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Last night’s Met Gala saw the revival of Black dandyism with a star-studded blue carpet full of fashion. But while the clothing took the spotlight, we saw plenty of innovations in makeup, hair, and skincare.
The guests this year took inspiration from the sophistication of the theme, tailored to this year’s Costume Institute exhibit, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style. I saw sculpted complexions, sweeping black eyeliner and, in the case of Lupita Nyong’o and Diana Ross, lots of facial jewellery.
While hats were a central feature for many – namely Zendaya, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Jennie Kim – there was still plenty of immaculate hair design, with masculine quiffs, slick-backs and intricately laid edges.
The beauty brands were out in full force, too. Coleman Domingo stepped out with flawless skin thanks to Charlotte Tilbury skincare; Simone Biles unveiled a silky-sleek flicky bob styled with K18 hair products; and Sydney Sweeney executed a perfect cheek flush with Armani beauty. Scroll on for all the make-up and hair highlights from fashion’s big night out.
Best Met Gala beauty looks 2025
Rihanna
While crowds were overjoyed to witness Rihanna’s new baby bump, my eyes honed in on the singer-songwriter’s low pony, created at the hands of hair stylist Yusef Williams. I can spot Fenty beauty from a mile off, with the star crediting her own brand for her effortlessly defined lips and cheekbones. Designed by Priscilla Ono, Fenty’s trace’d out lip liner (£19, Sephora.co.uk/$20, Sephora.com) in the shade extra thigh was used to its fullest extent for this look.
Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian donned crocodile leather tailoring from head to toe, complete with a dipped fedora. With – as always – Mario Dedivanovic as her go-to MUA, the reality star extended this leather sheen up to her complexion with highlights across the high points of her face. As for hair, the old Hollywood curls struck again with shoulder-grazing locks cascading towards the open back of her Chrome Hearts two-piece.
Zendaya
Obscuring her makeup beneath a hat, Zendaya executed a makeup masterclass with MUA Ernesto Casillas. As ever, the Euphoria actress understood the fashion assignment, too, with an incredibly chic white suit.
For the base, Charlotte Tilbury prepped her skin using the magic serum crystal elixir (£27, Cultbeauty.co.uk /$30, Charlottetilbury.com), magic cream (£28, Cultbeauty.co.uk, $30, Charlottetilbury.com) and the Hollywood skin secrets immediate eye revival patches (£58, Cultbeauty.co.uk / $70, Charlottetilbuy.com).
As for her complexion, the Hollywood flawless filter (£39, Cultbeauty.co.uk / $49, Charlottetilbury.com) was used, followed by airbrush flawless foundation (£29, Cultbeauty.co.uk / $49, Charlottetilbury.com) and the all-new Hollywood contour wand in medium (£30, Cultbeauty.co.uk / $42, Charlottetilbury.com). Our tester Elena recently reviewed and loved this wand for its effective applicator and lightweight finish.
This was then followed with the matte beauty blush wand in pillow talk (£30, Cultbeauty.co.uk / $42, Charlottetilbury.com) and the beauty light wand in spotlight (£30, Cultbeauty.co.uk / $42, Charlottetilbury.com).
As for the secret to her signature pout, Casillas used the new lip cheat contour duo (£22, Sephora.co.uk / $26, Charlottetilbury.com) to contour her lips and the big lip plumpgasm in nudegasm diamonds (£27, Sephora.co.uk $35, Charlottetilbury.com) for shine.
Doja Cat
Where many opt for big hair and a quiet make-up moment (or vice verse), Doja Cat bucked the curve.
Taking her lilac eyeshadow up to her brow bone, the Woman singer drew attention to her eyes and lips with thick liquid liner and a bold red pout. With Jenna Kuchera from Pat McGrath Labs as her MUA, the professional used McGrath’s permaprecision liquid eyeliner (£30, Sephora.co.uk/$36, Sephora.com), mothership XII: petalmorphosis eyeshadow palette (£119, Selfridges.com/$128, Sephora.com) and dramatique mega lip pencil (£27, Cultbeauty.co.uk/$29, Sephora.com) in the shades garnet glow and elson for this As for her hair, her afro was crafted into a style that mimicked an Edwardian hat, with sections dyed lighter to create the illusion of frills.
