• by Sarah Mahoney , Staff Writer @mahoney_sarah, January 11, 2021

 Indie-pop princess Halsey is jumping into the celebrity beauty fray, launching a cosmetics line called About Face.

Intending to break the rules and make makeup both fun and expressive, the performer says the collection is "built on the truth that no one is just one thing -- humans are weird, complex, and entirely beautiful because of it," she writes on the brand's website. "Everyone has their own messy, mad and personal method to becoming our greater selves."

It's not an easy time to break into the category. Famous faces already clutter the category. There's Fenty Beauty by Rihanna, owned by luxury powerhouse LVMH; Lady GaGa's Haus Laboratories, sold on Amazon; and Drew Barrymore's Flower Beauty, sold at Walmart.

And consumers are buying and wearing less makeup due to the pandemic. Last month, the NPD Group, a market research firm that tracks makeup sales, reported a 17% decline in sales of prestige cosmetics in the third quarter. In the second quarter of 2020, they fell 36%.

Claiming the new products are more hard-working than hype, the company is starting with 40 different products, with three distinct focuses: Light Lock, a face highlighter with "stratospheric shine;" Matte, a range of smooth high-intensity lip colors; and Shadowsticks, which are creamy eyeshadow crayons.

The collection, set to launch later this month, is as intensely pigmented as the colorful performer's fans might expect.

Halsey calls herself a self-taught makeup artist and true cosmetics junkie. "Makeup is an art, and art is about happy accidents, not any one ideal of perfection," she says in the release announcing the new company. "I always feel the most free when I am creating looks without following any rules. The beauty industry has norms, but I want to encourage people to challenge those standards and allow things to be imperfect and fun."

The products are vegan, clean and cruelty-free, and priced from $17 to $32.

In addition to D2C, Halsey is also offering products through Ipsy, a monthly beauty-subscription company, which plans to drop an Anti-Valentine's Day lip range next month.