(Disclaimer: I do have Teanna’s consent to post the images on designated websites including Facebook, Instagram, WordPress, and use in my digital portfolio.)
Halsey is joining Rihanna, Selena Gomez, and Millie Bobbie Brown with the curation and launch of her very own beauty brand, About-Face. The award-winning artist has been hinting about her latest project for months through mysterious posts on social media. Now, all has finally been revealed.
Welcome to Artist Spotlight #38 series on my blog.
About-Face launched with three distinct franchises: Light Lock, Matte, and Shadowstick. The Light Lock assortment includes face highlighters with ultimate shine in stick, powder, fluid, and lip gloss form. The Matte range includes velvety finishes with products like the Paint-It Matte Lip Colors, Matte Fix Lip Pencils, and Fluid Eye Paint. Lastly, Shadowsticks are precise cream shadow crayons in soft pastel colors. The launch includes ten different products in an array of colors across each category. All About-Face products are vegan, cruelty-free, and formulated without gluten, phthalates, parabens, or synthetic fragrances.
Keeping to her vision of self-love, identity, and reflection, about-face is a creation of Ashley Frangipane (Halsey’s birth name), with the brand’s initials being a reflection of her own. The beauty brand focuses on a collection that is “For everyone, for everywhere, for every way with a dedication to products that are as edgy and non-conforming as the voice behind it,” according to the press release.
Serving as founder and Chief Creative Officer, Halsey has had her hands in every step of the curation and launch, even stating on Twitter that she did the makeup and photos for all the models during the campaign. So far, the campaign has featured people of various backgrounds and identities, emphasizing the theme of multi-dimensional makeup for everyone.
About-Face officially launched on January 25, 2021, on aboutface.com. The line includes affordable items that range from $14 to $32.
FACE
About-Face wants you to embrace your inner light with their face products that feature shimmery colors and pigments that will leave you “Straight Beaming!” Featuring products like the Matte Fix Spray ($28), the Light Lock Highlighting Fluid ($32), the Light Lock Powder ($30), and the Light Lock Stock ($25). Each Light Lock product includes at least three varying shades from light sheer to a deeper bronze.
Light Lock Powder
A crazy smooth highlighter powder that transforms for a glass-like finish.
Often one to rock a bold look, Halsey curated lip products with bold shade ranges that highlight a deep wine red, a matte burnt beige, a light pale pink, and more. Featuring products like the Light Lock Lip Gloss ($20), the Paint-it Matte Lip Color ($22), and the Matte Fix Lip Pencil ($17).
Paint-It Matte Lip Color
A flexible, matte liquid formula infused with natural peppermint with a powerful pigment load.
Currently, About-Face offers two eye products that provide a bold matte finish, a saturated matte look, or a pearlescent shimmer—featuring products like the Matte Fluid Eye Paint ($24) and the Shadowstick ($21). The smooth, buildable Matte Fluid Eye Paint pigment comes in six shades described as a “one-swipe color” that is smudge and budge-proof. The Shadowstick contains both matte and shimmery shades that can be used as eyeliner, eyeshadow, or truly whatever you choose.
Shadowstick
An insanely pigmented, one-stroke eye crème with a built in sharpener.
(Disclaimer: I do have Kaleigh’s consent to post her images on designated websites including Facebook, Instagram, WordPress, and use in my digital portfolio.)
Just as Harris Reed’s clothing offers an important voice in the conversation around the way we define masculinity and gender identity in fashion, a limited-edition collaboration with MAC Cosmetics created by the 24-year-old British-American designer is set to redefine the way we approach makeup.
Welcome to Artist Spotlight #37 series on my blog.
“Beauty is fluid, beauty is for everyone and I can’t wait to see how people are going to use this collection to show their version of self-expression and fluidity,” Harris toldVogue, practically shrieking down the phone with excitement. “That’s what I’m super excited about.”
“My first experiences with makeup were with my friends at a MAC store getting ready for prom and it was the brand that I first saw putting make-up on ‘boys’’, they explain, citing MAC as the perfect partner. “For it to even trust me, and take on my strong-ass message of fighting for fluidity, I have to say, has just felt like the most beautiful partnership.”
One of Harris’s personal highlights to come from the collaboration is that it will enable their hundreds of thousands of followers the opportunity to own their own part of the Harris Reed brand and feel included in its wider message. “It’s such an emotional thing for me. I’ve been so incredibly lucky that millions of people have seen the things I’ve worked on and have been a part of, but have maybe until now they’ve not been able to buy into it. This is now something that anyone can get their hands on and be a part of. It doesn’t feel real, it feels crazy.”