Colman Domingo
One of the best-dressed this evening, co-chair of this year’s Met Gala, Colman Domingo stole the show, changing mid-carpet. The actor swapped his custom Valentino royal blue robe for a black and white tweed jacket, paired with wide-leg grey trousers.
While we may not be able to recreate his outfit, we certainly can try and achieve his youthful glow. His make-up artist, Jamie Richmond, took to Instagram to share the products she used to prep the actor’s skin. In the post, she detailed that she’d used a Charlotte Tilbury cleanser (£26, Cultbeauty.co.uk / $30, Charlottetilbury.com), the new Charlotte Tilbury hydrating mist (£35, Spacenk.com / $47, Charlottetilbury.com) and the all-important magic cream (£54, Spacenk.com / $65, Charlottetilbury.com). I’ll be adding to my basket immediately.
Sydney Sweeney
As an ambassador for the brand, Sydney Sweeney stepped out with a full face of Armani Beauty. Sweeney's makeup artist Melissa Hernandez had her wearing Armani’s prisma glass lip gloss (£32, Boots.com / $38, Sephora.com) and luminous silk cheek tint (£27, Boots.com / $39, Sephora.com).
The secret to her top-to-toe glow has also been revealed, and it’s all thanks to Vita Liberata’s body blur (£33, Boots.com / $39, Amazon.com). Hernandez said: “To finish Sydney’s Met Gala look, I used Vita Liberata Body Blur in Medium to enhance and perfect the skin on her arms and décolletage.” She added that it delivers “the perfect balance of glow and coverage”. I’m sold.
Angela Bassett
Walking the Met Gala carpet for the first time, Angela Bassett worked with stylist Randy Stodghill for tonight’s event. The stylist used Dyson’s supersonic nural hair dryer (£299.99, Boots.com/$499, Sephora.com) and airwrap i.d. straight+wavy multi-styler and dryer (£399.99, Boots.com/$599, Sephora.com) to perfect the actress’ natural afro texture.
We loved the nural hair dryer when we put it to the test last year. Our tester Daisy found that the “scalp protect” mode makes a huge difference. A laser measures the difference between the tool and your hair to ensure that it never heats your hair above 55C. Daisy said, “I was surprised how much I noticed the difference, with no burning sensations leading to a much nicer drying session.”
Simone Biles
Having teamed up with K18 to prep, style and finish her sleek and swishy locks, Simone Biles’ hair stylist, Brenton, took inspiration from Josephine Baker’s iconic bang swirl when sculpting the Olympian’s sweeping side fringe.
Her team used K18’s damage shield shampoo (£39, Cultbeauty.co.uk / $36, Sephora.com), leave-in molecular repair hair mask (£30, Cultbeauty.co.uk / $75, Sephora.com), astrolift reparative volume spray (£44, Cultbeauty.co.uk / $46, Sephora.com) and molecular repair hair oil (£27, Cultbeauty.co.uk / from $28, Sephora.com).
Megan Thee Stallion
As if her custom Michael Kors fit wasn’t exciting enough, Megan Thee Stallion stole the show with a three-tiered ponytail that mimicked the style of a 16th-century headpiece. Once again, we can see laid edges and – as we saw on multiple celebrities last night – a soft wave through the rest of the hair.
For her make-up, the rapper’s winged eyeliner and full nude lips were created by Charlotte Tilbury’s Diana Shin, who used the brand’s Hollywood exagger-eyes liner duo (£25, Johnlewis.com/$32, Sephora.com) and new big lip plumpgasm (£27, Charlottetilbury.com/$35, Charlottetilbury.com) in the shade diamonds, which I reviewed – and loved – just last week.
Tyla
Singer-songwriter Tyla attended the Met for the first time in 2024. This year, her hair comes courtesy of Dyson and stylist Yusef. For her glam, the Water singer gave spectators a vision board of perfect blush execution. Her MUAs Meghan Yarde and Kim Sharma used Pat McGrath’s divine cream blush (£28, Sephora.co.uk/$29, Sephora.com) in sunkissed seduction and skin fetish divine blush (£40, Sephora.co.uk/$39, Sephora.com) in paradise venus.
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