Saweetie Just Wants Balance And MAC Glitters

Is there anyone more relatable than Saweetie? As a card-carrying member of Eyebrow Contour Addicts Anonymous, it's incredibly refreshing to learn that even rappers couldn't let the Anastasia Beverly Hills DipBrow out of their chokehold. "I remember I started wearing eyebrows in college, but I used to put on my eyebrows with eyeliner," Saweetie tells me over the phone. "I remember going home and my mom was like, 'Girl, are you applying your water eyeliners to your eyebrows?'"

Saweetie overcame the challenge of the eyebrow with the help of YouTube tutorials and a proper brow pencil and concealer combo. Now, she — and friggin’ Cher — have been tapped by MAC Cosmetics for the brand's new Challenge Accepted campaign.

Saweetie and Cher may seem like an unexpected pairing, but their relationship is deep: Cher is a mentor to Saweetie, of sorts. The rapper has long seen the Oscar-winning multihyphenate/legend as a source of style inspiration. "I absolutely, absolutely love when she would perform in her earlier days," Saweetie shares. "When she'd wear a dress or a leotard that snatched the waist, and she had on tights and some crazy, iced-out dress — that's something that I emulate. I love me a long-hair moment with a beautiful dress that snatches the waist. So when you see me in that, you just know it's inspired by Cher."

Saweetie is also a huge fan of the Glamorous Grunge Cher Era when Cher was still rocking the Rapunzel-long hair but with a touch of leather of lace. "[Her hair]’s flowing, but her makeup just looks so beautiful and effortless."

Much like Cher, MAC makeup is known for its performance just as much as its ability to evolve and adapt with the changing times. So, this collaboration feels like more than just a celebrity being the face of a brand — it's about creating a legacy, about stepping up to the challenge of being authentic, even during changing times.

For Saweetie, evolution is accepting that the brows of her undergrad should not be the brows that walk in the graduation ceremony. "That was a traumatic experience for me," she says. "Looking back at my college days, I'm like, 'Why didn't any of my friends tell me about my eyebrows, for real?'" Her friends likely thought it was A Lewk, and that’s just being a good, kind friend.

When asked what MAC product would be a Saweetie song, it's a no brainer: ‘Icy Grl’ and the MAC Glitters go hand-in-hand — especially when it comes to a Beyonc´é-esque wind in the hair vibe. "Recently, at my shows, I take my MAC Glitter and I have an 'Icy Grl' moment," Saweetie explains. "I pour glitter all over me, and when the fans hit, it looks like an icy tornado. It's so pretty."

If Saweetie had to name a MAC product after a Cher song, that's pretty obvious, too. "I think if I were to name a product, I would do 'Believe’ by Cher, because it's about believing in yourself," Saweetie declares, a vocoder stan like the rest of us. "I think with makeup, it helps with self-esteem and confidence. I'm going to contradict myself, because I think all that comes from within, but when you want to look good and when you want to look good for the day, makeup does help with that." For me, Fix+ Magic Radiance and LiquidLast Eyeliner go together like Saweetie and Doja Cat on ‘Best Friend’, so I get it.

In the centre of the Venn diagram between Cher and Saweetie is the word 'confidence.' Saweetie doesn’t just ooze confidence, it swarms around her like beautiful butterflies, working to lift and protect her. And when it comes down to it, Saweetie attributes feeling her best and most beautiful with the art of meditation.

To her, people may not feel their best because they’re not working on the inner-self — hydrating, eating properly, and taking care of their mind. "The more I study meditation, the more I study food — all of these can have an effect on [the] emotional state," She explains. "I recently just did a meditation song, it's fly. I really just want to teach other women about meditating, because when you centre yourself, when you get to know yourself better, that's when you can truly discover a genuine confident side about yourself."

And she’s right — working on being okay with silence and presence and being okay with just being with yourself is an act of self-love and a deep confidence booster. "A lot of people try to use makeup, use clothes, use cars, use materialistic things to make themselves confident," Saweetie says. "But honestly, confidence comes from within." We bonded over the fact that without some form of spiritual practice, including meditation, life can often make us feel like a "tornado whipping through Brooklyn."

Saweetie stays booked and busy, and knows at least five minutes of meditation — though, in an ideal world, she would have two hours every morning to meditate — and remembering to breathe helps her to get through every single day. "I work a lot, and because I work a lot, I have to figure out a way to balance myself. So, right now, I don't have many days off. But when I get the opportunity, I meditate just to balance myself again, because we all need balance." Balance, a little glitter, and Cher: That sounds like the recipe we all need to get through life, right?