Ariana Grande Added Tons of Hidden Meaning to Her r.e.m. Beauty Collection
Neon Fix
I'm just gonna say it... there are a lot of celebrities who have no business launching a makeup brand. Ariana Grande is not one of those people.
Though, I'll admit, when I first heard the rumors that Ari would be releasing a cosmetics line of her own, I was unsure of what to expect. That was until I jumped on a Zoom call to talk about it with Ariana herself.
Granted, a face-to-face (read: screen-to-screen) with one of the world's biggest pop stars is enough to make anyone giddy. But it wasn't her satin-smooth voice, her easy wit, or even her shockingly accurate Jennifer Coolidge impression that got me excited, it was the way she genuinely *gushed* about each product like they were her own children pups.
Ariana wasn't down to slap her name on a tube of gloss, cash her check, and return to her pop star lane. She wanted to be involved in every step of the process—from testing out the formulas, brainstorming packaging ideas, and meticulously naming each item.
Because she wanted r.e.m. "to feel super authentic to me," little touches of Ariana wink at you from every iota of the collection. The highlighter she wore on stage during the thank u, next tour, the falsies that can be seen on every episode of The Voice, and the product names that only the most die-hard stan would understand—from beginning to end, each of the 62-item line positively reeks of Ari (literally—she picked the toasted vanilla scent, too).
"I wanted to make sure that everything looked kind of like a prop from Star Trek or Black Mirror or something like that, because I wanted to treat it kind of like an Apple, Tesla situation. I didn't want it to look like makeup," Ariana explained.
Noting that she's "a huge fan of like scifi, vintage, horror, space stuff," (something Arianators already know), the "NASA" singer said that she wanted to "create our own world" with the product packaging.
With her team, Ariana designed a minimalist, but unique-looking collection that stays true to her futuristic aesthetic. The color names, though, are where her personality really jumps out, with nods to her heritage, albums, and favorite pop-culture moments.
"The names are all super personal to me—like 'Sunset in Gildone,' that’s where all my family is from on my Nona’s side in Italy. And, you know, we got 'Cannoli' on the 'Principessa Palette,' 'Boca Moca' is a shade, which is named after my hometown Boca Raton," Ariana said. "The other ones are called 'Principessa,' which means princess in Italian, and the other one is 'Midnight Snack.' Kind of a curveball, but ya know."
"The Babydoll Palette' is—that was what my grandpa used to call me and my Nona calls me that and it's on my finger," she continued, showing off her finger tattoo. "So, yeah, the 'Babydoll Palette' is the one that I sort of gave the most personal name."
Of course, with multiple Harry Potter tattoos and two dogs named after characters from the books, the life-long fan was morally obligated to make at least one nod to her favorite series within the collection.
"One of the shades on [the 'Midnight Snack'] Palette is called 'Plumbledore,'" Ariana said, laughing. "In case you had any question regarding my involvement—it's 'Plumbledore.' Another one is 'Cheeky Hijiki,' which is my favorite snack."
Beyond that, Ariana wanted her first release to include all her personal favorite products: plumping lip gloss, highlighter, eyeliner (liquid and pencil), lip stain, falsies, mascara (with two different formulas: one for lengthening and one for volume), lipstick, and eyeshadow (in powder and cream).
"I had this vision for my line and it ended up being exactly how I sort of dreamt it would be," Ari said. "It feels so honest and so true to me."
Shop Chapter 1 Friday, November 17 on the r.e.m. website.
