Spend 10 minutes on the phone with Nicole Kidman, and the secrets of her success will become evident: be kind, sleep. Throw parties. Dress up. Wear sunscreen.

Oh, and posses a charisma so irresistible that not even an extended pitch on the merits of Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Regenerating Cream can diminish it.

Kidman, who reps Neutrogena and does convince me to purchase the brand's Sheer Zinc Dry-Touch Sunscreen in under 90 seconds, reaches me just over 48 hours before she will take home an Emmy for Best Lead Actress in a Limited Series at the awards over the weekend. The interview has been scheduled so that we can discuss skincare, an in-depth conversation that Kidman's poreless complexion deserves. Still, I plan to move on from that — chit-chat about retinols and then ask hard-hitting questions about creative collaboration, roles for women in Hollywood, the provenance of Renata Adler's sweaters.

But the minutes tick on, and I can't seem to pivot. Because when Kidman gushes over serums and sunscreens, she sneaks in her own observations — on love, her kids, her time, how she feels about sex, age, celebrations, womanhood. And truly, I shouldn't be surprised. It's that instinct to fill in the picture — to shade the details — that makes Kidman so good at her job. It's why she wins awards. It's why when I leave her to her pre-Emmy ministrations, I feel drunk and a little in love.

Anyway, it's all for the best. If I had switched gears, how would we ever know that Nicole Kidman plans to dress up like a sexy rag doll for Halloween?

How do you feel about the companies that have begun to swap out terms like "anti-aging" for phrases like "restorative" or "radiance-boosting"? Can changing the language brands use affect how women feel about themselves?

I think what it does is take the focus off the number; it just says, "I embrace my age, I embrace who I am, I'm living my life as fully as I can," and it's that simple. You're going to have wrinkles; it's about how do you lessen them or repair them or make them so that you feel good about it. I think so much of it is based on that sort of inner sense of health, so that you glow. Probably the biggest compliment someone can give you is, "Gosh, you look great. You don't look tired." Particularly as a mom — that's the best.

You've talked before about sex and womanhood and how the two affect each other. Has your attitude to them changed at all as you've gotten older?

I mean, it hasn't. I still feel vibrant and alive that way. I'm in a marriage where we put an enormous amount into our marriage. I always say, there's me, there's my husband, and then there's the "us," the us that we create. That's what we really take care of. We never, ever take it for granted. We do everything we can to be together, not to be separated for periods of time. We're just a very, very tight family unit, and we're really kind to each other. I think it's so underrated; people don't appreciate the necessity of that in society now. You know, my husband can make me feel beautiful just by saying something, and that is the loveliest thing.

But are there any treatments or skincare experiments that you look back on and think, "God, no matter what, I wish I hadn't done that"?

When I did BMX Bandits, they put pipe cleaners in my hair because they thought it would be like a big fashion [moment]. I wish they hadn't done that to me. It was ridiculous. It did not look good. But I do think I shouldn't have straightened my hair as much, let it stay curly more. I wish I had just embraced the curl.

You're in the midst of one of the most incredible seasons of your career. Professionally or personally, what do you think you're better at now than you were when you were just starting out?

Saying no and compartmentalizing things, realizing, "I can go to sleep now and deal with this in the morning," which I never used to be able to do. I would be up all night. I just did go, "Okay, sleep is important. My time now is important. I've got to take care of myself." I think a lot of women think, "I'll take care of myself last because I'm strong and I can take it. I'll just push through." And I've gotten a lot better at realizing, "No, actually, I need to focus on myself now."

Especially in these dire times. Women need to be able to separate themselves from the crisis.

Yes, I think a lot of women worry because that's the nature of who we are. If you're intuitive and you have a desire for people to be happy and you want equilibrium and you want life to be good, then you'll worry. But we need to embrace the idea that, "No, I'm putting that aside, over there, in a box. I'll open that box when I wake up in the morning and deal with it then." I really find that men tend to do that, and it's great to be able to do. And then deal with it then — don't not deal with it. But wait. You tend to have more peace. You tend to have more time. And you have more to give because you haven't run yourself ragged.

So, dumpster fires and anxieties aside, what are you really looking forward to?

Gosh, we have a huge Halloween party, which my kids are looking forward to. We were trying on our Halloween costumes two nights ago, and I'm excited about that. We invite a huge number of people — huge. And I'm all about having more parties. My girlfriend just called me and told me she's going to have a big holiday party in December, and I'm like fabulous. More parties! I used to be so much more, like, "No, no, no, let's just be quiet." And now I'm embracing the parties.

Can you reveal your costume?

I'm going to be a sort of sexy rag doll.

Oh my god, is this a group costume? Is everyone going to be a rag doll?

Yes, not too sexy! Tasteful, but a little twist.

This interview has been edited and condensed.