Adam Lambert Still Does All His Own Makeup
After singing, Adam Lambert is arguably most known for his hair, which has evolved from classic emo side swoop to gravity-defying fauxhawk — Adam Lambert would never call himself a hairstylist. “You don't see me doing any blowouts,” he jokes over the phone. “I don't know how to do that.” The title he proudly will “claim,” however, is makeup artist. The singer, who just released his fifth album, High Drama, has always done his own makeup, a skill he tells Allure he taught himself out of what one could fairly call an obsession — one naturally born through his love for performance.
As anyone could see, it’s a skill well-learned and well-developed throughout his career, which (as you likely know) started in earnest on American Idol in 2009 and has since included touring globally, appearing in dozens of TV series, championing LGBTIA+ pride, and, fittingly, performing with Queen.
Below, Lambert tells Allure the story of how he discovered the art form of makeup, how his signature look has changed with him, and what his favorite products are today.
Allure: When did you first discover makeup?
Adam Lambert: I did a lot of musical theater as a kid, and so obviously with that there was makeup you had to do. The first musical we did where I was really putting on makeup was probably Peter Pan, and I was just going to town on some real editorial look for a pirate in the back. He had, like, smoky eyes with blue lipstick and a mustache and a beard. I was just having a good old time, and no one said anything. No one stopped me, so I just kept doing it.
Also every year for Halloween, I would get way too excited about creating a look. I think I started off with a stage makeup kit and some books from the library about stage makeup. I started reading about special effects makeup as a kid and trying to do things with latex and hair and mustaches, and all this stuff.
Then as I got into my teenage years, I started getting really interested in fashion. I was buying a lot of magazines. I was looking at editorials and was so into what I was seeing, and I was like, “I want to try to do that. I want to be able to do that.” The first cosmetics brand that I dove into was MAC. I remember I would beg for something from MAC. And then at some point, my parents were like, “Well, we're not going to just buy you this shit. You have to buy it yourself.” So I got a job and I had some spending money, and so I was buying stuff for myself. Unfortunately, the job was not at a makeup counter. I was 16, I was working at Starbucks.
Allure: You seriously got a job specifically to buy yourself makeup? That’s dedication.
Lambert: More or less. I mean, one of the things I wanted to spend my money on was to build a makeup kit. I started doing makeup on friends [in high school]. Every year for the school dances, I would end up having appointments all afternoon and charge the girls that I knew 10 or 20 bucks a pop. Then by the end of the day, I would do my date's makeup, and I would have enough cash to go out to dinner with my date. I had so much fun doing it and would take pictures of it. And I did some photography in high school; I ended up doing makeup for that.
Lambert in 2009.
Then in my early twenties, when I moved to LA, I was auditioning after school because I first and foremost wanted to be a performer, but on the side I was still doing makeup. I was doing freelance makeup for a couple different photographers. I got a job working at a couple makeup counters. I worked at Macy's for a while, then I worked at a place called Naimie's in Los Angeles, which is an industry makeup store, and did that for a while until the performing thing started to really pick up and I was able to pay the bills. I slowly stopped doing it, but I was definitely painting my face on the weekends, going out to clubs and looking like a Club Kid.
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Allure: You came up before the age of YouTube tutorials. Where’d you learn how to do makeup?
Lambert: Well, once I got into proper fashion editorial makeup, I had that Kevyn Aucoin book, which was unbelievable. I think there were two, weren't there? [Editor’s note: Yes, there were: Making Faces and Face Forward, which were published in 1994 and 2000, respectively.] I had those books and I was blown away by what he did. There was another book by François Nars [Makeup Your Mind: Express Yourself] that I had that was really cool. Those gave you instruction. I was just constantly ripping things out of magazines, including Allure.Allure: So you mostly practiced makeup on other people. When did you really start doing it on yourself?
Lambert: Probably my mid-twenties, like I said, when I started getting more work as a performer. That just became the priority and took over most of my time. But every once in a while for Halloween, I would do people's makeup, and occasionally I'll do someone's face.
Allure: What did embracing makeup teach you about yourself back then?
