Halsey on the Meaning Behind Her “Manic” Makeup—And Why She Uses 6 Different Highlighters

[soft music]

Hey guys, I'm Halsey and I'm going to be showing you guys

some of my skincare and recreating the makeup look

from my third album cover, Manic.

I did that makeup look myself so I'm really excited

to show you guys how I did it.

One of the first things that I'm gonna be using

is this Image skincare face wash, it's my go-to.

I literally order it online everywhere I am,

and I take like six bottles with me

if I'm going to a new country.

So usually, first thing in the morning,

I try to use a more gentle cleanser

because I'm not taking off all of my makeup

from the night before.

But when I'm getting off of stage and I have all that

sweat and makeup and everything like deep in my pores,

I'll try to wash my face like two or three times

to be honest with you.

I love how this feels on my skin, it's super moisturizing.

The next thing I'm gonna use

is this Barbara Sturm Hyaluronic Serum.

I love hyaluronic acid, it's one of my favorite parts

of my skincare routine.

I'm really, really, really into glowy skin.

I find that being a musician and being on red carpets

a lot of time, people really love a matte face,

but I've always loved a really dewy skin,

so these serums are a go-to for me.

I'm using these Glow Drops from Barbara Sturm,

I really love these too.

But when I'm on the road, sleeping on a bus

and stuff like that, you're around like super dirty air

and you're sweating in your makeup on stage every day.

And sometimes you put on a face of makeup in the morning

for your press, and then you add more makeup to it

for your meet and greet, and then you add more makeup

to that for stage and you just have these layers and layers

and layers of gunk on your face.

So it's the most important part for me,

when I'm on the road, is making sure that I cleanse

like a hundred thousand times.

Like I feel like the stock in Neutrogena makeup wipes

has gone up because of me when I'm on tour.

Barbara Sturm moisturizer is like my holy grail product.

I literally put this on like four times a day.

I use it twice on an airplane, once in the morning,

once at night, once in the middle of the day.

I'm like obsessed with it.

Okay, I'm gonna start my makeup and while I'm getting ready

to put my primer on, I'm gonna use this Laneige lip mask.

I've talked about this online like a hundred times,

it's my favorite beauty product,

like my desert island beauty product for sure.

It's supposed to be a mask,

so I think you're supposed to sleep in it,

but I just use it like a lip balm and reapply it

like a hundred times a day.

Okay, the first thing that I'm gonna do

is I'm gonna prime my skin, which is really important

if you're wearing makeup all day long like I am,

because I'm the kind of person who will sweat

or wear my makeup away.

I'm always touching my face,

I'm super not cognizant of having makeup on

so I'm the kind of person who will be like,

Oh my God, that's so crazy, no way

and rub all of it off.

So primer is my best friend.

I'm gonna start with this Marc Jacobs primer.

I'm gonna apply this with a brush.

I like to just kinda paint it in like this.

I always use my hand as a palette too.

Before I was a musician, I was really, really set

on going to art school after high school.

A lot of people don't understand how alike

painting and makeup are.

I mean, a lot of it is knowing colors,

understanding analogous colors.

You know, using green to cancel out red,

using yellows in your blues and purples,

and being good with a brush, which is super, super important

and an underrated beauty skill.

After I put on my primer, I always move to my highlight.

I use like six highlighters in my beauty routine.

I use like liquid, then I use another liquid

over my foundation, and then I use two different

powder highlighters.

My fans are always asking me what highlight I use

and I never know how to answer them,

because the answer is I use seven different ones.

But right now, I'm starting with this Dior one.

So this one, I'm gonna apply with a Beauty Blender

because it really gets it in there

'cause I'm gonna be adding so many different layers.

I start on the tops of my cheekbones and my browbone,

just anywhere that I wanna draw the light.

One of the greatest compliments I've ever gotten in my life

was someone told me that they were seeing my show

in an arena and they were in the section all the way

to the top, and they could still see my highlight.

That was a good compliment.

Okay, time for my favorite part, concealer.

I'm gonna be using two Makeup Forever concealers,

one's a little light, one's a little bit dark.

I'm just gonna take a Beauty Blender

and blend these two together on the back of my hand.

So firstly I'm gonna go in and just get rid of these guys

because they're just staring at me.

For my under eye, I'm gonna use a thicker concealer,

just because I'm suffering a little bit after this flight.

I like a thick concealer for my under eye.

I do, to be honest with you, when I can.

One of my favorite products ever is actually

this Elf eyebrow palette, I've been using it for years.

It's so amazing.

The brow pomade is kind of shiny, which is really important

because your eyebrow hairs are shiny and they catch light.

So in order to make it look a little bit more realistic,

I think that this has some shine in it.

So I'm gonna just put this on an angle brush

with a spoolie on the end.

My brows are really sparse.

