The wait is finally over: Sza has revealed her go-to lip combination. And there's more—turns out the lip gloss she's been wearing nonstop for the past few months is set to be the first launch from her new beauty brand, Not Beauty. (Mic drop.) On April 15, the singer posted a video on Instagram, channeling a lumberjack with a chainsaw in hand. Sza went to work chopping tree branches before the camera panned over to her “logs,” i.e., the much-anticipated new lip glosses.
The line will launch with three offerings, one clear and two tinted in the shades Flesh and Strawberry. Housed in wooden components (appropriate, given the theme of the promotional video), each tube has the brand's logo printed on the front in bubbly red font. “I’m not a beauty maven, but I know lips,” the singer said in a recent Vogue interview. “I know what I like, and I’m diligent about finding the best quality ingredients.”
While the exact launch date has yet to be revealed, the Not Beauty website is now active and showcases the line on a multitude of skin tones. Fans can get their hands on the products via various pop-ups at the Grand National Tour, which she is co-headlining with Kendrick Lamar this summer. This isn’t the first time that beauty products have been used as merch (this is the entire premise of the brand Simmi Haze, which was founded by DJ sister duo Simmi and Haze), but there’s no doubt that the launch of Not Beauty will continue to revolutionize the way beauty founders interact with their customers.
That being said, Sza’s lip combinations have gotten a cult following of their own, and people have been trying to recreate them for years. I’m very much a part of that group, and I have to say, I’ve found some gems along the way. So if you simply can’t wait for the Not Beauty launch (which, same), keep reading for the products I’ve used to create my own Sza-inspired lip combos .
For a while, the singer wore this mauvey, purple-toned lip that I fell in love with. I got the look by using Fenty Beauty's gloss bomb in the shade Riri. I also like using the brand's shimmery gloss bomb stix as an initial wash of color.
Sza's lips always looked perfectly ombréd thanks to her expert placement of lip liner. My hands-down favorite has to be Makeup by Mario's lip liner in dark chocolate, which I use to line my lips and blend in using the brush on the end. It's the perfect neutral brown for all skin tones, and the way I fly through these pencils is a testament to how good they are.
From what I can tell, I believe Sza overlines her lips using a darker lip liner to add a pouty definition. My favorite pencil to do this trick is Juvia's Places' espresso, which is a rich, deep brown. I typically overline my bottom lip and about 75 percent of my upper lip, stopping just short of the corners. I've found that when I blend everything, it creates more of a natural gradient and doesn't make product build up at the corners of my mouth.
