.jpg)
If you're even remotely into beauty, I would bet that you're a fan of Mikayla Nogueira—or, at the very least, that her TikToks end up on your For You page every now and again. Thanks to her distinct Massachusetts accent, quick tips and reviews, and colorful style, Nogueira has become one of the apps top stars, rocketing to 1 million followers just four months after joining the app (she's currently just shy of 12 million).
Nogueira's sold out her fair share of products, but nothing about her feels like the marketing machine of mega-influencers before her—maybe its because it's all so new for her or that she hasn't relocated to L.A., the influencing capital of the world. My guess, though, is that at the center of all her newfound fame, is a love of beauty that hasn't wavered, no matter how many followers she gains. This shines through as we discuss Ole Henriksen's new Banana Bright Sun-Kissed Primer, which she's partnered with the brand to launch.
“I've been in cahoots with Ole for quite a long time now,” she says. “I had the opportunity to fly to Los Angeles to meet him, and I got to spend a lot of time with him and get to know him and get to know more about the brand. The way he talks about the Ole Henriksen Skincare line, the way he speaks about his products and the brand, I've never heard anyone as passionate as he is. It was really refreshing to see a founder of a brand just so invested in the products totally, the way he could pick any of his products out of a hat, and he would be able to tell you every single detail about it.”
The primer is a limited edition version of the brand's cult favorite Banana Bright Primer, with an added gradual self-tanner. “I'm very pale,” says Nogueira. “Sometimes I feel like my skin can be particularly dull because of that fairness. What I love about this new product is that it gives you this gradual tan with use that is just beautiful. It looks natural. It looks like you've just straight come out of the beach and you have this beautiful sun-kissed glow. I really like it, especially because it's still freezing in Massachusetts, and I'm not going to go sunbathe in 40-degree weather.”
We caught up with Nogueira to play a round of Glamour's Big Beauty Questions to chat the other products she can't live without, the beauty moment she'd rather forget, and how she handles newfound fame.
Instagram content
Glamour: Do you have any tips or tricks for using the new primer, or have you found it’s pretty straightforward?
Mikayla Nogueira: I mean, that's the nice thing about it that it is straightforward. For a lot of people, when you hear the word self-tan, it can almost be intimidating sometimes, especially if you're new to it, but with this product, I apply it in the morning as my makeup primer. One of my tips is to really let it absorb into the skin before going on top with the makeup. And that's the case with any primer, but with this one, it's nice to really just let it soak up into the skin and just get that, I'd say, two-to five-minute rest that it needs on the skin.
What’s a beauty rule you swear by?
I'm very much a beauty-has-no-rules person, but the one thing that I will do every single day, no matter what day it is, I will do lip prep. That means I will use a lip scrub and I will use a lip mask every single day in the morning before I do my makeup. While I'm doing my makeup, I'll let that lip mask sit on my lips, and by the time I get to lipstick, I wipe that lip mask off and my lips feel like a pillow. They feel like a cloud. That gives me the most smooth lipstick or lip gloss every single time. So I'll never skip on that.
Is there a one beauty rule that you think is B.S.?
Can the answer be all of them? It's all of them! I personally think there are guidelines that you can go by with makeup—for an example, with contour, the guideline is that you use a cool-toned product. But I say, if you want to use a warm-toned bronzer to contour your face, go right ahead. Do whatever makes you feel good. I think rules can be very intimidating. So just find what works for you.
Instagram content
Fill in the blank, I feel most beautiful when….
When I am accepting myself inside and out.
Do you remember the first beauty product you were ever obsessed with?
This is such a random answer. It was the Victoria's Secret black pencil liner. I used to shop at Victoria's Secret a lot when I was a kid. I started wearing makeup in middle school when I was probably around 10 or 11, and I was in Victoria's Secret one day. They used to have a full makeup line. They had everything you could imagine.
I was obsessed with the lip glosses, personally.
