I relate! I mean, Covergirl’s Lash Blast Volume Mascara ($5) in the orange tube was the first mascara I religiously used growing up, and I still love and wear it to this day. It’s truly one of my favorite mascaras ever, and I’m a beauty editor and literally try new mascaras every single day [laughs].
Yes!!
Okay. If you had to choose your top three Covergirl products, what would they be, and why?
Okay. The Clean Fresh Tinted Lip Balm ($5). I’ve been using it a lot for carpets recently, and I especially love the shade called Made for Peach. I’ll line my lips, and then I just put that in the middle, and I’ve been using that for everything. I swear by it. I’ve always been a big fan of the Clean Fresh Mascara ($11), but I also like to use the Exhibitionist Mascara ($12). So either of those! It depends on the day. I’ll use Clean Fresh for a normal day around town—going to the studio or a recording session. But then I’ll reach for the Exhibitionist if I want to kick it up a notch or am getting ready for more press or a show. It’s super easy to layer, and you just get these bigger, longer, fuller lashes.
Speaking of shows… Your makeup always looks freshly applied even when you’ve been on the stage performing and sweating. Selfishly, I just really need to know how you’re setting your makeup to keep it looking so fresh.
I’m always kind of changing it up, and I love to experiment with makeup. I’m just always trying to find what will work best for me. Recently, I’ve been using a blurring primer from Murad to prep my skin instead of going in afterward with a powder. I prefer a glowy look, and I like when the natural oil can come through. I think your skin just looks really healthy and hydrated that way. So I use a base layer of the Invisiblur Perfecting Shield ($66), and that helps my foundation or tinted sunscreen—whatever I’m wearing that day—go on smoother and not have quite as much of a sheen.
Well, I’m officially influenced [laughs]. Pivoting! This is a fun one. Is there anything about your beauty routine you think would surprise people?
Yeah! For the first few years of doing shoots and being an artist and working with my makeup artist Kelsey Deenihan, she always tried to get me to use blush. And I hated it. Like, I absolutely refused to wear blush until probably three years ago.
And now, here you are telling me right off that bat that it’s one of the only products you’ll put on when you’re flying out the door!
It’s so funny! I don’t know what changed, but now if I have anything on my face, it’s blush. I think it’s because I had one really bad first red carpet experience where someone did my makeup, and if you look at the photos, it just looked crazy. So afterward, there was this pendulum swing where I was like … “Absolutely not.” [laughs] But now, it’s my go-to.
I think it also really depends on how and where you apply it on your face. Your features and bone structure can really change the way blush looks, which I don’t think people always realize.
Yes!
Moving on to hair… I was chatting with my fellow beauty editors, and we were all talking about how amazing your hair is—you have the best beachy waves. Secret styling tips? Product intel? Please share.
Well, first of all … It’s just not all mine [laughs], and I’m super honest about that. I have really, really thin hair, and it’s pretty damaged. So I use extensions to just help filter out the heat, but I have fallen in love with a couple of things: the Revlon Hot Air Brush ($35) because I’ve tried to give myself blowouts with a regular dryer and brush for years, and I just can’t do it. It gets tangled, and it becomes a huge mess, so I use the Revlon brush like twice a week, and that has been on of my favorite things. And then if I’m doing the beachy waves, I’ll take the Kristin Ess Defining + Detailing Mini Flat Iron ($60), and I just go back and forth! I’ll finish with a nice texture spray, and honestly, the second day of that is the best. The first day, it looks a little too “done” for my taste, but the second day is the perfect messy bed head.
