She could also be a high-profile star, however Eva Mendes has made it clear to the general public that her private life is her private enterprise. Sharing two kids with Ryan Gosling, she’s been prodded on all of it earlier than, and has been vocal about holding “tight-lipped” on her household.
However seconds into chatting with Mendes, it’s clear that there isn’t an entire lot of her day or pure dialog that doesn’t revolve round her household, together with the household canine, Magic, who barks by her facet. (She refers to him as a “loudmouth that she loves.”) This summer season, the 51-year-old actress and entrepreneur is increasing the Skura Type x Eva Mendes Assortment, a way of life model she co-owns that’s all about “kitchen well-being.” Whereas it might look like an surprising transfer for somebody finest identified for red-carpet glam, Mendes is deeply invested within the venture. She traces her love for a well-kept dwelling to her Cuban upbringing, the place taking pleasure in your area was ingrained in her from an early age.
Congrats on the road. Based mostly on what you might be posting on social media, it looks as if you might be excited to get it on the market.
“I always thought it was a Cuban thing that we love to clean, and we love a clean kitchen. Some of my best memories from when I was little are of my mom cleaning the house over the weekend. She’d be playing a record super loudly, and it would wake me up. There was the smell of Pine-Sol and the sounds of her singing to El Puma, which was my first concert. You have to look him up! The Puma. The memories!
But I always kind of thought it was a cultural thing…my friends would be over, and then I started dating Ryan, and he would come over. He just loved it. When my family was around, we would literally take over the kitchen. It had to be clean. It was a bonding experience.
During the pandemic, I was going through sponges like crazy. I found these amazing Skura sponges and thought they were next-level, and I consider myself a professional in this category. I called my agent, connected with the brand and became a part owner, and we went from there.
Now I have my line, Skura by Eva Mendes, and I have my own packaging, which I’m just nuts for. It was so fun designing that. I have my own take on the sponges. I call it the ‘smart sponge’ because it does the thinking for you and tells you when it’s time to change it. Then I added a new product for my mom: the O.G. recycler. When I go to her house and see her little paper towels hanging, I’m just like, ‘Mom! There are other things we can do.’ So, we made a Swedish cloth. People love a Swedish cloth. It’s super exciting for me to be able to have these cool colors and patterns. Here we are, and I’m way, way too excited about it.”
I’m assuming quite a bit, however within the 5 minutes we’ve been speaking, I really feel such as you could be an individual who can’t sleep except issues are clear and arranged.
“I absolutely am! I’m not going to say everything is always organized all the time, because it’s not. The other night, I just couldn’t do the dishes after a long day, and it was a full sink. I knew I was going to hate it in the morning, and I did. But, with two kids, there are times you have to let it go. And I’d rather do them than someone else! Because, of course, I’m a bit like, ‘No, I know how to do it. I have it my way, get out.’ I like everyone out of the kitchen while I’m cleaning. That’s why cleaning after hours works well for me. I’ll put the kids down and just come back and listen to a podcast or some salsa music and do it. It just feels so much better to walk into a clean kitchen in the morning. I’m a coffee girl, so I get my coffee first thing, and to see my sink clear, it’s an automatic feel-good.”
A few of my finest reminiscences are of my mother cleansing the home over the weekend.
It appears like lots of your mother rubbed off on you. Are there every other habits from rising up that also follow you now?
“So many. My mother never used to buy Q-tips because we couldn’t afford them. This comes more from necessity, but my mom is the original recycler and repurposer. I get that from her. She never bought Q-tips, so she would take a bobby pin, put some toilet paper at the end, and use it as the Q-tip. Though I don’t do that now, I know I can! And I always have bobby pins on me.
She also would use cereal boxes as some kind of storage. I know every Latin person will understand this, too: Every can, anything that’s in the form of a tin can, is never thrown away. My mom would make piggy banks out of old coffee cans. She’d create room for a coin at the top, or it’s just where we kept spare change. At Christmas, we got those round blue tin cans with shortbread cookies. She had her sewing kit in there. Everything was repurposed. Even when she comes over now, she’ll see an empty box or a can, get excited, and ask if she can have it. That’s never going to change.”
That’s type of wonderful. Are there every other beauty-related belongings you’ve gotten from her?
“The stuff that was really important to her…I wonder how the hell she did it with four kids! I have so many photos of her in curlers—the old-school foam ones. The minute she would leave the house, whether it was to the market— we didn’t have a car, so she’d walk everywhere—she would take those suckers out, shake her head and her hair was done. Then, she put lipstick on. She wasn’t a foundation person or an eye person, but she always had her hair done and her lipstick applied.
I have definitely not carried on that tradition. I don’t know how she did it. I really don’t. Unfortunately, I just haven’t been able to do that. The thing that’s always in my head, always, is that my mother would never, ever have a facial. I had to force her to have one a couple years ago—at 80 years old. She loved it, but she wants me to spend my money on myself, not on her. She’s totally an old-school mom.
When I put moisturizer on, I hear her voice. Ever since I was a teenager, I could hear her say, ‘You always want to go up, up, up with the moisturizer.’ I don’t know where she got that from or what kind of old Cuban advice that was, but I’m always going up, up. That’s one thing that’s always stayed. Oh, you know what else? You’re making me think of these fun, old things. She always told me to take care of my elbows, which, of course, I ignored. When I was in my late 30s, early 40s, I finally got it. Sorry, mom! I have to admit, she was right.”
Hindsight is all the time 20-20. You’ve been vocal about magnificence musts and aesthetic remedies. What are you loving proper now?
“I haven’t tried Sofwave. I haven’t had time, but I hear a lot about it. I’ve been more in a quiet phase where I’m letting my skin just do what it wants to do. I am starting to get into red light again. There is this one brand I just found. I went down a YouTube rabbit hole one night, and I found this amazing woman named Lisa who runs Peach’s Skincare. She’s really a find. People don’t know about her. She makes her own products, and I’m giving her whole thing a try. It’s quite a few products, which is not very me, but she’s almost 60, and she looks incredible, so I’m listening to her.
I do want to get into using tools at home more often. I have one, but it’s not really working. I’m not seeing results, so I’d rather not talk about it. I’ve done stuff in the past my face didn’t like. All this stuff is just about trial and error…but I do love a good laser machine, and I do love a good radio-frequency machine, for sure.”
All the good things. Will you have the ability to chill out this summer season or take any trip, or is it a busier time for you when the youngsters are out of college?
“I don’t know. I have no idea. We just go with the flow. I’m not blaming my kids, but summer is their time to be kids, and I’m really taking it in. Our little one turned nine last week, and our oldest one is 10. I know these moments are fleeting. I just want to be with them. Whatever I’m doing, as long as I’m with them and Ryan, of course, that’s where I’m happiest.”
