Sharon Stone On Ignoring Outdated Beauty Standards and Her Incredibly Simple Skincare

Sharon Stone is taking me on a tour of her favorite glasses. It’s a Friday afternoon, and we’re chatting over Zoom; she’s currently wearing a classic pair of gold Ray-Ban aviators, but she’s been collecting frames for decades and has a stash of vintage pairs from the ‘20s and beyond. That's not to mention the 40 glasses she wears on the regular—including a bold pink-tinted Tom Ford style I instantly covet. (Both Stone and I have been wearing glasses since we were five years old, we soon discover.)

The Golden Globe-winning actor has been working with Lenscrafters since 2022 and recently became the official face of the brand. If you visit a location near you, you’ll probably see her face, literally, on the walls, not to mention the commercial she's currently starring in. But though she has an enviable collection of frames, including designs by Versace, Burberry, Persol, and Prada, the partnership is about much more than labels.

Stone suffered a life-threatening stroke in 2001 and experienced vision issues afterward, including “letters stretching” that impacted her ability to read. “Twenty-four years later, seeing a neurological eye specialist on the reg, I get my eyes examined at LensCrafters and feel safe and comfortable to do that,” she explains. “Someone like me who lost their ability to see… vision is everything to me.”

She also credits the brand with helping her rediscover her passion for painting, which has transformed her life and gave her vision in another sense of the word. "I don’t really think that I would have become a painter in the way that I have if I wasn’t able to see," she says. Stone was an artist as a child, but seriously started painting again during the pandemic. She just had her first solo art show in Los Angeles and is planning one in New York City. Reconnecting with her artistic side has helped Stone see herself clearly for the first time in years. "I am developing, I am blossoming, and I am beautiful just the way I am," she says. "I have vision."

For Stone, giving everyone everywhere the gift of vision—both kinds—is the ultimate impact. “LensCrafters gives us vision so that we can give the world our best,” she says. “To be visionary, with vision… super dope.” Ahead, Sharon Stone on beauty standards, her skincare philosophy, and her must-have products.

On the Pressures of Fame

"When I started painting, I stopped cutting my hair. I stopped having that intense anxiety… [The media is like] there’s always something wrong with every woman, and we’re here to tell you what it is, constantly. We’d like to show you a picture of what’s wrong with you. I remember the first time I had my legs crossed on a TV show, and a magazine did a close-up of my under-thigh and blew it up, and said I had cellulite. And I was like, ‘Oh, so I’m a normal human being who is a woman whose body is built so I can give birth, so I have subcutaneous fat?’ Thank you for informing the rest of the world!

"This whole thing got up my ass, and I could never feel comfortable. I compulsively cut off my hair every five seconds. This constant angst was a lot. When I got famous, and everybody was pulling and doing my hair and ripping it out… I couldn’t. Having this vision, this ability to look at others allowed me to see that, ‘Well, look at you! You’re just gorgeous!’ It got all the attention off myself, it allowed me to [examine] others… not from a perspective of fear and panic and feeling less, but from a place of wonder and curiosity."

On Her Simple Skincare Routine

"I’ve always been very, very plain. I wash my face with water, period, unless I have makeup on. Then I take the makeup off, then I rewash my face with hot water, then I put on cream. I use these Bliss pads. I clean off my face, the back of my hands, my decollete, and my knees because I don’t like to have so many wrinkles around my knees. I use a toner of hyaluronic acid and something else that I mix in with it, slap it on the face a little, slap it on the back of the hands, then I just put on some cream and go to bed. I’ve always felt that the K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, stupid) principle is basically real. I believe in that for everything.

"I started using this Augustinus Bader shampoo and conditioner and after-shampoo leave-in conditioner… all the hair I had lost under here, on the sides from the stroke, grew back. And I have hair!"

Her Must-Have Product

"I brush my teeth a bunch of times every day. I’m a super tooth-brusher. I carry those little disposable toothbrushes that Crest makes, that you bite the brush, and it has a little toothpaste in the end. I keep those in my purse. I just obsessively brush my teeth. I find it very calming."

On Painting

“I got so at peace with myself, so at ease with myself [when I started painting again]. I go in, light my candle, thank the universe for this opportunity to be creative and to be a conduit for what is the best for the day, change into my painting glasses, put up the canvas, look at the canvas, and ask it to tell me what it wants. I don’t know that I would be seeing this because I wasn’t seeing it before.

“I have vision, and I can see clearly the leaves on the tree, the roots going into the ground. I understand that I am rooted, I am developing, I am blossoming, and I am beautiful just the way I am.”