How Viola Davis Uses Makeup to Overcome the Introverted Side in Cannes

Throughout his illustrious career with 245 nominations and 121 victories, ego holder Viola Davis has walked the red carpet in hundreds, like at the Cannes Film Festival.Even with the experience of preparing for a camera or a curious reporter, the 58-year-old actor reveals that it is not always easy to put himself there. Davis, from the L'Oréal Paris Suite at the Hôtel Martinez in Cannes, "always has to resist the urge to go home and not wear slippers."

Davis has a relevant reason to sometimes want to skip step-and-repeat. "Here's the thing: I'm an introvert, people don't know it. I'm very introverted," she explains.

But if showing up and showing up is a job requirement, the Academy Award winner has some secret weapons to overcome her introversion: make-up on her beauty kit.

Working with longtime make-up artist Autumn Moultrie and hair stylist Jamika Wilson, Davis says she has found beauty looks that can help her take advantage of her more extroverted side. Her confidence-boosting look for her first day at Cannes this year began with glowing skin and glittering eyes, channeling 70s TV detective Christie Love, played by Teresa Graves, and ended with red lips.

"I'm shy and introverted, but I'm Leo," Davis adds. "I like to walk around the room and see people looking at me[...And I love the eyes because I feel like it's my asset."

acknowledging and accepting aspects of herself incompatible with celebrity life is all part of Davis' current personal goal: the star, who she is this year, says her self-love rituals take many forms in her beauty and wellness routine, too. "It looks like an Epsom salt bath, it looks like I have a real great cleanser before I go to bed and oil my face. It's about laughing with my 13-year-old daughter. It's still about being okay with being," she says.

Like preparing for the world's largest film festival, at moments when life gets busy, Davis is also learning to cherish every second for what it is. "I can go with chronic thinking too much,"Oh, I wish this was different. I wish it was different."I've stopped it, and I have to say it's working."

When Davis walks the official Cannes red carpet later today, she says she'll give herself permission to absorb every bit of glamour it brings. "Accepting my acceptance in this environment is like accepting my values," she adds. "What really carries me through this whole experience is that I feel like I'm part of it, not detached from it."Home slippers can wait.