What have you been experimenting with lately in terms of makeup?
I’ve been playing with illustrating things near my eyes. I recently just did this Instagram post where I had done almost face tattoos, with a symbol for my community that I really love, and then a sword. I was able to get pretty precise, actually. I used this guy: the MicroLiner Ink from Shiseido. It was a lot of fun! Half-committing to a face tattoo without actually having to stick a needle in my face was good.
It’s interesting that your first Shiseido campaign is for foundation, when we’ve come to associate you with experimental looks. How does it fit in with your own aesthetic?
I think Shiseido rides a really specific wavelength in that they have the right tools and sort of vibe as far as their brand—the looks they put out into the world that fall in line with being artistic. Since partnering with them, I’m learning a lot too. I wasn’t that well versed in foundation before, but it’s something I’m actually liking because it’s a really good blank canvas. It feels like I’m literally wearing nothing, which is a major plus for me in that it feels airy and my skin can breathe. But then it’s also doing all this work with the light technology and the sort of glow that I’m going for.
This year was so much about rumination. How did that shape this Jules episode?
Ruminating was sort of consequential to the pandemic, and quarantining definitely influenced, if not brought forth, my involvement [in] the Jules episode. Being forced to kind of sit with yourself for that amount of time—whether you like it or not—starts bringing up stuff that you may have not had time or the capacity to confront before. As far as my involvement as a co-writer and a co-producer and having that deep artistic involvement in the episode, I was able to really channel the stuff that was coming up for me. It was actually really cathartic in that way.
With Jules being younger than you and less settled in herself, it’s almost like you’re rewinding in some way. How would your high school self have felt in these makeup looks?
I would love to give the younger me the possibility of exploring makeup in the way that I’m able to do now—just because it’s freeing in a lot of senses, to feel like you have that autonomy over your face. You can really do whatever you want. I don’t think younger me completely understood that.
You mentioned the fake-tattoo liner. Are there other products that you would teleport back to your high school bathroom?
I think I was stealing whatever my sister had at the time, so definitely that eyeliner. They also have several colors of the Kajal InkArtist eyeliner and multicolored mascaras. I think little old me would have a blast pairing up designs with the eyeliners and then throwing on a different color of mascara—taking a color-blocky approach.
You spent a lot of the past year on the road: buying a truck, driving cross-country, spending time in North Carolina. What were your handful of creative essentials—both for art-making and makeup?
I definitely brought my watercolor, sketchbook, and ink. I also made the intention to have a bunch of disposable cameras on me. I got really into working with film over that trip, and I kind of photographed my way across the country, which was fun. As far as makeup goes, at night after being holed up in the car all day, I just got dressed up—as a lot of us are doing during quarantine. You know, I was in my truck with my messy bun and just in a T-shirt driving, so to make myself feel a little more glamorous I had some eyeliner that I played with, some shadow. I even got into a little lipstick. I don’t have much of a skin-care routine, but the one component that I actually truly use every time after I get out of the shower, every time after I walk outside and my skin feels dry or something, is this stuff: the Shiseido Essential Energy moisturizing cream. I live by it.
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