KAT VON D

My nighttime look is exactly like my daytime look - like I'm going to a super fancy funeral. I guess it would be considered extreme to most people, but I like it that way. The idea of conventional beauty isn't attractive to me... that's why, when I was growing up, I felt kind of torn about makeup.

Selling a lifestyle - whether it's a brand or an Instagram post - which teaches not just girls but people that your value is defined by what you look like is the most appalling thing that I could think of, especially as a woman.

We have been reformulating anything that had carmine in the past, and if we can't reformulate, we just throw them out. I can live without a purple eye shadow. It's fine.

Interaction with fans is super important to me. I have the best fans ever. They're always the most creatively charged people. I've saved every single piece of fan mail that I've ever gotten. We have an archive of it and stuff. I think if I can inspire that, then it's like my job is done.

I shop everywhere from Maxfield to antique stores. I love Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood, and I love vintage. Golyester has the best selection of mint things and dead stock. I collect 1940s to 1970s platform shoes, and that's where I got a few of my best ones.

The funny thing is that I've known since I was 7 years old that I was never going to have kids. I always imagined myself as this worldly, traveling gypsy lady.

Natacha Marro has always been a favorite shoe designer, and now she has started offering vegan options in her collection, which is brilliant! As for clothing, I have discovered tons of great vegan independent designers on Etsy!

My own father flipped out on me when I told him we decided to ditch our doctor and go with a midwife instead.

I feel like most people know that I'm a vegan, and I'm a pretty vocal animal activist. Everything and anything I do, I just kind of use it as a vehicle to be able to send out the message.

People love our triple-milled, super-high-pigmented soft supermatte formulas.

You don't have to get married and have a family, like a lot of women try, to live the American Dream. There's nothing wrong if you're in your 40s and don't have kids and are president of your own company.

As grateful as I am to have been a part of a show like 'LA Ink,' I'm ready to end this chapter and want to focus on other projects now.

I feel like Too Faced has always followed the same ethics as Kat Von D Beauty. They've been cruelty-free and really vocal advocates for anti-animal cruelty, and that's something that's such a deal breaker for me.

There is no point in developing anything at the cost of exploiting and abusing animals. Not only is it important for me to create a 100% cruelty-free brand but also send out a very clear message to both consumers and companies out there: testing on animals in the name of beauty is cruel and unnecessary.

The artwork on my packaging was something I painstakingly micro-managed - for example, I treat it like a tattoo, taking into consideration the muscle structure and seeing were the line lands on the existing body.

I think Too Faced is the yin to my yang. When you look at Kat Von D beauty and Too Faced and put them together, they look like complete opposites, but there are tons of similarities.

For 'Brow Struck', I really wanted it to be able to create natural-looking brows. So we found this really innovative formula that has a very specific type of shimmer that has a reflectiveness to it. Eyebrows are not naturally matte, so the point of this formula is to really mirror that.

If I want to do a smoky eye, I tend to focus more on the eyeshadow versus the eyeliner to avoid looking like a Duran Duran album cover. And if I do a smoky eye, I'll probably do a nude lipstick. I tend to fluctuate between reds and nudes.

The decision to make Kat Von D Beauty cruelty-free was easy and simple. Sure, my products won't sell in China because of my decision, but if it spares an innocent animal from a life of torture, that is completely worth it in my book.

As far as skincare goes, I'm from the school of 'you are what you eat.' I always promote a vegan lifestyle, not just because it's great for our environment and for humanity, but because if you cut out dairy, for example, there's scientific proof that it can actually help your complexion.

Sephora has always been the best, in the sense that they love me for me and that they let me be me. That's the coolest part. I think that's why the products are great - because there's a sincerity and authenticity.

I tend to be attracted to darker scents. I'm not a floral girl. But I do like this old fragrance I used to wear called Versace Red Jeans. I have an eBay alert that tells me when it comes back! I think it's more of a nostalgic association that I have with it because a boyfriend had bought it for me when I was, like, 16.

I already know what it's like to make life choices that are not the same as the majority.

I like dramatic and crazy, weird, ridiculous eyebrows but I know the majority of people don't do their brows like me.

Years of cultural programming have taught us to love some animals while eating others, when in all reality, all animals are sentient beings with the capacity to feel, both physically and emotionally. Every day, I have the choice to live a life of compassion that not only saves animals but helps the environment.