Cosmo: Describe your everyday makeup routine.
Denise Richards: During the day I don't wear much makeup. But I always curl my lashes, even if I don't put on mascara. I'll also put on a lip gloss or lip balm. And I always brush my eyebrows. I have very thick eyebrows — I'm just now starting to thin them out a bit.

C: Is that a lifelong struggle?

DR: Everyone wants to pluck them. I thinned them out real thin once and it just didn't look like me. I know it was in style to have really thin eyebrows, but it didn't look right on my face.

C: Do you do anything different with your makeup on a big night out?

DR: At night, I definitely like more eyes. The makeup artists have been putting little eyelashes on, which are fun. I love all that, getting my hair done. Every photo shoot, I'm always asking the makeup artist what they're using on me, and I'll go out and get it. My favorite part of these awards shows is getting ready! As a little girl I loved the thought of playing dress-up and getting ready.

C: When did that start?

DR: I don't know — I was a tomboy when I was real little, I was the only girl on baseball, and then something changed, and I just started to get really girlie.

C: Did your parents give you talks about sex?

DR: My sister and I were good kids. But my parents weren't closed off about that stuff. When we were old enough to understand, we had the birds-and-bees talk. Looking back, they knew where we were, what we were doing. Being a teenager, I would think they were real strict, and I would get upset, but I'm glad they were like that. They didn't let us do whatever we wanted. We weren't allowed to date until we were, like, juniors in high school.

C: Was that frustrating?

DR: Yeah, that's why we'd sneak out of the house and hang out with groups of friends. But looking back I'm glad they did it. Sixteen seems young to go on a date. We had a curfew.

C: When was your first kiss?

DR: I was in sixth grade. And then I didn't kiss a boy until I was in high school.

C: What's the biggest scam move you ever did to get out of a goodnight kiss?

DR: Turning my head. A date once leaned in to kiss me, and he ended up kissing my cheek. He was a little offended, but I didn't want to kiss him just to not hurt his feelings.

C: You and your boyfriend, actor Patrick Muldoon (Starship Troopers, Melrose Place), are pretty serious.

DR: He's my first serious, adult relationship, and we've known each other a long time.

C: Is dating actors different?

DR: I think it's good because they understand when you have to be out of town. Patrick and I have a great, healthy relationship whether we're actors or not.

C: What do you value in your relationship?

DR: Trust is important. And he's literally one of my best friends, too. He's a good person, we're very good friends to each other. I think it's good to have someone that you can be a best friend to and talk about everything, and then have that fun side, and do romantic things together.

C: You guys seem pretty physical with each other.

DR: We're very affectionate! In public, and behind closed doors. If people saw us, they'd probably think like, huh! But we love to kiss, we love to hold hands, we love to hug, we love to tell each other more than once a day that we love each other. But it's really real.