Ever wondered how most iconic celebrity makeup looks were created?
For the longest time, celebrities have been pacesetters for beauty and fashion trends.
Countless times they come up with cute, fun and even bizarre makeup looks that have us rushing down to Sephora to grab the same products or turning our face into painting canvases trying to recreate such looks.
But we love them all the same.
For today's article, we'll be sharing with you 10 iconic celebrity looks spanning over the years, going as far back as 2019 to even more recent looks from 2023.
Plus a detailed process on how you can recreate each of these looks from the comfort of your home.
All you have to do is put on your creative hat and channel your inner makeup artist.
10 Iconic Celebrity Makeup Styles and How to Recreate It
1: Lady Gaga's Power Purple
First on our list of iconic makeup looks by celebrities is the A-list singer and actor Lady Gaga. Known for her bold, dramatic and unconventional makeup, hair and dress style, Lady Gaga surely deserves a spot on this list.
She graced the 2021 premiere of the movie House of Gucci wearing this purple sheer dress with matching purple smokey eyes and given her history of rocking unique looks, this one stands out as one of her best makeup looks of all time.
How To Recreate the Lady Gaga's Power Purple Makeup Style
Eyes:
- Prep your lids with eyeshadow primer.
- Take a dense eyeshadow brush and apply a matte purple shade onto the eyelids, blending it into the crease and slightly above it.
- With a smaller brush, take a deeper shade of purple and apply it to the outer corner of the eyes, blending it upwards and outwards.
- Next take a fluffy create brush and apply a matte peach shade all across the crease, blending it directly above the purple for a smooth finish.
- Take a black gel liner, and an angle brush and line your lash line.
- Apply this same black gel on your waterline and don't forget to tight line to fill up any space between the liner and base of your lashes. W
- With a precise brush, smudge out that back line both on top and lower lash lines connecting the two and the outer corner of your eyes.
- With the same brush, apply the dark purple shade to your lower lash line, concentrating on the centre and outer corners.
- For that pop of colour, apply a shimmery purple eye shadow to the centre of your lids, blending it into the inner corner and lower lash line.
- For some extra glow, swipe on a bit of metallic silver shimmer right on top.
- Finish up with a few coats of mascara and you're done.
For the eyebrows, Lady Gaga opted for dark-defined brows to match her smoky eyes.
To recreate this you'll need a brow gel or pencil that is two shades darker than your brow hairs. Use this to gently fill in your brows following your natural brow shape.
Face:
- Lady Gaga's face makeup was glowy, sculpted and filtered. We're going to try and recreate this by prepping our skin with moisturiser and pore-filling primer for that flawless base.
- Next, apply a dewy foundation all over your face, apply concealer and set everything in place with a translucent powder.
- For that sculpted look, contour your cheekbones and jawline and don't forget to dust on a generous amount of peachy blush just above the contour.
- Apply a brightening powder under the eyes and below the cheekbones for a more defined look and seal everything with a finishing spray
Lips:Using a peach nude lip liner, outline your lips, then use the same shade of lipstick to fill your lips. For some extra shine, top it off with a shimmery nude or peach gloss.
2: Ciara's Smokey Green
At the 2021 Met Gala, Ciara ditched her signature soft natural glam for her smokey green eyes which was a lovely contrast to a bright lemon sequinned dress and we're still in love with this look years later.
How to Recreate Ciara's Smokey Green
Eyes:For this particular eye look, we'll start by applying a black cream eye shadow as our base.
- Blend this all over the lid with a dense brush.
- Apply a matte black eye shadow, taking time to blend it into the crease in an outward and upward motion.
- Go over with a matte dark green shade right on top of the black, blending both till there are no harsh lines.
- Now it's time for some colour. Take two shades of shimmery green eye shadow, apply them to the centre of your eyelids and blend into the inner corner of your eyes.
- Take the same black and dark green eye shadow, apply it to your lower lash line and smoke it out just like you did to the top.
- Now take a black gel line and apply it to your top lash line and waterline. Apply a few coats of mascara and put on a pair of wispy lashes.
- Fill in your brows with a brow gel or pencil and you're done with eye makeup.
Face:Ciara was serving a serious melanin glow but don't worry we mimic and glowy bronzed skin.
- Right after your moisturiser and primer, put a few drops of liquid highlighter or illuminator on the high points of your face.
