Dolly Parton's Drugstore Beauty Secrets

Dolly Parton revealed her favorite skincare and makeup products in a 2021 interview with Harper's Bazaar. The music and cultural icon discussed her beauty philosophy, which balances high glamour with simple, drugstore staples. Parton wielded acrylic nails, wigs, and her penchant for rhinestones like a weapon, always knowing precisely how to strike for the biggest impact. Hyperfemininity became her signature, her brand, part of what made her so iconic and unforgettable. Like with everything Parton did, her beauty look was curated with great intention.

Parton launched her first fragrance, Dolly Scent From Above, that year. She explained her long-held desire to create a perfume, inspired by childhood memories of her aunt Estelle's scented drawers in Knoxville. She said she always wanted to do perfume, loves beautiful scents, and that people follow her down the hall to ask her what scent she's wearing. Butterflies are also part of who she is, inspiring a song and featuring on the perfume bottle.

Simple Skincare Staples

Despite access to luxury products, Parton stated a preference for affordable, classic items. She specifically named Pond's Cold Cream as a product she has always used. For Parton, simpler formulations often work as well as, or even better than, expensive ones. Her approach extends to sourcing. She sends people to the drugstore to purchase these beauty products for her.

Makeup and Hair Essentials

Parton shared specific product choices for her signature look. To avoid lipstick on her teeth, she lines and fills her lips with a Lise Watier pencil before applying M.A.C Lipglass on top. For lashes, she loves the Maybelline New York eyelash curler.

Her relationship with wigs is well-known. Her favorite is the one featured on the cover of her book Songteller, a style created by her aunt and former hairdresser, Colleen Owens. Parton expressed a future ambition to launch her own line of wigs, hairpieces, and hair products.

At-Home Rituals

Even in private, Parton maintains a beauty routine. She wears makeup daily, partly out of consideration for her husband, Carl Dean. She told the magazine she doesn't want to look like a slouch for her husband, Carl Dean, who doesn't get to see her that much. At home, she often pulls her hair up with a scrunchie instead of a wig.

She also creates a fragrant environment, burning candles and incense and using room sprays. She mentioned Yankee Candle as an example of a brand whose scents she enjoys, with her nieces and nephews associating the smell with her, saying it smells like Gigi.

Her overall philosophy connects her crafted appearance to her authentic self. She once said hopefully people can see beneath the hair to know there's a brain, beneath the boobs to know there's a heart, and behind all the other stuff to know there's some talent. To Barbara Walters, she added she is very real as far as her outlook on life and the way she cares about people and herself and the things she cares about, that she just chose to do this, and show business is a money-making joke, and she's just always liked telling jokes. The interview was conducted by Jessica Matlin for Harper's Bazaar.