It should come as no surprise that when makeup TikToker and musician Abby Roberts filmed her recent music videos and performed on tour opening for Halsey this year, she did all her own makeup.
“Nobody is touching my face, ever. If I’m on photoshoots or music videos — anything — it’s always me,” she said. And while she regularly documents her makeup process for shows or shoots on social media, she’s kept one aspect a secret: her new collab with Morphe, made up of a set of palettes and brushes called “The Artcasts.”
“I’ve been using it for the majority of this year. I took it on the Halsey tour with me. Every day, I was secretly getting ready with it, but I couldn’t tell people about it,” she said.
The collection, which Roberts and Morphe planned for over a year, is available to consumers starting today via Morphe’s DTC site. It includes a 35-pan palette comprised of brights and neutrals, a 7-pan cake liner set, a brush set and an artist’s brush set for tiny details.
Roberts is one of the biggest makeup influencers on TikTok, with over 17 million followers on the app. The Morphe collection is her first color cosmetics partnership and second beauty collab overall, following one with Tatti Lashes in November 2021.
Morphe is “a brand that I’ve wanted to work with since I was literally 11 years old. It feels like it’s been a long time coming,” she said.
Over the past two years, Morphe has expanded from its traditional beauty influencer partners to collaborations with top TikTokers including Avani Gregg and the D’Amelio sisters. Meanwhile, it cut its ties with controversial YouTubers Jeffree Star and James Charles. According to a WWD report last week, Morphe’s parent company Forma Brands is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. When asked what this might mean for future collabs, a Forma representative said, “Whatever path forward the company takes, Forma Brands expects it will maintain important partnerships and continue delivering thoughtfully selected products to consumers.”
Roberts has been one of the trendsetters in the resurgence of rock-star style looks that have taken off on TikTok, such as the mid-late-aughts “indie sleaze” aesthetic or “rock star girlfriend” trend that’s circulated on TikTok, centered on concert-going looks with black leather jackets, band T-shirts and bold makeup. As a musician herself, she’s not a fan of the latter trend’s name: ”I’m trying to be the rock star, not the girlfriend,” she said.
Roberts cites her music influences as Mazzy Star, My Bloody Valentine, Nirvana, Radiohead, Lana Del Rey and the shoegaze genre. Palette colors are named after her songs, as well as her favorites by other artists, including “505” after the Arctic Monkeys song and a purple shade called Ultra Violet inspired by Lana Del Rey.
Releasing her debut EP “Ashes” in June this year, Roberts’ music career has “been a wild ride, for sure,” she said. It’s also directly connected to her makeup: She first connected with Halsey after the singer came across her makeup videos on TikTok.
“She was a fan of my makeup and stuff on TikTok for a while, which I had no idea about,” said Roberts. “She’d been following me for a minute and invited me over to her house to come and play with makeup. We just really clicked that day, and it just felt really chill.” After Roberts played her music for Halsey, the pop star invited her on the tour.
While Roberts is busy with music and another EP coming out at the start of next year, she’s also still dedicated to one of the most important times of year for beauty influencers: Halloween. While she said she’s “taking a bit easier than past years, because I’ve got a lot more responsibilities now,” she “started planning Halloween back in August.”
This month, she is in the process of rolling out her elaborate Halloween makeup looks on social media using her new collection. Examples so far include looks based on the series “Monster High” and an uncanny Priscilla Presley, while she has “a lot more spooky things planned” for the rest of October.
Get news and analysis about fashion, beauty and culture delivered to your inbox every morning.