Ariana Grande shares the inspiration behind R.E.M. Beauty and everything in between
by Jaskiran Kaur | Wed, 10 Nov 2021 14:54:44 GMT
Ariana Grande launches her beauty brand 'Rem Beauty;' Credits: People

Ariana Grande just launched her makeup line while impersonating actress Jennifer Coolidge and it is safe to say that she did a pretty good job at it. 

The actress joined early to her Zoom interview with Elle and said, "I was way too excited," while explaining why she joined the meeting so fast. "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."

The makeup line, "R.E.M.," is a beauty brand by the singer that she has been planning to launch for over two years and now after two years of development, will finally release on Friday, November 12. The brand launch includes highlighters, false lashes, eyeliner pencils and markers, a shadow palette, liquid eyeshadows, and lipsticks. Termed "chapter one," the brand's first release is all vegan and cruelty-free. 

The actress shared that she had been trying to come up with a unique makeup line for some time now but did not want to begin with it just because it could be lucrative. She shared, "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." 

She revealed that she was fueled by a passion to create it, and experimented to her heart's content. Finally, she came up with the idea of R.E.M. Grande said, "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."

Talking about the longevity of the formulas and usability Ariana shared that she would wear her formulas throughout her world tour and tweaked the specifications as needed. The 'Positions' singer shared, "We were doing shows and finishing the tour and were able to test the highlights 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."

Apart from using concerts as her trusty experiment labs, Ariana Grande now also wears her formulas on the stage of The Voice, where she mentors budding talent. She said, "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." 

Of course, the actress and singer have also been receiving countless compliments for her brand in its development stage and yet didn't know what to call it. So, she shared, "Everyone asks, 'What are you wearing?' And I'm like, I don't know, so this is exciting to finally be able to say. It's been really cool to secretly test and see them on TV."

If you have been following up with the 'Sam and Cat' actress's musical adventures you might remember that R.E.M. is actually Ariana's song name that she released earlier this year. Naming the beauty brand after her song, the star said, "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." She added, "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."

Creating beauty brands and creating music are two entirely different things, and yet the "Wicked" actress found similarities in her two passions. Acknowledging the differences and similarities, she relayed, "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."

Drawing a parallel to the processes, Ariana explained, "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."

While the musician does have to dab hands in a lot of makeup for her music videos, tours, and appearances, her actual love for makeup took roots as she saw her mom dolling up. The Nickelodeon star began by opening about her mother's style preferences as she said, "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 then she came across her mom's black eyeliner and was hooked to goth makeup looks ever since. She revealed, "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." 

Continuing the memory, she added, "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.”

Ariana Grande launches makeup line debuting lashes, eyeliners, and more; Credits: Hype Bae

Her makeup line includes lip glosses, mascara, highlighters, and much more and might also extend to concealers and foundations soon. 

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