Hannah Bahng is adding a new title to her résumé. As her fans, Blues, already know, the singer personally handles much of her creative direction, from her songwriting to her merch design and her glam. Just over a month after being appointed as rom&nd’s first-ever global brand ambassador, Bahng is solidifying her status in the beauty realm even further by launching a new makeup line she created in tandem with the K-beauty brand.
Announced today, February 14, and officially launching on February 17, the first Hannah Bahng x rom&nd collection includes a quad eyeshadow palette, lip balm, lip tint, plus a reusable cassette tape tin, stickers, and a compact mirror with a pearl wrist strap — all in Bahng's beloved blue hue.
Aesthetically, the collection drew inspiration from the ‘90s, and the products are items that Bahng herself uses regularly. (In fact, Bahng previously told Teen Vogue that she’s a big fan of rom&nd and used their lip tints, blush, and eyeshadow to get ready for shows during her U.S. tour late last year.)
Ahead of the official launch, Teen Vogue caught up with Bahng over email to get some pointers on how to wear the products and what it was like creating them. Read all her tips and tricks below!
Hannah Bahng: First of all, it was amazing to have so much creative freedom in a new artistic medium that’s outside of music, video directing, etc., but at the same time, familiar since I also already design all my own merch and albums. These beauty products have become my babies as well in the sense that I was driving the creative from the beginning to the end, and now that the products have been made, it’s so fulfilling to see my vision come to life after working on this for so many months.
HB: I definitely wanted the products to be authentic to me and be products that I genuinely would love and would use every day, so I knew before we even started that I wanted to do a Juicy Lasting Tint, a Glasting Melting Balm, and a mini eyeshadow palette because those are all rom&nd products that I’ve already been using daily for years!
From there, I also already knew that I wanted to incorporate the color blue into the packaging design because I wanted my Blues to feel like this collection belongs to them as well — plus I just love the color blue! As for the cassette packaging, I still wanted to stay connected to the fact that, first and foremost, I’m a musician, and I was also inspired by the Altoids tin trend and thought doing a cassette shape version of that would be a really cute edition that can be personalized and useful for all sorts of things and not just packaging that you throw away. Personally, I like to keep my earphones and other little trinkets in the tin that I decorated with my stickers!
For specific shades, I already had an idea of the general color palette that I wear daily, but I also wanted to put my own “out of the blue” spin on it where it can easily be used casually for everyday looks but also can be used to dress up more for something special too, which is why for the eyeshadow palette, I specifically wanted to have two matte shades and two shimmer shades. One of the shimmer shades is the special point blue shimmer highlight color that can be used in a lot of fun, versatile, and unique ways.
For the Glasting Melting Balm, I had a super fun experience being able to create my own melting balm at rom&nd’s open office in Seoul. They have a little mini lab where you can create your own unique melting balm shades, and that’s how I came up with the ‘Rose Bahng’ shade that I felt like could look good on not just myself but everyone else, too!
And then for the lip tint, I really love the “grape” family of rom&nd’s lip tint colors. I wear them every day, so I chose my favorite to include in my collection and repackaged it with the ‘Out of the Blue’ design.
HB: I start with the ‘Rosy Bass’ shade as the matte “base” shade — see what I did there? — across the lid and along the outer lower lash line. Next, I go in with the other matte shade, ‘Mauve Cassette,’ just on the outer crease to accentuate the natural eye shape. I top it off with the shimmery ‘Blush Play’ shade.
If I’m going for a more casual, no-makeup-makeup look, I’ll stop there. If I'm going for something more fun and eye-catching, I’ll finish off with ‘The Blues’ shimmer shade on the inner lid/corner as the highlight shade and then blend out into the middle. I also like to put ‘The Blues’ shimmer onto my inner lower lash line sometimes to make it pop even more.
HB: Personally, for a casual everyday look that lasts, I apply it to the center/inner part of my lips and then use my finger to blend it out to the edges to give a natural gradient look because if you don’t have a harsh outline it tends to fade more naturally throughout the day, and I won’t need to reapply as often.
HB: I actually usually start with the balm as a base color on my lip since it’s really hydrating and makes for a good natural base; then, if I want more of a pop of color, I’ll go in with the Juicy Lasting Tint on top.
HB: Yes! ‘The Blues’ shimmer shade also works really great as a highlighter, so you can add it on your cheekbones and even the tip of your nose to get a really nice and glowy highlight [that] looks amazing with both natural sunlight and flash photos as well! I also love to use the Rose Bahng melting balm as a blush; it adds a really nice, dewy touch to the final makeup look!
