Reese Witherspoon Talks Fragrance, Workouts, and 1930s Beauty

Allure Daily Beauty Reporter

By Kate Sullivan, Allure magazine

It seems like the pink-loving Elle Woods would approve: This week's People magazine shows photos of the newly married Reese Witherspoon in a "blush"-colored Monique L'Huillier wedding gown. (She saved the white dress, a Monique L'Huillier silk mini, for the reception.) We had a chance to chat with the actress before her nuptials, and while we didn't talk wedding day beauty, we sure covered everything else.

When were you first allowed to wear perfume? "Not until I was like 16, when I went to dances my mom would let me wear perfume. I wore something really fruity and vanilla-y and cakelike from Bath & Body Works. I wasn't allowed to wear makeup until I was 14."

Was the makeup thing a bit of a battle-did you want to wear it younger? "No, I didn't really. But it's so funny, as a teenager I wore so much more makeup than I do now. Why is it that young girls wear pile on makeup when they're probably looking their best? That's probably the best their skin will ever look, their eyes will ever look."

What was your look of choice back then? "I wore the shiniest, pinkest lip gloss. In the 90s, I was really into that brown lip liner. I look back on it and I'm like, 'Oh my God.'"

Tell me about your look in Water for Elephants. "It's set in the 1930s, so my hair was peroxide blonde. [I] got to have red lips and the flirty eyes. It's the most glamorous film I've done. I don't look anything like myself. It's really fun just seeing images from the film and going 'Who's that?'"

It's interesting that the look is so bombshell, so glamorous-and America was probably at its poorest in the early '30s. "The film is very reflective of the Depression era America. I mean, circuses were one of the only forms of entertainment. This great American pastime and the pageantry and excitement of it really brought people out of the darkness of their lives at the time."

You cut and colored your hair for this role. Have you ever hesitated to do that for a movie? "No, but my colorist has! She's like 'Reese, can you think twice about this?' Lorri Goddard-Clark-she's been my colorist for so long. I met her after I dyed my hair for Walk the Line. She's the one who transformed my hair from June Carter dark back [to blonde]. And she's repaired my hair ever since then."

Did you have to gradually go back to your old color after Walk the Line? "Yes; it was hard. I had to go through a transition of probably three or four months with this really weird orange-y colored hair."

In Elephants, your character Marlena is an equestrian and elephant-rider. How did you prepare for that aspect of the role? "About four months before the film began, I went to circus school with people who do Cirque du Soleil, two or three times a week. It was a lot of gymnastics; getting the flexibility-I was hanging off of ropes, flipping a lot-I just wanted to make sure my body was limber enough to do the stunts that they needed me to do. Circus school was like being a child; you get to jump on trampolines, they suspend you in harnesses and you do flips in the air. It was really, really fun. I just smiled ear to ear for two hours."

Did you have to give up your regular workouts? "Yes; because if I run too much I would not be limber enough to do the trapeze training. So it was more about yoga and circus school."

Had you ridden an elephant before? "Actually, I have ridden an elephant. That probably sounds weird! But I had done a movie [Vanity Fair] in India and in the very end, I ride an elephant. And, when I was sixteen I shot a movie in Africa [A Far Off Place] where I worked with elephants. I've had sort of a wonderful fascination with elephants all my life."

What is it like to be on top of the elephant? "Terrifying at first-because you're high. The first day that I saw Ty, my elephant costar, I had to climb up on her back. I had to get over how high I was from the very beginning. It was exciting. It's so exciting. I remember I got up there and said, 'I can't believe this is my job.'"

For more from Witherspoon, like how her taste in fragrance has developed since her Bath and Body Works days, how she coped with the circus smells on the set of Elephants, and what she loves about her latest Avon fragrance, Laugh Often, check out the May issue. Water for Elephants is in theaters April 22nd.

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Photo Credit: WWD