Lady Gaga is a performer. First and foremost, she’s a musician that expanded into acting and movies. Whether she’s taking the stage in front of thousands for a sold-out concert or captivating our attention at home through a movie or show, she knows how to entertain. So being the face of her own line has been an entirely different experience.
“It’s harder than people would think because the way that I want people to relate to me and this company as the mind behind of it, not the face of it,” states Lady Gaga, or “LG” as she prefers. As a successful multi-hyphenate focused on being the best in her craft, it’s no surprise Lady Gaga had the gumption to take up her own makeup line, Haus Labs. After a rocky start, in 2022, she relaunched the label, with skin-loving ingredients. After the success of the Haus Labs Triclone Skin Tech Foundation, which contains 20+ skincare ingredients, the brand is expanding its complexion offerings with the Triclone Skin Tech Hydrating and De-Puffing Concealer. That’s available to purchase beginning today.
It’s early Tuesday morning and I’m sitting at my vanity. To my left, I look at all my complexion products on display—my beloved Gucci Éternité de Beauté, the Glossier Stretch Fluid Foundation, my Guerlain Terracotta Le Teint—the list truly goes on and on (I’m not ashamed). As I survey my selection, I pause, grab my Haus Labs Triclone Skin Tech Foundation, apply a small portion to my fingers and rub directly onto my face. I’m not prepping my base face for the ELLE offices—I’m prepping it for Lady Gaga herself. (And even if I wasn’t, I would have still grabbed my Haus Labs.) It’s good…like really good, not “a celebrity brand” level of good, but good enough to hold its own amongst my legacy and luxury beauty products. The 2022 relaunch of Haus Labs was one of the best things that could have happened to the company. I don’t know what happened behind those closed doors, but the results are phenomenal—proof that going back to the drawing board can be a very beautiful thing.
“I feel so proud of the synergy that we have created as a company,” Gaga says. “The relationship we’ve built with our customers is stronger than it’s ever been because we’re delivering quality products that we take our time to develop.” I nod in agreement, as I think of her Triclone Skin Tech Foundation, which contains over 20 skin loving ingredients, including Fermented Arnica, which helps reduce redness and inflammation. “I fell in love with fermented Arnica because it is so much more powerful than regular Arnica,” Gaga says, explaining that the fermented version is 860 percent more potent. “I thought, ‘Okay, if it turns down the inflammation with my joints, it might do something on the skin and I started to use it to take down redness on the face,” she adds.
The new, non-comedogenic concealer comes in 31 shades and is longwearing and hydrating. Like most of her complexion products, the new concealer has skin-focused ingredients to help with various skin care qualms, including de-puffing and brightening. “I love that [Haus Labs] makeup, like the concealer, it really has a mind of its own while you’re wearing it. It’s working on your skin. It’s working on de-puffing under your eyes. It’s brightening,” states Gaga. The concealer has skin care properties that the foundation does not, including bio-tech caffeine, a bio-engineered caffeine alternative which will result in less puffy eyes in a mere 14 days and clinical studies to back the claims. “That’s really the hallmark of who we are as a brand. We believe that over time you should see results in your skin improving when wearing our makeup,” Gaga says.
My skin does feel better after wearing the product. I like that after I put on my skin care routine, the concealer is providing more benefits to my skin, with ingredients like niacinamide. In my everyday makeup routine, I wear L’Oreal Paris Prime Lab Up To 24H Dullness Reducer, which is a niacinamide color correcting primer. It’s great that the Haus Labs concealer has niacinamide, too. It feels like a checks and balances for my face—using a new serum in my morning routine sans niacinamide? My makeup routine has me covered—literally. The formula is creamy and doesn’t settle into fine lines. It has buildable coverage and good for all skin types. Personally, I like to tap it into my skin instead of using my beauty blender or a makeup brush. It lasted a long time on my face, and it plays well with my other products, which is always nice.
When Gaga is off-duty, her “everyday morning routine look” after skin care includes dabbing the moisturizer “on the red areas of my face and under the eyes.” Afterwards, she throws on a lip oil and is ready to go. She normally prefers to wear the concealer as is, “because it gives a very skin like finish.” However, when she’s on stage and needs her makeup to last longer than her dance set, she’ll set it with Haus Labs Bio-Blurring, Talc-Free Setting Powder. “They work beautifully together. And it will just give it a little extra oomph if you’re worried about moving,” Gaga states, before adding, “but this concealer doesn’t move.”
As we close out our interview, she stresses, “I’m a musician first and foremost, but I don’t want to rest on the laurels of my face to sell this makeup. What I really want is for you to go, ‘Wow, this concealer is dynamite,’ and then go, ‘Oh, I heard Lady Gaga founded that company. I’m happy to be part of the delivery process because I want every to see how great the makeup works.”
Beauty Director
Danielle James is the Digital Beauty Director of ELLE.com. Previously, she was the Fashion and Beauty Director of HelloBeautiful.com and MadameNoire.com. She’s bylined for The Cut, InStyle, Allure, Business of Fashion, Nylon, Essence, Good Housekeeping, The Grio, and Huffington Post. Danielle enjoys sailing, thrifting, Japanese whiskey, Naomi Campbell’s runway walk, and Rihanna in the comment section.