Ashley Frangipane—better known to the world as the artist Halsey—is dialing into our Zoom call while on break from “the studio.” Though unless you ask her to specify which one—recording, art, or makeup—it’s hard to know which they are currently spending their time in. For those unfamiliar with her varied CV, the 29-year-old is a painter and a self-taught makeup artist who founded the brand About-Face in 2021, and has recorded four studio albums, with a new one currently in production.
Today, we’re here to talk about their artistic creations from all studios, actually. “I can’t think of a better way to spend the duration of my life than being dedicated to making art,” Halsey, who identifies with both she and they pronouns, tells Vogue. Recently, she’s taken “scissors to a canvas,” bared her soul “eight days straight in the recording studio,” and created a new complexion product that’s gotten the gold-star approval of both the sweaty concert stage and motherhood.
“I touch my face a lot,” she says. “I’m doing it right now! I also have a two-year-old son, and he’s a big face toucher, too. And I’m too soft of a mom to say “Don’t touch my face.” So I needed [makeup] that could withstand grabby toddler hands and kisses from a toddler mouth, too.”
The result is a 45-shade foundation cheekily named The Performer, because not only was it created by a performer, but the product also withstood an all-out performance during the R&D phase—something that genuinely surprised the artist.
“I tested this formula out during a show,” they said. “When I walked off stage after two hours of singing and sweating, I took a selfie. Normally, at that point in the night I’m like ‘Nobody look at me, I need to take this makeup off’ but that was how I knew.” This is About-Face’s first-ever complexion product for a simple reason: “This is not a brand where we’re selling you the idea that you have something wrong with your face or something to correct about it or alter in any way,” Halsey says.
And while from the outside it may seem like a lot has changed since Halsey dropped their last studio album, Manic, in 2020, the artist says that all of her identities truly harmonize together perfectly.
“I made a really concerted effort to not change [my relationship with beauty] after my son was born,” she says. “I could come home in a full cyber-goth, black batwing eyeliner with black lipstick and black contact lenses, and my son sees right through it. He just sees his mom.”
