The foundations celebrities swear by for flawless skin on the red carpet
BRB, taking notes
Ever tuned into the chaos of a red carpet event only to be met with a parade of cool-as-cucumber celebrities sporting angel-like flawless skin?
Yeah, same. And what we want to know is – how do they do it?
What’s the secret to camera-ready skin that looks picture perfect from every possible angle?
Well, turns out it might be as simple as investing in a decent foundation formula (though we’re sure a facial with one of Hollywood’s finest estheticians surely can’t hurt either).
We’ve hunted down the red carpet foundations of some of your favourite celebrities so you can embrace a bit of red carpet glow in your own life…
Image credit: Getty
Jennifer Lawrence
Jennifer Lawrence's makeup artist Hung Vanggo recently shared with Who What Wear that the Dior ambassador often exclusively wears Dior makeup and skin care on the red carpet. Naturally. Vanngo uses the Dior Forever Clean Matte Foundation in the shade '2 Cool Rosy' ($99 at Dior Australia) on the actress to give her a cloud-skin finish. The longwearing formula helps to mattify skin without making it look dry or cakey. The result is a natural, velvety-soft finish that looks great on camera.
Image credit: Getty
Sydney Sweeney
Much like her Euphoria co-star and on-screen sister Maude Apatow, Sydney Sweeney is obsessed with Armani makeup. The brand's best-selling foundation is her go-to for red carpet events, as well as her days off.
"I have learned everything I know from my makeup artist, Melissa Hernandez. She introduced me to Armani makeup. I owe anything I know to her," Sweeney told Marie Claire. "It depends on how my skin is that day, but I'll either do a light, light layer of the [Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation in shade 5.75] ($105 at The Iconic) or I’ll just do their concealer and spot coverup."
Image credit: @thetonyabrewer
Vanessa Hudgens
Vanessa Hudgens likes to work smarter not harder when it comes to her beauty routine. In a recent interview with Refinery29, the KNOW Beauty founder admitted that she really rates two-in-one products that allow her to cut a few steps out of her routine.
“I love a moisturiser and sunscreen put together,” she said. “I recently found this company, Ilia, that makes a tinted moisturiser with hyaluronic acid and sunscreen — I love things that make life easy.” We’re not surprised Hudgens has a thing for ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 40 ($79 at MECCA); the brand has a host of celebrity fans such as Miranda Kerr and Pamela Anderson.
Image credit: @patidubroff
Margot Robbie
“If I go to events I use Suqqu Foundation,” Robbie told Vogue UK. “That sh*t doesn’t come off.”
“It looks like skin, but it doesn’t budge,” she admitted. “I haven’t found another [red carpet] foundation that stays on like that without looking heavy.”
Robbie reserves SUQQU’s The Cream Foundation ($116 at Harrods) for special occasions, so during the day she’s usually wearing “either Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser ($88 at MECCA) or Ellis Faas Skin Veil Foundation ($108 at MECCA) mixed in with some moisturiser.”
Image credit: @kdeenihan
Kelsea Ballerini
Makeup artist Kelsey Deenihan was entrusted with Kelsea Ballerini’s Grammys glow-up, telling People, “I wanted Kelsea's monochromatic, warm copper makeup look to complement her gorgeous sunshine yellow Prabal gown”. Not only did she nail the brief, she also did it on a budget. She created the entire look using Covergirl makeup, and applied “a light veil of CoverGirl Clean Fresh Skin Milk Foundation ($12.39 at Chemist Warehouse) in a mixture of shades 540 Light and 560 Medium.”
Image credit: @patrickta
Camila Cabello
Camila Cabello employed the help of Patrick Ta to achieve this flushed floral moment on the Met Gala red carpet. Surprisingly, he managed to make Cabello look effortlessly refined using a drugstore foundation. The formula of choice? L'ORÉAL PARIS Infallible 24hr Liquid Foundation (now $34.99 was $17.49 at Priceline).
Image credit: @babskymakeup
Simone Ashley
Pat McGrath Labs is the makeup brand of choice on the Bridgerton set, so we weren’t even a little bit shocked when we found out Simone Ashley’s makeup artist Alex Babsky used the PAT MCGRATH LABS Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection Foundation ($111 at Sephora) (as well as a slew of other Pat McGrath goodies) on the actress for the Met Gala 2022 red carpet.
Image credit: @maudeapatow
Maude Apatow
Maude Apatow loves a red lip, that much we know. But what we needed to know was how she achieved such a flawless, porcelain skin finish on the red carpet, while still looking dewy and fresh. Turns out makeup artist Kelsey Deenihan used the cult-favourite Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation ($105 at Sephora). Why didn’t we think of that?
Image credit: @maudeapatow
Image credit: @lilyjamesofficial
Lily James
Lily James has been serving face over on the Charlotte Tilbury Instagram account all awards season, so we knew she was going to be using one of Tilbury’s beloved foundation formulas for the Met Gala. Makeup artist Valeria Ferreira opted for the Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin Foundation ($65 at Charlotte Tilbury) to achieve that radiant, mesmerising glow James was sporting on the red carpet.
Image credit: @ninapark
Hailey Bieber
If you were obsessing over Hailey Bieber’s lowkey hair and makeup at the Met Gala this year, you weren’t the only one. Wondering what lightweight base product Bieber was wearing to get that ‘your skin but better’ finish? Makeup artist Nina Park used the CHANEL N°1 DE CHANEL Revitalising Foundation ($110 at MYER), which promises a dewy, luminous look post-application.
Image credit: @ericka_verrett
Miranda Kerr
Miranda Kerr’s makeup artist Ericka Verrett managed to keep the foundation to a minimum when it came to the model’s Met Gala makeup. Kerr actually prepped her skin for the event with not one but four facials, so Verrett used the barely detectable ILIA Super Serum Skin Tint SPF 40 ($72 at MECCA) to perfect the Kora Organics founder's face all the more.
Now we know what the inside of our favourite celebrities' makeup bags look like, we’re turning to their makeup artists… These are the products celebrity makeup artists use.
Main image credit: @maudeapatow / @ninapark / @babskymakeup
Briar Clark got her start in the media industry in 2017, as an intern for Marie Claire and InStyle. Since then, her keen interest in fashion and beauty has landed her gigs as a Digital Content Producer and Beauty Editor with titles like Girlfriend, Refinery29, BEAUTYcrew and beautyheaven. She loves the way seemingly innocuous topics like skin care and style have the ability to put a smile on people’s faces or make them think about themselves a little differently. A big believer in self love and experimentation, Briar has made a point of becoming the Australian beauty industry’s unofficial guinea pig for unusual treatments and daring hair trends. When she’s not testing out the latest beauty launches, Briar is big on broadening her horizons, mostly in the form of food but she’s also partial to travelling to new destinations both near and far (and of course, allocating an extra bag to bring their best beauty offerings home with her).
