Inde Navarrette's Day-to-Date-Night Routine, and the Story Behind the Name
Vogue
In this Vogue Beauty Secrets episode, Obsession star Inde Navarrette goes through a full routine, from skincare to a finished date-night look. The routine is also a chance to talk about growing up with little makeup in the house, how a family nickname became a professional name, the practical problems of shooting a blood-soaked horror film, and what Navarrette thinks happens at the end of Obsession. Throughout, Navarrette's view of beauty stays the same: learn what suits your own face, and don't be afraid to look silly sometimes.
Skincare: Oil Cleanser, Glazing Milk, and Sunscreen From Paris
After sanitizing their hands, Navarrette starts with a cleansing oil, applied without adding water first. The reasoning is intuitive, not technical: since the face already has oils on it, oil seems like the best way to remove them. "I don't know, scientifically it just makes sense to me."
Next comes a rose glazing milk as moisturizer, chosen because it blends well with makeup and leaves skin glowy. Navarrette gives a shout-out to "Haley" for it. They let each layer dry before the next, then apply sunscreen bought on a recent trip to Paris. Navarrette explains that sunscreen formulas differ between the US and other countries, which is why they picked this one up abroad.
The Paris trip was for a Dior show ("Christian, to be specific"). It was Navarrette's first time in Europe, and they recommend the Crazy Horse burlesque show. Having gone once, they expect "a very European year" and plan to return. Before this, their travel had been to Mexico and Thailand, which they say surprises people. Their grandmother lives in Thailand, and Navarrette greets viewers in Thai.
A House Without Much Makeup
While the sunscreen sets, Navarrette adds under-eye patches and talks about home. Their mother is a hairstylist, and the grandmother on the Australian side is "very homeopathic," so the house smelled of tea tree oil. There wasn't much makeup around. When there was, it was their mother's Urban Decay, which "stayed on like crazy." That made it hard for young Navarrette to hide borrowing it, because Urban Decay doesn't come off.
Navarrette admits they may be applying the patches the wrong way. If so, they tell viewers to "shut your mouth" first and then tell them how to do it properly. They add, laughing, that the video shows exactly why they're always "70 million hours late."
Inner Beauty: Turmeric and Iron
While the patches sit, Navarrette takes a turmeric shot, noting that turmeric stains everything. They then take an iron supplement, bought in France, and explain why. They have low iron, to the point that they would pass out, and they stress that this isn't a joke. For them, inner beauty matters as much as outer beauty. They acknowledge that health care is hard to access, but encourage viewers who can to get their vitamin levels checked, especially women, who "lose a lot of iron."
Navarrette also explains why a routine matters to them. During busy work periods and a lot of travel, getting ready became grounding, a stretch of time that belonged only to them.
Concealer and Matching Complicated Undertones
Makeup starts with concealer, either the brand on the table or YSL's illuminating product. Navarrette says their undertones are yellow and also red, which makes an exact match difficult. They treat that as something to experiment with, not a problem.
From Danielle to Inde
While applying concealer, Navarrette explains the name. As a small child, they kept saying "I do, Mommy, I do," and their mother called them independent, which became "Indie." Parents and sibling used the nickname at home, but everywhere else they were Danielle. In sixth grade, Navarrette says, "a part of my brain fully formed," and they realized they could be called Indie everywhere, so they wrote it as their preferred name on school forms.
When they joined SAG and had to register a name, they asked their mother for permission to use the name publicly. Navarrette calls it "beautiful": they always felt like Inde and now get to be Inde publicly. At home they are still Danielle, and they like that separation. If they get in trouble, it's "Danielle Fabiola," and they're "still the child that needs to do the dishes."
How the Acting Started, and the Early Roles
Navarrette jokes that they wanted to act after realizing they were a good liar as a kid, then admits that's "kind of not really" a joke. The real start was a YMCA program: their brother went to the astronaut track and they went to acting. One scene involved an older sister. Having no older sister, they drew on sibling scenes they'd seen on TV and found it fun. Navarrette traces their love of acting to that experience of feeling emotion, alongside a lifelong love of movies.