Those were great. The lip glosses were definitely probably the top-selling product. But for me, I always admired eyeliner, like winged liner, and a smoky black waterline. So one of the first makeup items I ever bought was an eyeliner. And I would literally go to school with raccoon eyes—and it was just raccoon eyes, though, no foundation, no blush, no bronzer, nothing else.
What has been your biggest beauty fail?
The one that sticks out to me was the first time I ever tried to do a cut crease. It was a mess. Cut creases are not easy! And the first time I did it, I was probably 15, and, oh my goodness, it came out a wreck. I've gotten pretty good at it now. It took a lot of time and practice, but we all start somewhere.
You can use only three beauty products for the rest of your life. What are they and why?
Probably a lip gloss. I always have to have something on my lips. If I'm only allowed to wear one thing, I'd probably pick mascara. I think mascara alone looks nice. And then, of course, I would pick the Sun-Kissed primer, because when I put that on and when that self-tan kicks in and that glow, I feel like I don't necessarily need foundation. If I had the primer with a little bit of a tan and then mascara and gloss, I'd be good to go.
Your followers love how relatable you are. How do you stay so grounded despite your giant following?
If you blow up, for instance, as a beauty creator or a creator, in general, you can really get in your head and lose yourself a little bit. For me, it's really important to just live a normal life. I make sure that I work a 9-to-5. I make sure I have a normal work schedule. I make sure that I don't get too absorbed in things. That's the thing that you have to keep up on. I wake up in the morning, I shower, I film my videos, and then I clean the house, I cook dinner, I scrapbook, whatever it is. I live a very normal life.
Instagram content
The crazy thing about TikTok is that you gain an audience so fast. How did you deal with having millions of followers basically overnight?
It's really overwhelming, as you can expect. If you look at other beauty influencers who maybe started on YouTube, they had this really slow climb. Over the course of five years, they would grow and they would hit a million in five years. But for me, I started in March 2020. I hit a million in August 2020. So that's, what, four months? Then I hit 4 million around the new year of 2021, and now I'm about to hit 11.9 million. So it was very fast.
The most difficult thing has been going out in public, because I physically cannot go out in public anymore without being recognized, and people coming up to me. As someone who deals with social anxiety, it's a little tough for me to have all that attention. I'm not someone who actually likes attention. For a while I didn't even want to leave the house because I just wanted to be left alone, but my fiancé, Cody, helps me. Having Cody there, it means the world to me. I don't know what I would do without him.
What’s your favorite way to take a moment for yourself?
If you were to ask me that three years ago, I would say makeup and skin care. But now that's literally my job. And it was my job when I worked at Ulta, but not to the same degree. So now my answer would be, I love the moments where I can put my phone away and I can cook. Cody and I will make dinner together. It's such an escape for me. The other thing is so random, but I love to clean. I'm a wicked clean person, so I get so much joy out of doing laundry and making the bed and organizing.
What’s your go-to Dunkin’ order?
I typically get an iced coffee with whole milk because, why not? I get sugar and a caramel swirl. And then I'll usually get hash browns and a croissant with sausage, egg, and cheese.
Instagram content
If you could change one thing about beauty standards on social media, what would you want to change?
People need to care less what other people do. If someone wants to get plastic surgery or some sort of injectable procedure, or if they want to wear black lipstick or dress a certain way, why do we care so much about what other people do? Who cares? I wish that people were less judgmental. I wish people were nicer.
Who are the women inspiring you the most right now?
My mom's always inspired me. She's an entrepreneur herself and one of the hardest-working people I know. She is the reason I have the work ethic I do; it doesn't come from nowhere. My manager, Hailey, she freaking blows my mind with what she does with her career, and when she tells me some of the things she has to do, I'm like, “Oh my goodness, I could never do that.” Then I'd say one of my closest influencer friends, Sam. She's known on TikTok as Beautykillsmua. She's been fighting to be a beauty influencer for 11 years, and I really admire the courage and her ability to fight to stay in the industry and to follow her dreams.
Bella Cacciatore is the beauty writer at Glamour. Follow her on Instagram @bellacacciatore_.
