Maura Higgins of The Traitors Stays Faithful to These Beauty Hacks

When I called Maura Higgins last week, she was mid-face mask, fresh off her first Super Bowl, with a flight back to Los Angeles boarding in under two hours. “Don’t get a jump scare,” she warned—fitting, considering the 35-year-old can be seen every Thursday night stalking the treacherous halls of a Scottish castle on The Traitors. The Irish reality-TV icon—once synonymous with bronzed limbs and bombshell lashes—has traded the Love Island villa for a locale that requires a bit more tact. In the Scottish highlands, deception is daily and makeup has to withstand rain, mud, and ten-minute turnaround times between physically demanding missions.

Despite the arsenal—weekly spray tans, emergency wigs, and a setting spray she swears “did not move”—Higgins insists she’s become radically low-maintenance. After a bout of perioral dermatitis, she’s abandoned actives, filler, and overzealous facials in favor of hydration, restraint, and, controversially, face wipes. “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” she says. In a new installment of Face Card, Higgins sounds off on blush obsession, L’Oreal supremacy, and stifling tears to save your beat. Because even in a game built on betrayal, good glam is nonnegotiable.

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OLAMIDE OYENUSI: Hi.

MAURA HIGGINS: Hi. Don’t get a jump scare. I have a face mask on.

OYENUSI: [Laughs] It’s perfect. We’re here for beauty, so…

HIGGINS: Oh, amazing. I need the hydration after my weekend.

OYENUSI: Where are you right now?

HIGGINS: I’m in San Francisco. I’m getting my flight back to L.A. literally in an hour.

OYENUSI: What were you doing in San Francisco?

HIGGINS: I was at the Super Bowl.

OYENUSI: How was that?

HIGGINS: It was amazing. It was so good.

OYENUSI: So you currently have on your little eye patches. What’s your daily skincare routine? 

HIGGINS: At the moment, I’m using La Mer. I use the eye cream, and I also use the face cream, but I do switch up my skincare quite a bit. I love RéVive skincare as well—their serum, I’m obsessed with. And then Biodance masks—they’re the ones that go see-through on your skin—I am obsessed with them at the moment.

OYENUSI: Do you keep it the same when you’re on set, or do you switch it up?

HIGGINS: I actually don’t switch it up. I broke out with really bad perioral dermatitis a couple of years back, and I think at the time I was doing way too much. I was using retinols and stuff like that, so I think I broke the barrier of my skin and then stripped it completely back. Now I keep my skincare routine very, very simple.

OYENUSI: What’s your favorite cleanser at the moment?

HIGGINS: I literally have it right here. The one I’m using at the moment is RéVive foam cleanser, and it’s an enriched hydrate and wash. I’m loving that.

OYENUSI: And do you use toner?

HIGGINS: I don’t. I just like to keep it very, very simple. But you know what’s also probably not a good thing to say? I still use face wipes on my face. People say we shouldn’t be using face wipes on our skin, but I really, really love the Simple Facial Wipes. For getting all my eye makeup off, I just think they’re great. And the way I look at it is, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it, because then you just end up with problems. I remember I used to be getting a lot of facials and stuff and that wasn’t good for my skin either.

OYENUSI: So do you still do facials?

HIGGINS: I do, but very rarely now. Maybe once a month.

OYENUSI: What products do you rely on for breakouts, scarring, hyperpigmentation?

HIGGINS: I don’t ever use anything for hyperpigmentation. I don’t feel like I get that at all. If I get a breakout, I use Kate Somerville. They have a product for breakouts, and you literally just put a tiny little dot on your spot. I find that that really helps.

OYENUSI: I do have to say, I’m a Love Island stan. I’ve seen your season, I’ve seen every season, and I know that on Love Island, you had to get ready in a villa with countless other girls fighting for mirror space. On Traitors, you’ve got a whole castle. Which was actually worse for doing your makeup?

HIGGINS: For both, we had to do our own makeup, which is a lot because it’s every single day. I would say probably Love Island because of the heat, and it was a longer filming schedule—we were in there for a long, long time. It’s a couple of months. Whereas Traitors is a shorter period. So yeah, Love Island. And the heat out there was insane. Wearing a full face of makeup every day in that heat is just not good for your skin.

OYENUSI: I’m always like, how are they doing that?