Lambert: I just thought the possibilities were endless. When you have a palette of makeup and you're changing your face, you can become anything. I mean, I love costumes as well. It was the same idea. It was the idea of make-believe, of dressing up, of transforming. That's always been really fun for me. As a kid, it came from that innocent dress-up, make-believe place. I think as I got older it also became a way to feel better about myself.
Lambert in 2016.
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I went through a little bit of an ugly duckling narrative. I was overweight in high school, and my skin was awful. I had bad acne, and my coloring naturally is very ginger. So I was dealing with a lot that I didn't know how to make look how I wanted it to look. That's when I started experimenting with makeup and hair color, and all of a sudden, I could put myself together in a way that I felt was fabulous and fashionable, and I looked in the mirror and liked what I saw.
Allure: Did you face any stigma being a boy experimenting with makeup in the ‘90s and 2000s?
Lambert: As a teenager in San Diego, I wasn't wearing makeup to school. I wasn't that brave. But obviously, I was doing lots of stuff on stage, so that was my excuse to do it. I think moving to LA at 19, even in the first few years, I found that uncomfortable. To put a face of makeup on felt weird to me, and I would question it myself. And then, I don't know, slowly over the next few years, I just was like, “Fuck it. I like the way it looks.”
There were a lot of things that led to it, I think. But around 23, 24, 25, I felt just really liberated. I felt really good about being exactly what I wanted to be. There was so much power and freedom in that. I also started finding like-minded people, and that made a big difference to me. Once I found a scene that celebrated expression and creativity and wasn't hung up on gender and sexuality, I think that's when I felt really good about it.
Allure: Who have been your biggest beauty influences?
Lambert: It's funny, one of the things that initially led me to glam rock is the fact that I saw men dressing how I wanted to dress, and it made me go, “Oh.” Then I started listening to it and started falling in love with music. But it was a visual thing for me first. Seeing [David] Bowie, for example, all the stuff that Bowie would do, I just found him totally fascinating and then fell in love with his music. And even the early Freddie Mercury; he was very eyeliner and long black hair and nail polish and all that.Oh, Dave Navarro from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane's Addiction. I thought he was the coolest guy. I remember seeing a thing on TV when I was in high school, and it was him talking about wearing nail polish and makeup, and I was like, “Oh my God, I'm totally obsessed with the way this guy looks. I want to look like that. And also, I think I have a crush on him.”
By Aliza Kelly
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By Emily Newhouse
And I would definitely thank my parents for not being weird about it. They let me do my thing, which is saying a lot. There was a point where I was l bored playing with my mom's makeup, and at one point she was like, “Hey, stop touching my stuff, that's mine.” I was really embarrassed the first time she was annoyed with me. But she was like, “I don't mind that you're playing with makeup, it's just not yours.” So the fact that she made that distinction for me was really beautiful.
Allure: How has the signature Adam Lambert look evolved?
Lambert: Coming from theater and stage club performances, I had a heavy-handed approach early on with some of my makeup skills. I look back on some of the red carpet looks I did right at the beginning, and some of it's a little much – not necessarily how severe the makeup look is, just the technique. I was loading it on in a way that wasn't always the best.
Lambert in 2021.
Over the years, I've learned a lot about blending and when to pull back, and also products. There are so many resources out there now and so many tutorials and the cosmetic industry is booming and there are all these amazing brands. Getting to experiment with different products just leads to better results.
By Aliza Kelly
By Marci Robin
By Emily Newhouse
Allure: How would you describe the signature Adam Lambert face now?
Lambert: I'm always into a smoky eye. That's the centerpiece of it all. I tend to gravitate toward cooler colors, like jewel-toned greens and blues and blacks and silvers. Sometimes I'll push into a gold place. One of the things that I've learned more about lately is contouring and highlighting. I didn't always get it before, and now it's like, “Oh, got it.” My big “ah-ha” moment was switching over to cream contour and highlights before the powder.
Allure: What products or brands do you rely on most when painting your own face?
Lambert: I'm obsessed with Pat McGrath. I [recently] discovered her foundation and concealer; those eye shadow pallets are killer. I've also incorporated some Fenty Beauty. I think [Rihanna’s] stu
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19 of April 2024
