Actress Rose McIver on New Zealand's Best Beauty Products and Becoming a Zombie
In the last two years, actress Rose McIver has played Tinker Bell (in ABC's Once Upon a Time), a nurse (in Showtime's Masters of Sex), and now, a zombie with ethics in the CW's new show iZombie (premiering tonight!). I recently spoke with the New Zealand native about what it took to transform for her new role, her favorite products, and, obviously, eating brains. (Check out
the show's trailer.)
I’m a huge fan of creator Rob Thomas’s other shows, Veronica Mars and Party Down. Any similarities to iZombie? "I think Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero, who cowrote the show, have such a sense of their voice. You can really feel that in Veronica Mars, and [iZombie] has that same wry sense of humor and fast pace. But this is a zombie/comedy/romance/procedural; it’s got a little bit of everything. I play a medical student who went to a party, got scratched, and turned into a zombie. She’s now working at a morgue so she can have access to fresh brains—so it’s more ethical! When she eats these brains, she has visions of these people, and she can help explain their deaths. It’s a twisted, bizarre concept, but it’s rooted in humanity.”
What were the brains made of? “The prop team experimented with a bunch of different things—soy protein, fondant—but the thing that tasted the best and looked most realistic was gelatin. And the blood is corn syrup.”
How did they turn you into a zombie? “I would spend about an hour and 45 minutes getting ready. [Makeup artists used] an airbrushed white pigment makeup that’s quite resilient, so it really sticks to your skin. At the end of the day, we’d spend a lot of time with oils and cleansers to make sure it was all off. I’d have dark eye makeup, and then when I go into full-on zombie mode, I'd get veins painted on as well. And my hair is a wig. They had these fantastic wigs, and just as we’d wear one out, we’d move on to the next.”
So not exactly Masters of Sex. What was it like getting into the '50s look for that show? "I really love that era for fashion and style in general. Those costumes really flatter a woman’s body. And pin-curling shorter hair can be so chic. It’s so damaging, though! I have yet to discover a way to create a look like that that doesn’t cook your hair.”
What’s your civilian beauty routine usually like? “I’m a big fan of hot flannels—here you call them washcloths, don’t you? I use a really hot cloth to steam my face and make sure I have no residual product. Then I use a witch-hazel toner, and I’ve been using Skyn Iceland Pure Cloud Cream. [The brand] does really great face gels and eye gels, too. I like to keep it quite simple, and I don’t wear a ton of makeup. I do use a little bit of foundation, and then I’ll use a thin line of eyeliner and mascara, maybe.”
Are there any beauty products from New Zealand you miss now that you’re living in the U.S.? “There’s a great line called Trilogy. I like to use natural and organic as much as possible, and they have a lot of great natural lines, so I miss that a little. We use [Lucas’] Papaw a lot at home, too. I’ve noticed it more and more out here.”
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