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Long before Cara Delevingne ushered in the strong-brow trend, and years before a cat eye was considered anytime makeup, there was adult-film legend Sasha Grey. With her thick eyebrows and feline-esque eyes, Grey rocked the porn industry with her unique combination of hardcore BDSM flicks, razor-sharp intellect, and a makeup strategy that set her apart from the overplucked, frosty-lipped DVD babes of the mid-2000s.
Her book smarts earned her the moniker “the thinking man’s porn star,” a persona that wasn’t just a put-on: She’s a classic-film, literature, and vintage-car buff, and now the author of a Gabriele D’Annunzio–inspired, kink-heavy erotic-thriller trilogy geared toward her female fans, who’d been asking her for years to write erotica. The series’ final installment, The Juliette Society, Book III: The Mismade Girl, was published in March.
Almost 10 years after she left the adult-film industry in 2009, at age 21, and went on to mainstream stardom via roles in Steven Soderbergh’s film The Girlfriend Experience and HBO’s Entourage, her signature look — a smoky cat eye paired with full, shapely eyebrows and the occasional shock of true-red lipstick — is timeless and trendier than ever.
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I asked Grey for all the dirty details on how she developed her sought-after look, how makeup might have helped skyrocket her to adult-film fame, what her most coveted beauty products are, and, now that porn is in the news practically every day, her perspective on the Donald Trump–Stormy Daniels scandal.
“The funny thing about the eyebrows: That definitely is me. That’s all me,” Grey says. “I don’t think I could ever change them. It wouldn’t fit my face. And actually, I remember the summer before starting seventh grade, my older sister pinned me down and forced me to pluck my unibrow, because she said I could not enter junior high with a unibrow, and to this day I thank her for doing that.”
When Grey made her debut in adult films at age 18, instead of bleaching and teasing her hair — a popular look at the time — she left it silky and raven. And rather than allowing porn-movie makeup artists to paint her face orange or glop on too much dark shadow that drowned out her diminutive eyes, she toted her own makeup kit to set.
Taking inspiration from Edie Sedgwick, Lauren Bacall, and Elizabeth Taylor (Grey says her makeup was inspired in part by this 1956 photograph of Elizabeth Taylor), she slicked on liquid eyeliner, swept her lids with smoky eye shadow, and enhanced her naturally strong brows, creating a bold, iconic cat-eye look that was not only special but sophisticated — and more of a happy coincidence than careful planning.
“It just was sort of an extension of my makeup interests at that time,” Grey explains. “Like, I was, I don’t know, around 16, 17.... I was always really into the ’60s and ’70s, but I loved punk music at the same time. I was like, ‘Fuck this!’ I chopped my bangs, and I started wearing really thick eyeliner — a little darker, a little heavier — and then I met this really great makeup artist who was using a lot of colors and doing really cool designs with his brushes, and so I started trying to implement that into some of the stuff I was doing.”
The result of the comparatively unconventional edgier look — combined with her jaw-dropping alt films — was a phenomenon that resonated with fans. Now, that strategy was by Grey’s design.
“I don’t want to say punk is dead, but [my look was] definitely punk-inspired, definitely the anti-aesthetic, and I’ve definitely grown out of that because I’m older and I’ve moved on in this new phase," she mused. "But especially during that time, it was very important to me to disprove the clichés about the adult industry, and so part of that is presenting a different look and a different style and attitude and approach: who I am and who I was and what I was passionate about during that period.”
Adding to that irony, even though Grey’s makeup was certainly a component of her success in the industry, she deliberately chose products for the camera that had zero staying power — all to amp up the scenes’ realism. Waterproof mascara? No way, baby.
“Oh, God, no. I did not care what happened — I was like, ‘The more it runs, the better.’ So quite the opposite. Sometimes I really liked a very horrific look, too. The messier the better. And, hey, you know, it’s literally: You’re showing everything, so to have a perfect face is just kind of funny to me. Sometimes I watch stuff, and I’m like, How—? She’s really careful about that makeup, isn’t she?” Grey says, laughing.
She did learn one lipstick tip from a makeup artist on a porn set that she found useful: Red lip color with blue undertones looks best with her dark hair, a rule she follows to this day.
These days, at any given moment, Grey is jetting to international gigs as a DJ; collaborating with the electronic music group Death in Vegas on an upcoming single, “Honey”; in talks with director Jacqueline Castel about the Tokyo-set indie feature film Grey wrote that’s coming to fruition soon; marching for DACA rights; and partnering with progressive apparel brands like Represent on limited-edition clothing featuring her image, with proceeds going to organizations including Planned Parenthood and victims of Hurricane Maria. (One particular T-shirt, featuring Grey’s beatific face and the all-caps word “LOVE,” was so popular that knockoffs proliferated on the Internet — but there’s a chance the company might soon sell it full-time, Grey says.)
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Speaking of those particular causes she supports, it’s impossible to avoid another heated news story of the moment: Stormy Daniels’s allegations that then-presidential candidate Donald Trump paid her off in 2016 to keep quiet after a consensual sexual encounter they had in 2006.
Grey’s take on the matter is nuanced. “No matter what she does, she’s always going to be looked at as the person who caused the problem, rather than, you know, complicit in a consensual situation. And I think that’s really hard for people to digest, and they don’t know how — we haven’t been taught how.
“And that’s why I always say people need to stop blaming porn for their teenagers’ problems; they need to talk to their teenagers about porn. It’s really simple.... But it’s not easy for people to do. I think actually in some ways it will get harder just because of the way we’re using technology. I meet some people who don’t even know how to have a conversation. They’ve just become roboticized.”
