Say hello to Unfiltered, a fresh beauty series where you’ll get an exclusive glimpse into the dressed-down beauty routines of our favorite celebrities and content creators. They’ll reveal their guilty-pleasure beauty practices, the five-minute-routine product lineup they can’t live without, the one good-skin tip they’ll be forever thankful for, and so much more. To bring every conversation full circle, we ask each celebrity to send us a selection of self-shot, filter-free photos of their choosing to capture the essence of their Unfiltered beauty philosophy.
Up next, we’re getting to know iconic model and Sonsie co-founder Pamela Anderson. Below, she’s answering all of our rapid-fire questions and sharing her morning rituals, her romantic skincare routine, the best beauty advice she’s ever received, and more. Enjoy!
(Image credit: Sonsie)
First, congrats on launching the Cleansing Mousse! Why was a cleanser the right step for you and the brand?
Well, it’s what the community asked for. We reach out to the community and say, “What is the next product that we should have?” It’s really rounded out the skincare routine. I really wanted to have some rose essence in it because it’s my favorite scent. It’s transportive. It reminds me of home. I’m away from my rose garden and my vegetable garden right now, and it’s nice to have that scent with me.
It’s really nice to apply all your favorite things into a skincare brand—like with my garden—so it’s really exciting for me and very personal. All the things that make me feel great, like my morning rituals, usually start in my garden. It kind of made sense. … A ritual that would start in the garden was really important for me, so this is the best we could do.
Totally. You actually stole the words right out of my mouth for my next question, which was about your rose garden inspiration. It makes total sense. You’re watering the flowers, and you’re also giving your skin that same nourishment. What does rose as a scent mean to you?
I harvest rose hips, and I make my own oils. I’ve done it in the past if it’s in the sun or in the oven—you know, in a little Crock-Pot—with rose hip oil. I was only wearing that for a while, so I needed to incorporate that into the Sonsie line when we started working together.
Roses are romantic. You can eat roses. I use a lot of rose in my cooking, and in my cookbook, there’s plenty of rose. I just think it’s like a medicine. It’s magical. Everything about it makes me feel great. I remember I used to bathe my babies in rose petals. I mean, very romantic. I have a big vegetable garden, and a third of it is roses, so I have every color [of] rose. I love a really beautiful hot-pink rose; my favorite rose is Yves Piaget. It’s interesting—a live rose in the morning with the first dew still on it is such a fresh scent. That’s the inspiration for this.
(Image credit: Sonsie; Ditte Isager)
I love that you said roses are romantic. Cleansing is actually my favorite step in my own routine because I’m really connecting with my skin and touching my skin, and it’s intimate in a way.
It’s a beautiful scent. [Rose] is evocative of so many memories, you know? I think it’s the perfect scent to align with on this journey where it’s all about self-acceptance, self-love, but not a complicated kind of self-love routine. Just very accepting of where you are in your beauty journey—just nourishing, loving.
All these products are not stripping; they’re very gentle. I have very sensitive skin, so I wanted to work with very clean beauty products, not only because they’re cruelty-free, of course. It’s funny because my sons use it. My mom uses it. Everybody I know uses it. It’s not just a woman’s product, so it’s nice that across the board everybody loves it—all ages.
(Image credit: Sonsie)
I can’t wait to try the new cleanser. Zooming out a little bit, I’d love to hear more about your other beauty or wellness must-haves right now. Is there anything underrated that people wouldn’t expect?
I’m pretty simple. I mean, I really stick to this routine. For me, it’s more about getting outside in nature, walking in the mornings, journaling. All those things are really important to me. It’s what’s kept me sane—to be able to have that connection to the earth.
That’s what I want to share: how to love yourself and celebrate yourself wherever you are in your beauty journey—however old you are—and just to keep things super simple. There’s already enough out there to worry about. You don’t want a skincare routine that’s too complex anyway.
A friend and mentor of mine always says “Everything is skincare.” Moving your body is skincare. Love is skincare. Laughter…
What you eat! Your diet, everything. It’s all part of it.
Yes! Do you have a favorite recipe—maybe from your cookbook—that you love?
I have a beauty detox juice. I also did a body scrub. I have my rose hip oils in there. Even a chamomile massage oil, I have a whole section for that. I love it.
What’s the best skincare tip you’ve ever received?
Just to accept yourself where you’re at, not to have false expectations, and live in the moment and love who you are in that moment. Things are going to change, and that’s exciting too. It’s [about] your mindset. Happiness is a choice, I think. I learned long ago in my life of ups and downs that sometimes you just have to choose to be joyful and happy, not bitter or jaded, because that’s written all over your face.
(Image credit: Sonsie)
Totally. Is there someone in your life who helped instill that in you, or is that something you’ve just learned over the years?
I’ve known women in my life, my great aunts for instance, who just have this joie de vivre. They’re just always beautiful. It’s not about specific [traits], like how they wore their makeup or what they look like physically. It was a spirit.
I know we’re almost at time, so I’ll ask one more question: What is your Unfiltered beauty philosophy in seven words or less?
Be gentle with yourself. Be kind to others because everybody’s fighting an invisible battle, and I think we need to treat people how we want to be treated. I think that really does come from within. That’s more than seven words…
We’ll take it!
Shop Pamela Anderson’s Unfiltered Beauty Edit
Sonsie
Multi Moisture Mask
Pamela Anderson
I Love You