I never waxed my brows or threaded them or anything

in my whole life, they just grow like this,

I don't know why.

And of course, big bushy eyebrows came into trend

and I was like ugh!

If skinny, wormy brows ever come back into fashion,

I'm going to be just the It Girl, I promise.

One of the challenges about being a musician

and doing your own makeup is that I find myself

doing my makeup in some of the weirdest places,

like in the back of planes and in the back of cars

and like with a flashlight under the table

during a blackout at a music festival, true story.

But we always find a way to make it work.

While I'm waiting, I'm gonna curl my eyelashes

with this decrepit old eyelash curler

that I love and swear by.

One of my favorite new foundations is actually

the Beauty Blender brand foundation.

It's super awesome, it's like really great coverage

but it's not too, too matte.

I also only use a little tiny bit of it when I'm using it.

Gotta be careful around the freckles so that I don't

completely get rid of them,

because they are an essential part of my face.

Oh, I'm still so glowy, yes!

Nailed it.

I'm actually gonna start using something

kind of unconventional.

This is a Nyx Lip Cream, but when I was trying to find

the perfect blue for the black eye for the album cover,

this one was kind of the one that I loved the most.

So I'm gonna take a little bit of this.

It also is like gooey because it's a gloss,

so it gives it this dewy kind of look.

When I was coming up with the concept for the album cover,

the black eye was a really important part of it,

because I think a black eye is a universally recognized sign

of pain or trauma or abuse, I feel like everyone recognizes

the black eye in that way.

And the album is a lot about me outgrowing some traumas

and some things that have been otherwise holding me back

from feeling like I could really become myself

in my early 20s.

I put out my first album when I was 19,

and I was super confident and super arrogant

and just thought that I was ready

to take on the whole world.

And then I went kind of backwards

as I got into my 20s a little bit more.

And being 25 and putting out an album was hard for me

because I had a new perspective about my femininity,

about my sexuality, about the things that I've been through.

And as a result of that, what I felt like I earned,

earned the right to say, earned the right to stand up for

as a woman, had the space to say all of this on the album.

So I did the black eye and I wanted to do it in glitter,

kind of to take it something...almost like a badge,

a badge of honor for what I've been through.

And through the album cycle, the black eye goes

from black glitter to red glitter to yellow glitter,

which symbolizes the stages of healing

that the bruise goes through.

So hopefully in a year, you guys will see me running around

with a face full of yellow glitter instead.

This is one of my favorite products,

it's Kevin Aucoin contour.

I've used it literally to the pan,

to the pan, like it's a problem.

But it's really one of my favorite, favorite products.

It's my favorite because it's cool toned.

A lot of contours are super warm, so they can make your face

look orange, but this one is a cool tone so it looks more

like a natural shadow.

Bronzer, Charlotte Tilbury.

[blows on brush]

Some of my favorite beauty icons actually are really similar

to my musical influences.

One of them is David Bowie,

'cause just the fearlessness is unmatched.

Another one is Patti Smith, 'cause she's just always

really embraced her androgyny.

I've always kind of fluctuated between

a really androgynous and boyish look

and like a hyper feminine, glam look.

There's kind of like two sides to me in that way.

And I really, really, I like having

the polar opposite of both.

Baby bit of blush, this is just a Sephora blush.

Just a little baby bit, I'm already pink enough,

I don't really need that much more.

Glossier Boy Brow, so good.

One of my favorites.

I don't really have very unruly brows,

but they're super sparse so I do need a little bit of gel

to keep them up 'cause they'll fall otherwise.

Time for my favorite part and my least favorite part,

which is the glitter.

My favorite part because you can never

have too much glitter.

I've always loved glitter.

I've put it in weird places, like my eyebrows, my lips,

my hair, for most of my career.

But it's also the scariest part of the routine

because if you put it on and it gets everywhere,

you're in serious trouble.

So I need to, I need to focus right now.

I'm just gonna dab a tiny bit of it into the cap.

I'm gonna take this Nyx glitter primer,

which is a life saver.

And just dab that onto the lid.

Moment of truth.

I'm being very careful.

We made it through the glitter trial without any fallout,

so I consider that a success.

Part of being like a makeup risk taker,

or just like a style risk taker in general,

which is like what I hope to be and what I try to be,

is that I'm willing to try anything.

So I've shaved my head on photo shoots before,

and I've bleached off my eyebrows for red carpets,

and I've tried so many different makeup looks.

But the problem is is that sometimes that means

there's ones that don't work out really well

and I have definitely my fair share of those.

My fans are really amazing and they love tagging me in them

all the time to remind me of my makeup mishaps,

so thank you guys for that.

I'm trying to be more forward thinking

and have the foresight to know

what's gonna possibly go wrong in the future,

but I don't let it stop me from trying stuff and having fun.

So who knows?

One day I might look back and go, a glitter black eye?