They list the early career in order. The first official role was, as they recall, Denton's Death Date, a Snapchat series, which came with a blue stripe in their hair (a nod to Selena Gomez) and was their first real time on a set. Next was a Sundance movie with Sienna Miller and Diego Luna, where they had a single scene and felt they had to "kill this." Then came 13 Reasons Why, which Navarrette says is "crazy to say." They credit Alisha Boe and Dylan Minnette with making them feel comfortable on set. After that came Superman & Lois, which they call a lot of fun.
Blush Where the Sun Would Hit
For blush, Navarrette mixes shades. Their tip is to blend the color on the back of the hand and hold it next to the face, so you can judge it without putting it on your skin first. They feel most confident fresh off the beach, with color where the sun naturally lands, so that's where the blush goes. On other days they want to look "completely pasty, borderline goth" when feeling "very Evanescence." Today's look is sun-kissed.
Making Obsession: Oversized Contacts and Blood Everywhere
Navarrette describes the physical side of the horror film. The contact lenses were "the size of a quarter," and they demonstrate how they forced them in: pulling the eyelashes up, opening the eye, and pushing the lens down. They say this was the wrong way and viewers shouldn't copy it. At one point they accidentally dropped a lens in alcohol, which meant it couldn't be used. There were no spares, so in the scene where their character repeats "it's all your fault" while rubbing another character's chest, Navarrette's eyes are closed.
The blood got everywhere: between their toes, on the tiles of their house, in their car, on their pillows. Navarrette found washing it off at the end of the day emotionally helpful. Seeing it all physically rinse away helped them leave the role behind, and they'd go to bed feeling out of it.
What Comes Next: Studio Films, Indie Freedom, and "Chameleonizing"
Navarrette says they would "do horror for the rest of my life," but with new opportunities they want to try many different things. That includes large, exciting studio projects. They also loved what Obsession gave them, the originality and freedom of independent film, and plan to stay with that for a while.
They also want to transform physically for roles, cutting or coloring their hair and changing how they look. They call this "chameleonizing" and suggest Urban Dictionary add it.
Rihanna's Lesson: Learn What's Good for Your Face
On beauty influences, Navarrette names Zendaya's Odyssey look and suggests bringing back an inner-corner eye look. They have always loved supernatural looks, but done the way Rihanna does them: striking yet beautiful, and natural for her. They recall hearing, in one of these Vogue videos, the advice to "learn what's good for your face," then realize it was Rihanna who said it. Looking up to people who did what worked for their own faces helped Navarrette, they say.
Eyeliner, and the Ending of Obsession
While applying eyeliner, which Navarrette prefers smudged, often literally rubbing their eyes, they turn to the film's ending. They've enjoyed watching audiences guess what happened. They mention that Curry has said his next movie includes a TV playing news that a girl was charged with triple homicide, which Navarrette calls a small spoiler. Navarrette's own reading is that the character got away with it, mainly because they like to think so. They also say they love that Curry left the ending open to interpretation.
Navarrette usually has two things playing while getting ready. One is Turkish and Korean shows on TV. The other is music, usually Rihanna. They start to name a third and correct themselves. Lately they've been trying to listen to more current bands instead of older music, especially girl bands.
Brows, Bronzer, and Learning That Less Works
A brow tip from their makeup artist: brush the brows upward with a spoolie, then go back in with product to lift them further. The bronzer is one Navarrette has used since high school and suspects is discontinued. It's the only one that feels like their actual color, because others look too orange.
From about 18 to 21, Navarrette experimented with eyeliner colors. They also copied a look from their tías (aunts): a brown liner, a soft milky inner rim, and a good lip gloss. Heavy makeup never felt right to them, and they admit they were too scared to wear it out. They would do a full face, go out with friends, and end up taking it all off. Navarrette doesn't treat those attempts as mistakes. In their view, "You're not trying if you don't look like a dingus every once in a while."
