Maura Higgins Gets Real About What She’s Done to Her Face

15.04.2026, 20:16 allure.com

If the most recent season of the mega-hit reality show The Traitors was your first introduction to Maura Higgins, welcome. The 35-year-old Irish star first rose to fame on season five of Love Island UK, where she won the hearts of the British public with her brutally honest quips, fiery personality, and constant stream of “fanny flutters.” While she was far more tame filming The Traitors, she left a lasting impression: After making it to the finale as a faithful, Higgins was betrayed by Rob Rausch, another Love Island alum, who ended up being a traitor and took home the $220,800 prize for himself. Her endearing and all-too-real reaction upon learning her pal had played her—paired with her Irish lilt and impeccable glam—made her an immediate overnight sensation in the U.S.

If you’ve been following Higgins since her Love Island days, you know she’s a beauty girl through-and-through. Before blessing our screens, Higgins spent a decade as a hairdresser in her hometown of Ballymahon, Ireland—she tells Allure this came in handy while she was switching out her wigs in the misty Scottish Highlands. You’ve likely never seen her without a spray tan and she’s dedicated to her budge-proof makeup routine, both on-screen and off. “If I’m going for lunch with my girls, I do the exact same glam,” she says. In 2020, Higgins released a false lash line—appropriately named False Flutters—with Primark, and has also previously held contracts with L'Oréal Paris and MAC, two brands she still vocally uses.

While Rausch has gotten back into Higgins’ good graces by purchasing her an Hermés Birkin, it seems that she didn’t need that prize money anyway. Since the show’s end, Higgins has appeared in campaigns for Victoria’s Secret and Uber, attended Milan Fashion Week, and hosted red carpets for A24. And with another U.S.-based secret gig on the horizon, I’m sure there are more beauty deals waiting to be inked.

Here, we ask Higgins all of our burning questions, including just when and how she became a master of wigs and where the hell did she learn how to achieve a perfect beat?

Allure: Filming at a villa and Fiji and a castle in Scotland are very different, but you had to do your own glam for both of these shows. When you think back from then to now, what's changed about your beauty routine?

Maura Higgins: Oh God, I think a lot of things have changed, to be honest. I think you get to know your face more. I used to do my makeup so different, like really, really heavy. I used to go way overboard. You just get to a stage where you're just more comfortable in your own skin and you know what suits you. I used to do a lot of eyeshadow, and now I just don't. If anything, I just put a bit of bronzer on my eyes. When I look back, I'm like, oh my God, that was just way too much.

Break down your Traitors glam for us. Were you doing the same routine every day? What were some of the products you were using?

I was wearing MAC Studio Fix Foundation every day and Nars Concealer, which I love. I think I started using it because my makeup artist uses it on me a lot. I always used MAC Spice liner. Always. Every single day, it was MAC Spice. I did a campaign with MAC last year and they gave me about a hundred Spice liners, so I think I'm sorted for about a year.

I was using the L'Oréal Infallible Setting Spray [Editor’s note: This won a Best of Beauty award in 2025!] which is an absolute godsend because you need your makeup to last all day, obviously you're doing missions and you're out in the cold and the rain and the weather was just not the best. That definitely helped. I was using the Patrick Ta blushes, which I'm obsessed with.

The mascara I was using was the L'Oréal one. It's a gold one. I'm not too sure if that's waterproof. But weirdly, I never have mascara problems, even if it's not waterproof. I've never had mascara all down my face. I don't know why.

When did MAC Spice become your go-to?

Oh my God, I've been using that for years now. I can't remember what I ever used before that. I just really love the color. I don't have much pigment in my lips. What's it called where people get that lip blush and it's permanent? I always think, oh, do I just get it? But then I'm like, oh my God, no, because I'm afraid then that Spice will look different on me. I always notice with my girlfriends, they'll try Spice and it looks so different on them. But because I've got no pigment, I think that's why different tones look different on my lips compared to other peoples. My makeup artist says it to me all the time as well, she's like, "You have no pigment." And I'm like, "I know, I'm very Irish."

Were you able to interact with people in the castle while you were getting ready or were you getting ready by yourself?

