"I started playing guitar in college. I was going to NYU, but I transferred to the University of Southern California my junior year. My mom had bought me this guitar from Costco—they sell Yamaha guitars at Costco—and I'd been lugging it around for a few years, but I didn't take it up until I got to USC because I didn't have any friends there. [Laughs] I knew some people who were making music, but I was too self-conscious and embarrassed to ask them for help. So I went at it alone. I played with some bands, but it didn't feel right. I've only just recently found a group of people I really enjoy playing with. Now I feel like I'm in a real band.
My onstage image is important to me. It matters a lot to people—it matters a lot to the listener, it matters a lot to the audience, and it matters a lot to you as an artist. But my self-care routine is minimal, and it mostly involves hot yoga, which I’m addicted to. I try to do it four times a week. And I use ClassPass because it’s insanely expensive to do it without a subscription. Otherwise I’ll do this amazing hike in Altadena, or I'll walk up and down the stairs in my apartment building—I live on the fifth floor. And I try not to stress out too much, because it’s terrible for my skin.
Daily skincare for me starts with washing my face with this Alaffia Everyday Coconut Face Wash that you don't rinse off—I use it because I love the smell. You put it on and wipe it off with a cotton swab. Or I'll use a Boots Botanics Softening Cleanser. Then I'll use water to rinse off any eye goo. So I do that, and then I use coconut oil as a moisturizer. I use it all over my face and body. I tend to not like face lotions becauase they're too light, so I like something heavy and just putting it everywhere. And I wear it in my hair, too, to style it. I bleached it last year and it needs the moisture.
My attachment to my hair is pretty casual. I'm not gonna cry if I get a bad haircut. I actually had my hair buzzed for awhile, which was easy. But it grew back really weirdly—it did not look good. So I decided to cut it into a bob and bleach it so it wouldn't feel so boring. I go to my friend Penny who works at a salon in Orange County, where I'm from, called The Young American. We dyed it four times to get it bleached. She gave me this Davines Love Shampoo. It makes my hair feel nice, which is very difficult with bleached hair. My hair actually feels soft!
Day to day, I don't really wear makeup—I do wear Urban Decay Perversion Mascara. I put that on my top and bottom lashes. But I definitely wear more makeup on stage. I'll wear Urban Decay Naked Skin Foundation and then I'll actually use two eyeliners—I use the Pixi Eye Bright Liner in Nude to make a line on my undereye that extends beyond my eye, and then I'll use the Pixi Endless Silky Eye Pen in Oyster Glow to fill it in so it's a little more dramatic. Then Pixi Fairy Dust in Silver Glow, usually on my lids, but sometimes below my eye, too. I also like Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Loose Colour Cocentrates in Jubilee, which is a great baby blue color.
I use a Pixi Blush in Rose Radiance and then Boots No. 7 Concealer—it's a cream and I really like it. I put it under my eyes and on any zits, and then on my nose and forehead. You can get it at Target—I buy all my makeup there. [Laughs] Except for this lipstick that I wear when I perform—Wet 'n Wild in Carrot Gold. It stays on and I really like it. That's from Rite Aid, actually."
—as told to ITG
Miya Folick photographed by Tom Newton in New York on October 19, 2015.
More singers who color their hair: Sky Ferreira shares the weeklong conditioning routine for heavily bleachers, Rita Ora finds the perfect salon product for blonds, and Kacy Hill keeps red hair nourished with argan oil (and lots of it) in The Face.
