Victoria Justice on Nostalgic Roles and Her New Clean Scent

If you were born between roughly 1996 and 2002, you likely grew up seeing Victoria Justice’s name splashed across the TV screen in your family room. Whether you knew her from Nickelodeon’s Zoey 101 (my senior editors and directors, please rise) or Victorious (my hand is raised high in the air right now), Justice was the hallmark of cool-girl style—from the bright blue streaks in Lola Martinez’s hair to Tori Vega’s trendy L.A. outfits and long, blown-out, bouncy curls. But when I meet Justice over a call, I find the star in a much more relaxed state: wrapped up in a robe and ready to divulge the latest in her personal beauty journey—a brand-new fragrance venture called Naked Perfume.

The brand, launched in collaboration with longtime beauty founder Randi Shinder, almost felt fated as the two bonded over a shared passion for beauty and an unlikely health issue that linked them together. “We connected immediately over the fact that we both have Hashimoto’s, which is an autoimmune disorder,” she tells Who What Wear. The disease, which happens when the immune system attacks healthy thyroid glands (according to Mayo Clinic), caused both women to approach beauty—especially the products they used on their skin (“It’s the largest organ on your body!” Justice says in exasperation later)—in a much different way.

“[Shinder] was telling me about how much it’s affected her life… and how she wanted to create a fine fragrance that was not going to harm people in any way,” she explains. “Hearing that was like music to my ears. We both immediately locked in and said, ‘Well, we need to do this together.’” From there, Justice—who had taken a sad hiatus from perfume due to adverse side effects it posed on her immune system—rejoined the world of fragrance-wearers with Naked Perfume’s Honey Cream. “I’ve been wearing it all the time recently,” she divulges before raving about the fragrance’s alluringly sweet skin scent, made from a total of six ingredients that don’t read like science experiments.

Keep reading for our entire catch-up with Justice, involving everything from her current fragrance obsessions to early memories on set, and how wellness continues to shape her approach to beauty, style, and life.

How do you feel about this exciting new venture?

I’m so, so, so excited. I wanted to create a brand for a long time, but I wasn’t going to do anything unless it felt right and it felt completely authentic to me. I’m just so passionate about Naked Perfume. I love the smell—it’s completely addicting—but the fact that I know that it’s not going to harm people who put it on their bodies just makes it that much better.

We’re starting out with two scents, right?

Yes, we’re starting with two scents. The first one is Honey Cream, which is what I’ve been wearing all the time recently. It has honey, vanilla, and sweet cream notes, but it kind of just smells like a warm hug. It’s very comforting, sweet, and beautiful without being overpowering. I think that’s what I love most about naked perfume: that it becomes a second skin. It’s never going to be too strong or too much, which was one of the requirements for me.

Fresh Lather is our other scent, and it’s gorgeous. It’s just this clean, bubble bath-soapy scent. It’s just really fresh, and clean, and delicious. I love them both. And then there’s even more to come, so this is just the beginning.