“‘I love you. You’ve got this. You look gorgeous.’”
That’s what Olivia Dean tells herself when she looks in the mirror each morning. “I lead with that mentality,” says the singer, who is currently nestled into a plush couch in a hotel suite in downtown San Francisco. “Even though sometimes you might not feel like it, you have to pretend.” It’s clear Dean practices what she preaches: her megahit album is called, of course, The Art of Loving, and includes songs like “So Easy (To Fall In Love)” and “I’ve Seen It” that remind listeners that there’s beauty to be found in all forms of love, self-love chief among them.
The day of our meeting is less than a week after Dean’s Grammys win for Best New Artist—and her excitement remains palpable. “It’s [only now] just sinking in,” says Dean, as she lights a Diptyque candle. “It’s been the craziest week of my life.” She has many more crazy-in-a-good-way days ahead, from a performance later that evening to an upcoming (and already sold out) world tour, to the reason we have gathered here today: her appointment as the new global brand partner of Hourglass Cosmetics.
It was only a matter of time before Dean was tapped by a beauty brand: Her curls tumble down her shoulders in a way that feels effortless and her complexion glows like that of someone who sleeps ten hours a night and spends their days relaxing, not performing at major awards shows. But Dean wants it to be clear: It took lots of experimentation before she landed on her now-signature look. “I think it would be absolutely ridiculous to pretend everyone just immediately knows what their style is. I really think you have to do a lot of trial and error,” she says. “I used to have the craziest eyebrows; I took it really far. Those photos really make me laugh.”
Today, Dean’s beauty philosophy is all about embracing what comes naturally. “I don’t want to feel like a completely different person on stage,” she says. “It’s about me and my everyday life, but just a little more fabulous.” Her beauty influences are vast, but Dean says she admires Audrey Hepburn as well as her “favorite mother and daughter combo” of Diana and Tracee Ellis Ross. Recently, Dean has also been referencing photos of Bianca Jagger, who “really owns the side part.”
Dean’s partnership with Hourglass feels like a natural fit, she says: “It’s a brand that has been in my life for a really long time already. I remember going into Liberty in London; their brushes were the first set I ever bought. Now, I’ve got all their travel brushes for going on tour.” It’s then that Dean opens her makeup bag, showing off her current favorites. She’s loyal to the Veil Hydrating Skin Tint (“I’m either shade 10 or 11, depending on how much sun I’ve been able to receive,” she says, “Today, 10.”), the lip liner she performed in at the Grammys (one perk of her new gig: it’s a new shade that hasn’t been released yet), and the new Unreal Liquid Highlighter in Infinite, a yellow-toned gold. “I am quite loyal to being a blush lady, but I’ve started doing highlight on top of that, and this one is just gorgeous,” says Dean. “It makes you look like you just stepped off the beach.” The highlighter and tint are two of the three products (along with the brand’s Vanish Airbrush Concealer) that comprise “The Olivia Edit,” the first of a series of capsule collections Dean will select for Hourglass as part of her new role.