Karrueche Tran on Her Favorite Beauty Hacks and the $4 Lashes She Buys at CVS

In Claws, you play a manicurist. Are your nails important to you in real life? 

Absolutely. And I feel like ever since I’ve been on the show, I have to make

sure my nails are on point. It’s happened so many times where I’ll be in the airport or just wherever, people will be like, “Girl, let me see your claws.” Sometimes, they’ll be done, but other times, if I’m traveling while we’re shooting, we have to wear our nails natural because we do so many nail changes. So people are like, “Let me see your nails,” and I’m like oh my god, they’re really ugly right now. Even if I’m not wearing long fake nails, I’ll make sure I have a nice manicure. My go-to polish for a neutral color is Kiss the Bride. That color is life-changing and the easiest color. Now, the season premiere [of Claws]  is coming up soon, and I’m doing all this press. Before I left L.A., I made sure to get my nails done. I have to represent for the show and have really cool nails. I went to my girl Michelle. There’s an artist, Yayoi Kusama. We did nails inspired by her. They’re super cute. They’re yellow with black dots. 

I wish I could see them. They sound super cute. Moving on to makeup a little bit, I know you’ve collaborated with ColourPop in the past. What’s your makeup philosophy? What can’t you live without?

I love makeup. Going into Sephora is like [being] a kid in the candy store for me. My two go-tos that I’ll kind of switch up are bronzers and lip glosses, but I’ll always do the same kind of nudey-pinkish gloss. I have so many slightly different shades, but I don’t know, there’s something about lip gloss that I just love. Every time I go into Sephora, I’m like, What new lip gloss do they have now? And then I’m like, Get me out of this store! I just end up buying things that I don’t need. I love a good bronzer too. For me at least, there are not as many options for good bronzers. I think the best right now that I love is Fenty. She has really good bronzers in a lot of different colors, which is great. 

I feel like I’ve gone through a roller coaster with makeup. I’m so particular with makeup now, especially working with makeup artists, because I’ve gone through all the trials and tribulations of working with different makeup artists. I always bring my own makeup just in case they have something that I don’t like. Hourglass has the best setting powder. I’ve used so many different ones. I’ll get on the carpet, and my photo will get taken, and there's flashback, and I look pale. I always bring my Hourglass setting powder. It’s the best. 

In the sense of how I like my makeup, I like concealer under the eye in that kind of triangle shape, so it brings out the shape and structure of my face. I like more of a sculpted look with the contour and the bronzer, like contouring the nose and the cheeks, and I don’t like a heavy lash. I’ve had the craziest lashes put on me, and then I have my photo taken, and I look absolutely crazy, so I’ll bring lashes. Ardell has the best lashes to buy at CVS. They’re the best for a little extra pop. It kind of looks like your regular lash, but it just gives it a little more volume. It’s a full strip, but they’re not too long and they’re not too heavy. You know how some lashes have that black band that’s so thick and heavy? I can’t. It really bothers my eyes. 

Do you have a go-to lip gloss? 

Girl, no. There are so many to choose from.  

If you had to pick three. 

Dior has a lot of great lip gloss. [I like] the Maximizer Lip Plumper. I have a couple with me now. There’s a brand called Iconic [London]. They have a really good kind of clear gloss that has a little tint of color. Fenty is good too. [Rihanna] has good glosses.