Last night's Met Gala brought out some of the most fun beauty looks we've seen in ages. From a parade of platinum blond to Tessa Thompson's whip of a braid, the Hollywood glam squads definitely outdid themselves this year.
But nobody had a bigger red-carpet moment than Gala cochair Lady Gaga—and it wasn't just about her multiple outfit changes on the steps of the Met. She even brought her makeup and hair team into her performance on the pink carpet.
Now makeup artist Sarah Tanno is revealing just how much work went into creating the look, including those incredible gold lashes. "For camp...it was really challenging to create that look," she explained at a Marc Jacobs Beauty event in New York.
"You have to find the balance between exaggeration and beautiful—and with the theme, we wanted to keep it fashion but not in a cheesy kind of a way." The actual makeup took about an hour and a half to do, she says. But that came after lots of trial runs ahead of the big day. Plus, Tanno says, "You really have to do your homework. I read all the 'Notes on Camp' before I even started creating looks." ("Notes on 'Camp'" is the famous Susan Sontag essay which was a huge inspiration for the theme.) She completely changed the creative direction after she read it.
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"I think we kind of nailed it," she said. We absolutely agree.
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She says it took her three days to get the lashes just right and that was after creating 20 looks to show Gaga and the rest of her creative team. "It was a tough sell," Tanno says. "Her stylists loved it, but you have to see how all the elements work together. I wasn't sure if she would go for it or not, but I'm so glad she trusted me."
To create the lashes, Tanno dipped them in glitter while they were upside down to get the bottom part of the lash line—and she had to mold Gaga's lashes to the fakes, which she did by applying mascara to the singer's lashes first. There were actually three pairs of base lashes under the gold foils, and it took three days of trial runs to make sure they wouldn't droop or fall off during Gaga's entrance. The trick, she says, was using face tape (which she hid under Gaga's wig) to keep her eyes lifted up.
Another secret to Gaga's glow was Marc Jacobs Beauty's new Youthquake Hydra-Full Retexturizing Gel Crème ($59), which Tanno revealed she'd secretly been using on Gaga's skin through her A Star Is Born awards season run. Honestly, I'm ready to buy it based on that fact alone. As for those electric pink lips? Tanno used Le Marc Liquid Lip Crayon in Flaming-oh! ($26) topped with Enamored Hydrating Lip Gloss Stick in Sweet Escape ($28) for shine.
Clearly it was worth the work. Here's a few more photos to appreciate.
