Phenom is usually the high-gloss term for the kind of 22-year-old mega-star who can shut down a Met Gala red carpet before winning Spider-Man’s heart in a summer blockbuster. But Zendaya is more of a phenomenal woman, to borrow a phrase from Maya Angelou. The Oakland-born actor has the charisma to stir “a hive of honeybees”; she doesn’t need to “shout or jump about or have to talk real loud” (on Instagram or otherwise) to keep the world transfixed. It’s true, unlike the poem’s curvier protagonist, Zendaya cuts a fashion model’s figure—a fact languidly on display as she sank into the sofa in a Beverly Hills suite Thursday, wearing an off-the-shoulder tropical-print cocktail dress. But don’t even try to get away with overzealous photo-retouching. In her book, perfect—at least that manufactured, unattainable kind—is the enemy of good.

In a year already replete with major moments, including a forthcoming HBO series called Euphoria and another Spider-Man installment, Lancôme has just tapped the 22-year-old as its latest ambassador, making her the brand’s youngest face at the moment. “I’m stepping into this new phase of my career and my life,” she explains, no longer the precocious force that headlined a Disney Channel series for three years. Partnering with a heritage brand that counts Isabella Rossellini and Lupita Nyong’o among their spokespeople—“Hello!” Zendaya trills, referring to the heavyweight roster—is a coming-of-age signifier. “It’s for a woman Zendaya,” she says. “It’s me finding out what that means.”

Here, the actor reflects on the tools for staying grounded (more Harry Potter than yoga), the everyday glamour of her first beauty icons, and the reverb of the 2015 Academy Awards, when a commentator saw Zendaya’s sideswept ’locks and remarked that she surely smells “like patchouli oil or weed”—catapulting the then-18-year-old and her measured, thoughtful response into the news cycle. People have been listening ever since.

Vanity Fair: That Oscar moment in 2015 was such a flash point for you. Do you feel like it’s a conversation that still needs to be unpacked?

Zendaya: Sometimes situations are bigger than yourself, and it wasn’t just about me; it was about an entire community of people that I stand for. I just wanted to address something that I felt wasn’t called for, because it’s a situation that happens all the time. What was it—[about] a month ago with the wrestler, where they made him cut off his ’locks? That broke my heart. Obviously this is still happening. New York just [set new guidelines] that you cannot discriminate against people for their natural hair anymore in the workplace. I think [the Oscar situation] was a positive thing, and everybody could learn from it. I definitely realized that my voice can carry, so I need to be very wise and smart about how I choose to use it.

You’re a chameleon when it comes to hair and makeup. Who do you look to for beauty inspiration?

My beauty icons are the women in my life. [When I was growing up] my mom didn’t wear makeup; I don’t think she knew that, to me, it was empowering that she didn’t care. But I was super into it, so I would go to my grandma’s house, and she would have all the good makeup. I got to see how women are able to navigate within the space of beauty and [see that] it’s self-defined: it is equally beautiful, however you choose to do it.

They have always been my references, specifically my grandmothers, because they’re from a different time period with all these amazing looks that they were serving without even knowing. I have this picture of my [father’s mother] in front of this convenience store that she and my grandfather owned, and she has this gorgeous ’fro. She just looks so chic in this sweater and bell-bottoms standing in front of this old car—and, to her, that was just an everyday look. Same thing with my other grandmother, with her hair pin-curled up in this beautiful wave. I’m like, Yes!

We’re living in an age where social media has a way of making us all feel like teenagers: competitive, insecure. What was it like revisiting high school with Euphoria?

To me, Euphoria is one of the most raw, honest looks at what it looks like now to be a young person. It’s definitely different than what I’ve ever done before, and there are going to be some themes that are tougher to deal with. But at the end of the day, it’s somebody’s reality, and that’s the story we’re telling. I don’t know what it’s like to have had Instagram be a part of my life from the beginning of time. It’s just a different beast. Young people, we all kind of have this pressure on us—that we feel like we need to fix everything. Jeez, again—something else negative? Can I not see this man’s face for one day? It’s just how we choose to push through it.

What are your survival strategies? Do you recharge in the bath, or—

I hate baths, personally. [laughs] I don’t know—the human-soup thing is a little weird! Just stewing in it. I’ve found what’s really relaxing for me is I play Harry Potter. Something about the sound of it in the background while I’m doing stuff, or just watching a movie I’ve already watched a thousand times: it chills me out. Or I’ll do a 12-step skin-care routine, and that also calms me down. It’s fun. Lancôme has, like, a billion great skin-care products, and there’s one in a purple bottle [Rénergie day cream] that has S.P.F. in it. I try to remember to put it on every day. My No. 1 thing is just to be consistent!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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