Nicole Richie doesn’t believe in trends. Despite all of the iconic looks she’s served over the years, she’s learned that following the herd can be “extremely limiting” . . . especially when it comes to beauty. She points to quick hits like the frosted lipstick trend of the early aughts. “It was so great on my friends, and terrible on me,” she tells Popsugar, explaining that it didn’t quite work with her skin tone. “I was like, ‘That’s what I get for following a damn trend.'”

Intrigued by this take, I ask for her thoughts on a few other beauty trends (sorry). Her verdict? Side parts and faux freckles: in. Short nails and matte foundation: out. “I’m feeling like there’s a ’90s trend, [to] everything that you said,” Richie notes, either exceedingly humble or legitimately unaware that she’s one of the biggest ’90s beauty icons in recent memory.

It’s fun to look back on some of her most memorable beauty moments (colorful extensions, anyone?), but these days, you’re less likely to find Richie partying in body glitter and pencil-thin eyebrows. Instead, she’s rocking a slick-back bun and light glam consisting of radiant skin, a subtle smoky eye, and a perfectly nude lip. Having partnered with Australian beauty brand Nude by Nature for their U.S. debut, Richie has made a whole-hearted pivot to a “less is more approach” — and she thinks you should too. “I like to feel like myself,” she says. This is especially important to her as she has “very sensitive skin.”

It’s a big transition, and Richie knows it. But when she looks back on her beauty evolution, she’s grateful to have embraced cleaner products and a more natural aesthetic. In all honesty, she wishes she had done it sooner. “When I look at videos and photos of myself in my 20s, the first thing I think of is, ‘I thought I needed so much,'” Richie says. Now, quite literally glowing with confidence, it’s obvious that Richie’s beauty doesn’t come from a place of trendiness. But she’s not exactly mad at the choices she made in her youth, either. “[I] was having so much fun, and I do think that beauty and fashion should be this ever-flowing, ever-changing thing,” she says.

Even if her version of beauty has changed since then, she learned a lot from her past looks, even if she would’ve liked to have recognized her natural beauty a little earlier. “Experimenting with what you like and what you gravitate towards is amazing, and very important for self-expression,” she says. “I’m by no means knocking it, but I’m [also] like, ‘You were so young, you didn’t even need all that stuff.'”

Chandler Plante (she/her) is a social producer and staff writer for the Health & Fitness team at Popsugar. She has over five years of industry experience, previously working as an editorial assistant for People magazine, a social media manager for Millie magazine, and a contributor for Bustle Digital Group. She has a degree in magazine journalism from Syracuse University and is based in Los Angeles.