All products featured on Allure are independently selected by our editors.
However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through links in this article.
And now more than ever, Brown is running the show.
Courtesy of subject
Growing up, I visited my grandmother during the winter and summer holidays.
One of my earliest beauty-related memories is watching her do her makeup in the morning.
That smell of the old-fashioned kind of makeup…it’s very nostalgic [for me].
On both sides of my family, the women were very strong.
I’ve been told I’m similar to her.
I think I was 11.
I started to learn contour and how to do eye shadow.
[Florence by Mills] really started to develop in late 2017, early 2018.
I was on a [long] plane ride and I brought makeup to keep me busy.
I realized that I found so much comfort in doing makeup.
I loved not the idea of covering up who I was, but of creating different versions of me.
That’s why I’m an actor.
I love the act of being a chameleon, of being able to be different people.
I started sketching stuff and writing ideas down.
By the end of the plane journey, I had a whole idea.
The brand was truly my vision.
I didn’t want to make [the products] too complicated.
I really wanted pastel colors [for the packaging]; nothing too bright.
I wanted to draw people’s eyes, but also make them feel relaxed.
[Choosing the packaging] was probably one of my favorite moments in creating the brand.
And I also love naming the products.
It holds a very special place in my heart.
[Laughs] I’ve made it my number one rule that as I grow, Florence does.
I’ve always said, I’m not going to speak for the whole generation.
Florence by Mills is somewhere that people can come to from all over the world.
If you want to nurture yourself, then come here, this is the right place for you.
It’s a real family.
So that’s what Florence is for me.
And it’s never felt like a job.
As told to Dianna Mazzone
Florence by Mills
