the insider: lucy hale

Her hit show may be called Pretty Little Liars, but Lucy Hale is refreshingly honest in real life. The actress, 21, phoned into our office after her NYLON beauty shoot, and promptly confessed she usually doesn't do her own makeup for the red carpet - a nice change from the "I just rolled out of bed looking perfect" vibe attempted by some of Young Hollywood.  That's not to say Hale's huge eyes, luscious hair, and album-ready singing voice aren't the makings of a major screen siren.  But being a good Southern girl (Hale hails from Memphis), she's just a little more polite about it than most.

Your look is pretty natural on TV - how did you feel about the glam rock makeup you wore in your NYLON shoot?  I'm into the whole '70s vibe of this shoot, and I really loved the glitter.  Magazine shoots are a great time for me because I get to play around with looks I wouldn't normally wear - not because I don't want to, but just because when I'm working, my characters have very specific styles.

What about in your real life?  No glitter eyeliner and fake feather eyelashes?  I definitely don't do anything that extreme!  It's a great look, but I don't think I could do the glitter on my own...  I play it very safe in my every day life.  I'm not a makeup artist at all, and I'm in awe of what they can do.  When I'm working with one, I let them run with whatever they want to do.  I love makeup and experimenting but I know what works and I try to keep it natural.  On the weekend maybe I'll try a smoky eye, but other than that, I like to leave it to the pros.

Have you picked up any tips from the Pretty Little Liars makeup trailer?  My makeup artist on PLL has taught me how to master individual lashes.  She's taught me how to properly place concealer, things like that.  But I have to say, these people, they're artists and I just try to learn whatever I can from them...  My makeup artist on the show is Cindy Miguens and the stuff she can do is incredible.

What's your earliest beauty memory?  I remember when I was eight, I dressed up as Princess Jasmine and I got to wear red lipstick for the first time.  My mom says when I put it on, I suddenly took on this whole new personality - way more mature and very glamorous!

Do you have a signature scent?  I don't.  As long as it has vanilla in it, I like to switch it up.  Right now I'm wearing Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb, and it smells really good.  And I also like the Juicy Couture one, Peace, Love, and Juicy.

Do you steal makeup from your fellow PLL stars?  No but I would like to steal Shay [Mitchell]'s hair products!  It's ridiculous all the stuff we have on set, and we're always swapping secrets.  It's fun because we're all so different, both on the show and in real life.

We follow you on Twitter!  I follow you guys too!

What's the best part of being on it?  The best part is the instant gratification of it all; you get immediate feedback from fans after each episode.  It's nice to know what people are thinking right away, and I feel like they're my friends.  But the worst part is you sort of lose part of your personal life.  So you just have to be careful about what you share and what you don't share.

What are you reading right now?  The Help.  It's being made into a movie with Emma Stone.  I wanted to make sure I read it before I saw it!

What's in your iPod?  I'm obsessed with Adele's new album.   I have an obsession with Bruno Mars, I think he's so amazing, and also The Script... what else... I like Lady Antebellum, obviously.  They are so great.  I love Mumford and Sons - Ian Harding introduced me to them on the show, actually.  He knew about them a while back; he's a great source of new music.  I saw he did a mixtape for NYLON a few months ago and I was like, he's perfect for that. 

Who's A?  Nice how you just snuck that in there.

Yeah, thanks.  Will you tell me?  Yeah, right!  They don't tell us anything - I haven't even gotten a script for the next episode, and we have a table read this week!

You must be sick of people asking...  I'm not; I swear.  I wish I could share stuff but it's exciting to be part of a show where you have no idea what's going to happen next. 

Can you tell us anything that will happen on the next season?  Hm.... well, I can tell you that I just got my hair a little lighter - the producers don't know yet, so we'll see if they let me keep it!   If they do, then Aria will have a new hair color.  And I can tell you that next season, all of our characters have room to play around a little more and do different things with our clothes and our beauty looks. 

Will Aria ever put that red Manic Panic streak back in her hair?  Oooh. I remember girls in middle school that would do that; that was the cool thing do back then.  But maybe Aria's moved on from that period in her life!

See Lucy Hale in Scream 4, out now.