After receiving a devastating diagnosis for multiple sclerosis (MS) back in 2018, Selma Blair says her confidence took a huge hit. “After I had treatment, I’d honestly, like, stopped looking in the mirror,” she shared in a new interview with InStyle. “My hair was short, I was bloated, I had alopecia on my lashes and my face. And it was all so much effort — I sometimes don’t see well — so I just stopped, and I didn’t think I missed it.”
But the Cruel Intentions star said everything changed when she found Guide Beauty, an ability-inclusive beauty brand that aims to provide products for accessible makeup solutions, including makeup brushes, eyeliner tools and eyeshadow palettes that are easy to grip and manoeuvre. Blair was recently announced as the brand’s new Chief Creative Officer (CCO).
“It was a real turning point for me,” she told the publication of finding Guide Beauty. “It was like, ‘OK, let’s start waking up again.'” She began putting on makeup and re-engaging with beauty and self-care again using the brand’s products. “It could let me dip my toe back in the water of caring for myself in a way and feeling supported,” the actor added.
Since her diagnosis, Blair has been vocal about her experience with the chronic nervous system disorder. “I am disabled,” she wrote in a post on her Instagram page. “I fall sometimes. I drop things. My memory is foggy. And my left side is asking for directions from a broken GPS. But we are doing it. And I laugh and I don’t know exactly what I will do precisely but I will do my best.”
Finding her confidence again through beauty inspired Blair to partner up with the brand to share her experience with others. “I started really coming alive, and that’s what we love about makeup,” she said, naming a smokey eye as her go-to beauty look.
“That is something I can literally put on without looking,” says the Legally Blonde star. “It’s really kind of a saving grace for me, because I feel much better — and my face just comes alive.”