As for whether she identifies with Daniels’s struggle to be taken seriously in the mainstream media, Grey tells me it’s hard to comment without knowing Daniels personally.
“I don’t know if I identify with her, but I empathize that the situation has been blown out of proportion, and it’s definitely not a place I would want to be in.” She goes on to explain, “It just shows you the hypocrisy that still exists in our society, where a man can be a slut and have money and be considered admirable, but if a woman chooses to do the same thing, she’s perceived as somebody who is lesser-than on the rungs of society, and I think that’s bullshit, and I think it’s time that that changes. We have a lot of issues going on in our country right now, so it’s just, like, one more to add to the pile, but sex and porn — I’ve said it before, and I’ve said it for years — it’s like McDonald’s. Everybody wants a little junk food, and everybody wants to indulge every once in a while, and that’s not going to go away. So instead of pretending like it’s going to go away and judging it, why not talk about it more?”
In Grey’s post-porn era, as she bounces back and forth trying to keep up with her packed schedule (“I like to work. I have to be doing something, and if I’m not, it’s actually really depressing for me”), she’s kept her makeup classic and understated, yet familiar to her die-hard fans.
“There’s a great makeup artist I work with occasionally named Gregory Arlt, and we always say, ‘I want to have makeup on, but I still want to feel my face. I don’t want to feel caked on; I want my eyes to feel fresh,” Grey says. “But for sure, there’s a little Danzig inspiration at times with my makeup.”
For base makeup, Grey is partial to Koh Gen Do Aqua Foundation in 213 mixed with Moisture Foundation in 003. She also uses Milk Makeup Flex Concealer in Light: "I’m constantly searching for the 'perfect' concealer. So many are loaded with mineral oil and/or parabens. I’m currently using Milk, though I’d like something with more coverage."
As for her more recognizable and now signature makeup look, Grey broke down her full eyes and lips routine:
“If I know I’m going to have my picture taken, I always fill them in with a little bit of powder, because whenever you put foundation on and then cover it with however much powder you use, even if it’s light, there’s always this weird effect that happens where some makeup gets into your brows, and so it looks like you have a painted face, but your eyebrows are sort of naked. So it’s not that I need it; it’s more for the structure and covering up any powder that might fall into it. "
“Chanel has this palette: It has three different colors, and I mix those up. Then, if I know it’s going to be a long day, I just spray — and I don’t like doing this often because I can get pimples from it — but I’ll spray a little hair spray on my finger, and I just kind of lightly tap on it to make sure the hairs stay in place."
“And then if I’m going for a really strong and bold look, I actually use a really inexpensive CoverGirl black eyeliner: On one end it has a sponge tip. I was probably 16 when I started experimenting more with makeup, but the very first time I started trying things with the eyebrows, I was using that. And I did for a long time, but now I don’t really so much unless I’m using a really dark eye look, because otherwise it’s too strong and it’s too bold.”
“I do a combination of a few colors on the top: I’ll do this Nars metallic eye shadow on the lid, and then above it I’ll use a Bobbi Brown, it’s like a nude — almost sandy-colored eye shadow in Toast."
“And then I’ll actually use a lip pencil underneath the eye, and then I add that same Bobbi Brown on top of it because they’re really similar in color — it’s called Oak Lip Pencil by M.A.C. — and then I do a darker layer of the Chanel cocoa-brown color on the bottom eyelid. My favorite brown shadow was Deep Taupe, but they discontinued it. I’m using Visone but not as happy with it and still searching for a new one."
“I almost always line my waterline with a M.A.C. black eyeliner. But I’m always on the search for a new one because smudging is, like, my worst enemy, unless I’m going for a smudgy look.”
“I like to use a gel eyeliner with a brush first, with a really skinny brush — it’s a M.A.C. brush, but it’s very fine; it’s very thin. I look at the end of my eyebrow, and then I just start the wing and draw inward to the eyelid, and then I slowly fill it in from there."
“And then if I mess up anything, I use those Q-tips with a pointed end with some water, and I just clean it up as best I can and then fix it again. And then I set it with a liquid eyeliner on top, because that’s really what holds it in and prevents it from smearing — and it’s super, super jet black, the Couture eyeliner. It’s really hard to work with, though, because you have to have a steady hand, and if you mess up, it’s kind of hard to fix it — that’s why I always do the gel first.”
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“I usually wear Chanel Le Volume de Chanel, but I do try and change it up every so often if I feel I’m wanting a change. I always start by curling my lashes because they’re very long, but incredibly straight. I find two weeks after opening is when [the mascara is] best primed [Editor's note: Allure beauty reporter Devon Abelman shares this sentiment], and I like the way it looks, and the texture is perfect. I apply two coats but wait a few minutes in between each one."
“I don’t wear false lashes often, but I prefer Ardell DuraLash mini Individuals as my favorite. If I want a dramatic look, I found this set in Japan that I’ve now been able to order here, called Decorative Eyelash.”
“Red, always. I just discovered one from Nars; it’s kind of new. It’s like a liquid matte red, which is really nice, especially if I’m DJing, like, it stays on a really long time, and then I just have to add ChapStick to keep it moisturized.”
Her ride-or-die lipstick shade: Tom Ford Beauty’s Ruby Rush. “And then basically any lip by Chanel is always really fun,” Grey says. “I love when they release new colors.”
Same here, Sasha. We know a fellow lipstick junkie when we see one.
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