HIGGINS: [Laughs] I know. I know.

OYENUSI: Do you use any primers?

HIGGINS: Ooh, the primer I’m using at the moment is REFY.

OYENUSI: Are you a baker?

HIGGINS: I do bake, but I used to bake all over. I find that if I bake under my eyes, it doesn’t look good. I feel like it breaks. So I only bake under my cheekbones. That’s the only place.

OYENUSI: Do you do translucent or colored?

HIGGINS: I do translucent.

OYENUSI: Is there anything that you’ve stopped using after watching yourself back on TV?

HIGGINS: I think when I was a contestant on Love Island, I used to do my eyes very, very heavy, and now I just like a little wing. And when I’m doing my own makeup, I don’t use eyeshadow—I just use bronzer. It just looks cleaner.

OYENUSI: I also can’t really do eyeshadow. Even my bronzer-eyes can be a bit of a jump scare if you look too closely.

HIGGINS: I can’t either. It’s terrifying.

OYENUSI: But do you use mascara, lashes, or both?

HIGGINS: Yes. I use L’Oréal mascara. It’s the gold one. It’s really good. I love that mascara, and I’m really obsessed with blush. Lately, my obsession with blush—I feel like when you have blush on, your makeup is just completed.

OYENUSI: What’s your everyday?

HIGGINS: Oh my god. I have so many colors. I love the peachy tones. I love the pink tones. I picked up another one because I’m really obsessed with the Patrick Ta blushes at the moment, and he’s got a red one that’s so nice. But you have to be careful with it because a little goes a long way…

OYENUSI: What’s the best mascara to cry in?

HIGGINS: I’d probably say the L’Oréal one. I’ve been using that for quite some time, and it’s incredible. But I don’t cry a lot.  I think I’m too worried to ruin my makeup, to be honest, so I hold the tears in.

OYENUSI: Like Abby Lee Miller once said, “Save the tears for your pillow.”  What’s your holy grail setting spray?

HIGGINS: L’Oréal. It’s a red bottle. And oh my god, I used it the whole way through Traitors. Keep in mind, we have missions every single day, and after a mission, you don’t have long to be glamorous again—maybe 10 minutes to get changed. That setting spray, my makeup did not move.

OYENUSI: What’s your go-to lip combo?

HIGGINS: Lip combo is always the same, all the time. MAC Spice lip liner. I put it all over. Then I might sometimes add a little bit of… MAC Honey. I think it’s called Honeylove lipstick right in the center. But MAC Spice is the one lip liner—it’s in all of my handbags.

OYENUSI: So you mostly just use the lip liner and then just…

HIGGINS: Yeah. I feel like it lasts longer. If I put on lipstick, it will come off when I’m eating, or whatever, but lip liner, it will just stay.

OYENUSI: Say someone is getting into self-tan for the first time. They don’t want to look like a Cheeto. What’s your advice?

HIGGINS: [Laughs] It’s really weird. I don’t think I’ve ever had a time where my tan has gone bad, but then again, I have been tanning for years. I’m super pale. I’ve got that typical Irish pale skin, basically translucent. But yeah, my tan routine: I have a spray tan every single week. And the torture of getting it off before the new tan is… that’s severe dedication. My manager knows on my down days of tanning, when I’m trying to get my tan off to re-tan, she’s like, “Okay, I know that we have to schedule it around your tan.”

OYENUSI: Do you just have to scrub it off with a loofah? What’s the process?

HIGGINS: One scrub in a bath doesn’t get it all off. You have to do two, sometimes three scrubs to get it fully off, because you need a clean canvas for the best tan. You can’t have leftover tan on your body because that’s when you’ll end up with a nightmare.

OYENUSI: Splotchy.

HIGGINS: Patchy, scaly, yeah.

OYENUSI: Is there a specific product, or are you good with whatever they use?

HIGGINS: Yeah, whatever they use. I break the rules with tanning. Tan just sits well on my skin.

OYENUSI: Walk me through your daily hair routine. Do you have one?

HIGGINS: I’m not sure I have one. On a day like today, when I’m taking a flight, I will always put on a hair mask. I don’t really do much with my hair. The one product I always use is the L’Oréal Root Spray, because I’m very gray. I’ve had gray hair since I was 17, so I always have to cover my roots.

OYENUSI: Are you L’Oréal’s number one fan?