You're getting ready by yourself. You're alone. I'm pretty sure we had Spotify on our TVs because I remember I used to put on music. Obviously there's time off camera where you can talk to people, but obviously it's no game chat. You can talk about anything else. And those were moments where we could really get to know each other. But no, for glam, we were just alone.

There wasn't an awful amount of sleep. The filming hours were insane. You might've only had three hours sleep the night before, so you definitely need that time to just relax, have your coffee, and do your makeup in silence or with a bit of music, no distractions. I would always put on Ludovico Einaudi. He's my favorite and there's something about his music that is really relaxing to me.

How does your on-camera glam differ from your everyday glam? Do you turn it up for the cameras?

That's one thing I don't do, is turn it up for the camera, because I know that it could end in a disaster. If I’m going for lunch with my girls, I do the exact same glam. I can't change my glam. Maybe if it was a night look I would try a little bit more of a wing, but that is it. I personally don't think I'm that good [at makeup], but everyone's like, "You're so good at your own glam." But when I have my makeup artist do my glam, I'm like, "Oh my God, you're just so good." When she does my glam, it lasts. I could sleep in it. Not that I would, because I'm very crazy about my skin care, but I could genuinely sleep in it and it would not budge. But whereas when I do my own makeup, I always notice it doesn't last as long and it's obviously the way I'm applying it. I always do the same thing, which is so boring, but I just think I know what works and I know what suits my face. Don't fix what's not broken.

I know you've also worked with Patrick Ta recently. Are there any new tricks you've picked up from him or other makeup artists you've worked with?

I noticed with Patrick Ta, he contours before he does foundation, which I have never done in my life, but I really do want to try that out myself to see how I get on. That was something that I've never seen before. These makeup artists are so talented that you watch them and you're like, oh yeah, I could do that, but it's so much harder than it looks. If I tried what he did, I could never.

You’ve joked that you were the best-smelling person in the Traitors castle. What are your go-to fragrances?

I wear Christian Dior Oud Ispahan and then the other one is the red Maison Francis Kurkdjian [Baccarat Rouge 540]. I never layer. I either go one or the other. They're my two absolute go-tos, I will always have them in my bag. It depends on what I'm feeling that day.

Tell me about your weekly tan routine. Have you nailed this down to a science?

I have that typical pale Irish skin. I know the ins and outs of tan, that is one thing that I am so good at. This is crazy, but my work schedule, my manager knows that you work around my tan. I don't even have to tell her now. She understands that this is so important to me. I need to have my tan. It makes me feel good because when I don't have it on, I'm just like… I don't know. I just don't feel as good without my tan. When I'm tanned, I feel good and I'm ready to take on the world.

Do you have someone come spray you? Or do you self-tan yourself?

I do both. I have a girl that comes to my house. If I have something important on and I'm flying somewhere for an important red carpet or whatever, she'll come to my house and she's amazing. I've been using her for about, I would say probably six years now. And then for other things, if it's just events and bits and bobs that I'm meeting my girls or whatever, I would put on some instant tan, but more so lately I have been getting sprayed a lot because I just find it so much easier.

Walk us through your skin-care routine. What are some of your favorite products? What's the routine like?

The cleanser I've been using at the moment is the Revive Foaming Cleanser. I also am using the Rhode Glazing Milk Mist. The eye cream that I'm using at the moment is La Mer. I know the La Mer products are so expensive, but they're actually really, really good. I don't use a toner. I'm not sure why, I just don't. For my moisturizer, I use the La Mer, but when I'm trying to spare that, I use the Augustinus Bader… That's such a hard brand to pronounce. I've been saying it wrong this whole time. That brand’s products are absolutely incredible. I go between that and I also love the Tatcha moisturizers, too. I really love the [one in the] purple tub. I find it so glowy and beautiful.

Were you always into skin care? Did it take you long to nail down your routine?

I have always loved skin care. I got really bad perioral dermatitis and it's probably because I was doing so much skin care. Now, I'm not sure if this is correct, but when I was looking into it, I think the perioral dermatitis comes from ruining the barrier of your skin by just using way too many products, doing too many facials, all that sort of stuff [Editor’s note: Dermatologists don’t really know the exact cause of perioral dermatitis, but the use of heavy products is a theory].

When that happened to me, I really stripped back on my skin care. I still have br