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You don’t see me doing any blowouts, he jokes over the phone.
Getty Images; Bella Geraci/Allure
I don’t know how to do that.
The title he proudly will claim, however, is makeup artist.
Allure: When did you first discover makeup?
Lambert in 2009.
He had, like,smoky eyeswith 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.
Lambert in 2016.
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.
Then as I got into my teenage years, I started getting really interested in fashion.
Lambert in 2021.
I was buying a lot of magazines.
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.
You have to buy it yourself.
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?
Lambert:More or less.
I started doing makeup on friends [in high school].
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.
I was doing freelance makeup for a couple different photographers.
I got a job working at a couple makeup counters.
Allure: You came up before the age of YouTube tutorials.
Whered you learn how to do makeup?
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.
Allure: What did embracing makeup teach you about yourself back then?
Lambert:I just thought the possibilities were endless.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Allure: Who have been your biggest beauty influences?
Then I started listening to it and started falling in love with music.
But it was a visual thing for me first.
I thought he was the coolest guy.
I want to look like that.
And also, I think I have a crush on him.
And I would definitely thank my parents for not being weird about it.
They let me do my thing, which is saying a lot.
I was really embarrassed the first time she was annoyed with me.
So the fact that she made that distinction for me was really beautiful.
Allure: How has the signature Adam Lambert look evolved?
I was loading it on in a way that wasn’t always the best.
Getting to experiment with different products just leads to better results.
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 iscontouring 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 herfoundationandconcealer; those eye shadow pallets are killer.
I’ve also incorporated some Fenty Beauty.
I think [Rihannas] stuff is brilliant.
I always have a little bit of Nars in the kit.
And I just recently got into Danessa Myricks.
She does some really wild metallics and shimmers.
I like to make a statement, so I love really highly pigmented powders and shadows.
Allure: Whats the most important makeup tip youve ever learned?
Just blend it into your face until it fades in the way you want it to.
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