While the article may be six months old, Halsey’s beauty philosophy is a timeless one. And wow, am I glad I read it.
Sitting in the gym lobby after a workout at our local gym, I picked up a couple Allure magazines to pass the time–not expecting to find anything but a few superficial advertisements and articles and something to pass the time. Always having a sweet spot for Halsey and her work, I stopped at her featured spread. It was from this moment on that I truly viewed beauty and appearances in a new, improved light.
You don’t have to know Halsey well as an artist to know she is a woman of many looks. From chopping her hair to later shaving it to her fluid feminine and masculine inspired outfits, the girl is one to never let things get boring. In the May 2018 issue, Halsey opens up about her journey with makeup and how her attitude on physical appearance and beauty has driven her fearless, unapologetic look throughout her years of fame.
Early on in the article, Halsey addresses how strange it was having someone follow her around on tour, doing her makeup every night. She goes onto say how firm she was in her doing her own makeup:
“My fans need to recognize the person singing to them, you know? That’s just how it is for me. So I started doing my makeup myself. I don’t feel like I need to be wearing that much. For me personally, I like to find ways to play up my existing beauty rather than trying to change what my face looks like.”
Growing up with a father, tomboy mother, and two brothers, Halsey was surround by masculine characteristics–which is apparent in her androgynous fashion/beauty elements. However, this also fueled her desire to learn more about makeup and femininity. Through watching YouTube videos, as well as using her artistic talent, Halsey was able to learn how to accentuate her beauty and have fun playing with different looks. She emphasizes the importance of the trial-and-error process with a story from her first show:
“I didn’t get super good at figuring out what kind of makeup was best for stage until I played my first headlining show ever. I was at Troubadour in Los Angeles, and I definitely fucked it up bad. I just wanted to do something different, and I was still finding myself then. I had bright, bright, bright blue hair, and I cut up a bunch of Flash Tattoos and layered them across my cheekbones and the bridge of my nose so that from far away, they’d look like a really, really intense highlight. Reflecting gold. Up close, I looked like a mermaid with scales.”
She concludes the Allure feature her progressive and reckless philosophy on beauty. She believes women should do what they want and not be confined to a supposed beauty standard. To her, beauty should be used as a way to creatively experiement, express yourself, and ultimately, have fun. Essentially, our appearances are irrelevant in the grand scheme and are something we need to selfishly hold as our own–doing whatever we feel and whatever makes us happy.
“I like to believe that women are constantly evolving. Some days I am that woman who wakes up and wants to wear full glam with eyelashes and a highlight, that full face. Other days I wake up and I’m like, Nah. I put on some Chapstick and leave the house. If you met one of those versions of me and you made some assumptions about me, you wouldn’t know about the other version of me. If you met me with no makeup, in my sweatpants, with my short haircut, you might be like, ‘Aw, this girl is very clearly a caricature and archetype of the modern feminist.’ If you met me in a dress with my push-up bra and full face of makeup, you’d have another mockery to make of me. To me, the root of feminism, which often gets misinterpreted and miscommunicated, is about letting women do whatever the fuck they want to do. If that means buying makeup, it means buying makeup. If that means getting plastic surgery, it means getting plastic surgery. The point is to let me make those decisions. Let me decide if I want to be one or the other.”
To read the rest of the article, visit https://www.allure.com/story/halsey-allure-beauty-disruptors-interview?verso=true