When Pamela Anderson jetted off to Paris for Paris Fashion Week, she wasn’t planning on going makeup-free for the shows, but it felt right. In a new Get Ready With Me video for Vogue France, the actor and writer got real about the reason why she’s been skipping makeup these days, and in true Anderson fashion, it’s as unfiltered and free-spirited as you can imagine.

“I didn’t come to Paris Fashion Week and think, ‘I’m not gonna wear makeup,'” Anderson says as she prepares for the Vivienne Westwood show. “Something kind of came over me and I was dressing in these beautiful clothes and I thought, ‘I don’t want to compete with the clothes.’ I’m not trying to be the prettiest girl in the room.” The star is fresh out of the bath with her blonde hair air dried and only moisturizer on her face — that’s it. “I’m not into the makeup look right now,” she says, adding that she doesn’t have a glam team or a stylist.

According to Anderson, her makeup-free status — which has gathered a lot of attention in recent weeks — is a less of a statement and more of an “experiment”; it’s a way for her to be “a little bit rebellious” in such a public, camera-heavy event like Paris Fashion Week. It’s also part of her current attitude toward aging and loving herself for exactly who she is. “You have to challenge beauty sometimes. If we all chase youth or our idea of what beauty is … we’re only going to be disappointed and maybe a little bit sad,” she explains. Anderson did question her decision at first, but then she decided to roll with it. “I’m just being me, who I am, in all these great clothes running around Paris. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my own skin.”

For the Vivienne Westwood show, Anderson does apply just the teeniest, tiniest bit of mascara alongside her homemade rose oil, which she applies all over her face. As she preps for the show, she reveals that Victoria Beckham gave her a bunch of products from her eponymous beauty line, but she hasn’t used any of it.