Since joining the cast of Selling Sunset, Christine Quinn has gone through some pretty major life changes— not the least of which involved starring in a wildly successful Netflix series and growing a social media following from scratch to 2 million in the space of three years. But with a platform comes responsibility; something Christine feels heavily, especially when trying to stay true to her creative vision, platforming up-and-coming artists, and forming authentic connections online.
As with many people who quickly rose to fame, especially on social media, Christine’s experience hasn’t come without a few caveats. “There is so much love out there but there is also a lot of hate and jealousy,” she tells Centennial Beauty. “[People] just saw this…heavily edited side of me that was this villain, this bitch…you know? So, it was difficult,” she says. “But I realised a lot of people that were saying mean or cruel things, really didn’t know me. So, I do my best to…talk to people, really give them a chance to get to know me outside of the show, because it is a really short show and we [have to] get the storylines across. Sometimes it’s hard to cram so much in.”
And while being painted as the villain is something Christine is well aware of, it has only made her want to work harder in sharing the love, which she does by regularly spotlighting creatives across industries such as fashion, beauty, and art. “I want to find people that need a chance, people that deserve it. I started going on Instagram and I found one girl in London who had no followers but she had amazing dress designs. I messaged her and said ‘Your work is incredible…and I would love to borrow a dress [to wear on Selling Sunset].’ So, that’s kind of what I’ve done…and what Season 4 and 5 was for me…finding people I resonated with and wanted to help, because they’re great,” she says.
The most recent example of this: the packaging for her latest project, a makeup collection with Ciaté London: “[I found] an incredible street artist, he was doing graffiti on the streets of New York…I reached out to him and said “I really love your work, I love what you’re doing. Will you do the artwork for my collection?”
On deciding to do a makeup collaboration in the first place, Christine says it made perfect sense. “I’ve always loved makeup…I never quite felt beautiful and it was one of those things that makeup, for me, you know, was an alleviation of my insecurities. I was able to put it on and transform into a different person. It wasn’t until I got older that I realised I actually don’t need makeup, [and now] it’s not something that I [need], it’s something that I love,” she tells Centennial Beauty.
The hard part, however, was ensuring a point of difference. “Every influencer is doing a collab, you know, everyone is doing a collection, how can we make it different?” she says. “We came up with a patent that took over a year and a half to create in the lab, get cleared, it was a serious process.” The result was heat-sensitive lip creams, “that with hot and cold change colour,” she says. “It was really fun for me. I said if we’re going to do it, we have to do something different and that’s something that’s never been done in the makeup industry, so I was really happy to be a part of that.”
Ever the savvy consumer and a real estate agent well before Selling Sunset made it trendy, Christine explains how designing her collection with Ciaté was the perfect marriage of her business background and creativity. “I’ve always been a businesswoman at heart, which is why I got into real estate,” she says. With this collection in particular, she explains “I saw everything from a consumer standpoint. What I love, what I see in stores, what I gravitate towards in terms of buying products— and that’s not only great formulation but also good packaging and how you present. [These things] were all really important to me. I was definitely working on the business aspect night and day,” she tells Centennial Beauty.
As for the next season of Selling Sunset and where Christine is going from here, her priority remains her family, as well as sharing the most authentic version of herself. “My makeup some days, I feel like going crazy and full glam, and there’s some days where I’m like ‘This bitch is tired’ and I don’t have makeup on,” she says. “You’ll see me without makeup on in Season 5 just because I was like ‘I don’t have time for this,’ you know, I’m a mom, but I think that’s life, and I want to do my best to be as glam as possible but I also want it to be realistic to people.”
“There are days where I’m depressed, I don’t want to put makeup on, I don’t want to do my hair, and I think that’s life and I think people want to see that more. So, I’m really going with the flow more these days.”
The Christine Quinn x Ciaté London collection includes Heat Transforming Lip Cream, Bo$$ B*tch Eyeshadow Palette, No Filt-her Universal Complexion Brightener and Pump Plump Lip Gloss.