French woman?

French women have this incredible sophistication that seems absolutely effortless. I’m so inspired by Jane Birkin, Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve and Marion Cotillard. They all have something in common, probably freedom, they’re all free spirits.

What’s your favourite thing about France?

I couldn’t pick just one. I love the culture, food, art, fashion. I truly love Paris, but the south of France has breathtaking nature and is always bathed in an incredible light.

What has your career taught you?

I love acting but it’s less and less about results and more about continuous research, experiences, the magic of the process and the lack of control that comes with it. You are always a student in this profession, and I love that.

Penélope Cruz Can't Live Without

Oscar-winning actress and Lancôme spokeswoman Penélope Cruz loves a bad movie, is no stranger to bed-head, and isn't too shabby with scissors and a pot of hot wax. We sat down with Cruz for InStyle’s September issue, where we learned everything from her off-duty makeup routine to the six beauty products she can’t live without. Read on for our exclusive interview with the star, and then keep scrolling to shop her must-haves!

You grew up in Spain. What's the best beauty tip you picked up there?

Well, my parents owned a hair salon in Madrid, so I was surrounded by beauty. I've cut a lot of people's hair and even learned how to wax. I actually waxed Salma Hayek's legs once. Great friend, right?

Great friend, indeed.

She proved how much she trusts me. I always say if my acting career doesn't go well, I have a backup.

Are you equally skilled at doing your own hair and makeup?

I can do it, but I normally like a natural look. On a regular day I just wear lip color and mascara. And sometimes I wait so long to brush my hair that I look like a Rastafarian.

Were you confident about your looks growing up?

When I read articles and hear actresses say, "Oh, I was the ugly duckling in high school," it sounds strange to me. It's like, who hasn't had those moments in their life?

I think we all have. So with a busy career and two kids, how do you find time to wind down?

I try to carve out at least 30 minutes for myself every day. I might read a book or get a massage—or I'll watch a really bad movie. Like, the worst possible movie I can find!

Penélope's Beauty Must-Haves:

Lancôme Trésor Eau De Parfum Spray

"This is the perfume of my life ($75; lancome.com)—I've been wearing it since my teens. It's really a coincidence that I'm now the face of it."

Kérastase Nutritive Masquintense

"This is the best hair mask ($63; kerastase-usa.com). It was always in my mother's hair salon, and she knows a lot about healthy hair."

Lancôme Grandiôse Mascara

"The wand ($32; lancome.com) has a very special design that lets you reach every single lash, even the tricky ones in the corners."

Nuance Blue Agave Wave Enhancing Styling Swirl

"Salma Hayek sent me this with a few of her other products, and they are all really, really great ($13; cvs.com)!"

Vitamix 5200

"I use this to make juices as well as gazpacho ($449; vitamix.com). In Spain we eat gazpacho almost every day, so you get a lot of vegetables in a way that is very delicious."

Santa Maria Novella Soap in Rose and Pomegranate

"I love these old Italian soaps ($18 each; santamarianovellausa.com). Some of them smell like baby powder and remind me of the ones my grandmother always used."

Penelope Cruz tramples over 'ugly feet' claims

Putting her best foot forward! Penelope Cruz tramples over 'ugly feet' claims in wedge heels as she sizzles in summer dress

Earlier this year she was infamously accused of having 'ugly feet' by Today host Savannah Guthrie.

But Penelope Cruz proved she has nothing to be ashamed of as she stepped out in a pair of chic wedge heels in New York on Thursday.

The Latin lovely showcased her delicate trotters as she went for a sun-kissed summer walk in the Big Apple.

The 42-year-old Blow beauty showcased her lithe figure in a flattering summer dress, which boasted a high hemline that drew attention to her slender pins.

But her was her dainty feet that really stole the show, thanks to her trendy wedge heeled strappy sandals, which she wisely wore without white socks.

Penelope was visibly shaken when she appeared on Today to promote Zoolander 2 earlier this year, only to be accused of having horrible hooves.

The saucy Spaniard shrieked, 'no, no no,' after being quizzed on the delicate subject in front of the show's five million viewers.