The millennial-pink packaged collection is made up of four products, each of which offers a plethora of possibilities to play around with. A smudge of one shade into your hairline could work mixed with another swept over your eyelids for a trip to the shop – just as Harris did when creating the palettes. Though MAC has a history of being used by professionals, this collection has a level of tactility to it that the least acquainted with makeup can become quickly familiar with. The fact that there are no application brushes is deliberate – Harris prefers the human touch.
“It is very much about a playfulness and the joy of makeup,” Harris continues. “As someone who makes clothes that take a couple of weeks to produce, if I want to make a statement with makeup, it literally takes me seconds with a good lipstick or eyeshadow. As I have pushed this idea of a more fluid space in a more fluid world, I’ve really loved that makeup can always be that gorgeous icing on top. It doesn’t only complete the look but, it also completes the message, acting as that extra ounce of light to help radiate what I stand for.”
Much like their clothing, the inspiration behind the colours and products is a major meeting of eras and aesthetics, resulting in an overall “glam-luxe romanticism gone non-binary,” they say. “It is a mix between Studio 54 and rococo, but also think a full renaissance party. You can start with this very beautiful, very whimsical approach and then by the end you can end up with this Studio-54-inspired gold eyeshadow all over your face, even pushing up to the hairline.” Their hero product? A trio of lipsticks called ‘From Harris, With Love’ that reminds them of their first forays into makeup and looking at lipsticks with their mum as a child. “I know those are the ones that I will keep on me at a party, applying, applying and applying.”
Harris’s own approach to beauty and using makeup for themselves has shifted as their sense of self has grown — most notably after they started at Central Saint Martins, emerged in London’s creative scene. Yet they weren’t always so comfortable and forthcoming with using products for themselves. “Being around fabulously flamboyant people really pushed me in the way that I wanted to express myself in terms of my gender identity and being creative across so many areas,” they said.
“[Wearing makeup] has made me have a much more honest approach to my identity. Like anything, it can be scary if you’re not familiar with it. The minute I thought of makeup as a tool to use to send a message and spark a story, was when I started having a way more playful approach. It gave me a space to feel that everything was okay. It definitely was a journey and now I realise that you write your own rulebook.”
The four-piece collection is a small but mighty push for us all to rethink how we use and approach makeup. Harris doesn’t see using cosmetics any differently to employing a fabulous fashion accessory when putting an outfit together. “I think if I, and this collection, can be of any influence to make people look at makeup as a tool to be who you want to be, then that’s job done,” they said.
“Try and not think of makeup as something that makes you look ‘pretty’ and try and not look at it as something that you use to make yourself better, but to explore and enhance something within you. Use makeup as a tool to be your most authentic self.”
(Disclaimer: I do have Patricia’s consent to post her images on designated websites including Facebook, Instagram, WordPress, and use in my digital portfolio.)
(Disclaimer: I do have Charlotte’s consent to post her images on designated websites including Facebook, Instagram, WordPress, and use in my digital portfolio.)
Self-Taught. Makeup Artist. Photographer. Entrepreneur. Founder. Mother. Black woman.
In a world focused on labels, Danessa Myricks has continuously broken boundaries and built a world of beauty for people from all races, ages and genders.
Welcome to Artist Spotlight #34 series on my blog.
Starting out as a self-taught makeup artist, Danessa learned how to use products in unconventional ways to create stunning looks. Ignoring industry norms, she began to teach other artists about her techniques and product selections, and created a name for herself in the beauty world. After turning heads at some of the largest brands, Danessa led product development for some of the most successful launches in history at brands like KISS and Benefit Cosmetics. But she knew the world of makeup still felt exclusive to many, so she decided to launch her own brand, Danessa Myricks Beauty. Every product developed by Danessa and her team isn’t designed for just one application. All products by Danessa Myricks Beauty are multi-functional and created to work in multiple places and on all faces. Creatively combining artistry with product manipulation, she designs and launches some of the most high-performance products on the market.
Danessa has created looks for celebrities, worked with entertainers in music and film and collaborates with other brands and artists to push the beauty industry forward. She trains makeup artists and enthusiasts worldwide and continues to create some of the most innovative and inclusive beauty products on the market. But the most rewarding part of her work is hearing from people who felt underrepresented, unseen or ignored by beauty brands who finally land at a brand made for all, Danessa Myricks Beauty.
Beauty can feel like an exclusive world. Danessa Myricks Beauty was founded on the principle that race, gender, age and personal style should not limit anyone from experimenting with makeup and discovering their signature look. When we launched we reimagined what makeup can be and developed innovative multifunctional products that work everyplace on every face. Our high-performing products give makeup artists and consumers alike the freedom to play outside the box.
