“In the tour we do seven different outfit changes, and they can be elaborate. The only thing I really have time for when I go backstage is lipstick, so I just grab it, put it on, and go,” says Charli XCX. “It always works out.”
“It always works out” might also be the theme of the singer’s career. More than 10 years since she first released music and lots of blood, sweat, and tears later, Charli XCX has hit her stride—to put it mildly—with her sixth studio album, “brat,” which recently surpassed one billion streams on Spotify alone. Now, she’s got another achievement to add to her resume: As of today, Charli XCX is the newest ambassador for Valentino Beauty.
“I’m kind of really only into working with brands that encourage and amplify individual expression, and that’s obviously something that Valentino Beauty does,” she says. “I think you can see that from the history of the people that they work with and also their products.”
The aforementioned lipstick—the one she applies backstage between songs—is Spike Valentino Buttery Matte Lip Color in It’s Valentino Baby, a deep berry red. “I’m always saying ‘It’s Charli Baby,’ so that kind of feels like my signature shade almost,” says Charli, who has dialed into our call on the way to the Atlanta stop of the Sweat Tour, which she co-headlines with Australian singer and actor Troye Sivan.
She also credits the brand’s Colorgraph Eyeliner in Rockstud Noir for her undone cat eyeliner. “I love going in the waterline, kind of pulling it out [towards the temples],” she says. “If it gets a little smudgy, I’m never mad at that. I always kind of like to look like I’ve been out partying the night before, which in some cases, I have been… but other times, I can rely on my makeup to make it look like that.”
She’s not too precious about taking off her eye makeup at night: “I’m a little lazy with that,” says Charli. “Sometimes [the liner] is on my eye the next day, but I think that always looks good. I like it to have that kind of worn-in, party-girl look to it.”
But even 365 party girls eventually need to slow down and exhale. “I really love a good sheet mask. I just got into the brand Patchology. I really like 111Skin,” she says. “I put on a sheet mask and watch loads of movies and lie there, and that’s kind of my beauty routine.” Does she have comfort movies? “We watched Rope the other day, the Hitchcock movie, which I love,” says Charli. “And I’m always obsessed with Charlie’s Angels.” (That may be a message to her fans, who call themselves as much.)
Thanks to TikTok, Charli has also been dabbling in face massage: “My TikTok algorithm is absolutely flooded with gua sha routines and face exercises, so currently I’m trying to do my face exercises every day,” she says. “I don’t know if it’s doing anything, but my face definitely feels sore afterwards, so that’s something.”
