Hailey Bieber has gone viral once again, this time for using only what was in her purse to do a full makeup look in her car. “Wait, same,” I thought, watching the video on repeat to see how exactly she does her nose contour. Except, when I did it, I was in the back of an Uber I couldn’t afford on my way to an event I had completely forgotten about until I got a reminder from Partiful two hours before it started. I’ve been trying to quit my go-to smudgy eye and play with other looks (a bold lip! Whatever actually constitutes a ghost lash! Excessive blush!), but I know myself. Without a little flick of liner or swipe of taupe shadow, I feel off. And that’s the last thing you want to feel when you’re already running late and have stress sweat on your upper lip.
I dug through my bag, a beat-up carryall that’s seen the inside of nearly every airport baggage scanner and sticky dive bar bathroom, and found the only beauty product I’d brought with me besides my emotional support tube of Aquaphor: a soft beige Charlotte Tilbury lipliner. At the next red light, I dabbed it on the outer corners of my eyes and smudged it out with my pinky finger.
While I didn’t think there was anything revolutionary at the time about Bieber’s video, I was surprised by how many people didn’t realize that sometimes, all you have is a purse and a dream. And maybe a Rhode pocket blush. I thought we’d all been doing some version of this multitasking, on-the-go approach, especially when everyone is juggling more than they can carry. Even my boyfriend noticed a girl touching up her makeup on a Greyhound bus. She had all her most necessary items in a convenient foldable makeup bag.
I’ve decided to call this phenomenon Purseface, a pared-down, intuitive approach to beauty that utilizes limited tools (or just your fingers) and whatever you can grab from the bottom of your bag before a video call, a meeting, or a last-minute Hinge date. The products can be multifunctional already or repurposed, think mascara as brow gel or eyeshadow, and Vaseline in place of lip gloss. It’s for working moms on the go like Bieber and for party girls who can’t be weighed down by a big-ass bag at the club (not me, though, I’ve been known to bring snacks to the club in my carryall…and a digital camera…and a Lana Del Rey lighter…and a portable charger….). It’s for students who don’t have the budget for makeup hauls and for creatives who value self-expression over perfection. In short, Purseface is embraced by betches who have shit to do and still want to keep it cute.
And now that I’ve pointed it out, maybe you’ve noticed the rise of Purseface too. Even brands like MAC Cosmetics have recently reposted TikToks like this one of an influencer using her Lusterglass Sheer-Shine Lipstick as blush (and yes, she’s doing this from her car). Meanwhile, NARS relaunched its iconic Multiple, a creamy, multiuse blush stick for cheeks, lips, and eyes. It’s also travel-friendly — on the brand’s Instagram, you can find it peeking out of bags and rolling around TSA screening bins. In another post, a model in the backseat of what looks like a cab swipes the Multiple across her cheeks and her nose. And while it fits perfectly into our current desire for wear-everywhere products, the Multiple was actually born in the ’90s. As François Nars recently told Harper’s Bazaar, he was inspired to create the Multiple after applying a single lipstick on model Carolyn Murphy’s entire face for a story in the magazine’s March 1996 issue. According to Nars, the look was done in just 10 minutes.
While convenience and travel-ready products are key elements of the Purseface, the trend isn’t just about speedy minimalism. Crucially, Purseface has an air of playfulness, which makes it the perfect antidote to the Clean Girl aesthetic. As Haaniyah Awale Angus, a 26-year-old writer from London, said, “It does toe the line of the Clean Girl, but…the Clean Girl is about absence, where what I’m doing in particular or what I’ve seen other women do is…use the parts of makeup that make it fun.”
Take, for example, makeup artist and self-proclaimed “face decorator” Emily Wood, who scribbles eye pencils on her forehead and smudges frosty, bright pigments across her lips and lids while enjoying the beauty of the British countryside or just standing on a subway platform. Her approach is simultaneously free-spirited and rooted in real life, making it all at once aspirational and accessible. I doubt she’s the type to carry a heavy bag of makeup with her or bother with any lengthy beauty routines (though I’m sure she must have an impressive collection of products at her disposal at home).
If Wood embodies the off-the-cuff, playful spirit of Purseface, Bella Chiocca represents the time-savvy, strategic side. A self-employed 25-year-old from London, Bella has Purseface down to a science: “I use this fantastic YSL mascara after doing a quick lash curl, then MAC’s greige lip pencil on my lips and the outer bit of my lower lash line, then I finish with Fenty setting powder — which [has] the small mirror I use [for the rest of my makeup],” she told me.
Chiocca’s entire look lives in a small polka-dot makeup bag she can easily toss into her purse. But for her, it’s not just about the ease of being able to create a look on the go using a few products. “There’s this internalized pressure to make the most of my time,” she said. “Like it’s time well spent if I do my makeup en route.” Even the potential awkwardness of doing a full face in front of strangers becomes part of the Purseface experience. “Public transport feels so impermanent,” she said. “I like to play around with the idea that I am performing and exploring confidence when I do things like this.”
For Maria M., a 26-year-old industrial designer and researcher from Brooklyn, the Purseface approach is more of a necessity than a trend. “It’s all on the go for me,” she said. She even sent me photos from the airplane she was currently on, where her most essential items — a handful of pale pink tubes neatly organized inside a GG&L bag — proved the point.
For Emma Ecklund, a 27-year-old bartender from New York City who posts her GRWM routines on TikTok, Purseface helps draw a line between her nightlife persona and real life. “Working in nightlife, I try to adopt a sort of poisonous look, like a venomous frog or plant,” she said. But when she’s going on a date or running to a casual hang? “I’ve found myself sticking to my singular Makeup Forever 612 universal brown pencil for a full look,” she told me. “[It’s] undefeated…like a cool girl kind of monochromatic thing.” Ecklund’s routine also reflects a broader shift toward intentional spending. “I’ve started prioritizing buying one really nice item to add into my routine, as opposed to letting myself loose in Ulta and buying whatever looks nice.”
Lili Kouzehkanani, a 24-year-old writer in New York City, echoes that sentiment. “I like feeling efficient in my routine, especially if I can do it with my fingers (depending on if I have nails). I think it allows me a sense of freedom other routines haven’t provided in the past, because I can reapply anywhere and it’s limited the products I’m using down to three when before it would have been closer to ten.” Like Ecklund, Kouzehkanani isn’t just paring down solely for the sake of convenience. For both women, it’s a way to sidestep perfectionism without giving up self-expression.
Angus put it best: “I found myself really falling in love with myself in a way I hadn’t before, because I was wasting time and money and effort on makeup, when this really feels like the most me.”
So maybe we all have more in common with Bieber than we think. No, I’m not talking the bank account (unless some of you are hiding something from me) or the pop star husband (again, unless some of you are hiding something from me, and in this case I’d REALLY like to know), but the shared desire to feel more like ourselves — in traffic, or on a train, or even mid-Zoom. Purseface is about doing you wherever you are with whatever you’ve got. It’s beauty that moves at our pace and with our budgets.
And if all I’ve got is a handful of products that fit in my purse and can make me feel hot with minimal effort, then so be it. In fact, I’d prefer to keep it that way.