Really Ashley, really?

In the album cover, I added like a little bit of this

Anastasia white glitter, just 'cause it's a little chunkier

and I wanted to make it pop a little bit more.

This is one of my favorite glitters.

I use this on stage literally all the time

and I love it because it's kind of foolproof

'cause if it gets sort of messy, in the light,

it looks like it's supposed to be there.

It's like really glamorous, dewy, expensive sweat,

so it kinda works with my already sweaty face.

I'm gonna add a little bit under here.

Mascara, I always use two mascaras.

That's a trick that I've learned.

One to darken, one to lengthen

'cause I have really short eyelashes.

So I start with this one,

which is super goopy, super awesome and really dark.

One of my greater skills in life is learning how to put on

mascara without needing to make an O face.

Okay, my lengthening mascara.

I like my eyes to look really open,

so I usually only just do the tips of my bottom lashes.

If it gets too close to the lash line,

it closes them off a little bit.

There we go.

I'm gonna use Whirl by MAC, which is a classic.

I feel like everybody loves this one.

I'm gonna go over it with this Milani lipstick.

You can get this at any drugstore.

It's my favorite, it's Teddy Bear.

Their lip liner Spice is also one of my favorites too,

but this one's like - I usually go for

like a more natural looking lip, but in the album cover,

I used something that was a little bit more like mauve

and kinda dark actually.

Pat it in there a little bit.

This one's really nice 'cause it's kinda moist,

it's not super matte.

Everyone loves really matte like lip creams and lipsticks

and long wear, and it's just not for me

'cause I talk so much that I just eat it off the whole day.

So I have to use

[smacks lips]

more moisturizing lipsticks.

And then, [smacks lips]

Make sure it doesn't get on the teeth.

Okay, I'm gonna set my face with a little bit of powder

before we move into the lash.

Too Faced, favorite powder.

I wear this on stage, it is the real deal

through two hours of sweat, dancing, hugging fans,

kissing people on the cheek, rubbing faces.

This is the real deal, I'm telling ya.

This is MAC's Soft and Gentle, I've been using this

since I was like 16 years old.

It is an absolute classic, absolute go-to,

and if they ever discontinue it,

I'll be protesting outside of the offices.

These are Ardell Wispies, they're the best lash of all time

and you can get them at any drugstore

and I have hundreds of them in my house, hundreds.

I'm really guilty of taking my lashes off at night

and forgetting I did it, and then waking up

and thinking there's a spider next to me.

Because when you take them off and stick them together,

they look like a spider.

And I've definitely scared the crap out of my boyfriend

like a million times.

I bend them into this shape 'cause my eye is really round

on the top, so this helps them stay in place

a little bit better.

Lash glue.

Get this guy too.

[blows on lashes]

Yup, this is it, this is the luxury.

I have done this so many times in my life.

I've worn fake eyelashes almost every single day

for the past couple of years, 'cause I love them so much

when I'm on tour and I'm on the road promoting and stuff,

so I feel like I can put on lashes in the backseat of a car

with no mirror in the dark with one hand tied behind my back

during a zombie apocalypse.

Not kidding.

Just drop them right into place, wiggle them in.

So I usually wait for it to dry a little bit

and what I'll do is I'll go in with my fingers

and squeeze them right under my lash line, as close as I can

and then press them up like that.

Boom!

There we go.

Looking good.

Oh, and my last step every time is I take my highlighter,

just put a little bit on the tip, the bridge

and the sides of my nose to give it

a little bit of height.

Okay, and then, time for my hair,

which has been soaking wet in this towel for the whole time.

Give it a little shake, push the sides down.

My hair is affected by so many different things.

It could be a movie I watched,

or someone I saw on the street

or just a mood that I'm generally having.

I have this really bad habit of taking out

my writer's block on my hair.

So if I feel like I can't write something

or I've been feeling stuck in like a rut,

I'm like, oh, I'll dye my hair!

That'll give me all of the inspiration.

Usually it does, actually.

I find that I have different personalities kind of,

okay that sounds really dramatic but I just have different

like moods or modes, depending on what my hair is like.

You know, my step is a little lighter when I'm blonde

and I'm a little more confident

when my hair is short and dark,

and I feel a little more fun and a little more free

when it's an unnatural color like blue or purple or pink

or something like that.

So really it all depends on that.

But I've been trying to grow it out for years,

and the one thing I'm finding is,

I just feel like me when it's short.

Okay, so this is the final look

and this is the Manic album cover look.

It's really cool seeing my fans recreate it,

so hopefully someone learns something from this tutorial

and they'll show me their version of it.

I'm gonna go get dressed now,

because I guess this is my makeup look for the day

'cause I kinda don't feel like taking it off.

So I'm gonna go to the supermarket like this

and see if anybody notices.

Thanks for watching, guys.

[blows kiss]