Savannah decided to broach the subject during the February interview by insisting it was the Girl of Your Dreams star herself who said it first.

She said: 'I don't even know how I feel about this, I think you said it, that you, despite what you look like... you've said you have ugly feet.'

Savannah tried to dig herself out of her unfortunate hole by saying she thought that was the case 'because you were a dancer.'

Old pro Penelope, who studied classical ballet for nine years at Spain's National Conservatory, then explained the tribulations a ballerina goes through.

She said: 'When you're a ballet dancer, you lose your toenails. You get used to throwing them away. You don't even feel it anymore.'

Mrs Javier Bardem then turned the conversation back to her trotters, insisting, 'I think they are normal.'

Former lawyer Savannah used this as the perfect excuse to end their chat, drawing a line under the matter by saying, 'We'll leave it at that.'

Penelope Cruz ‘Too Catholic’ for Tom Cruise?

It's been a decade since Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz ended their three-year relationship. Though both have obviously moved on from each other (Cruz is happily married with actor Javier Bardem while Cruise wed and divorced Katie Holmes), reports are still surfacing about the cause of their break-up.

In a recent report published on Tony Ortega's blog "The Underground Bunker" it was revealed that allegedly, Scientology leader David Miscavige didn't approve of Cruise's relationship with the Spanish actress at the time. This was according to Tom DeVocht, one of Miscavige's most trusted lieutenants in the Church of Scientology and a former Sea Org executive.

DeVocht will be featured in the upcoming HBO documentary by Alex Gibney titled "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief," which will air on Sunday, March 29 at 8 PM, according to the blog.

Through The Underground Bunker, DeVocht gave a few insights on what the viewers will see in the documentary. He related an incident when Miscavige allegedly said Cruz "had looked at him funny" at the premiere of "Vanilla Sky," a film wherein both Cruz and Crusie co-starred. It was also during that time when Miscavige allegedly said Cruz was "too Catholic" to be with the "Mission: Impossible" star.

Cruise's romantic involvement with Cruz came after he ended his 10-year marriage with Nicole Kidman, Perez Hilton recalled. According to the gossip site, the 52-year-old actor wanted to marry Cruz back then, but she began to feel that Scientology "was the third wheel of their relationship," which then resulted to a separation.

"Tom was head over heels in love with Penelope and could see them spending the rest of their lives together, and she felt the same way. However, Penelope pulled the plug on the relationship because she felt that the Church of Scientology was the third wheel in their relationship," a source of Perez Hilton revealed.

The 40-year-old actress, however, didn't hold grudges over Cruise's religion, and Perez Hilton claimed that she even "admired" the actor's dedication over it.

"Penelope doesn't have anything against the Church, but it just wasn't her thing. She admired Tom's dedication to it, but it wasn't her cup of tea and wasn't something she wanted to give her life up for," the Perez Hilton's insider further shared.

In 20014, PEOPLE reported that Cruz took Scientology church courses and she found them beneficial, but she remained a non-member of the L. Ron Hubbard-founded organization throughout her relationship with Cruise.

Just last month, Cruise and Cruz reunited together with the latter's good friend and fellow actress Salma Hayek in London, England. According to a report from E! News, the former couple ran into each other at the sophisticated Mayfair restaurant Scotts.

Penelope Cruz Talks About Her Relation With Tom Cruise

Penélope Cruz has been acting for years, but she's never been the center of the American spotlight until now. This week she showed up at her new film's premiere with the oh-so recently divorced Tom Cruise.

But few Hollywood watchers were discussing the film; Cruz won more attention for her escort than the screening of Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

It was the first public "event" for Cruz and her new boyfriend, whose headline-making divorce from actress Nicole Kidman was barely a week old.

International Beauty Goes Hollywood

Cruz, 27, now the "it girl" of the moment, told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America she was happy to share the spotlight with Cruise at the premiere.

"He came and shared it with me," the Spanish actress said of her opening night. "It was special for me that he wanted to share it with me that way."

