How many of us can say we’re skilled at acting, skydiving, and drawing on bold red lipstick? (Heck, we’d take any one of the three.) But actor Pom Klementieff—who has displayed her physical prowess on-screen in Mission: Impossible, Dead Reckoning Part One and multiple films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe—has somehow mastered all of the above.
When she’s not on-set with a full face of makeup for her role as Mantis in the Marvel films, the new global ambassador for NARS Cosmetics prioritizes simplicity in her beauty routine. “I like to be active and do stunts, so I don’t want to have to worry about my makeup dripping,” says Klementieff. She moisturizes (heavily), wears SPF (in an effort to not “bake in the sun”), and makes sure she carves out time for red light therapy with her Artemis LED Mask and Neck System. “When you put the mask on your face, you look like a robot,” she says. “I look scary—but I really see a change in the texture of my skin.”
Klementieff typically opts for a more natural makeup look—and cites her French upbringing as the reason why. “I usually am like, ‘No, no, please,’ to overdrawn lips,” she says, explaining that while it’s a big trend at the moment, she doesn’t like the look on herself. “Being French, I grew up with people who didn’t wear too much makeup and only used it to enhance some features. [They] reinforce the natural color of lips, just dabbing a little bit of lipstick or blush on.”
Since beginning her acting career in America, however, Klementieff has enjoyed experimenting with punchier colors. The vibrant red NARS Velvet Matte Lipstick in Dragon Girl has been her lucky charm since she wore it for an audition for a 2013 Spike Lee film and landed the role and she’s recently worn the deeper and more mysterious Explicit Lipstick in Rendezvous when going for a bolder look. “For both the French and Americans, lipstick is like a statement,” she says.
But what about for the alien daughter of Ego? The professional assassin? When asked about how some of her most notable characters would apply lipstick, she says Mission Impossible’s Paris would likely wear it undercover at a party (a dark shade paired to match a smudge-y liner look, no doubt) and that Marvel’s Mantis would likely have a more “freaky” approach. Says Klementieff: “Mantis would put it all around her lips, saying something like, ‘Oh, I made a mistake, sorry,’ right before kidnapping Kevin Bacon.”
