Megan Thee Stallion: Why She's Trademarking "Hot Girl Summer"

To say that Megan Thee Stallion is having an amazing 2019 is both true and an understatement at the same time. She went from being a relatively underground rapper to having three hits on the Billboard charts, gaining a spot on XXL's Freshman list (which has been known as being a bit of a boys' club), and winning her very first MTV Video Music Award for best power anthem. The song? "Hot Girl Summer," a collaboration with Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign. The title also happens to share the catchphrase she coined (and has now filed for a trademark), which, unless you've completely avoided the internet for the past few months, you've seen everywhere. The cherry on top? Sis just signed on to Roc Nation for management.

All season long, my Instagram feed has been filled with someone either quoting or lip-synching to her hit "Cash Shit" or twerking videos set to "Freak Nasty." Images from her extremely body-positive blaxploitation-inspired music video for "Realer" were all over Twitter when it debuted this summer. The world is falling for Megan Thee Stallion, whose star is so far on the rise, you can count Drake, Ciara, Lizzo, and more as fans. Oh, and on top of that, she's currently enrolled in online classes at Texas Southern University to complete her degree in health administration.

It's hard to imagine being a budding superstar and a college student at the same time, but for Megan Thee Stallion, along with her hottie parties, video shoots, touring, and twerking so low you wonder if her knees are actually made of vibranium, it's just all a part of life. A very busy life at that. So much so that when Megan came for a quick shoot in our beauty studio, it was in, out, and on to the next. We did, however, manage to get her thoughts on Texas beauty, how anime inspires her hair looks, and, of course, filing for that trademark.

So before we officially transition from a "Hot Girl Summer" to a "Hot Nerd Semester," read on to learn all about Megan's ideas on beauty, her drugstore must-haves, and her journey into a more eco-friendly lifestyle.

ALLURE: You've blown up in the past year and the phrase you coined, hot girl summer, is being used by just about everyone. Why was it important for you to trademark it and how do you feel about the fact that it's caught on in such a huge way?

Megan Thee Stallion: I really didn't even know that it was gonna catch on how it did. It was just me talking shit, telling everybody I was gonna be me for the summer, and they should be them too, like as free as they can be. When I saw Wendy's and Forever 21 saying, "Hey, are you having a Hot Girl Summer?" I was like, "Hell no, Forever 21, you're going to have to pay me." But I just wanted to get it trademarked because it's me. It's my thing."

ALLURE: How did you come up with the name "Hot Girl/Hottie" for your fan base?

MS: I'm a hot girl. It's only right that [my fans] be hotties. I actually gave them a chance to vote for what they wanted it to be, maybe in 2017. It was like between Stallionaires and some whole other shit. I was like, "Oh, hell no, you guys are going to be Hotties regardless of what you are all talking about." But it [wound up being the] majority; they picked Hotties.

ALLURE: What's your beauty routine for getting ready for a hottie party?

MS: We've definitely got to have the music blasting, definitely got to be driving the boat. And definitely got to have a lot of lip gloss and shit. So you can be popping.

ALLURE: A lot of your hairstyles take inspiration from anime characters. Which characters, in particular, inspire your hair looks?

MS: I love Bulma from Dragon Ball Z. She's just a bad bitch. Blue is my favorite color, so it just easily wins. And I like wearing my hair in ponytails and buns a lot; she wears her hair in ponytails and buns a lot. Inuyasha is one of my favorite animes. His hair is long and white. I love white/blonde hair. So definitely, that was a no-brainer. I'm just always watching [anime], so I just get inspired and I'll probably tell Jonathan or Alonzo [her hairstylists] like, "Hey, this is what I want to go for today," or "Let's try this wig next week." Then they'll just make it.

ALLURE: Who are your biggest beauty influences?

MS: I really like Pam Grier's whole Coffy aesthetic. It's just natural. It's not even anything that they were overdoing back then. I really like that natural beauty kind of thing. But at the same time, I really like thick, winged eyeliner. I used to watch a lot of Egyptian movies so I get a lot of my inspiration from stuff like that.

ALLURE: What's a beauty tip you've discovered since being on the road?

