Stranger Things star Sadie Sink on stanning Millie Bobby Brown, skipping social media and getting into her beauty groove

Sadie Sink is not your typical Gen Z Hollywood star. Introspective, quietly confident and out of the loop when it comes to social media, the 18-year old doesn't seem to feel a need to conform. Best known for her breakout role as skateboarding gamer, Max Mayfield, on Netflix's smash-hit, Stranger Things, she comes across as refreshingly un-phased by the bright lights of La La Land.

Video-calling in from the States, we sat down to talk wellness hacks, friendship goals (Sadie and co-star Millie Bobby Brown go by the codenames Ketchup and Mustard) and beauty routines. "When I was younger, I was kind of scared of makeup personally," she confides. Even now, she describes her relationship with makeup as "minimal". Her modest approach might make her a curious choice as Givenchy's new brand ambassador, but her relaxed, open and experimental interpretation of "beauty" ("I don't need to feel extravagant, to feel confident"), is something we can very much get on board with. Here she talks about her celeb makeup-crushes and why she's decided to ditch Instagram.

My everyday makeup look is very minimal...

When it comes to my everyday makeup look, I’m very minimal. My statement look is fresh skin, brushed up brows and a pop of colour on my lips [like GIVENCHY's Le Rouge Deep Velvet in Fuchsia Vibrant or L'Interdit, £29]. But I think that it fits with me. I feel best when I don’t have anything on my eyes or skin and I let my freckles show through. It took some experimentation before I found what works for me, but it feels good to have a look that is your staple go-to.

What society says is ‘beautiful’ will probably change, so ignore it...

There’s definitely pressure to look a certain way, but you have to ignore it and go by what makes you feel the most beautiful, the most confident and the most like yourself. That’s the thing you have to focus on, rather than what society is saying is beautiful ‘at the moment’. That’ll probably change the next day. Play around with different styles, have fun, find something that feels authentic to who you are – that’s the best way to go, in my opinion.

I’m so proud of everything Millie [Bobby Brown] has achieved with her beauty line...

Millie has always been very involved in makeup and skincare. Every time I would go over to her house, she would have more products than I’ve ever seen in my life. One of the earliest memories I have from when she was developing her skincare line is when she showed me the little under-eye patches that she sells. That was the first time I’d seen any kind of product like that. It’s funny looking back at the early steps of her developing her products and where she is now, I’m very proud of everything she’s been able to accomplish.

My friends think I live under a rock because I can’t be bothered with Instagram, but I prefer to live in the real world...

I personally don’t have Instagram on my phone and I haven’t had it in so long. When I caught myself wasting moments of my day that I could have spent with family and friends, I was like, ‘alright, let’s reel it in’. I think that’s important, because you can easily get addicted to social media. Taking breaks and living in the real world has helped me stay sane.

Some of my friends think I live under a rock because I don’t know what all the makeup trends are, or all the details of what’s happening on social media, but I think that’s so great. It’s crazy how much you can learn and how much inspiration you can draw from social media, but you can also draw inspiration from the real world. You can find things that work for you and your own style, and your own trend – not just what you’re seeing other people do.

I’m secretly a bit addicted to TikTok, though...

TikTok I do have on my phone. I’m able to go on there anonymously, so I really enjoy that. I don’t personally make any TikToks, but I’ll go on and I’ll watch them. It’s addictive.

Journaling is my number one wellness hack...

Something I picked up during quarantine – and I’ve been doing it every day since – is journaling every day. When things get really busy, I kind of forget everything that’s going on so I need to have a brain dump at the end of the day. That’s really helpful for me.

A vegan diet is totally doable...

I’d always told myself I could never go vegan – I’m from Texas, my family are big meat-eaters – but then I decided I was going to give it a shot and I went ahead and did it. I made the switch almost five years ago after I worked with Woody Harrelson on a movie. He’s a very passionate vegan and his entire family is vegan as well, so by spending time with them, I was able to learn that a vegan lifestyle is totally doable and it’s not as hard as it may seem. It’s definitely something I still have to work on; you make mistakes in the beginning; but you just learn as you go.

We should know what’s going in our products…

May Lindstrom does great vegan skincare. I love to use the face oil – that’s the one product I’ll let myself splurge on. It’s really special, it makes me feel good and it smells amazing. I think it’s definitely important to look at how things are being made.

I'm beginning to see makeup as an art form…

I recently did a look with blue eyeliner which was fun. As I’m getting older, I’m becoming more comfortable playing with makeup. I’ve started seeing it more as an art form, rather than just something to make yourself look nice.

Courtesy of Givenchy

I love the way Lucy Boynton and Zoey Deutch do their makeup...

Two people that I think are doing incredible things with their makeup are Lucy Boynton and Zoey Deutch. They both have a lot of fun looks that I’ve been inspired by. I would love to try something like what they’re doing at some point. It’s really nice to see other actors around your age play around with makeup. I also look up to actors who have the same skin tone or hair colour as me, so I’ll look at what Emma Stone is doing or what Julianne Moore is doing. They’re two of my icons at the moment, but it’s always changing.

I’ll never let anyone touch my eyebrows again...

When I was younger, my mum would always go and get her eyebrows waxed. I thought that was something that everyone had to do, but when I went to get my eyebrows waxed for the first time, they made them way too thin. I hated it! Since then no-one’s ever touched my eyebrows.

Read More

New Stranger Things poster teases an epic showdown ahead of the two-hour season 4 finale

Is it Friday yet?

By Ali Pantony, Anya Meyerowitz and Jabeen Waheed