Quen Blackwell Grew Up on M.A.C. Cosmetics—Now She Has Her Own Lip Kit

Quen Blackwell’s internet lore runs long. A quick search will yield memes of her dejected, screaming, or looking exceptionally done-up while posing for a photo shoot. And in a recent video posted by a Blackwell fan account, @quenaissance, the internet star-turned-media personality adds to her growing repertoire of funny moments: performing the viral “scuba dance” before snapping back into a pose for photographers. The backdrop? The steps leading to Chanel’s fall 2026 couture show, no less. It’s the perfect snapshot of Blackwell’s appeal: The internet girl known for making everyone laugh—on the now-defunct Vine, X, TikTok, and now YouTube (with her very own show Feeding Starving Celebrities)—can effortlessly weave through worlds. The fashion world is one of them—she’s walked the runways for Off-White and Victoria’s Secret, and attends shows for the likes of Coach, Louis Vuitton, and even Chanel. Your favorite celebs adore her (she counts Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, and fellow internet personality Larray as close friends). The beauty world loves her, too, so much so that she’s launching her own lip kit with M.A.C. Cosmetics.

Dropping today, July 9, Blackwell joins an all-star cast of M.A.C. Cosmetics lip kit alums, including rappers JT and Doja Cat, and model and musician Gabbriette. Her kit arrives just months after she became the face of a campaign announcing M.A.C. Cosmetics’ launch in Sephora.

The three-piece lip kit, retailing for $52, includes classics like the Lip Pencil in Chestnut and the M.A.CXimal Silky Matte Lipstick in Yash, plus a wild card: Lipglass Air in Frosting. Deceptively simple, Blackwell calls it the “antithesis” of the clean girl makeup trend—though she maintains she prefers simple glam but maximalist elements elsewhere. It’s a kit tailor-made for the “homegirl” archetype: “She makes jokes. She’s cool. She really don’t got no beef with nobody. She likes to work. She likes to chill at home. She’s really a homebody, but you can get her outside if you convince her with a good time,” she explains.

Ahead, Blackwell spills on her M.A.C. Cosmetics lip kit, how her relationship with beauty has evolved with age, and which beauty trend she hopes will phase out.

Which meme or GIF of yours do you use most?

I don’t really use any of my own reaction memes. I kind of just send pictures of my face in real time as reactions. Before I got on this call, I was like, “Hey, I’m literally hot in this dress,” and I sent a picture of me sweating and in pain. And then I sent it to my PR, and I was like, “Give me five minutes to cool off.”

Growing up, who were some of the muses that helped shape your beauty identity and practices?

Lauren London. Gabrielle Union, Chanel Iman, Eartha Kitt, and Sade. All these beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Black women really gave me insight into where I should get my beauty inspo. And then my siblings and my mom for sure. And my grandmother. And Hannah Montana. They were all unapologetically themselves.

You’re not afraid of experimenting with makeup. Is there a makeup style you prefer these days? Clean girl versus full glam?

I like to feel my skin breathe underneath. I know I’m pretty much a natural girl just because I’m so expressive in my comedy that I like not having to worry about whether I’m going to crease or smudge something. I do like light glam, but I don’t know if I would call it “clean,” since I’m such a maximalist at heart. I also love my lip to look extra, extra, extra juicy, and I like a good blush. Light glam so I can let all of my lips, jewelry, clothing, and personality shine.

Is there something about beauty that you value more now than you did when you were younger?

Individuality. When I was a kid, I wanted to fit in. Now as a grown woman, I like to be separate, and I like to be myself, and I like to be different. So in this lip kit, I chose something a bit off-center because I feel like that resonates with my vibe more.

Do you remember your first introduction to M.A.C? 

My first M.A.C. purchase was probably a foundation that wasn’t my shade because I was too socially anxious to approach the makeup artists to get properly shade-matched. It was probably also my sister’s lip liners, because I remember her bathroom being scattered with them growing up. I always wanted to be like her because my older sister has always been my first beauty muse.

With this lip kit, you keep things very classic with the Chestnut liner and Yash lipstick, and then you added this frosty lip gloss. Can you talk to me about how you landed on that palette?

It was kind of an unconscious thing how I came up with the combo, because it’s exactly what I wear on set or what M.A.C. has sent me in PR. It’s what I feel comfortable with. I’ve tried a lot of different versions, but I feel like this combo accentuates my lip the most. This is my everyday lip liner combo when I want to put on something. I chose a frosted, iridescent gloss rather than just a pink one because it’s not what a lot of people would use. There were other iterations, but it was just not what I wore every day. I’m like, “Let me give them the everyday tried and true.”

Who’s the M.A.C. girl wearing this lip kit? What is she like?

She’s chill. She’s your homegirl. She makes jokes. She’s cool. She really don’t got no beef with nobody. She likes to work. She likes to chill at home. She’s really a homebody, but you can get her outside if you convince her with a good time. She don’t like to wear a heavy face because she is about to sweat when she dances on the dance floor. But she will reapply the lip because she carries it in her purse. It’s all she carries in her purse, next to a credit card, no wallet. She is me.

If you could bring back any iconic M.A.C. collab or expand your partnership with another, what would it look like? 

I think I’d make something new. People are tired of the nostalgia, and all we do is go back in the past. Let’s make something for the people instead of taking something from the past because they already did the gag. So, something I would want to do new would be a tweezers-brow pencil combo set where you can tweeze and then fill in the brows with the same device.

What’s one beauty trend you’re loving right now? And one you wish people would leave alone?

One beauty trend I’m loving right now is pH-level lip glosses that darken to your natural pink level. Something I’d leave in the past would probably be the glued-on, laminated eyebrows that shine in the sun. I think just brush them out a little bit. Add a little bit of life back into them. A little messiness doesn’t hurt.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.