How Backup Singer Giselle Moya Preps for a Concert

It’s easy to assume that when you’re the sole female vocalist for one of the biggest Latin music groups in the world, getting ready on performance night is a three-hour affair. Yet Giselle Moya, who has been recording and touring with bachata superstar Romeo Santos and his former group, Aventura, since 2009, has mastered the unimaginable: going from shower to stage in just 30 minutes. It helps that the petite beauty favors a natural, understated look that revolves around radiant skin, pale pink lips, and groomed brows. The only hint to her superstar status? Waist-length blond hair and dramatically long lash extensions. But even those serve a practical purpose.

“I think that’s what the fans notice the most about me when I’m on stage—my hair and my lashes,” she tells us in her dressing area at the United Palace Theater in NYC, where Aventura are performing their much-anticipated reunion shows through February. “I used to do the winged-eyeliner-and-mascara thing but these lashes have really helped cut my prep time,” she says, stroking them as she spoke. “I recently had them done at She Winks and they’ll last me, easily, at least two months.”

Our mission: to learn how the Dominican-American, Queens, NYC native preps to go on stage with the King of Bachata. And once we learned that she counts both Selena Quintanilla and Farrah Fawcett as beauty idols? Well, we had lots of questions.

__GLAM BELLEZA LATINA:__Giselle, you’re so minimally made up, and yet you’re on stage for nearly three hours under hot lights, performing for very passionate, loyal fans. Are you ever tempted to do more?

__GISELLE MOYA:__I’ve learned through trial and error that I really prefer the natural look. I don’t ever want the fans to feel like I’m not relatable. I always do my own makeup, even at award shows. The makeup artists offer to help but I just don’t like that caked-on look.

__GBL:__You’ve toured globally with Santos and Aventura and have performed everywhere from talk shows to the White House. Do you always follow the same beauty routine?

__GM:__Yup. So here’s what I do. First, I wash my face with this Clarins Gentle Foaming Cleanser ($25, macys.com). At night, I’ll use the Skinceuticals Retinol 0.5 ($57, skinceuticals.com) topped with the Clarins Blue Orchid Face Treatment Oil ($54, ulta.com). And during the day, I’ll use this Ole Henriksen Truth Serum Collagen Booster ($48 for 1 oz., olehenriksen.com). If I have a breakout, I’ll dab Kate Somerville EradiKate Acne Treatment ($24, nordstrom.com) over it. Once that’s done, I always use this Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer ($36, ulta.com). My skin is oily and this helps to mattify it. If didn’t use primer, I’d be so sweaty. We perform in some pretty humid countries. I cannot be drenched on stage! I’m not Romeo, who can get a touch-up (laughs). That’s why I like to look natural. It’s much easier to manage once I start sweating.

__GBL:__You do a very sheer eye look. Walk us through your eye makeup routine.

__GM:__I use a few of these golden shades in this Urban Decay Naked Eyeshadow Palette ($54, urbandecay.com), like on my crease and on my lids, with a little Chanel brown eyeshadow as liner. (I wet the shadow so it doesn’t run.) I just got this L’Oréal Brow Stylist Plumper ($9, lorealparisusa.com) and it’s saved my life. It’s like mascara for my brows and fills in some of the sparse areas. I used to wax when I was younger—it was terrible, terrible—so one of my brows is all messed up. But I’ve been letting them grow and have them threaded, leaving them as full as possible.

__GBL:__And for your complexion and skin?

__GM:__The Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer ($44, bloomingdales.com) provides just enough coverage. And then I top with bronzer and a combination of these three Nars blushes in Deep Throat, Sin and Seduction ($30 each, narscosmetics.com). I just mix them depending on my skin tone. Sometimes I’m more pale, sometimes I’m more tan.

__GBL:__And your pink lipstick? It’s the perfect color for you. Do you find that it’s hard to find a good pink lip when your complexion is more olive?

__GM:__Yes! My go-to is Chanel, #154 Pink Badine (Editor note: Now discontinued). I love it. That’s why I bought like four of them at the duty-free shop in the airport recently, and I have like four stashed somewhere.

__GBL:__Are you ever able to touch up while on stage?

__GM:__Well, right before I go on stage I’ll dab on this MAC Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Powder ($26, maccosmetics.com) and I bring my lipstick with me just in case there’s a moment. I’ll keep it hidden somewhere, like underneath the piano player’s towel. He cracks up over what I hide there. Mints, lipstick. It’s really funny.

__GBL:__You have the most magnificent hair. How do you manage it?

__GM:__It’s naturally curly but for the stage I prefer it straight or wavy. It just moves more gracefully. If I were doing Beyoncé moves on the stage, I would wear it curly. But I’m not. On my downtime I wear it curly, though. Growing up, my mom used to do the rolos and the secadora but I hated the heat. My friend Ramona Azcona is a great stylist at Stephen Knoll Salon and she’s taught me how to do my own hair. I’ve also watched a few YouTube tutorials and now I know how to blow it myself. And sometimes I’ll let it air-dry and then curl it with the iron.

__GBL:__Who does your color?

__GM:__My angel, Reyna Garcia at Rossano Ferretti Hairspa in NYC. I was going to someone else for ten years, back when I was really blond, but I think that Reyna has really perfected my ombré.

__GBL:__So tell us—what does Latina beauty mean to you?

__GM:__Sexiness. And strength. We’re strong women. We’re compassionate. And I think that’s more beautiful than what is on the outside. It’s that strength that attracts people to us.

__GBL:__You’re about to launch your solo career this spring. What has Santos taught you about life in the spotlight?

__GM:__Romeo’s stage presence and work ethic is so strong that everyone on stage picks up on it. It pushes me to be a better performer. He’s advised me to stay true to myself and to not allow the industry to change me. I mean, he just went Diamond—no artist has done that in years. And to think that he did it with bachata music? That’s huge.

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Related: We Had an Expert Teach Us How to Do Our Makeup:__