A Three-Product Lip
For lips, Navarrette mixes three products. Dior goes on first, slightly overlined and buffed out. If you don't have a brush, they say, the edge of the product works just as well. Next is MAC, used to darken the top and corners. Navarrette likes browns because on them they look red and pink, which they find strange. Last is a very pale shade, which immediately cuts the red and lets the natural lip show through.
While sharpening the pencil, Navarrette shares a favorite childhood memory: watching their mother sharpen her makeup, which looked "so cool" to them.
Finishing Touches: Powder, Hair, and the Secret Perfume
A translucent, brightening powder finishes the day look. For hair, travel has made dry shampoo essential. Navarrette adds that brushing moves natural oils to the ends, which is why hair looks shinier afterward. Deodorant follows ("I'm not giving the pits away for free"). Navarrette won't reveal their perfume, pointing out that Rihanna doesn't tell people what she wears either.
The Date-Night Look
After changing for dinner, Navarrette adds a flower accessory, calling it "the pinnacle of trust the process." Asked what song would play if the outfit were walking through West Hollywood, they name "Dustbowl" by Apple Cain. The last tip is to put lotion on any exposed skin, especially the décolletage, so the sun catches it and makes you look "glowy and glistening." Then Navarrette heads out to dinner.
Hey Vogue, it's Inde Navarrette, and I'm here with my beauty secrets, and I'm going to tell you all of the secrets, and then we're going to go from day to date night. We are going to sanitize our hands.
So, take your cleanser. I don't add water first. I like cleansing oil because I feel like there's oils on my face, and so I feel like oil's the best thing to take it off. I don't know, scientifically it just makes sense to me.
We're going to start with moisturizer. I like the rose glazing milk cuz I feel like it mixes really well with my makeup. I feel like this just honestly... Shout out Haley, you figured it out. Feels really good, and it's just glowy, and it feels wonderful. I like to make sure everything's dry, so
Now that that's dry, we are going to use sunscreen. I got this one I just recently... I just recently went to Paris, so the formula is different in the States than it is in other countries. So, I got this one. In Paris, I was there for a Dior show, Christian to be specific, and I had the time of my life. We went to Crazy Horse, which is a burlesque show, you have to go. To Crazy Horse, that place, wow. That was my first time in Europe. But I feel like this is going to be a very European year. I feel like once this... I've gone now, I'm going to have to go back. Some of the places that I've been to were Mexico and Thailand, which I think people are really surprised to learn. My grandma lives in Thailand. Sawasdee ka, which is hi in Thai.
I like for things to sit. So, while that's sitting, we're going to add eye patches. So, my mom is a hair stylist, and my grandma on the Australian side is very homeopathic. So, my whole house growing up smelled like tea tree oil.
There wasn't a lot of makeup in my house growing up. But what was cool was my mom really liked Urban Decay. So, if there was makeup, it was Urban Decay, which stayed on like crazy. So, I would get caught putting her makeup on my face because Urban Decay doesn't come off. If this is the wrong way, first of all, shut your mouth. Second of all, please tell me. I feel like this looks correct, and if not, oh well. So, you got to rub your hands. If anybody's wondering why I'm like 70 million hours late, now you have video proof to use in court.
While this is sitting on my face, I'm going to take a shot. I'm not going to spill anything cuz turmeric, fun fact, stains absolutely everything. I have low iron to the point where I would pass out. It's not funny. So, I take one a day. I got this one in France to shout out the French tea bud over there. And to be bougie, I'm going to use this one. Cuz I also like it. Also, save these and put flowers in it. So, this iron... Yeah. I think inner beauty is just as important. And also, if you have the opportunity, cuz obviously health care is very difficult to get, check your vitamin levels. That will really help, especially as a girl. We lose a lot of iron.
Think we're going to get into makeup now. And because I've been traveling a lot, I'll use these. I felt like I needed a routine whenever I was working a lot because it's grounding. It's kind of the time that I have to myself. So, I always start with concealer. I'll use this brand or the YSL illuminating brand because I have yellow undertones that are also red. So, it's a bit difficult sometimes to get a color that exactly matches. But, that's okay. We play around with colors.
