I know that you know the rest of the rhyme from Snow White – who is the fairest of them all? At a great deal of risk, I’m going to share my opinion of who the five fairest ladies on the red carpet at the Emmys were this week. Again, this is my opinion only – you may make totally different aesthetic choices, and that is okay. I have no desire to be critical of anyone, and I won’t do that. Instead, I picked the five that I found most pleasing, and while many, many more were absolutely fabulous, I forced myself to choose five. By the way, my choices are based solely on makeup. The beautiful gowns or hairstyles were not a factor in my choices — although three of my winners were wearing deep blue. I will not attempt to rank them, this is where I will chicken out and put them in alphabetical order. Also, to be clear, I did not take a single one of these photos. Credit for the beautiful imagery which I downloaded from the Hollywood Life website goes to REX/Shutterstock unless otherwise noted.
One other observation I’d like to make is that all five of these ladies had three very important things in common. These three things are what I consider to be foundational or table stakes. They are: 1) flawless skin, 2) brows are “on fleek” and 3) they are all “lash game strong”. Notice that two of the three are directly related to framing the eyes which are a critical element in any makeup look. Here goes….
Priyanka Chopra from Quantico, who previously won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Actress in a New TV Series. Priyanka absolutely nailed it with strong brows and a bold matte red lipstick, which complemented her gown and made for a super elegant look. Her makeup artist, Yumi Mori, used Chanel lip products – specifically the Precision Lip Definer in Rouge Profond, and Rouge Allure Velvet Luminous Matte Lip Color in Rouge Charnel. I would run out and buy this, but I just got the Rouge Dior matte lipstick in 999 as I recently realized I did not own a matte red. Chopra got rave reviews for her red carpet look, not only here in the states, but in the Indian press as well.
Next up is Angel Parker with a very fresh natural look. Parker recently played Shawn Chapman in FX’s award winning “American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson.” Celebrity makeup artist Kym Nicole created a stunning look with blue eye shadows and a pretty pinky-lavender lip. I have no idea what products she used, but the finished look was fantastic. I found a closeup on Kym’s Instagram feed, so if you’d like to see the look without the gown you can check that out.
There is lots of buzz about this star in her fabulous Zac Posen gown and rich blue eye makeup that reminds me of Cleopatra. Emily Ratajkowski also knocked it out of the park, and the soft nude lip is perfect with the very bold eye makeup. The Alter Ego lipstick is from Lorac in the shade Exhibitionist. Makeup artist Hung Vanngo (favored by Victoria’s Secret models) created the striking eye look with Lorac’s Front of the Line PRO eye pencils and PRO eyeshadow palette. You can see a bit of subtle contouring to further define Emily’s cheekbones. To get a better feel for Hung’s work, check out a recent article / tutorial from Into the Gloss. He also has some nice close-ups of this look (with over 5,000 likes) on his Instagram feed.
My next look is from Abigail Spencer, and while she also wore a blue gown, her makeup artist went in a totally different direction from Hung Vanngo. Makeup artist Lauren Anderson went with a bolder lip and a more sutble eye using Avon products exclusively. The Avon True Color Perfectly Matte Lipstick here is really a gorgeous berry hue in Ravishing Rose. I was floored by the price tag, only $5.99 on sale. If the rest of the products are similarly priced this would be a very budget friendly way to re-create a red carpet look.
Last but not least is a very soft, fresh look on teenager Holly Taylor from the cast of “The Americans.” This to me is a great example of what teen makeup should be all about – that youthful glow doesn’t last forever – work it while you can, LOL.
I hope you enjoyed my picks. Let me know what your picks are and what wisdom we can take away from the celebrity makeup artists.
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