Blake Lively is known for many things. Mainly, her busy acting career that includes starring roles in ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants‘, but she’s also a dedicated mother of four, wife of Ryan Reynolds and bestie to Taylor Swift.
Another thing she’s known for? Her stunning head of thick, wavy golden locks.
So it’s no surprise Blake has just announced she’s dipping into the beauty business with a new haircare line called Blake Brown. The name is a subtle tribute to her father, Ernie, whose last name was Brown until he married her mom, Elaine Lively, and took her last name.
Blake, who covers the current issue of MiNDFOOD, is following in the footsteps of other celebrities including Beyonce, Rita Ora and Jennifer Aniston that have chosen hair as a focus rather than makeup or skincare for a beauty endeavour.
The new line new haircare brand is based on the star’s personal hair regimen for healthy, nourished, and strong hair with daily use and styling products.
But there’s one surprising item missing from the line: conditioner.
“I don’t know anyone who uses conditioner in my industry,” Lively tells Vogue. “We’re using a different hair system than the process promoted to the mass market.”
Instead she suggests A-listers are using two sets of shampoo, one dedicated to hydration and one dedicated to strengthening, and hair masks, left on in the shower for at least 30 seconds for nourishment and shine.
Thus, Blake Brown does not include conditioner, but there are eight different products including two shampoos, two masks, dry shampoo, leave-in conditioner, pre-shampoo mask, and mousse.
The masks are intended to take the place of conditioner in terms of adding essential nutrition and moisture.
Blake says she took inspiration from luxury hair lines, but wanted to make her hair products more affordable.
“I wanted to replicate the systems and patterns I already love, she tells Harpers Bazaar. “Kérastase was really the benchmark for me,” she says. “Kérastase was the brand that I always loved and used and what changed my hair, but it’s just so dang expensive.”
Each of the hair products is priced between US$18.99–$24.99 and will be available from Target in the US as well as blakebrownbeauty.com.
The star says the line has been 7-years in the making, joking about the fact in an Instagram post announcing Blake Brown: ” I spent 7 years (I know. It toggles between impressive and wtf took so long) obsessively developing every detail of my newest baby.”
“I wanted something that was more affordable but had the same salon/red carpet performance,” she says. “Turns out highest quality is most expensive, who knew? There’s a reason brands tend to have to make compromises, but we didn’t stop til we got there.
She points out the scents, that include notes of santal, sandalwood, peony and fig, were intended to smell, “like fragrances I would actually buy as high end perfume.” She also wanted to use clean formulas so she could share the products with her family, presumably including her four children – James, 9, Inez, 7, and Betty, 4, and , Olin, 1.
No stranger to extending her business endeavours beyond acting, Blake also owns Betty Buzz, a drinks line of sparkling sodas and mixers.