The exotic beauty, who played Johnny Depp's drug-addicted wife in the film Blow earlier this year, landed the role of Nicolas Cage's love interest in the romance Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

There were reports she was involved with Cage early last year, but Cruz said the rumors were untrue. At the time, Cage was still married to actress Patricia Arquette. He's now linked with Lisa Marie Presley.

Privacy Over Popularity

Cruz, a huge star in her homeland, said she is happy personally and professionally now, even though she wants to keep at least some of her private life, well, private.

It's been reported, and substantiated by Cruise's publicist (both Cruise and Cruz are clients of the same public relations firm) that the actors have been seeing each other for about a month. Their first known date was at the trendy Beverly Hills restaurant Spago.

They shot some passionate scenes for the upcoming film Vanilla Sky last November, but they say they weren't involved at that time, when Cruise was still married to Kidman.

"There's nothing to hide and it's a good thing," Cruz said of their relationship. She calls Cruise the most generous person she has ever met.

And though she said Cruise "has a huge heart," she didn't elaborate on their romance.

"The stuff that is personal is personal, like the situation now there is nothing to hide," Cruz said. "Everything that had to be said has been said. We are not going to give details of it, but I think people understand that."

In her latest film, the actress must choose between Cage's character and another good-looking guy in the middle of World War II in her Greek village.

Cruz even spends her time offscreen proving she's not just another pretty face. She does charity work at Mother Teresa's missions in Calcutta, India, and speaks for a foundation to save abandoned children there.

"I talk about how the lives of these girls have changed through the help of all of the people in Spain who have helped us," Cruz said.

The actress said she has seen small babies being abandoned on the streets of India. "They were in the street and they had nothing and no one," she said. "We're getting a lot of help, but there is still more needed."

Penelope Dumped Tom Cruise For Scientology

Tom Cruise was devastated after then-girlfriend Penelope Cruz dumped him because the stunning Spanish actress felt that the Church of Scientology was a third wheel in their relationship, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.

“Tom had absolutely planned on proposing to Penelope, and they had openly discussed marriage during the three years they were dating,” a source close to the situation tells Radar exclusively. “Tom was head over heels in love with Penelope and could see them spending the rest of their lives together, and she felt the same way.

“However, Penelope pulled the plug on the relationship because she felt that the Church of Scientology was the third wheel in their relationship. Penelope doesn’t have anything against the Church, but it just wasn’t her thing. She admired Tom’s dedication to it, but it wasn’t her cup of tea and wasn’t something she wanted to give her life up for.

“As we previously reported, The Church of Scientology screened at least two dozen women to date Tom Cruise after his divorce from Nicole Kidman, including unknown actress and fellow church member, Yolanda Pecoraro, who made the cut and was fixed up with the actor, after Penelope dumped the Mission Impossible star.

“The Church screened at least two dozen women to date Tom Cruise after his divorce,” a source close to the situation previously told Radar. “Tom had very specific demands about the type of woman he was interested in, including long dark hair, olive complexion and preferably an actress. Of course, he wanted her to preferably be a Scientologist too. The Church did set Cruise up with Yolanda Pecoraro and they dated in the summer of 2004, after his very public split from Penelope Cruz. The relationship with Yolanda lasted a few months, but Cruise grew bored with her and wanted to date an actress that was known to the public.”

A bombshell new report in Vanity Fair claims that Shelly Miscavige, the wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige, headed up the task of finding Tom an appropriate mate. Candidates were reportedly told they were auditioning for a new training film and were asked a series of questions including “What do you think of Tom Cruise?”

Iranian-born actress and longtime Scientology follower Nazanin Boniadi was the winner in the girlfriend derby, according to Vanity Fair, and she went on to date Cruise from November, 2004 to January, 2005.

Boniadi had to reportedly sign multiple confidentiality agreements and ended up falling for Cruise. But in short order, he decided she wasn’t up to the task, sources told Vanity Fair, and complained to her, “I get more love from an extra than I get from you.”

The Church of Scientology and Tom Cruise have vehemently denied the allegations in the Vanity Fair story, branding the report as “a rehash of tired old lies.”

