Justine Skye Is the World’s Realest Unicorn

May 3, 2017 @ 4:00 pm By Maria Pasquini

Years before the world decided to worship at the altar of unicorn everything, Justine Skye was already making a name for herself as The Purple Unicorn on Tumblr.

Fast-forward a couple of years and she’s got a million followers on Instagram, a record deal with Roc Nation, a makeup collaboration with M.A.C, and one of the chillest dispositions about life.

Read on for our interview where we talked to Justine about makeup trends, why people can’t stop hating on women who get social media famous, and how fake friends are the worst.

Unicorn everything is so in right now. As the Purple Unicorn, how do you feel about it?

I think it’s pretty cool. I think that being a unicorn is just about being unique and it’s for all those people out there who feel like no one understands them or they don’t fit in somewhere. Unicorns are very rare and people think they don’t even exist. And I guess nowadays being different is being more accepted.

When you teamed up with MAC, did you always know you wanted to do a purple highlighter?

Oh, yeah. I always knew whatever I did with them was going to be purple. People are always talking about glowing, and [how] they want to shine, so I just thought it would be dope to do a purple. It’s an iridescent powder, but I use it as a highlighter because I think it’s a dope way to add a pop of color and some shine.

What do you think about the trend towards no-makeup makeup?

I think that it’s dope, especially for everyday purposes. No one should have to put on globs of makeup everyday when they wake up. One, that’s just very tedious. And two, that’s very harsh on your skin. So I think it’s dope people are becoming more comfortable in their natural state and putting on a little concealer here and there, some lip gloss — a little bit of mascara just to seem awake.

People still look down on women who launch their career from social media fame sometimes. Why do you think people can’t stop hating?

Well, it’s obviously looked down upon by people who are online consistently, to even know somebody’s gained fame through social media or the internet. Sometimes [that fame] has to do with a person’s looks but it’s more so knowing how to market yourself. And I feel like people don’t understand it, but that’s a part of it. You don’t understand why you want to know me, but you still do.

People on the internet are always gonna find something that bothers them to complain about. With social media, it’s very easy to become known or gain a following basically for reasons that people feel aren’t substantial. I’m not really sure why. It’s just a lot of angry people. There’s a lot of hate. Once people realize [being social media famous] is what they want to do, then they too can do it. If it’s not what they want to do, they can continue living their lives and we can all move forward and learn how to be more peaceful.

But social media’s still very new to the world. We’re still figuring it out.

What do you mean when you say Instagram is an occupation?

[Laughs] It kinda is an occupation.

I mean people make money on Instagram. I make money on Instagram by simply posting something. A lot of artists do. A lot of people do. It has to do with the reach that you have. When you obtain a decent amount of followers then brands and businesses start to reach out to you to help promote their products or whatever they’re trying to get out into the world. It’s another marketing strategy for them.

So it counts as a job.

You’ve talked before about how much you wanted to be popular growing up, and now you are. Does being a part of the cool crowd feel the way you thought it would?

Well back when I wanted to be “cool” it was a different. I had a different idea of what cool was. I just wanted to be with the popular kids and do the popular stuff.

Nowadays I realize I was just super young and it doesn’t matter how much money a person has, it doesn’t matter how many followers a person has, or how known a person is. Everyone’s still normal at the end of the day. We still like to eat pizza and watch Netflix or take a random walk around the neighborhood. There’s nothing really different except their jobs.

What’s the best way to make new friends?

You don’t make friends, you kind of just find them. Or they find you. It’s just about being yourself.

When you force friendships, it always turns into a disaster or you begin to realize this isn’t who you are, not where you wanna be and now you’ve gotten so deep into something that’s not even real to you. So you just gotta let it come to you or find it naturally. Friendships have to be organic or it’s just a waste of your time.

A lot of your songs on 8 Ounces deal with heartbreak and betrayal, what kind of songs are you working on now?

A lot of my songs are more confident. As I get older and I’m learning myself, I become more confident in my sound and being a woman. I guess it has more to do with love. I’m in a happier place.

Are you superstitious when it comes to letting people hear your music?

Yeah I’m pretty superstitious, but I’m probably one of the most impatient people in the world and I like to get my friends‘ opinions on my music.

But most artists are sensitive about their work so you don’t really want to play it for people. [You might] not get the reaction that you expected. It’s a very 50/50 feeling when you play your music for your friends or people who are close to you because if they don’t like it, then for a split second you feel some sort of animosity towards them.

Then you have to remember that they’re actually your friends and they’re just giving you their honest opinion.

Whose opinion means the most to you?

Hmmm, I guess it would probably have to be Jay-Z.

That’s a pretty good one.

Yeah, he’s the boss of my label and he’s a very, very, very very important person in the music industry so he kind of knows what he’s doing. When it comes down to it [and] it’s time to play the music for him, I guess his opinion’s the one I look forward to the most.

Are you a morning person or a night owl?

More of a night owl. Definitely.

Who do you text the most?

[Laughs] I probably text my boo the most.

Yeah they tend to like it when you talk to them a lot.

Yeah.

What would you say is worse, fuckboys or fake friends?

Um fuckboys — actually no no no, fake friends.

Yeah – why?

Because you put your trust into them, you tell them things about you, you let them into your life and your world and then you come to find out they’ve been fake towards you is kind of just heartbreak. Fuckboys? Boys come and go.

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