I mean, at one point I tweeted this about Lupita Nyong’o, so you’re picking up what I’m putting down regarding her INCENDIARY look last night, right? I just got the details on her gorgeous makeup concept, created by celebrity makeup artist Nick Barose. Says Nick, “Lupita was wearing this gorgeous red dress that was off the shoulder and had a very regal feel to it, so I was looking for inspiration from queens—Nefertiti, Cleopatra—but more modern, so regal, but at the same time exotic. I showed her sketches from Caesar and Cleopatra, the Vivian Lee movie, but it was important to me to do something that didn’t look too costume-y.” Here, the Lupita Nyong’o beauty breakdown.
SKINCARE
“For a day like today, you really want the skin to be luminous, so I usually put on a little bit more CHANEL Sublimage La Crème Ultimate Skin Regeneration Texture Fine moisturizer and CHANEL Sublimage La Crème Yeux Ultimate Regeneration Eye Cream than usual, and let it sink into the skin while she gets her hair an nails done; then, I blot it off before I start with the foundation and powder.
FACE
On Lupita, I used CHANEL Les Beiges Healthy Glow Sheer Colour SPF 15 in No. 70 on the T-zone, on the side of the nose, on the chin, and a little bit on the cheeks to help illuminate her skin and brighten it up in the center, because for photographs, you want to look candlelit from within. On darker skin, you don’t contour, but you do the opposite—highlight—so I used CHANEL Blush Duo Tweed Effect Brun Rosé on the tops of her cheekbones so that they’d catch the light. When people wear red dresses, it looks like they have blush on because the color reflects onto their face, so it was important to use something more golden.
EYES
The really important element is that I started with the eyebrows. Using CHANEL Crayon Sourcils Sculpting Eyebrow Pencil in Noir Cendré I made them very thick and defined because we wanted to make a statement. Then I focused on the lid using gold tones, because I like the blend of red and gold; it’s such a royal combination. I did a wash of the gold shade CHANEL Ombre Essentielle Soft Touch Eyeshadow in Complice on her lids and then I put CHANEL Illusion D’Ombre Long Wear Luminous Eyeshadow in Vision on top. I used the Ligne Graphique De Chanel Liquid Liner in Noir to give it a modern-day Egyptian feel that I started on the inside and then winged out so it wasn’t too long. I just wanted the flavor of a wing so it popped on the red carpet. Too much black liner around the eye would take away from how animated her eyes are so I used CHANEL Le Crayon Yeux Precision Eye Definer in Blue Jean, a shimmery royal blue pencil, underneath her lower lash-line just to define it without it looking too heavy. To make her eyes look even more cat-like I played with CHANEL Inimitable Waterproof Mascara in Noir on the outer corner, more than the inner corner of her eyes, applying the first coat horizontally, brushing upwards from root to tip, and the second coat vertically, pushing up the lashes on the outer corner to help with the illusion of an elongated eye.
LIPS
Even though her dress was red, we went with a color on her lips because if you pick a similar lipstick color to the dress, but apply it as a stain, it doesn’t look too matchy-matchy. I started with CHANEL Le Crayon Lèvres Precision Lip Colour in Rouge Profond and then I applied CHANEL Rouge Allure Luminous Intense Lip Colour in Pirate with the CHANEL Angled Lip Brush #33, which is a perfect way to apply lipstick really quick, and with a light hand. It’s a similar color to her dress but a little deeper. The thing with red is you don’t want it to be an exact match; you want it to be in the same family. As a finishing touch, I put a little bit of the gold, CHANEL Illusion D’Ombre Long Wear Luminous Eyeshadow in Vision right in the center of the lips, also applied with the lip brush, to add a golden glaze so the color was not just a flat red.”
Was Lupita also your favorite look of the evening? Tell me everything in the comments. Go.
