Leighton Meester is the cover girl for Cosmopolitan UK’s September issue, which is on sale Monday. The Gossip Girl star has been busy filming scenes for the show in NYC and Paris, and will be heading to LA this weekend for the Teen Choice Awards. She found time to chat with the magazine about high school, beauty, singing and kissing. Here are the highlights:

• On playing a mean character: “I am living my dream and having the time of my life! I’m lucky because I get to do that all day long and play a character who has a lot of noble qualities as well. I am really lucky she is such a well-written character.”
• On whether people expect she will be like Blair in real life: “Most people just run away, so perhaps that’s what they’re thinking! I think for the most part people understand that it’s just a character.”
• On wherther her high school experience was similar to Gossip Girl: “The complete opposite, to be honest. I had lived in NYC before but not in the Upper East Side – it was in the Upper West Side, which was very different. When I was a teenager I was in a public high school. I certainly was not popular by any means, and I didn’t have a car or a lot of money, so it was very different.”

To find out Leighton’s plans for singing, her beauty regime and icons, how she stays fit, and who is the best kisser on Gossip Girl, just read more.

• On who is the best kisser on the show: “Me, of course.”
• On whether she has plans to do more singing: “Yes, of course… I like to make music – I love to sing and write, and I love to perform, so I’m trying to figure out the release of my album. I have enough songs I feel comfortable putting out, and I want to do it the right way.”
• On her beauty regime: “As far as beauty goes, I never wear makeup when I’m not working. Very rarely I’ll put on a little bit of concealer here and there and maybe some red lipstick just to make it look like I made the effort – it does wonders.”
• On her beauty icon: “I really love Julianne Moore for having fair skin and a really beautiful smile. I love Cate Blanchett because she glows from within. And I love how Helen Mirren has aged so gracefully. She’s gorgeous and quite sexy.”
• On what she does to keep fit and healthy: “Exercise is fun when it doesn’t feel like exercise. Swimming, walking around a new city while travelling and cycling are all great.”

Source: Pop Sugar