It’s nearly fall in New York, where the actress Jessica Chastain lives just off a wilting Central Park. But it’s still summer in Santa Monica, where Chastain recently found herself, steps from the lapping waves. Today’s performance was in service to True Botanicals, a luxurious clean-skin-care label where “clean” refers to its five different certifications but also to the way one might describe the design of a Khaite sweater. True Botanicals launched in 2014, practically a century ago as luxuriously-clean-skin-care labels go. Its Californian heritage perhaps explains the brand’s continued kinship to actor-producers like Chastain, who have lent their faces and endorsements over the past decade. In 2017, Olivia Wilde served as “chief brand activist”; Laura Dern’s favorites are a shoppable online collection. For the last year or so, Chastain’s pottery-perfect skin has been splashed everywhere across the brand’s Web site and advertising, and the components of her morning and evening routines are made seamlessly available for purchase. Three products, including a syrup powered by chebula-fruit extract, “leave my skin looking so plump and radiant!” Chastain’s partnership with True Botanicals “really aligns with what I feel about the world, what I feel about my body,” she told Air Mail Look. She also cheerfully consented to a conversation in which she would provide her opinions and reactions when prompted by a single fruit, vegetable, or other item of greenery, because this too is in alignment with her values: Chastain is a self-professed plant freak and a vegan of 16 years’ standing. “I did joke to someone who asked if I’d want to play a superhero,” she couldn’t help but add, “that the one who would actually make sense is Poison Ivy.”
Blueberries
“I find that with blueberries, you definitely need to get them organic.”
Orchids
“The way you take care of an orchid is, you’re supposed to put two ice cubes at each stem. You don’t pour water—you use ice cubes. And that’s how you water an orchid.”
Kale
“Might be, if not my absolute favorite, one of my favorite vegetables.”
Autumn leaves
“The perfect way to talk to a child about death.”
Vanilla
“I went to cooking school, and vanilla extract is fine, but if you can get an actual vanilla bean … there’s something so satisfying about cutting it down the edge, and you can use the knife to carve out the … I don’t know what you would call the center of a vanilla bean. I think it’s a seed.”
Ayahuasca
“I’m too afraid of all the stories of people getting sick and throwing up.”
Garlic
“There’s nothing bad about garlic. Nothing bad at all. It’s delicious, it’s super good for you, and it helps keep away vampires.”
Pine cones
“O.K., I’m not supposed to do this, but I do it because it’s so beautiful—I love taking a pine cone and putting it in the fire. It sparkles and crackles. I love the sound of a crackling fire. But I don’t think it’s so healthy.”
Red roses
“Here’s the thing about red roses—I think they’ve lost their smell. We as a society have overproduced them. It’s what you give on Valentine’s Day instead of looking at in nature. It makes me sad sometimes when I see a red rose with white baby’s breath, because it doesn’t feel like there’s anything natural about it.”
Matcha
“Here’s a great little breakfast recipe for you—you slice up a pear and sprinkle a little bit of matcha powder on top. The sweetness of the pear with the matcha powder is the most delicious. And it gives you energy!”
Topiaries
“Not for me.”
Chebula
“I’d never heard about the chebula until True Botanicals. It’s a fruit, and what I love about it is that it smells like cherries. So the Chebula Active Serum and Chebula Extreme Cream have this rich, fresh smell that reminds me of cherry. I wonder if you could eat a chebula.”
Coconut trees
“When I was a little kid, I lived in Mexico for a little bit, and I was obsessed with getting coconuts off of the palm trees, so I spent the entire summer trying to figure out how to climb up a palm tree to get a coconut. I made a rope, did a whole thing, and never accomplished it. And I always think of that every time I see a palm tree—I’m like, I worked for two months trying to climb you! Now I know you just throw something at it.”
Brennan Kilbane is a New York–based writer. He is originally from Cleveland, and his interviews and essays have appeared in GQ, New York magazine, and Allure, where he was recently on staff as a features writer
