Mika Abdalla on Ghosting, Makeup, and a Really Good Shag Haircut

03.08.2026, 17:30 allure.com

Off-Campus had viewers considering the philosophy of ghosting. Søren Kierkegaard, according to Belmont Camelli’s character, Garrett Graham, would say that we have “shared moral responsibility” and that “ghosting is choosing comfort over courage, despair over strength.”

Mika Abdalla takes a different approach: “Mama’s gotta take care of me”—at least in the context of her latest campaign for Urban Decay. She is the spokesperson for the brand’s new Ghosting Trio, which, in addition to a cheeky name, includes a blurring primer, setting powder, and setting spray. In this campaign, ghosting “isn't just going MIA for no reason,” Abdalla says. She alludes to it being more about being okay with not keeping things that no longer serve her in her life. “It's like, ‘This thing doesn't make my life easier, okay.’”

As it relates to dating, however, she sees ghosting as “mean up until a point,” saying it's not how she operates. “I don't have a problem being direct.”

The actress took us through all things beauty and self-care while on and off the set of the Prime Video show.

Her makeup remains simple: Day to day, “I'll throw on a bit of mascara and then do my Ghosting Spray,” she says. If she decides to add more products to the lineup, she reaches for multitaskers. “Many of my products are two- or three-in-one. I have blush and highlighter duo sticks.”

Urban Decay

Ulta Beauty

Sephora

Urban Decay

On set with her makeup artist, however, Abdalla likes to experiment. “I love playing with Old Hollywood tricks by using different colored eyeliners in specific spots around your eye to enhance your irises, brighten up your eyes, or change their shape,” she says. Her most recent obsession: Brightening the whites of her eyes by putting a tiny bit of red eyeliner at the inner corners. “My set makeup artist, Rex, and I were playing with that [trick] yesterday.”

Abdalla’s hair is slightly more involved, especially since becoming Allie Hayes in Prime Video’s book-to-screen adaptation of Off-Campus. Fans of the book series were quick to notice that it’s different from the source material. (Allie is originally a blonde.) When asked if she ever considered dyeing her hair for the role, Abdalla says she was open to it, but it was never really part of the conversation with the showrunners. “I remember asking them, ‘Do you think you're going to dye my hair?’” to which they responded, “‘No, this isn't about hair color. It's about vibe.’” They did, however, suggest that she get highlights so that her natural texture showed more on camera.

Abdalla says her waves and curls showed up later in life. “I filmed a movie just after COVID, and it was a pretty intense, stressful experience,” she says. “And literally from there, my hair started growing in curly.”

She also suggests that her shag haircut (the one that’s become synonymous with her character) might also have something to do with her emerging waves: “I wonder if it's just taking a lot of the weight off of my head,” she says. (She uses the Oribe Dry Texture Spray to style her shag, enhancing texture and adding volume.) Since getting it cut almost 10 years ago by hairstylist Marisa Mitchell, Abdalla hasn’t looked back.

Oribe

Amazon

Nordstrom

On days she feels particularly drained on set, Abdalla leans on a few products like magnesium-infused Neom Magnesium Body Butter and Saje's essential oil blends (“the hair and makeup team are always coming over and rubbing them on my neck or on my arms”).

Saje Natural Wellness

Ulta Beauty

Neom

Ulta Beauty

Music has also been a way of decompressing. “I have my regular over-ear headphones, my wireless earbuds, my wired earbuds,” she says. “I have everything with me at all times. And a big pull speaker in my bag because music has been really helpful if I'm super stressed.”

And of course, Abdalla’s costars help, too: “We are all so close, and we are all experiencing the exact same type of stress. And so just leaning on each other has been a really huge thing. I don’t know what I’d do without them.”

Abdalla is set to star as the protagonist in Off-Campus season two, alongside costar Stephen Kalyn, who plays her love interest, Dean Di Laurentis. She and Camelli agree that Kalyn takes the longest to get ready to shoot. “I know for a fact [Camelli] said Stephen takes the longest,” she says. “Stephen comes into the trailer, and he gets a little ice bath for his face, and he does his little light mask. And he goes into his trailer, and he shaves his face. We are always waiting on Stephen.”

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