Hilary Duff On Why Y2K Beauty Still Hits Different

Hilary Duff may not have performed onstage in 19 years, but her pop-star energy is shining brighter than ever with the kickoff of her Lucky Me Tour — a show that’s already going viral for bringing in not only the millennials who grew up with her, but now their kids who are being introduced to her music.

“I’m in a very joyous celebratory zone,” the 38-year-old tells me, her feet tucked beneath her on a couch at the Austin Proper Hotel. It’s the morning after her Austin, Texas, show, and she’s wearing baggy jorts and a butter-yellow long-sleeve top — an outfit that feels appropriate, considering both Duff and the Y2K aesthetic are having a renaissance.

The timing also makes her a particularly fitting face for Bath & Body Works’ new Fruit Fusion collection, a line of body care essentials and fragrance mists with fruity scents. The collection feels unmistakably Bath & Body Works, but it’s also something entirely new, with fresh packaging and four original scents: Watermelon Whirl, Berry Bliss, Banana Blend, and Tangerine Twirl. And they’re aromas Duff is especially drawn to at this time in her life.

“For a while, I was very into heavy, kind of unisex fragrances,” she says. “This summer and while I’m out on tour, though, I want to feel fresh and I want my scents to be juicy. These [fragrances] make me really happy.” She holds out her wrist for me to smell her current go-to combo, Tangerine Twirl and Banana Blend — “It smells so good.”

Ahead, the pop star chats about 2000s beauty trends, her current skin care essentials, and the joy of self-expression.

Bath & Body Works has this amazing way to transport people back to a specific time. Which fragrance from its line is most tied to your middle school years, and what memories come flooding back when you smell it?

Well, I didn’t go to middle school like a typical teen, but I was a Bath & Body Works girl through and through. Warm Vanilla Sugar was always my go-to, but I also loved Cucumber Melon. I grew up in Houston, and I’d ride my bike to the Bath & Body Works 10 minutes from our house. It was in a strip mall with a Starbucks and a Gap — it was a really cool place to hang out. That’s my first memory of my mom giving me money — I’d get to go buy a lotion and a body splash. And then, by the time I started getting into boys, I shifted into Cucumber Melon.

A little more mature and flirty.

A lot more flirty, I’d say. Honestly, I have Cucumber Melon still. They re-released it. I’ve used the hand sanitizer, and I love it.

It’s so nostalgic.

It really is, but it holds up. It’s a good smell. And I feel like with Fruit Fusion, [Bath & Body Works] has done a really great job of elevating the experience, because it’s fruity and bright and juicy.

If you could steal one beauty product from your early 2000s vanity, what would you bring back to your routine today?

I had a YSL blue mascara that I was obsessed with, and I feel like that would be really fun. I’m trying to think what else. I could probably tell you everything that was my beauty go-to but I don’t know if I’d like to revisit any of those products. My whole ethos has changed a lot around beauty and how I present.

What is one from your old vanity that you would definitely never touch again?

Probably a few shades of lipstick that was basically putting concealer on my lips to matte them out. Why? Why would anybody want to look like you have no lips? I think it was just all about the eye, so there was that heavy, smoky eye with the no-lip situation, but also the no cheek. I would literally never do that again. If I’m leaving the house, I’m putting on a gloss, I’m doing a cheek pop, and I’m combing my eyebrows and curling my lashes.

You grew up during peak teen magazine beauty culture. Looking back, what’s a beauty trend that everyone followed back then that makes you laugh today?

The thin brows. Pam Anderson was the babe back then, and I wasn’t ever trying to emulate what she looked like because she was so much older than me, but she had the thin little pencil brow and the bottle blond and the crispy curls. You would put curls in your hair but not comb through them. Can you imagine doing that now? That was how I curled my hair back then. And then I would do my bangs with a curling iron.

No way.

[Laughs] OK, you’re like, “I didn’t do that.”

I did crimp, though.

I wouldn’t crimp now, but I do like using those three-prong wavers. It’s not really a deep crimp, but more like a wave.

Which beauty habit did you pick up in the early 2000s that you haven’t quit?

I’m obsessed with my freckle pen right now. I like the ColourPop one. My husband will be like, “Did you put fake freckles on today?” And I’m like, “I did. How do I look?” I have freckles, but I want some bigger ones, because you can’t really see mine once I put foundation on.

If someone had to build a Hillary Duff beauty starter pack, what would be in it?

OK — lip oil. I’m obsessed with the Fruit Frusion Banana Blend one. I have it on right now. The Bonjout Beauty Balm for my face. The TheraFace Wand — it’s like an ice cube for your face, and the heating element helps push serums in, which I love. And I would include a tanning mist. Luna Bronze makes a nice one. I’m super pale and don’t want to look very tan, but I do need a little help. The color I am onstage is psychotic compared to how I look day to day.

I’m obsessed with a hairbrush from Berber. I’m really trying to take care of my hair, but it’s a lost cause — I’m constantly heat-styling it, coloring it, doing teal and pink. Your hair remembers everything you put it through.

What is the most millennial beauty opinion you still stand by?

Self-expression. When I look back at photos of myself that are embarrassing, they were also very real. I was just figuring myself out, and I think that’s something people are doing again now.

As we get older, we tend to start playing it a little more safe. I feel more myself than ever, but I also catch myself comparing that to all the young people I see on magazine covers. I don’t always relate to it, but I’ll still think, “Should I try to do my brows like that?” It’s this very complicated dynamic.

There’s something about early 2000s beauty for me that was really about experimentation. And I feel like I’m circling back to that now in a different way. But I also think we’re in a moment when everyone kind of looks the same, and that’s what I struggle with sometimes. I love when people are speaking to me visually while still pulling inspiration from different generations.

My son is kind of in that place now too, figuring out his own style. I love watching it. There was a phase when he was doing all these different things with his hair, puffing it out in a way that was very intentional, and I really had to keep my mouth shut. I know I’m probably witnessing what my mom had to go through with me, but I just want him to figure it out for himself. Watching [my kids] figure out who they are and how they like to present is a really fun journey.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.