- Go in with your foundation and concealer and set minimal powder. Apply bronzer to your temples and sides of your face to mimic that warm, sunkissed look.
- Dust on a tiny bit of blush to your cheeks and a little bit of powder highlights right on top.
- Apply that same highlight to the bridge of the nose, and seal everything with a setting spray.
Lips:Use a brown lip liner to outline your lips, apply a beige nude lipstick and add a light layer of clear gloss.
3: Jenna Ortega's Goth Bride
Who knew goth girl makeup could look so appealing? Well, we have Jenna Ortega to thank for that. She attended the 2022 movie premiere of "Wednesday" where she played the lead role wearing a black satin dress, a veil and smokey eye makeup to match.
We can boldly say she embodied the whole gothic bridal look and we're here for it all the way.
How to Recreate Jenna Ortega's Goth Bride Makeup Style
Eyes:Jenna's eyes are simple black smokey eyes with a hint of brown shimmer at the centre.
- Start by layering a black matte eyeshadow all across your lid, blending it into the crease and of course the lower lash line too.
- Next, swipe on a little bit of brown or bronze-coloured shimmery eyeshadow right at the centre, and apply a little bit of that to the inner corner of the eyes too.
- Apply gel line to the top lash line and water line then coat your lashes with two or more coats of mascara.
- Jenna's brows look untouched, but you can lay down with a brow gel or fill in sparse areas lightly to mimic natural brow hairs.
Face:A little bit of foundation is what we need for our base, peachy blush to the cheeks and light powder to set.
Lips:Use a pinkish nude shade of lip liner to outline your lips and go over it with the same colour of cream lipstick.
4: Anya Taylor Joy's Metallic Contrast
At the 2019 premiere of the movie Glass, Anya stole our hearts and eyes with her bold metallic lips which were a lovely contrast to her pale skin. Her golden eyes are also nicely complimented by her blonde hair and gold-patterned blazers.
How to Recreate Anya Taylor Joy's Metallic Contrast Makeup Style
Eyes:
- Recreating Anya's eye makeup is easy.
- Prep your lids with concealer and bkednout with a beauty sponge, set lightly with powder, then apply a gold shimmery eyeshadow on the centre of your lids, and blend into the inner corner of your eyes.
- Take a back gel liner and apply it to your top lash line, extending it into a small wing at the end.
- Use the same gel or a black pencil to tightline, then apply mascara on your top and bottom lashes to open up your eyes.
- For the brows, you can mimic Anya's naturally full brows by drawing on hair-like stories on your brows with a brow pen.
Face:The face makeup is quite minimalist, except for the blushed cheeks. Do your regular face makeup, then apply a generous amount of light pink blush across your cheeks blending upwards and into the side of the hair to give the face a lifted look.
Lips: Now to the star of the show, Anya's famous metallic lips. This exact lip colour may be hard to find in beauty stores so I'll share an easy hack you can use to recreate it.
- First, apply a dark red or berry shade of lipstick then with a flat lip brush, apply a dark purple shimmer eyeshadow on top of it.
- Another way is to take a mixing plate, place some drops of your dark red or berry liquid lipstick, and then scrape off a little dark purple and navy blue eyeshadow.
- Mix them thoroughly and apply them to your lips.
- Voila, your very own homemade metallic lip stain.
5: Zendaya's Cinderella Look
At the 2019 Met Gala, Zendaya served us real-life princess vibes with her version of Cinderella-inspired outfit and makeup and to be honest, we think she'll make a perfect princess in the live-action remake of the movie.
How to Recreate Zendaya's Cinderella Look Makeup Style
Eyes:
- Let's start with the brows, take a brow pencil or gel and outline your brows, go in with a brow pen to create hair-like strokes to fill in your brows, then clean up your brows with concealer two shades lighter on the bottom, and your shade of foundation for the top.
- Spread some of that concealer onto the lids and blend, this will be our base.
- Take a fluffy brush and translucent powder and lightly tap it across the eyelids to set the concealer and remove excess shine.
- Now apply a powder blue matte eyeshadow and blend it all across the eyelids and into your crease.
- Feel free to reapply the eyeshadow till you get the desired coverage. With a small flat brush, take a navy blue shade and apply lightly to the lower lash line.
