Sometimes, the ultimate test for a makeup product is how well it can last during a concert.
Whether you’re an attendee or on stage, the sweating, dancing and excitement that comes from a music performance can ruin a look you spent so much time putting together — but Australian-American singer Betty Who has the perfect solution.
“I love to experiment and play with makeup the most when I’m on stage,” Betty, 33, told Us Weekly exclusively while promoting her new Get Ready With Music campaign with e.l.f Cosmetics. “My [top] trick for being on stage is you have to have a good primer. You have to have something that’s gonna just stick [your makeup] right there and not let it move for the next two hours while you’re sweating and dancing.”
Betty — who released her new single “Wings” as part of the campaign — continued: “The e.l.f. Power Grip Primer feels very correct for me because I be sweating. I’m out there really getting warm. That face can go from my face to the floor really quickly. So the Power Grip Primer is one of my No. 1 top tricks.”
Since releasing her debut album, Take Me When You Go, a decade ago, Betty has released three additional full-length studio albums, made her broadway debut as Persophone in Hadestown last year and has emerged as a trailblazer in the queer community.
She describes herself as a “showgirl” when it comes to her onstage look, which likely comes from her background as a self-proclaimed “theater kid.”
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“The kind of energy that I’m trying to bring on stage is, like, beautiful, locked, glued-on face that’s not going anywhere,” she told Us. “Usually an eyelash is really important to me. The theater kid in me loves an eyelash ‘cause it’s for the back row. It’s not for the first 10 rows, but it’s for the back row.”
She continued: “I want you to see my big, beautiful eyes on stage because that’s how we communicate. That’s what I love about makeup is you can accentuate features of your face to communicate the energy and story you’re trying to tell on stage.”
For Betty — and many creatives — makeup, along with music, can be an important tool to build confidence and feel empowered.
“For my look on stage, I really am trying to give beautiful skin, which is not how I feel or live my life all the time because I really struggle with hormonal acne and, of course, nobody’s perfect,” she explained to Us. “So I think that when I’m on stage, I’m trying to create a facade of feeling like my best self.”
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Betty went on to describe her performance persona with a lyric from “Wings”: “I won’t waste / One more night / Turning down my inner light.”
e.l.f.’s Get Ready With Music album, featuring Betty and other rising artists like Charlotte Rose Benjamin, Mariangela, Meduulla, Alana and Black Gatsby, is out now.
