To get more comfortable during a presentation, people often suggest imagining the audience in their underwear or assuming a powerful stance. Ariana Grande, while swatching the new shades from her r.e.m. beauty brand, has a different method: she announces that she’s going to swatch while impersonating actress Jennifer Coolidge. “This one’s called Boca Mocha,” she says in a pitch-perfect Coolidge voice while running her finger with the chocolate-brown eye shadow over her arm, “because it’s got a nice warm shade.” Grande’s right—it does make everything more comfortable.
The singer has a lot of nervous energy to expunge while launching her new brand. In fact, she was the first person to log onto the Zoom call to discuss r.e.m. “I was way too excited,” Grande explains. “Like obviously way too excited. I was the first person here that was talking to the wall. I am smiling so hard. My teeth hurt. I’m so proud and grateful, and this is such a special moment for team r.e.m and me.”
R.e.m. beauty is Grande’s baby: the project has been gestating for two years now and will finally launch Friday, Nov. 12. The brand’s first drop, called “chapter one,” includes highlighters, false lashes, eyeliner pencils and markers, a shadow palette, liquid eyeshadows, and lipsticks that are all vegan and cruelty-free. And for “chapter two,” Grande shared that a possible foundation and concealer may or may not be in the works.
Below, in Grande’s words, here is every detail you need to know about the launch of r.e.m. beauty.
Grande was nervous about stepping into the beauty world at first
“I was nervous about [starting r.e.m.] because I don’t ever want to just jump into something that is popular. It has to feel super intentional and super fueled by passion. It has to feel super authentic to me. So let’s experiment, let’s dig in, and let’s play with some products. There are so many different versions to tell this makeup story and these formulas are so inspiring. We can bring our own version of this into the beauty space and I’m so excited.”
All the products have been world tour-tested
“We were doing shows and finishing the tour and were able to test the highlight on stage and then make notes on the formula. It’s been such a long road… going into the labs and trying everything and coming up with names.”
The Voice is another r.e.m. testing ground
“I’ve been wearing all of these products on The Voice. I wear them all the time to work. I wear them on TV. I’m always wearing the marker and the lip. And everyone asks, ‘What are you wearing?’ And I’m like, I don’t know, so this is exciting to finally be able to say [r.e.m. beauty]. It’s been really cool to secretly test and see them on TV.”
The brand is named after a favorite song she’s made
“I decided to name it r.e.m. because I feel like that song really encompasses a lot of my favorite parts of my sound sonically. And also REM rapid eye movement: focusing on dreams and focusing on the eyes and eyes being kind of like our best way to articulate–better than you can with words sometimes.”
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Creating a beauty line and creating music have a lot of parallels for the singer
“The obvious answer is that music and makeup are incredibly different. They are so polarized, they’re so opposite, but the way that they sort of help bring each other to life is unspoken and right here in front of our faces. I feel like a lot of my music comes to life more when we shoot the video, which is accompanied by makeup. I am so appreciative of that because they’re both totally different outlets of storytelling, but they hold hands in a weird way. When you’re writing a song—spending time with the pre-chorus to make sure that the notes set up the hook in the proper way or that the harmonies aren’t fighting with the bells in the background or the strings and that everything is sort of complimentary of one another—is the same process as putting together these formulas and making sure that each note is perfect. Although they’re so wildly different, they feel so similar because it’s the same meticulous spending time with formula and formula is in music as well.”
Her love of makeup comes from her mom
“I was probably in my mom’s closet and I was using her black eyeliner. My mom loves black eyeliner. She only wears black. Her whole closet is, like, fields of black fabric and shoulder pads and you’re like, ‘Where am I? What is happening? Are you Cersei Lannister?’ I don’t get it. But I was using my mom’s black eyeliner and I wanted to look like a Spice Girl. And also my mom is super into Halloween and goth, and in the middle of July, she would paint me as a skeleton. That’s an early one. Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, your family is super into Halloween.’ I’m like, ‘That was the summer. It was my third birthday. I’m just kidding. I’m not though.”
The Babydoll Eyeshadow Palette
On the packaging: “I wanted to make sure everything looked like a prop from Star Trek or Black Mirror. I wanted to treat it like Apple or Tesla and not treat it like makeup, because I’m obsessed with vintage sci-fi horror space stuff. I wanted to create my own world with the packaging.”
On the name: “My grandpa used to call me ‘baby doll’ and my nona calls me that and it’s on my finger. It’s the most personal name with warm and neutral yummy tones. The other palette is called ‘Principessa’ [princess in Italian] and ‘Midnight Snack.’”
The Lipsticks
On the packaging: “I’m obsessed with this packaging in a way I don’t even know how to articulate. It’s our little space human-alien pod. It’s kind of the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. I love that you can peek through and see the colors. I love that it’s spacey and fun and it’s very soft and smooth.”
On the formula: “It’s super matte, but also super creamy and hydrating at the same time. This one comes in six shades, which is very exciting but there will be more. We’re starting with six and they’re all really strong and beautiful.”
Collar-Plumping Lip Glosses
“The glosses come in nine shades and the names are all kind of nostalgic like the ‘90s: away messages, jelly sandals, and scrunchies. It was just like pulling for things that make us feel warm and nostalgic because it makes me happy. This scent is like vanilla, minty, yummy, delicious scent and it’s super plumping. I have to say it’s one of my favorite glosses I’ve ever seen in my life. The plump was very important to me because I just remember being in middle school and having lip venom on.”
Utmost Importance Plumping Gloss
On the product: “These are in my top-three favorite things in chapter one. It’s just the perfect clear top coat. It’s so ‘90s, like no color, no anything, perfectly there. And it has the yummiest warm vanilla scent and has the same pumping sensation, but it’s its own separate thing because that’s how imperative it is for the lip.”
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How to wear it: “My favorite thing to do is pair this with my other favorites from chapter one. First, the practically permanent lip marker. It’s like a stain. I love stains. I’ve always loved stains more than lip liner or lipstick because I feel like it’s going to be there for you. You know, we gotta go, we gotta work, we gotta do things. Also, it doesn’t move. My favorite combination is the lip marker with the gloss. I love it and I’m wearing it right now.”
Interstellar Highlight Topper
“We did 10 shades and named them after most of the planets in the solar system. We wanted to create them to have range but also to create fun eye looks, but you can use them anywhere they’re not just highlights. I love the way this feels, and it’s super pigmented.”
The Volumizing Mascara
“I wanted to launch with two [mascaras]. This was a big debate because mascara is so important and so personal. I wanted to launch with two—one that’s more like lengthening and clean that separates the lashes. But another one that’s more dramatic, which is this one. And I love it so much. And I hope you do too.”
Dream Lashes
“I’m happy to tell you these are faux mink. They come in two styles for now. They are named ‘Eternally Meowing’ and ‘Grow and Show.’”
At the Borderline Eyeliner Marker
“I love this marker because it’s super precise and I like that you can make the perfect little simple cat eye with it, but also just create more graphic looks with it because it’s so pointy and precise and thin and flexible. I love this marker at the borderline, a little nod to my song ‘Borderline.’ We have three colors: ‘Midnight Black,’ ‘Teddy Bear’ (brown), and ‘So Mod,’ which is white. This is like super, super white because a lot of my inspiration is from ‘60s mod: Twiggy, Barbarella, stuff like that. You can create more graphic, vintage stuff or just use it on your waterline.”
Midnight Liquid Shadows
“We have several matte shades and then several super metallic sparkly shades. The coverage on these is really, really insane. They’re super pigmented. I feel like sometimes I can just wear them without any base or anything because the coverage is so insane.”
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