Quenlin Blackwell: ‘Let’s stop the lobotomy stare’

Though you might recognise Quenlin Blackwell as the face of your favourite Vine-era memes, these days, it’s her viral YouTube show Feeding Starving Celebrities, red carpet hosting, or work as an actress that’s more likely to come across your feed. Most recently, the internet star added skincare model to her resume, fronting Youth to the People’s new SuperFood Cleanser campaign. Below, we caught up with Blackwell to chat about the campaign, her current obsessions, and of course, her beauty affirmations.

Quenlin Blackwell: To me, beauty means how still and grounded you are in yourself. I think the most beautiful thing someone can be is just chill. I think older women are the most beautiful women of all time because they just have done life. They figured it out, they’re chilling and they’re comfortable – that’s beauty. I think beauty is just slowing down and just existing.

Quenlin Blackwell: Probably just staying on a consistent schedule with all of my different appointments. Going to lymphatic drainage, going to an internal health person. But my entire life has been [about] my skincare routine and just making sure I do that. If you look at the pictures I posted when I was 15 years old, on the internet with a face mask on, it’s always been a part of my life.

Quenlin Blackwell: I’m such a gatekeeper, but I’ll give the girls a hint on what they should do. Go to some old school perfumery, like a perfume shop that’s existed for over 40 years. Sit down and spend the day there. Take breaks, smell the perfumes, walk outside and get some fresh air. Come back in. Once you find your scent, then you get the notes in your scent, and you go to the witch store, or the incense store, and you ask for pure oil versions of each of them.

Then, you take those pure oil versions of each note of your signature scent, and you put it in the mousse that you use in your hair, and lotion that you use on the body, so you don’t have to spend all this money trying to find the expensive essential oil lotions. Go get a run-of-the-mill lotion, which is literally so inexpensive. Then, go get a big bottle of frankincense oil, or whatever your note is, and use that. And that’s how you smell good literally all the time.

Quenlin Blackwell: My SuperFood Cleanser. I’ve had it since I was 15 or 16 years old. I use it to take off my make-up. I use it when I’m in the shower. I use it during my bath. I like to let it sit on my face like it’s a mask, even though it’s not. It probably shouldn’t be used as a mask, but I’m like, ‘let me let these ingredients soak in a little bit longer.’ I love a marination.

Quenlin Blackwell: Probably the lobotomy stare, and getting so much Botox in your face and your muscles to [the point] where your eyes open up big. And getting upper and lower bleph, and then you just literally look like AI. I think I miss when humans looked like humans, and I think a lot of people miss that. I think a lot of people are like, ‘why are some of the things we’re seeing feeling uncanny?’ It’s because people aren’t moving their faces, because they’re literally scared to get a wrinkle. So I think, let’s stop the lobotomy. Let’s stop being scared of moving our faces. We can always be preventative, but we shouldn’t be fearful about ageing.

Quenlin Blackwell: Probably my grandmother. My grandmother was just so simple and so chic and so subtle. She would always have rollers in her hair and always wear dresses and long skirts. She was really like Mary Poppins.

Quenlin Blackwell: Probably to stop putting so much make-up on your face every day, because you don’t need it. You are beautiful as is. It’s fun to paint and to create a new persona, a character, and to decide you want to wear glitter for a little bit of time, but then give your skin a break. Let it breathe. I used to do a dip brow, six pumps of foundation, highlighter on everything, just to go to school at six am when I was in the eighth grade. Now, I’m like, girl, that’s why I was looking crazy.

Quenlin Blackwell: