Read our interview with Paltrow below. For more, pick up the March issue of Glamour on newsstands, subscribe now, or download the digital edition.
GLAMOUR: First of all, I have to say, I'm from Alabama, so I wear mascara to the gym—
GWYNETH PALTROW: You do?
GLAMOUR: Yes. So I know makeup. I heard that you named the new Juice lipstick colors that you worked on after your friends.
GP: The line is made in California, so I was thinking of my California posse: Cameron, Blythe, Apple, Drew, Reese, Kate, Chelsea.
GLAMOUR: You seem to have a really strong girl gang.
GP: I do. If you were to ask me what my biggest success is, it's that
I've been able to maintain and nourish my relationships. As you get older, you choose friends based on not only what feels resonant and warm but if they're bringing something to your life. My women friends are incredibly intelligent. There's no posturing, no competition. Especially in Los Angeles, I see pockets of friends who are very competitive, and I think, What is the point? I would rather be alone in bed with a book than have a girlfriend who is like that.
GLAMOUR: So true. For the new Goop Skincare, I heard you've been working closely with scientists on formulations, textures, and aromas; you've been choosing packaging, everything.
GP: With the skin care line, I'm a little bit nuts. There's no point in making something unless it's better than anything you've ever found. So I gave everyone [at Juice] a run for their money. My head of beauty started calling me the Princess and the Pea; one time we agreed on a sample, and I said, "Perfect." Then another sample of it came, and I was like, "They changed it." Some preservative changed, I could tell, and they were like, "Sh-t." [Laughs.] But in the end, I'm proud of what we were able to do. This is effective, luxurious, and completely organic…. You could eat it.
GLAMOUR: You wouldn't recommend that, though!
GP: I mean, no. [Laughs.] But you could! It's completely nontoxic.
GLAMOUR: This partnership is one way Goop has expanded over the last year. At what point did you go from "I've started this newsletter at my kitchen table" to "I'm gonna scale—let's go big"?
GP: I saw a challenge, and I'm very motivated by challenge. It hit me one day: People have [funding] and structure, but they don't have a brand. Creating a brand is really difficult. I had a brand but no money or structure. I had done the hard part. The authenticity was there—whether you like the brand or not, you can't challenge its authenticity. At a certain point, I went, "OK, I want to see what we can do."
GLAMOUR: You've been eloquent about the criticism female entrepreneurs like you, Jessica Alba, and Reese Witherspoon face when you branch out from acting—and how men like Justin Timberlake or George Clooney are treated differently when they create brands.
