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Key Takeaways
- On Thursday, October 8, Sonsie Skin is launching their latest limited-edition Basic Balm in Wild Groundcherry.
- Co-founder Pamela Anderson shared everything there is to know about the balm, including her inspiration and how it fits into her holiday routine.
Oh, to be a little fairy living in Pamela Anderson’s garden. There’d be so much to play with: dewy flowers, strong rhubarb stocks, bite-sized fruits wrapped in papery husks. And when night fell, if you were a quiet and respectful guest, she’d likely let you into the house to join her for some quality time with the Criterion Channel.
Maybe she’d let you borrow her favorite lip balm too? Though to be fair, if you were one of Pamela Anderson’s fairies, you’d probably have a tiny tube of your very own. This would only be fair when you helped her discover the newest scent in the first place. On Thursday, October 8, Sonsie Skin is launching Basic Balm in Wild Groundcherry, a shimmery, warm, and golden limited-edition offering that came to Anderson after a day playing in the garden.
Keep reading to discover everything there is to know about the new launch from the fairy queen/brand co-founder herself.
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The Inspiration
When I learned Anderson discovered groundcherries in her garden “by accident,” I was honestly surprised. She seems like someone who would know every leaf and seed and sprout in the place.
But I guess this just serves as proof that we can always be surprised and delighted? Even (especially) in our most sacred places.
“I thought they were little tomatillo cherry tomatoes, and when I bit into one... I did not expect that. It didn’t have a pit in it, so it wasn’t like a cherry—I couldn’t have even dreamt up that it was ‘cherry.’ There was the earthiness of it, and I thought the little paper baskets were so cute,” the actor tells Byrdie. “When we talked about doing another lip balm, I said, ‘We have to do Wild Groundcherry, because it’s something I just discovered, and it’s something that I love.’”
The first special-edition Basic Balm, which was released last fall, was inspired by Anderson’s grandmother giving her sugar-dipped rhubarb stalks as a treat when she was little.
“I had just grown rhubarb in my garden, and now it stays there because the same plants just keep coming back bigger and better. But the ground cherry was a new thing to me,” she adds. “I want to share new things.”
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As for the color, the golden hue is obviously inspired by those pretty little plants. But it also took a cue from Anderson’s love of old movies. How very fitting for an actress/gardener/writer extraordinaire?
“I’ve tortured my sons with black and white films or films with subtitles their whole lives. Back in the day, you couldn’t wear red lipstick [on film]. In black and white, your lips would just be black,” she explains. “The actresses would wear kind of a peachy or golden color, and I thought, ‘I want to bring that to this balm as well.’ It’s so flattering in any style of film. I love a natural lip color that has a little something fun. I do have a silly, fun, playful side to me.”
The Balm
Made with the same peptide-packed, nourishing formula as the original Basic Balm, the new offering features a warm, golden shimmer that’s microplastic- and mica-free. The 25% bio-based squalane formula provides lasting hydration, smooth lips, and nourishment while that peptide complex adds visible volume, softness, and moisture to keep your pout looking plush.
“I’m applying it all day long, even though it stays. It’s not sticky, it’s like skin care for your lips,” Anderson explains of the one-batch, when-it’s-gone-it’s-gone release. “You can put it over a lipstick or anything, but I love it just on a natural lip.”
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When I tried it for the first time back in June, Sonsie CEO Kailey Bradt asked me to guess the flavor (the same thing the brand has been doing with early orders—it’s all been quite secretive). I’m pretty sure I said “tomato.” Then maybe “Rainier cherry.”
Not bad guesses on either account! Groundcherries are essentially little tomatillos that give off the aroma of a sweet tomato with a bit of tropical, pineapple-y flair. Though extremely fitting in a fragrance landscape obsessed with all things tomato and touches of green, this specific tart-sweet scent is a delight all its own and perfectly captured in the balm. To get the smell just right, the brand partnered with Lucent Labs, a woman-owned small fragrance house, and made sure they knew every single ingredient that went into the scent. You can find them all on the package—no all-encompassing “fragrance” labels here.
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“It’s the last piece of the puzzle. Opening up the ingredient list for a fragrance formula allows for true product transparency,” shared Bradt in a press release. “Clean Beauty 2.0 isn’t only fragrance free. Beauty is meant to be fun, and fragrance is part of that experience.”
Pamela Andersons’ Wild Groundcherry Routine
Anderson’s Sonsie routine is steadfast. She uses the whole line: Cleansing Mousse, Super Serum, Adapt Cream, Multi Moisture Cream, and Basic Balm (for the holiday season, she’ll be opting for Wild Groundcherry because of that perfect shimmer) whether she’s plotting a smoky eye or sticking with a fresh face for the day.
“If you prepare the clean slate, you can do whatever you want. If I’m doing a film, I always wear these underneath,” she says. “My sons are always like, ‘Who’s buying this product? Like, who do you think?’ And I say, ‘People like me.’ Curious women. It’s an ancient ritual, just to take care of ourselves and present ourselves to the world the way we want to.”
Though her routine is consistent, the actress has been thinking of beauty in a different, “more primitive, kind of ancient way” recently.
“It’s not necessarily trendy, but it’s power. It’s power to really know yourself and to feel empowered, to walk out into the world not necessarily on everybody else’s terms, but on your terms. It always feels kind of cinematic, like you’re making little films when you walk out the door,” she explains. “Jeff Koons used to call me a performance artist. He’d say, ‘You’re a performance artist every time you walk out the door.’ I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll take that.’ I’m trying to communicate and express myself in all sorts of ways, and the skincare line is really a big part of that.”
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Pamela Anderson’s Holiday Traditions
If you showed up at Anderson’s house on Christmas (with shimmery golden lips, of course) you’d find a decorated tree and the results of various holiday crafts—dehydrated oranges, mistletoe, “all sorts of stuff.”
Her sons, Brandon and Dylan Lee, often have plans of their own with their significant others these days. But she’ll still decorate whatever home she’s in as if everyone’s coming over.
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“You never know who will show, so it’s for me,” she explains. “Me and my dogs, [who] all have Christmas stockings.”
And don’t worry—despite varying holiday plans, Anderson and her boys are close as ever.
“I’m so fortunate that I get to have a family business with my kids working on something that’s so nourishing and so intricate,” she adds. “I feel it’s another form of communication that we have together, because the things we get to talk about are important. We kind of get to know each other through this process. It’s been such an incredible, fun thing to do. And we’ll come up with things together. [Or] I’ll go into my garden, I’ll discover something, and that’ll end up being a new lip balm. Which is so much fun.”
You can shop Basic Balm in Wild Groundcherry ($22) beginning Thursday, October 8 at 12 p.m. ET on sonsieskin.com.