- Line your eyes with black eyeliner, apply mascara and to complete the look, put on the shortest natural-looking false lashes you own.
Face: Do your face makeup as you normally would and apply a little bit of contour to your cheekbones. Follow up immediately with a pink two-toned reflective highlighter for that fairytale glow.
Lips:Apply a pinkish nude lipstick, then go over it with the same colour of shimmery gloss
6: Rihanna's Pink Spring Makeup
Rihanna brought spring and summer vibes to the 2017 Met Gala with her detailed floral dress and pink-themed makeup look, and we have to say, it's honestly one of her most iconic makeup looks throughout her career. The Fenty Beauty CEO spotted bright pink eyeshadow that blended seamlessly with her pink cheeks and even darker pink almost berry-coloured lips which brought the whole look together.
How to Recreate Rihanna's Pink Spring Makeup Makeup Style
Eyes:
- Prep your eyelids with primer, then apply a bright pink shade of matte eyeshadow the the centre of your lids and blend it upward into the crease and out toward the outer V.
- Next take a slightly lighter pink shade than the previous one and apply this to the centre of the eyelid, but this time blend toward the inner corner. Also, blend between both shades of pink till there are no harsh lines.
- Apply both shades of pink to the lower lash line and blend out properly. For that extra sparkle take a silver shimmery eyeshadow and apply that to the inner corner of your eyes.
- Line the top of your eyes with black pencil and pink for your waterline.
- Apply two or more coats of mascara to both your top and bottom lashes and of course, remember to tightline.
- Fill in your brows lightly with a light brown pencil for that blonde almost bleached brow look just like Rihanna's.
Face:To recreate Riri's face makeup, you need to keep two things in mind.
- First, you need lots of blush. We want to use the blush as our contour and secondly, a hugely pigmented pink highlighter.
- Once you have your foundation and concealer well blended out, apply your liquid blush and blend with a beauty sponge.
- Make sure to blend from your cheekbones upwards and into the sides of your face, connecting it to your eyeshadow.
- Go over it with the same shade of pink powder blush for more intensity.
- Lastly, add a generous amount of pink highlighter to your cheeks and finish up the rest of your makeup
Lips: Outline your lips with a magenta or berry-coloured lip liner and apply the same shade of lipstick on it. Rihanna's lips are neither matter nor glossy, so make sure you're using creamy textured lipstick. You can press a blotting paper over your lips and tap on a light amount of translucent powder to take away any excess shine.
7: Gigi Hadid's Not So Basic White Liner
The oldest of the Hadid sisters, Gigi has been and will forever remain a beauty icon even tho she has long retired from strutting the runway. Gigi has worn lots of interesting makeup looks over the years but this one from the Harper's Bazaar Exhibition during 2020 Paris Fashion Week stands out easily as one of her best because of the sheer simplicity.
How to Recreate Gigi Hadid's Not So Basic White Liner Makeup Style
Eyes:
- All you need to recreate this eye look is a white graphic liner and steady hands.
- Start by laying your brow hair down with brow gel or even hair wax.
- Press your fingers against it to make sure they are nice and flat. Now dust on a little bit of powder to take away any shine.
- Next, take your brow pen and gently trace out hair-like strokes into your brows to give them a fuller more natural look just like Gigi's.
- You can clean out the bottom of your brows with a concealer that's one shade lighter than your skin but this is optional.
- Next, spread a tiny amount of that concealer onto the eyelids, blend and set with powder. This will help take away any redness and provide a perfect canvas for our graphic liner.
- Now get your white liner and with steady hands draw a straight line right across the centre of your eyelid, just above the crease.
- Take a dark brown gel liner and apply it to your top lash line, use that also to tightline.
- Take a bit of silver shimmery eyeshadow, apply that to the inner corner of the eyes then lastly, put on mascara.
Face:Go ahead and apply your regular face makeup, keeping your foundation and powder application at the barest minimum. Apply peachy blush to your cheeks and bronzer to your temples.
Lips:Outline and fill your lips with a peach copied lip liner and lipstick, then top it off with clear gloss.
8: Nicki Minaj's Black Marbled Makeup
You already know the Met Gala is one event where celebrities go all out in setting and breaking records with their beauty and fashion statements and for the year 2022, Nicki Minaj sure slayed in every sense of the word.
