I pretended I was Mariah Carey for a week, and it was just as glam as you’d imagine

I have been a fan of Mariah Carey since she stepped out in the scene with her 1990 hit single “Someday.” I’d grab my mom’s hairbrush (and attempt) to sing along with the Great Mimi and her five-octave range. There was a time in my life where I listened to her album, Daydream, for a straight month. I memorized every line from the somewhat unintelligible “Breakdown” before we had the technology to easily google lyrics. I once even skipped out on a friend’s birthday so I could see Mariah perform “All I Want for Christmas Is You” at her Christmas concert. I mean, wouldn’t you?

As Mariah has gotten more and more glam over the years, so have I. In my personal life and at work, people will sometimes joke and say stuff to me like “Okay, Mariah,” or “Here comes Mariah” just because I’m doing something totally normal, like wearing giant sparkly jewels or eating lobster for breakfast. Let me live, please. I’m just being me…Mimi.

While I could never reach Mariah Carey-levels of glam on the daily, I decided to pretend I was The Elusive Chanteuse for one glittery, gorgeous week.

Having my own glam squad

The first thing I *had* to do was have a glam squad around to transform me into my MARIAH-ness. GLAMSQUAD, which is this amazing app that you can book beauty appointments with on the fly, sent a hair, makeup, and nails person to make my literal #glamsquad dreams come true.

Nail artist Jess Alexander-Snyder once did THEE Mariah’s nails in a nude and glitter, so I asked her to do the same for me, but in a Mariah-friendly pink. Makeup artist Briana Hurley gave me a perfectly Mimi gray smoky eye, and hairstylist Jasmine Allen helped me scour Mariah’s Insta for a photo of her signature waves. I have to say, they KILLED IT.

Me. I Am Marie…The Elusive Chanteuse

Making Mariah’s famous gluten-free lasagna

Mimi is known for her gluten-free lasagna, but there’s no record of her recipe anywhere, which is a shame since I love celeb recipes and I would KILL for one from the great Mimi herself. As an Italian and a lover of pasta, I’ve made lasagna many times, as well as gluten-free pasta, but this was the first time making gluten-free lasagna. I have to give Mariah some credit, as this was no easy feat. After boiling the noodles, I immediately ran into a problem when I realized they stuck together. As I was assembling the dish, it looked more and more like a culinary failure.

I tried imagining Mariah standing beside, guiding me like that “Jesus With You Always” meme, but it turned into a hot mess. I figured it would probably taste good underneath all that cheese anyway. Cheese is like glitter, you can always fix mistakes by adding more!

Trying out her makeup artist’s collection

While it was only a ~fantasy~ that I could get my mug glammed up by Mariah Carey’s longtime makeup artist, Kristofer Buckle, the next best thing (aside from the glam squad) was using items from his very own, sold-out makeup collection! Buckle’s new makeup line promptly sold out on HSN, but I was luckily able to get some samples sent to me from his PR. I was most excited about the eyeliner, which has a Magic Eraser-type of pen. Though I’m not a newb when it comes to liquid eyeliner, it does come in handy with those once-in-awhile mistakes.

I was able to get a little tip from Kristofer himself to share with us all!:

THANK YOU KRISTOFER.

Bathing in diamonds

After a long day, I decided to relax in a way that only Mimi could do — in a luxurious bubble bath while wearing my diamonds.

This might have been the most glamorous moment for me (even though my diamonds were fake), and until I dropped and broke my friend’s necklace as I crawled out of the bath. Sigh. At least for a moment, I felt truly glam.

Finally, I shot an amazing video where I recreated some iconic Mimi moments.

While there were some Mariah things I didn’t get to do, like swim in an evening gown (I can’t swim) and walk on a treadmill with high heels (perhaps for the sequel), I definitely felt closer to being Mariah than ever before.

Thank you, Mimi!