Joy Sunday Shares Her Beauty Philosophy for Lancôme’s 90th Anniversary Campaign (Exclusive)

Joy Sunday has never been afraid to be bold.

The Wednesday actress, 28, has made waves with her siren-inspired beauty on the it Netflix show as Bianca Barclay and on the red carpet with her next-level looks.

The rising star is one of the faces of Lancôme’s “Older, Happier & Bolder” campaign — in addition to her fellow global ambassadors, Amanda Seyfried, Nico Parker and Isabella Rossellini — which celebrates the brand’s 90th anniversary.

Sunday, who is celebrating her 29th birthday on Sept. 25, tells PEOPLE exclusively that the brand has been a mainstay in her life since childhood, thanks to her mother, and has helped her embrace being more experimental with her routine as she prepares to make another trip around the sun.

“My mom used to have this Lancôme lipstick in a nice, deep red that she’d put on when going to work. It’s probably the first makeup brand that I was ever aware of,” she says. “I always knew it had an emphasis on inner beauty. That was really important for me growing up.”

Though Sunday grew up seeing her mother use Lancôme lipstick, her own beauty journey didn’t begin until she started her acting career. To make an impression during auditions, the actress says she started playing around with liners and fell in love with emphasizing her eyes.

“The first thing I really started doing consistently was eye makeup,” Sunday recalls. “That was the first time I ever understood shaping my face. Acting was how I would change my appearance, typically with some simple eyeliner and a little bit of blush. It was very rudimentary, humble beginnings.”

Now, Sunday dials up the drama with color on her eyes (sometimes even using a fun eyeshadow as liner!) and finds it hard to resist a fun gloss on her lips . She cites the Lip Idôle JuicyTreat Lip Oil Gloss ($32) as a bag and beauty staple, no matter what.

“I’m always going to be a lip girl. My lips take like 50% of my face,” she jokes, “so I have to make sure I moisturize and gloss it. If I have nothing else on my face, the lip gloss is going to lift me for the day.” Sunday’s makeup in the campaign — done by her MUA Pauly Blanch — featured the gloss in the shade 10 Pink Ôh La La, alongside the brand’s Idôle Café Crush Eyeshadow Palette.

Her base, however, has always focused on bringing out the best in her skin. “I use a lot of color on my eyes and my lips, but my base is pretty simple because I’ve always appreciated looking like myself,” she adds. “I love that Lancôme’s products helped me do that in such an easy, effortless way.”

In addition to the JuicyTreats Lip Oil Gloss, Sunday’s face glows with the one-two punch of the Absolue Soft Cream Moisturizer ($280) and the Absolue The Eye Cream ($180), both of which fight the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and give the skin a luminous appearance at every age.

“I’m always sad to accidentally skip one of the creams when I’m rushing because then it just feels like my face is falling apart,” she says. “There’s no way. I can’t go through the day without my ultra moisturizers.”

For Sunday, each birthday represents a new confidence chapter and she chooses to view aging as something to celebrate.

“I first off embrace every year of my life. I can never be sad that I’m getting older, because I’ve also been bolder,” she explains. “I’ve been directing and producing, and that is showing a boldness in me because I’ve struggled with imposter syndrome for years, so the campaign resonates with me deeply because Lancôme is empowering me to really believe in myself.”

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Though “being in the trenches of the entertainment industry” can sometimes make Sunday “hyper aware of how people are receiving me,” she doesn’t allow it to make her insecure.

“I think it’s really important to be on the other side of it and say, it’s beautiful to see that your face is changing, that you aren’t going to be the same person for a hundred years of your life. That we can change and grow with our face and our body,” she concludes. “It’s a privilege to live life and to have it reflect on you. You’re a capsule for a lot of memories, and I can only wish to embrace it every day.”