MS: Not having to use a big mirror to do your makeup. Now I can literally do my makeup in a small compact mirror.

ALLURE: What are your beauty must-haves for the road?

MS: Black liquid eyeliner, Fenty foundation, and lip liner.

ALLURE:A lot of your brand is about positivity and women supporting women. What beauty tips have you learned from women close to you in your life?

MS: I would definitely say one of the things that I pick up from my friends is how they take their pictures. And those mother fuckers, they know their angles so good. Also one of my friends, she doesn't even use tweezers to put on her eyelashes. She just does it with her fingers. So one day I was messing around and I was like, "Damn, I've got to learn how to do that." So now I can do my eyelashes with my fingers. If you have to do them real quick in a jam and you don't have any tweezers, you better use those nails.

ALLURE: What are some of your favorite drugstore beauty products? Any ride-or-die ones you used while in school?

MS: I don't ever think I say this right. I don't know if it's "nicks" or if it's "N-Y-X." Okay, so it's Nyx. I always use their lip liner, just a brown lip pencil. I love beauty supply lip gloss. Any cheap, 99-cent lip gloss. I use it, it stays on all day. You can eat anything and it will still be on your lips. You can drink anything, it's still on there. Beauty supply lip gloss is lit. I would buy that before I would buy some $20 one.

ALLURE: We've seen you pushing your Hotties to be eco-friendly. What inspired that? What kind of changes have you started to make in your life? Have you been looking into clean beauty products?

MS: So one day I was on Twitter and we were just having a random conversation about "Hot Girl Summer," and this girl tweeted, "Hey, Megan, I know you're having a Hot Girl Summer, but can we please do something about the environment? I don't have a big platform and I just want to talk about it. Please help. Somebody needs to listen." So I was like, "Well shit, you're right. But what can we do? Can you just put up some things that the Hotties as a group can start doing to help the cause?" There were like so many. I didn't even know I had this many vegan Hotties and this many eco-friendly Hotties. There were just so many people coming to me with tips.

I saw somebody teaching us about using metal straws, and somebody letting us know the importance of recycling and everything. So definitely now when I'm drinking out of something plastic, I'm at the airport looking for the recycling bin. Someone bought me a metal canister for my water, so now I try to use that more than just drinking out of water bottles.

Going vegan is hard. I'm like a pescatarian now. I'll eat vegan food. Definitely, it's really good. But being on the road, it's really hard to just only find vegan options. So definitely living that pescatarian lifestyle right now.

ALLURE: How has growing up in Houston affected how you see beauty? What is "Texas" beauty to you?

MS:Texas beauty is just exaggerated. Either you are very Southern, I feel like over-the-top pageant [looks], big hair, and French-tip nails — things like that. Or you're like, natural, big, thick type beauty. You know what I'm saying? I feel like I'm somewhere in the middle because I love exaggerated eyeliner and I love big lashes. But I still don't even know how to beat my friends down as a regular makeup artist would. I cut corners — people think my makeup is so nice and they think I probably do so much to get that look. I'm not even using the right brushes. I know I'm not. But it just comes out good.

ALLURE: A lot of your fans on social media have mentioned that you've got a very body-positive vibe. Many have said you make them feel confident about being tall and thick, and after the video for "Realer" came out a lot of people appreciated that you used women with realistic bodies. What does body positivity mean to you and why is it important for you to promote it?

MS: All my life my parents have always told me, "Oh, Megan, you're so awesome" or "Oh, Megan, you look so good." They put that confidence in me and they made me feel good about myself. There was nothing that I ever wanted to change about myself. I feel like all girls should feel like that — super confident about themselves. I don't know if nobody told them that they look good as hell when they were growing up. If I've got a voice to tell the ladies they look good and they don't need to change shit then that's what I want to do. I want to make everybody feel like how my parents made me feel.

I can confirm: Megan is definitely making me and many other Hotties feel confident and like the baddest chicks on the daily.

Learn more makeup tips and techniques:

• The 45 Best Foundation Tips From Makeup Artists
• How to Blend Your Eye Shadow Like a Pro Makeup Artist
• The 101 Best Eye Makeup Tips We’ve Ever Heard

Watch someone get turned into a living firework with makeup:

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