“As a self-taught artist with limited resources, I had to get creative with the products I had access to. Over the years I learned how to create stunning looks while using products in unconventional ways. When I launched my own brand I knew I didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing. I wanted every person to feel like they had found a brand that represented them and gave them freedom to enjoy makeup. I love that no one else makes products like we do and we will continually strive to innovate in the beauty space.”
Danessa Myricks Beauty has taken makeup out of the box.
All are invited to discover an inclusive world of beauty with no boundaries.
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Beauty model and make-up artist Ali Hicks, 19 (who prefers to go by the mononym Ali), has begun showing her work IRL, adorning Rina Sawayama’s face with delicate peace signs during fashion week in 2019, and appearing in a Maybelline campaign earlier this year. But the bulk of her creations should be consumed on Instagram, where the Columbus, Georgia-based artist shows off her original, avant-garde make-up looks.
They include electric eyeshadows, larger-than-life lashes, butterfly- or flower-festooned faces, and glitter galore. Ali, who goes by the handle @sweetmutuals, uses make-up as a catalyst to catch her followers’ attention and draw them into important conversations, among them protecting Black women, supporting Black-owned businesses, voting, and saving the USPS.
Welcome to Artist Spotlight #33 series on my blog.
With nearly 200,000 followers, Ali views her Instagram handle as an homage to the love she has for her followers. “When I first started posting my editorial looks, I had a wonderful response, I had a lot of support. The reason why I have such a big following is because of my mutual followers,” Ali tells Vogue over Zoom from her home. “They’re my mutuals because we follow each other. They’re sweet because basically, they gave me the platform that I have today. So, Sweet Mutuals.”
Ali was first inspired by her mother’s approach to beauty. “I grew up reading Essence magazine because of my mom’s subscription. I saw all of these beautiful Black women with bold make-up looks,” she remembers. Ali would regularly watch her mother do her make-up, and accompany her on shopping trips. “She had MAC back when MAC first came out, and we would always go to the MAC store to pick out one little item for her. I remember her picking out lipsticks and being like, ‘Well, I want to wear lipstick now, too.’ ” The employees said Ali was too young to have lipstick, so they gave her a MAC chapstick. “I thought I was the ish,” Ali says, laughing. She finally got her chance to put on lipstick at age four, when she went to go see Barney. “I had this desire to put it on myself. No one else could do it for me,” she recalls. “I looked a mess, but that wasn’t the point. I was always obsessed with make-up.”
The obsession carried over into middle school, when she consumed YouTube tutorials from Jackie Aina and Alissa Ashley. “I didn’t have a lot of my own makeup at the time, but I did know how to paint. I’ve loved to draw ever since I learned how to hold a pencil. I’ve always been an artist first,” she says. These days, her greatest canvas is her own face, and she loves to freestyle. “I get a general picture in my head and I try to recreate it to the best of my abilities,” she explains. “Most of my make-up looks are really just me winging it.”
When building her looks, Ali’s go-tos include Fenty Beauty, HipDot palettes, Milk Makeup Star Tattoo stamps, ColourPop’s brushes, MAC’s Lipglass lip gloss, and Wet Liners from Glisten Cosmetics. When she’s not creating new looks, Ali keeps her skin make-up-free so it stays clear. “Maybe I’ll pop on star stickers and lipgloss but that’s about it,” she says, though she adds that she’s diligent about her water intake, eating fruits, and maintaining her skin-care regimen. “I use Patrick Starrr’s mist, and it takes your make-up off.”
She also uses make-up wipes and micellar water, twice, to ensure the make-up comes completely off. “I go in the shower, wash my body. Afterwards, I take a clean cloth and rub off any excess make-up. Then I wash my face.” Such a thorough job is needed, especially when removing glitter or FX glue.
Ali plans to continue reinventing herself. “I have a Walmart bag full of different items and different goodies. I’ve posted a few and have a few up my sleeve that I’m saving,” she says. “I’m going to make my make-up looks more like a photo shoot rather than just me posting in my bathroom. I have backdrops,” she says. It’s clear she’s excited about what’s next: “I have a whole little set-up, I have different coloured filters for my studio light… I’m going to be imitating different magazines, and instead of the original person in the magazine, it’s going to be me,” she says. After all, she’s her No. 1 muse.
(Disclaimer: I do have Charlotte’s consent to post her images on designated websites including Facebook, Instagram, WordPress, and use in my digital portfolio.)