A family nickname of mine was always Inde. I was just young and I would say, "I do, Mommy. I do." And she's like, "You're so independent, Inde." My mom, my little and my dad all called me Inde. Everywhere else was kind of Danielle, but in sixth grade, I feel like a part of my brain fully formed and I was like, I could be called Inde everywhere. Except they have like the school forms where it's like preferred name. And so I just put Inde. And so it was kind of fun having that. But whenever I got into this industry, whenever you sign up with SAG, you have to put a name. And so I asked my mom, I got permission from her. I was like, "Can I use Inde publicly?" And so it's been beautiful now cuz like growing up, I felt like Inde and now I can be Inde publicly, but whenever I go home, I'm Danielle. But it's nice to have like a little bit of separation cuz if I get in trouble, then it's Danielle Fabiola and I'm still the child that needs to do the dishes whenever I'm home. I see one little spot right here that I want to get.
I wanted to start acting whenever I realized I was a pretty good liar as a kid. No, I'm just kidding. Kind of not really. Anyways, we had this like YMCA thing and so my brother went to like the astronaut side and then I went to the acting side and there was this scene with like an older sister and I don't have an older sister and so I kind of was just like playing out all of the different scenes that I would see in TV and I realized that I had a lot of fun with it. So I don't know, my love for acting kind of started there with like the love of feeling emotion, but I've always loved movies.
My first official role was, I think, Denton's Death Date, which was a Snapchat series and I had a blue stripe in my hair. Shout out Selena Gomez. And it was a lot of fun. I think it was like my first time legitimately on a set. And then Sienna Miller and Diego Luna, I did a movie with them at Sundance where I had one scene, and "I got to kill this. I got to do a good job." And then the next thing was 13 Reasons Why, which is crazy to say. Alisha Boe, I remember, really took me in on set and really made me feel comfortable. Dylan Minnette, same thing. And then it was Superman and Lois, which was so much fun.
Now we're going on to blush. But I'm mixing, too. Fun little trick. Blend some on your hand and then put it next to your face. That way you don't have to see the color directly on your face and then you just take it off.
I think I feel the most confident whenever I'm freshly off of the beach and I have like color here. That's kind of my first go-to, is where the sun would naturally hit me. But then there's other days where I really want to be completely pasty, borderline goth, cuz I'm feeling very Evanescence that day. But today we're feeling a little bit more sun-kissed, if you will.
So whenever it came to Obsession and a lot of the blood and the kind of like getting ready and getting unready sort of a thing, there were also these contacts that were size of a quarter and I had to lift up... I did it incorrectly, don't do it this way, but I would pull my eyelashes up and I would like go like that and I would put it up and then I would open up here and I'd shove it down. I accidentally dropped one of the contacts in alcohol and obviously you can't put that back in your face. So the scene where I'm like, "It's all your fault, it's all your fault," and I'm like rubbing his chest, my eyes are closed for that because we didn't have any more contacts. Fun little fact.
We dealt with a lot of blood. It was in between my toes, tiles of my house were stained red. My car had like red moments, my pillows. Going home and washing all of that off and seeing it visually was also really nice emotionally because of the fact that you're physically seeing everything wash off. And whenever you go to bed, you're kind of out of it.
I would do horror for the rest of my life. And now that I have all of these opportunities, I just kind of want to try so many different things. I want to do big things that are really big and exciting with studios. But also at the same time, I loved what I got in Obsession, which is like indie movies and the originality, and I'm still going to stick with that for a while. Just cuz there's so much freedom. And I also want to learn how to chameleon into different roles. I want to like change the way that I look, whether it's cutting my hair or changing the color of my hair or doing any of that. I'm excited to start chameleon-izing, I think chameleonizing. Add that to Urban Dictionary. Chameleonizing into different roles.