Tom Cruise’s rep says “it’s ridiculously false” that Cruise and Cruz split because of the Church of Scientology.

 

Penelope Cruz Affairs With Matthew McConaughey

EXCLUSIVE: How Matthew McConaughey took Penelope Cruz to Mexico in his Airstream and then dumped her for Camila Alves, grew back his hair after going bald and got busted with his bong and bongos

Tall, tanned and often bare-chested, the six-foot-tall movie star from Texas, Matthew McConaughey, was just another beefcake actor starring in vacuous romantic and coming-of-age comedies that kept the money flowing in.

With the help of a seductive smile and hard abs, he had a string of affairs with Hollywood leading ladies – Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd, Renee Zellweger, Patricia Arquette... and Penelope Cruz 

'There's a bit of a language barrier, but it's like poetry when it happens,' he said of Cruz. 'What I really love about her is that she sees everything for the first time, every time. And she's one of the best listeners I've ever met.'

They drove to Mexico together in his Airstream trailer.

But then another woman stopped him dead in his tracks.

Hanging out in the Hyde Lounge club on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood in 2006 with his pal, now-disgraced cyclist, Lance Armstrong, he saw the woman of his dreams. And she changed his life forever writes Neil Daniels in Matthew McConaughey: The Biography,  published by John Blake.

McConaughey's relationship with sexy Penelope Cruz was over as soon as he spotted the 5'9' tall Brazilian model Camila Alves enter the Hyde bar.

 'The first time I saw her walk across the room, I didn't say, "Who is that?" I said, "What is that?" 

'The way she moved, I could see a person who knows who they are. There's a person who spends time with herself, and is not advertising for this world, and is not asking permission. From that night I haven't been on a date with anyone else'.

It was a year and a half before they dated exclusively.

And it set McConaughey, 45, on the path towards achieving what he considered his greatest accomplishment -  being a father.

'When I was 20 years old, I didn't know what I wanted for a career. But I knew I wanted to be a father. It had been the thing that, since I was very young, I looked up to. The men I looked up to the most were fathers – men who raised good kids'.

Two years later, in July 2008, the couple had their first of three children and became engaged in 2011.

McConaughey put a rose-cut diamond on Camila's finger and married her in June of 2012 in a Catholic ceremony presided over by a Benedictine Monk.

Alves, 33, first landed in Los Angeles from Brazil when she was fifteen. She cleaned houses and worked as a waitress before hanging up her feather duster to become a successful model for Dior and Levi's.

When the couple first lived together, it was in an Airstream trailer, a love of McConaughey's who now owns three of them.

When he goes on location, they travel in an Airstream.

'We all go together,' Alves says. 'One thing that we decided very early in the relationship is that when he goes, we all go – the whole family.

'We're like a traveling circus. But we're never in one place for too long. We're always on the go. We've been on the road for four years'.

Before Camilla, the tall Texas was viewed as a bongo-playing, bong-toking free spirit who loved to play those drums in the nude while stoned on weed.

In 1999, the knock on his door was the police responding to the neighbor's noise complaint. They found him stoned and naked with a bong nearby.

He resisted arrest and was hauled off to jail for resisting as well as on a marijuana possession.

The charges were dropped eventually but he had to pay a fifty dollar fine for disturbing the peace, a mere drop in the bucket for the actor who was then earning $4 million a film.

He sang sing-alongs with his cellmates and even had T-shirts printed that read, 'What part of naked bongo playing don't you understand'?

Naked was something he learned growing up when his mother never put bathing suits on him or his brothers while at the country club before they were nine years old.

Three years earlier in 1996, Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood issue dubbed McConaughey the new Paul Newman. The New York Times compared him to Gregory Peck and the writer John Grisham viewed him as a cross between a young Marlon Brando and Paul Newman.

McConaughey's career almost tanked when he lost out on the Titanic role to Leonardo DiCaprio. 

But it was all 'alright, alright, alright', with the actor whose phone didn't stop ringing after he verbalized the character's lines in the cult film Dazed and Confused in 1993 that kept Hollywood producers calling and scripts for rom-coms coming in.