She remembers she’s supposed to be swatching the shades and becomes flustered. “I always see the girls on Instagram being like [she holds the product up to the camera with her hand out flat behind it in the OG YouTuber stance]. That’s me now. I’m going to do it all as Jennifer Coolidge to make myself more comfortable,” she announces. “Is that alright?” she asks before launching into a hilarious impression. “Shall I move on?,” she says awkwardly after a couple of minutes looking off-camera toward her management team. “They’re like, ‘wrap it up, Ari,’” she cringes.
She recomposes herself to describe her experience of creating makeup vs making music. “The obvious answer is they’re incredibly different. They’re both totally different outlets of storytelling, but they kind of hold hands in a weird way. I think the similarity is the attention to the construction. So when you’re writing a song, making sure the notes set up the hook in the proper way, or that the harmonies aren’t fighting with the strings and everything is complimentary. It’s the same as putting together these makeup formulas and making sure that each note is perfect. Does that make sense?,” she asks. “Every part of it, although so wildly different, feels so similar because it’s the same sort of meticulous time spent with formula.”
Before we finish, she reveals one of the hardest parts of building her new brand. “Just keeping it a secret has been tough,” she grins. “I’ve been wearing a lot of the chapter one products like the lashes on The Voice and I’ve…” she yelps and stops for a moment before deciding whether or not to go on. “Oh, I’m going to tell you all the secrets,” she giggles mischievously. “I’ve even been wearing stuff that’s coming in later chapters like our foundation, which is my favourite. We spent so long getting the formula right. And we want to make sure that it’s perfect. We wanted to save it for later, but it’s one of my favourite things in the world. I use it all the time. It’s the best,” she nods.
“There is so much more coming, but we wanted to do drops instead of giving you everything at once because we want it to be super selective and intentional,” Ariana explains. She parts by sharing her hopes for the brand. “It feels so honest and so true to me. I’ve spent a lot of time in makeup in my life. I’ve spent a lot of time in the makeup chair, so just to redefine my relationship with makeup and have my own version of it – and hopefully be able to inspire people to express themselves in a new way and have these beautiful products come to life – is thrilling,” she beams. “I’ve been smiling so hard, my teeth hurt.”
Ariana’s r.e.m. beauty line is priced between £15-£22 and will be available exclusively from rembeauty.com from 12th November at 2pm UK time.
For more from GLAMOUR’s Deputy Beauty Editor, Elle Turner follow her on Instagram @elleturneruk