I really fell in love with Zendaya's Odyssey look and just kind of... I think we should bring back kind of like that inner corner sort of a vibe. I've always loved really supernatural looks, but in the way that like Rihanna did it, where it's still kind of beautiful and aesthetic and just gorgeous, but also at the same time it's like natural for her. I watched one of these videos a while ago and somebody said learn what's good for your face. Actually, I think that was Rihanna. But yeah, just learn what's good for your face. And so looking up to people like Rihanna who did what's good for their face was really good for me.
Next, we're going to do eyeliner. And just kind of look away if you don't like people touching your eyes. Their eyes. Not your eyes. I can't touch your eyes.
I think a really funny thing that I've been seeing lately about the ending of Obsession is everybody kind of like guessing what happens. I know Curry said that in his next movie, it's playing on the TV, like a little bit of a spoiler, that, you know, a girl was charged with triple homicide. I think she got away with it personally cuz I just like to think that, but I also loved what Curry did with kind of like leaving it up for audiences' interpretation. Also, if you're curious about what I'm doing, I think that I like the more like rubbed in sort of a look, so I quite literally rub my eyes.
I also feel like whenever I'm getting ready, I have to either... I listen to three different things all at the same time. One, Turkish and Korean, which is called in the beautiful Queen to watch on my TV. Second is music. Usually it's Rihanna. And then actually just two. I feel like just two is going on. I don't know. Lately I've been trying to listen to more bands that are current rather than just like old music that I've been listening to for a really long time. Specifically girl bands.
I learned this from my makeup artist and I highly recommend that everybody does this as well. You take a makeup spoolie and then you go like this. And then I don't know why I feel like I like the application of this one better. I kind of want to flip up the brows a little bit more, so we're going to go back in with this.
We're going to go in with a little bit of bronzer. I've been using this one since high school. I also think that this is probably discontinued, but it's the only one that I feel like genuinely is my color. Cuz sometimes they're too orange.
I feel like from being 18 to 21, I really experimented with like different colors of eyeliners. And something that my tías would do, which is like the brown line and then like a soft milky inner and like a good lip gloss. I feel like whenever I had a lot of makeup on and I tried to have a lot of makeup on, it didn't feel good to me personally. I would be too scared, if I'm being honest. I would like to do of makeup and then I would go to go outside and like go out with my friends and be like, "Ah, now you take it all off." And you got to look like a dingus. You're not trying if you don't look like a dingus every once in a while. And that's the point.
Now we're going to go to lips. So we're going to mix these three. So I'm going to start off with the Dior. I feel like I overline here and then I like buffing it out. Sometimes if you don't have a brush like this, just use the edge here. I promise you it does the same exact thing. The next one we're going in with is MAC and I like to darken the top here and here. I like using browns cuz they on me look like red and pink, which is very strange. And then I go in with very pales, which we got to sharpen this. Don't look.
Oh, that was also my favorite memory growing up, is watching my mom sharpen her stuff. I don't know why. It just looked so cool to me. And then we're going to take a very pale and see how it just like immediately takes away that red. I like having like my natural lip peek through. The last step is just powder. This one I like cuz it brightens as well as being translucent. I feel like this is good for the day.
And then for hair, cuz I've been traveling a lot and sometimes I don't have time to wash my hair. So dry shampoo is a must. Just brushing it brings all of your natural oils to the end. So that's why your hair looks a lot shinier afterwards. And then obviously to finish it off, deodorant and perfume. I'm not giving the pits away for free. As I think they said that in the Bible one time. Perfume. I'm hiding mine only because Rihanna doesn't tell you what she wears. I am going to go get changed for dinner and I will be right back.
Hello. Because I have flowers, I'm going to put this on so... Okay, you ready? This is the pinnacle of trust the process. So, you just put her back a little bit. So, yeah. This is the vibe for today. And if this outfit was a song and I was walking through West Hollywood, what would be playing? Is Dustbowl by Apple Cain.
If you have any lotion, always put lotion on areas that are like being shown, especially décolletage, cuz then just look at that difference. The sun will hit here and it just makes you look glowy and glistening and like a pretty, pretty princess. Okay, now actually, I got to go. Bye, Vogue.
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