Her snatched face and faux crystal embellishments sent social media beauty content creators into a frenzy, giving birth to a series of videos where they tried to recreate Nicki's exact look.
How to Recreate Nicki Minaj's Black Marbled Makeup Makeup Style
Eyes:Although we can't see much of her eye makeup because it's slightly hidden from view by the cap she wore, Nicki's eyes were a lovely black and gold smokey eyeshadow combination.
- Start by layering a matte black eyeshadow onto the centre of your eyelids, blend into your crease and blend outwards.
- Take a deep brown shade and blend directly over it to smooth it out. Next, go in with a gold shimmery eyeshadow, apply that to the centre of your eyelid, and blend into the inner corners.
- Apply a black pencil to your water line and top lash line, then make a small brush and smudge out your lower lash line with the same black eyeshadow.
- Apply mascara and a pair of false lashes
Face:We want our faces to be snatched just like Nicki's, and then we'll go in with contour right after we're done with our base makeup.
- On top of the contour, apply a coral shade of blush and highlighter.
- Now for the bedazzling. Get yourself black faux crystal, rhinestones, glitter glue or lash glue.
- Take a pointed eyeliner brush or the glue applicator and place small dots of glue all over your face and chest, then go ahead and place the crystals on it.
Lips:Apply a brown lip liner, a beige nude lipstick and some clear gloss.
9: Kylie Jenner's Golden Glam
The last born of the Jenner and Kardashian sisters Kylie had shown us over the years that she does know a thing or two about makeup. Given the fact that she owns a beauty brand named after her Kylie Cosmetics, we think she deserves a spot on our list. Speaking of beauty brands, Kylie wore this in August 2021, when she announced the launch of her 24k birthday collection from her brand.
How to Recreate Kylie Jenner's Golden Glam Makeup Style
Eyes:
- Start by defining your brows. Outline, fill them in and clean up with concealer.
- Prep your kids with primer, take a smaller angular brush with a deep brown shade of eye shadow.
- Stamp the above the crease and blend out into a wing.
- Take a little bit of concealer, cut your crease following the same pattern and blend out.
- Next, apply a liquid gold shimmery eye shadow on your lids following the shape of the crease you just cut, and go over it with a gold shimmery eye shadow in powder form.
- Line your eyes with black liquid eyeliner and create a sharp long wing.
- Apply some mascara and half-false lashes.
Face:While Kylie's makeup in this picture has been retouched, one thing is certain, she looks heavily bronzed.
- Do your face makeup as you normally would and apply a generous amount of bronzer to your forehead, cheekbones and sides of your face.
- Apply peach blush to your cheeks and a little dust of highlights too.
Lips:To fake the perfect pout, overline your lips with a brown lip liner, and apply a peachy nude matte lipstick.
10: Keke Palmer's Reverse Feline Flick
Keke brought the brown-skinned girl makeup to the 2023 Fragrance Foundation Awards and we're loving it. What's more, she paired her soft natural glam with this bold reverse feline flick. I mean, it's your regular cat eye look but with a twist.
How to Recreate Keke Palmer's Reverse Feline Flick Makeup Style
Eyes: It may look like Keke's eyes are bare except for the bold winged liner but that's not the case. Let's start by defining our brows.
- Outline, fill out with a brow pencil and clean them up with concealer.
- Blend some of the concealer onto the eyelids and set lightly with a translucent powder.
- Now take a light brown matte shade and dust all across your lids.
- Take the same colour of eye shadow but in shimmer and apply that to the centre of your eyelids.
- Now get yourself a black kohl or gel liner, and an angle brush and carefully, line your top lash line, extending outward and upwards into a wing.
- Do the same for the bottom lash line and connect both wings.
- Repeat this process till you have a nice thick line wing extending from the bottom upwards.
- Use the same gel liner to line your waterline and tightline. Apply mascara and put on a pair of falsies.
Face:Put on your regular face makeup, while paying attention to contouring your cheekbones.
Lips:Keke's lips look like she barely has any lipstick on. To recreate, line your lips with a light shade of brown, then a flesh-tone nude shade. Or just go over with clear gloss.
Conclusion
Recreating celebrity makeup looks can be fun and challenging. It's important to focus on the fun part and remember that it's okay to make mistakes but don't let that stop you.
Let us know in the comments which of these makeup looks you'll be trying first.
