Chatting with Stephanie Valentine, more commonly known as Glamzilla, felt like gossiping about makeup secrets and product recommendations with a friend while getting ready for a night out. Her personality over delivered. She was friendly, warm, engaging, and, of course, a wealth of knowledge about all things beauty—after all, there’s a reason she has over 1.6 million loyal followers on TikTok. We had a no-filter conversation with the reigning queen of beauty TikTok, and she even shares some things she never thought she’d say.
On the role dental care plays in her routine…
“Oh my gosh, it’s so important. Isn’t it important for your routine? It’s something you don’t really think about because it’s just something that we do daily. So recently, I’ve been using the Colgate Optic White Pro Series Toothpaste ($10), and it changed my life. Like, look how freaking white my teeth are. This is white [pointing to her top]. Look, my teeth are whiter. I swear this is not cream. Actually, now that I see that, that’s kind of creepy and kind of amazing.
I’m wearing a yellow-based red lipstick and I kind of love that for me. So the toothpaste is phenomenal. You’ll notice such a big difference. It lifts 15 years of stains from teeth because it has five percent hydrogen peroxide in it—that’s like the most a toothpaste has right now. It’s so important to me to start the day with breath that doesn’t stink and when I go like this [runs her tongue over hr teeth], for it to feel clean. I think that’s so important, isn’t it? I could survive with my hair in a bun if I didn’t wash it. But if my tongue is dirty or my teeth are not clean it messes up the vibe, and you don’t feel like your best. So I think that’s the most important part of my routine.”
On the dental care tip she learned from TikTok…
“You know what I learned on TikTok? Take your mouthwash and gargle it before you brush your teeth. It takes out the bacteria. Then you go in with your toothbrush, floss, whatever and then do mouthwash again. I learned that on TikTok. This 50-year-old man said it, and ever since I started doing it. Oh my gosh. Life changing.”
On beauty products she always turns to…
“You know, I’m a classic girl. I love cult-classic products because I’m a beauty lover. There are so many things I like, but what I’m actually most passionate about are products that have lived throughout time and are still valid today because of how great they were when they were launched the first time. I think that’s cool, or brands that have been able to continuously kind of step up their game and do research and implement it into their formulas. Like a toothpaste or a red lipstick.”
On her career in makeup…
“It was the only thing I loved to do, and I’ve been doing it for 12 years. I’ve been creating content for 12 years. I was just waiting for my time. I’m still waiting for my time.”
On her goals…
“I just want to be. I want to create and move on to the next level of womanhood. I feel like through the years, I had my teen beauty stage, I had my whatever beauty stage, and now I’m trying to kind of evolve her and whoever she is into whatever I’m going to be.”
On new launches that excite her…
“Anything glowy. I love it. Anything that makes me feel good. It’s not even about the product, the texture, the formula. It’s anything that makes me feel like me because, for so long, I lived in the Instaglam era, and that’s where I kind of started my journey with beauty, and now I’m just ready to look like me. Whether it’s having a bright red lipstick on or not. Having lashes on or not and getting to know my routine based on how I want to look. I don’t want every day to have my ‘staples,’ ‘my go-tos’ and ‘this is what I’m excited about.’ I just want to feel like me and do what I love.
How much stuff do you get every day? You’re talking about beauty all the time. Don’t you want things that just make you feel like you, that make you feel good, that make you feel fabulous? It’s not just a product. It’s a combination of all those products that just make you feel fabulous, whether it’s a red lipstick or toothpaste.”
On trends…
“I’m ready to feel alive again. I want people to play with glam or not. I want people to do whatever the heck they want. Because after the pandemic, I feel like it’s our time to be free, especially during the holiday season. Don’t do things that are predictable. I never thought I’d say this but forget the red lipstick. Play with berry, play with white mascara, do whatever the heck makes you feel good because I think that’s beautiful. So that’s what I want to see people doing and just creating because I think that’s where we’re heading, everybody just being themselves, and it’s so refreshing, isn’t it?”
