Lady Gaga is feeling philosophical. “I love artists, I love their artistic spirit and there’s something spiritual that takes place when we all bond over the ways that we can be imaginative with life,” she tells me as she beams into my spare room from the dressing room of her Malibu home over Zoom. All around her, shoes and handbags are tucked neatly on shelves, while her countertop is stacked with perfume and makeup.
Dressed all in black, with tailored wide-leg trousers, a crop top and a blazer over the top, it’s her makeup that’s the star of the show. She has a perfectly overdrawn nude lip, endless fluttery lashes and seriously chiselled cheekbones.
Of course, artistry seeps into all areas of Gaga’s life, from her music to her fashion (who can forget the meat dress and that fabulous strip tease at the Met Gala). It’s expressed through her makeup too, from the Ziggy Stardust lightning bolt that became a signature of her Just Dance era, to the high-shine latex red lip she frequently gravitates towards and the otherworldly sci-fi Monster Queen she inhabits when the feeling takes her. The creativity that makeup offers up is woven closely into the fabric and iconography of who Lady Gaga is, so her decision to launch her own makeup line, Haus Laboratories, to share with her community in 2019, felt like a natural next step.
Always the innovator, she metamorphosed the brand into Haus Labs last June, introducing new packaging and formulas. And now, she’s making her line more accessible to Brits by launching onto Sephora.co.uk and in store at Sephora Westfield White City from 6th June, so we can swatch and play with the products IRL.
Over the next 10 minutes, I tapped Gaga up for all the intel on Haus Labs, where she picks up her beauty tips and the wildest thing she’s done in the name of glam…
“I've learnt a lot from the University of TikTok…
I think the thing that I’ve loved the most is just seeing the beauty community on TikTok. Obviously not everyone is kind, but there are a lot of really kind, lovely people on TikTok that just want to share their knowledge of makeup, their knowledge of beauty, their experiments, and not only their looks, but their techniques and their hearts. I love watching people tell stories about their lives while they do their makeup to get to know them better. But also, it adds a sense of emotion and warmth to the experience, which is how I feel a lot of us feel when we’re doing our makeup. There’s a lot of reflection that takes place.
There was this one young boy I watched on TikTok who wears beautiful makeup, and he was sharing his story about how his friends would ask him not to wear so much makeup when he went out to dinners or parties with them. He talked about how that made him feel and how he was just going to continue to make the best possible look he could to really express who he truly is. I thought that was so inspiring. Of course I’ve seen other tips and tricks of how to chisel your jawline and such, but I think the real magic is when people share their hearts with you and the way that makeup transforms your life in a way that extends beyond the physical."
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“To me ‘crazy’ is good, so I've done a lot of crazy things with my makeup…
When I think of ‘crazy’ I think: exciting and brilliant. I’ll never forget when I saw Plato’s Atlantis which was [Alexander] McQueen’s last show before he died. There was this incredible prosthetics makeup on the models and we ended up getting inspired by it to create my makeup for Born This Way. I worked with Nick Knight on the music video and he also worked on the visuals for that show. That was one of the first times I ever experimented with prosthetics in makeup. Then, another thing I think is crazy, is biotechnology. It's the future of the makeup industry breaking boundaries. At Haus Labs, we're collaborating with folks screening for novel ingredients in a space that hasn't been innovated in decades. Making makeup that is beautiful to your skin and can transform who you are, that’s what I’m excited about."
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“Music and makeup are so different but I love the formulation process of both…
“When it comes to music, my first experience – other than experimenting on the piano when I was really little – was my education through listening to as much music as possible: learning about different musicians and instruments and recording music. Now, I’m not just someone who wears makeup, or loves makeup, I’m somebody that makes makeup. So I spend a lot of my time educating myself about makeup and skincare and skin science because I want to make makeup that is not only artistry driven (although, of course I want to give people that form of self-expression) but also, it’s really good for you. It’s exciting to work with formulation labs that are pushing the boundaries and make products for people that go a little further than your average makeup.”
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“I have such an emotional attachment to makeup…
I think: what can we put in to make it good for you? Our foundation reduces redness in the skin because it has fermented arnica. That's what makes it emotional for me, is its ability to transform our skin, and Sephora is so kindly putting all 51 shades in their stores."
“There's something about the UK, it's spirit has seeped into me…
I have a very deep relationship with the UK. We had the honour of crafting the Chromatica Ball, our last stadium tour, in Leeds. I was living in Leeds while we created that tour and we filmed the imagery for it in London. There’s something about the UK – I feel like when I’m making anything creative there, I can feel the spirit of every artist that has ever worked there and it just seeps into the work. It’s impossible for what you're making not to feel like it’s come from there. I remember we were in Dusseldorf watching the show without me in it. It had the fashion and the imagery in it and I was just watching for the lighting with my other art directors and we all looked at each other and said ‘this is all very, very UK, isn’t it? This is very London.’ But I love the whole UK. It’s meaningful to me because I’m a huge fan of the influence it has had on makeup and fashion for me and worldwide. That's why I'm so excited to launch into Sephora UK."
Haus Labs by Lady Gaga launches exclusively in Sephora Westfield White City and on Sephora.co.uk on Tuesday 6th June.
For more from GLAMOUR's Beauty Editor, Elle Turner, follow her on Instagram @elleturneruk
