It’s a soft glam moment today for Demetria “Demi” Lovato — dusty pink tones, tufty lashes. Their caramel coated lips have a comic book shine to them, as if highlighted in pure white. Lovato’s shoulders are wrapped in black, and either side of their clavicle is inked in gothic script; one reads “love” and the other “fear.”
The actor and singer recently partnered with Xeomin, the injectable neurotoxin from Merz Aesthetics, to front its Beauty on Your Terms campaign. “It gives me the results that I want for my frown lines, but it also keeps me looking like myself,” Lovato tells Allure over a recent Zoom call, dialing in from the glam room of their Los Angeles home. The interior is a series of contrasts: forest green walls under petal pink curtains; a squiggly mirror on an oriental rug. I know there’s a shampoo bowl sitting just out of frame, thanks to a tour of their home they once gave the press.
Driven directly to Hollywood by the Disney Channel child star vehicle at 15 years old, Lovato gave themselves over to the public. At 31, they’re still returning to their own tastes and preferences; since 2021, Lovato has been vocal about identifying somewhere between the masculine and feminine binary. Back then, they adopted they/them pronouns but has used them interchangeably with she/her since 2023. They are no stranger to self-reflection, having already been the subject of three documentary series on their career; a new one directed by Lovato, called Child Star, is slated to premiere in 2024.
It’s amid all this work that Xeomin’s campaign felt particularly kindred. “It's all about the importance of being true to who you are, and owning the choices that you make to look and feel your best,” Lovato says. Past faces have included Christina Aguilera and Lovato’s Disney Channel co-star Joe Jonas.
Here, Lovato chats with Allure on a range of beauty-focused topics including at-home facials, their favorite hair mask, and injectables (and how they relate to their mounting existential dread).
The following conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Allure: Was Xeomin your first experience with an injectable neurotoxin?
Demi Lovato: This wasn't my first experience, but it is the first time where I feel really good about the products that I'm using. Getting older, you're like, ‘Okay, what can I do to achieve my most confident look?’ I'm not always glammed up, you know? I dress down and I’m more cozy on my days off, with minimal makeup. So I wanted to achieve that natural look.
Allure: How has your relationship with your image changed while living in the public eye for nearly two decades?
Lovato: It’s changed a lot. I was this wide-eyed, fresh-faced little Disney Channel actor and singer and over the years I've experimented with my style a lot. Now I feel like I've kind of chilled out. I'm not waking up with pink hair anymore.
I used to put a lot of pressure on myself. And now I've taken that pressure off—to where I'm not trying to fit a certain mold or a certain size. I'm just trying to be healthy and live my best life regardless of what other people think of me. It's a daily struggle sometimes. But for the most part, I don't care as much as I used to. I've lived in the public eye for so long; it can consume you. And I just don't let it consume me anymore. I don't let it consume my mental health.
I think working on a documentary about child stardom has been very therapeutic for me because it really gives me insight into why I searched for validation for so many years — and why I still do sometimes. I have to retrain my brain. Building back my confidence from my inner child's point of view and nurturing them and trying to reprogram her ways has been really helpful. A ton of insight has come out of it, and I can't wait to share that insight with the rest of the world.
Allure: Have you observed a difference in aging stigma between masc- and femme-presenting people? If so, has that difference impacted you at all?
Lovato: Yeah, I think we have to acknowledge the fact that women and femme-presenting people are held to a different beauty standard. But I think, for me, it's less about other people, and [more about] being like, “What are my own beauty standards for myself?”
I get anxiety around aging sometimes, not because of the beauty standard aspect of it. But because we're getting older and we're running out of time. I mean, look, obviously I don't want wrinkles, either. That's why we're here. Right? So I can't say that it's not a little bit of that. But for the most part, it's just about like, the existential dread.
Allure: What are your beauty routines like now?
Lovato: I’m learning the importance of eye cream. And I have a very diligent skin-care routine where I give myself a facial twice a week — I do a peel, a scrub, and then a mask. I strictly use Renée Rouleau beauty products. She’s been my esthetician since I was 15. I grew up in Dallas, and that’s where she was living at the time. I’ve found that only her products work for me, and whenever she’s in [Los Angeles], she gives me a facial herself.
I try to straighten my hair when I'm going out. I don't really know how to curl it. Or I'll scrunch it, but I haven't done that [recently] because it's cold out. And I use the K18 hair mask — I really love K18. With my makeup, I do a more minimal look: just tinted moisturizer with some contour, some blush, concealer. If I'm, like, going somewhere, I might do eye shadow. I might not.
Allure: There’s a lot of chatter about teens at Sephora. Have you heard about that? Were you a makeup teen?
Lovato: No, but I’ve seen a lot of teens at Sephora. And yes. I couldn’t afford nice makeup, but if I saved up my money, then I’d go to MAC and it was a big deal. But drugstore makeup was my shit. Oops — sorry. Drugstore makeup was my thing.
Allure: Any advice from someone who was so visible at that age?
Lovato: Have fun with it. Your teens are all about exploration with style and beauty and things like that. Those are the years when you're supposed to play with makeup trends and dye your hair different colors. At one point, I had a half-shaved head with pink hair. It was really fun. I don't regret anything. I had a really good time doing it. But there was another time where I had a bowl cut — a baby pink bowl cut — and I kind of regret that one. It was cute during photo shoots. [Laughs] Day to day, it was not for me.
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