Miami-born rapper Jatavia Shakara Johnson, best known as JT, formerly of City Girls and now a solo artist, has been having a lot of fun with her beauty looks lately. “I’m an over-the-top type of makeup girl,” she told me in the bathroom of her New York City apartment.
She credits a lot of her ingenuity in beauty to her time in jail (she was convicted on fraudulent credit-card charges but released in 2019), where she learned from other women about the importance of washing your face with cold water and using what you have. “I would use an M&M to do a lip color,” she said of her 24 months behind bars. “I would use a headphone cover to apply makeup.” She now appreciates being able to have brands send her things and play with makeup in a new way. “I know what it’s like to use crumbs and the little weirdest things just to build out a face.”
JT was discovered being apart of the rap group City Girls and last year, she started her solo career with her first single, “No Bars.” This year, she released her debut album, “City Cinderella.”
I spent the day with the rapper preparing for her first CFDA Awards, which she attended with M.A.C Cosmetics, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this year. For many young Black girls, M.A.C was an introductory mall store into makeup, especially the shade NW45, which was a deep auburn-toned brown for neutral and warm undertones. But JT has come a long way from those days and now mixes multiple shades to find her perfect color. “I’m so glad I’m so educated with makeup now because when I was growing up, I probably only thought it was like three shades,” the rapper says.
Today, she is known for playing with her makeup and overlining her lips; “I like a lot of makeup,” she says as we get ready in her apartment. Because of that, she needed a skin-care routine to ensure she didn’t break out.
Here, how JT gets her skin so good:
Step 1: Double cleanse with M.A.C Hyper Real Cleanser
JT always double cleanses after wearing heavy makeup during a performance. First, she uses makeup wipes. “I have to really go in with those, I go hard,” then she follows it with M.A.C’s Hyper Real cream-to-foam cleanser, it’s formulated to deeply cleanse long wearing products. “You add water to it so it foams up. You don’t have to use a lot if you don’t use as much makeup as me.”
Step 2: Exfoliate with Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare
JT uses Alpha Beta® Universal Daily Peel Pads, a two-step pad with AHAs and BHAs, chemical exfoliants that reveals a smoother texture by accelerating cell turnover and evening out the skin tone. “You can exfoliate with a wash, but with these we don’t have to mess up nobody’s sink.”
Step 3: Layer on iS Clinical serums
Her favorite serums come from iS Clinical, both the Pro-Heal Serum and the Active Serum. “These two right here [are] so powerful, when you put it on, it gives you glass skin,” she says. It gives you a glow.” Pro-Heal is an antioxidant serum with vitamin C, kojic acid, and vitamin E, which is said to treat acne and sun damage.
Step 4: Use Chanel under-eye patches
JT uses Chanel’s hydrogrip eye patches, which are said to decrease under-eye puffiness and prepare the skin for when you are applying makeup. “I have black under-eyes because I don’t get a lot of sleep,” she says. “I wish I could get a lot of sleep like other people, but I think that girls who get eight hours of sleep look better than me.”
Step 5: Moisturize with M.A.C’s Hyper Real SkinCanvas Balm
“You’ll be here all day watching me rub all of this in; we need it, especially in New York,” she says. “I just like to look like a glazed doughnut.” That’s why she likes lathering her moisturizer on. Her preferred cream is M.A.C’s Hyper Real SkinCanvas Balm, a lightweight cream with Japanese peony extract and ceramides, which is said to restore the skin’s barrier.
Step 6: Use a Biologique Recherche lip mask
“I’m a lip girl, so I was not going to let you leave without us doing this.” She’s using Biologique Recherche’s Liftkiss lip patch. “I didn’t even have it on that long and I already see the difference.”
JT on having acne as a teen:
“Good skin is subjective. I could think I have really good skin and someone will still find a flaw,” the rapper says. Right now, she says she has “perfect skin” because it’s far from the skin she used to have as a teenager. “I had acne so bad to the point I thought I needed Accutane.” Now, she just likes having a smooth texture and skin that’ll look good even with her makeup on. “Good skin is if I can get on Getty Images and see smooth skin. Getty is my worst enemy. I usually look good on Getty, but sometimes I have a bad skin moment.”
JT on learning about the importance of sunscreen:
The rapper was born and raised in Miami. “I’m from where the sun is at,” she says. Because of that, she has hyperpigmentation. “I just learned the importance of sunscreen, by the way. I don’t want to sound ignorant, but I thought that sunscreen was only for a certain skin tone, and when I got older, I realized how important sunscreen is and how it really helps us. It especially helps with dark spots, so now I’m on my sunscreen shit and it’s really, really helping me.”
JT on her controversial beauty opinion:
JT likes to wear a lot of makeup, something that in the current era of no-makeup makeup is considered to be passé. But not for JT: “I love to put on heavy makeup, I love eyeshadow, I love lip liners, I love different color lipsticks, and I love taking my eyebrows off.” She continued: “I feel like a lot of people don’t have fun with makeup anymore. Makeup should be fun, and I feel like we have reached the minimal-makeup stage. It’s like nobody wants to beat their face or show off the beauty and the art of makeup anymore. Makeup is art, I think that it’s no such thing as ugly makeup. Go and get that makeup. Get your makeup done on your birthday. You’re supposed to look however you want to look. You could do a natural beat, or you could go over the top. I’m an over-the-top type of makeup girl.”
JT on not buying beauty off of TikTok:
“Don’t fuck with them orange [DIY] soaps on TikTok if you don’t have to. If it works for you, it works for you. But it does not work for me and I don’t fuck with them. Someone gave me some saying it would help me, but it’s basically to bleach my skin and I’m like, ‘Girl, I don’t want to bleach my skin, I just want my hyperpigmentation gone.’ Sometimes when you go to an aesthetician, they’ll give you peels and have you thinking that lighter skin is better and you’re just looking weird.”