HIGGINS: [Laughs] Yeah, I use a lot of their products. Their products are just great, and I’ve been using them for years. So yeah, I always have a bottle of root spray in my bag.

OYENUSI: Do you air dry your hair, or is it a blowout?

HIGGINS: It changes. Sometimes I’ll blow-dry. Sometimes I’ll just blast it and style it myself. I’m not the best at styling my hair—I just don’t have patience. I have more fun doing my makeup than my hair. I brought wigs to Traitors because my hair is so curly and it gets so frizzy, so that was the best thing I did in Traitors. On those missions when we were in water and the weather wasn’t the best—it was raining and cold—I would just stick a little beanie cap on, do the mission, then when I’d come back I’d stick my wig back on, and it was already styled. Best thing I did. 

OYENUSI: Like Sabrina Carpenter.

HIGGINS: Yeah. I’m currently getting my house done up and in my dressing room I’m having a hair-drobe with all my wigs on heads. They’re all going to be styled.

OYENUSI: I love that. Your own beauty supply store.

HIGGINS: [Laughs] Oh, I love it.

OYENUSI: Are there any current beauty trends that you’ve been obsessed with?

HIGGINS: Would the Biodance masks be a trend? Because I am obsessed with that at the moment.

OYENUSI: And all the glass skin stuff? 

HIGGINS: Yeah, I love all of that. 

OYENUSI: Is there a beauty trend that you refuse to try? You said you’re done with cosmetic procedures, injectables, et cetera.

HIGGINS: I still get Botox. [Laughs] I definitely need it because I’m 35 now. I do love my Botox. But filler?  No, I’ve stopped that. I used to always get my lips filled for years before Love Island, and now I’ve stopped. I’m actually going to go and get my lips fully dissolved because there’s still filler inside my mouth.

OYENUSI: Can you feel it? 

HIGGINS: Yeah. I’m just struggling with the timing because you basically have bruising and stuff afterwards. But I’m definitely going to book that in at some point.

OYENUSI: Any tattoos or piercings?

HIGGINS: Unfortunately, I do. All my tattoos, I want them removed. They’re all just terrible tattoos from when I was young.

OYENUSI: Give us a tattoo haul.

HIGGINS: I copied Rihanna’s star tattoo on her neck. I’m like, “Why is that there?” To be fair, I’m still obsessed with Rihanna, but I don’t want the tattoo. 

OYENUSI: [Laughs] Icons love icons.

HIGGINS: [Laughs] Literally. I love her so much. At one stage, I was going to get her finger tattoo. I’m so glad I didn’t—it wouldn’t suit me. But I’ve got an ankle tattoo, I’ve got a bum tattoo, I’ve got a hip tattoo—and I want them all gone.

OYENUSI: Which one hurt the most?

HIGGINS: The ankle, because it’s right on the bone. And that’s the main one I want removed. I hate it so much, but I’m just terrified that it’s going to hurt a lot.

OYENUSI: Oh it definitely will, but you’ve got it.

HIGGINS: Yeah. I’m a scaredy cat. I just keep putting it off. The only piercing I have now is my nipple. I took out my belly bar. And yeah, I really love my nipple piercing. I love it. I was drunk at the time, but it’s the best thing I ever did.

OYENUSI: Did that hurt?

HIGGINS: It definitely didn’t because I was drunk. But when I woke up the next day, I was like, “Ow.”

OYENUSI: When you’re not filming, how low maintenance do you go?

HIGGINS: Oh, very. My happiest days are when I have nothing on. I like a long hot bath, smothering my whole body in oil, hair mask on, face mask on. That’s it.

OYENUSI: Wait, you smother yourself with oil before the bath or after?

HIGGINS: After. So right now, under my tracksuit, I’m smothered in oil because I had a bath this morning. I love it.

OYENUSI: That’s literally me—cocoa butter, a little shea butter mix. No one’s going to see me ashy.

HIGGINS: You know the Vaseline cocoa butter oil? I mix that with Palmer’s body butter. That’s the best combination. And your skin is glowing, by the way.

OYENUSI: Oh, thank you so much.

HIGGINS: I’m seeing that shine—I’m so jealous.

OYENUSI: Type in K-Beauty on Google and you’re all set. 

HIGGINS: [Laughs] Thank you. Well, lovely meeting you.