Leslie Bibb has a creative way of dealing with the paparazzi. Rather than flicking them off or tipping them off, or any of the above, the actress has a different strategy: Reasoning with them. “I was in Toronto with Sam [Rockwell]. I’m getting coffee and I see someone picking up a camera. I go, “Please, I look like the bottom of a shoe. Can we not do this?’” (The cameraman politely obliged—not because he agreed, but because he was charmed.) See, Bibb has a funny relationship with the camera’s lens. Ever since winning a modeling contest when she was 16, everyone wanted her in front of it. And she wanted to be there—kind of. “I’m not one of those people who loves looking at pictures of myself. When I’m on a shoot, just tell me what you want. I take direction well, but I don’t want to see the photos,” she says. Bibb is much more interested in playing dress up than in looking good, especially when it comes to hair and makeup. “A hairstylist on set once told me I’d look great with short hair. ‘Cut it,’ I said.” So he did. “Short hair made my hips look bigger. Otherwise, I loved it,” she says plainly. Throughout her career, Bibb has tried countless lengths, cuts and colors, and she loves playing with new makeup. Currently she’s considering going bright red…or raven black. And she’s bringing red lipstick everywhere. “I like to change my look. I find it boring when someone always looks the same,” she says. And when you think about it, her logic makes good sense. While a picture lasts forever—a haircut will always grow out.

HAIR HOW-TO

“Leslie really does have this quintessential, all-American beauty to her,” said Townsend. “ I really wanted to give her a classic hairstyle that would show that off.” He worked a dab of volumizing foam into damp hair to give her strands a soft foundation before blowing it dry. Then, rather than wrapping sections around an iron like we’re all used to, Townsend clipped the ends and rolled upwards, pinning the spool of hair against the head to set. He worked his way through the hair, creating eight sections and allowed them to cool for ten minutes. To finish, he removed the pins and brushed through the curls with a natural bristle brush. “You can’t pin this look to any specific era—and that’s exactly how I wanted it,” he said.

MAKEUP MOMENT

One glance at these pictures and it’s pretty clear what makeup artist Kate Lee focused on: Creating a downright flawless crimson pout. (Bibb couldn’t have been happier!) Oddly enough, though, Lee’s process doesn’t begin by breaking out the lipstick tube. “Start by lining the mouth in a shade that matches the natural lip color exactly,” she says. “Red lipstick can be pretty unforgiving. This way, you’ll have a template and an idea of where the pigment is going before you begin.” Paint on your favorite shade with a soft lip brush. “You shouldn’t be going for a hard lip line—it needs to be perfectly applied and beautifully blended,” advises Lee. As for selecting that One Perfect Shade, Lee says there’s no magic formula—except for trying it on, of course: “Red lipstick is about going bold and trying what you’re drawn too—and the back of the hand is no substitute for your actual lips!”

Shiseido Smoothing Lip Pencil in Rosewood