Being friends with Rihanna undoubtably includes lots of perks, including (but not limited to) access to all things Fenty Beauty long before anyone else. Such can be said for the star's longtime makeup artist Priscilla Ono, who recently took on the role of global makeup artist for the burgeoning new brand. (Of course, we already knew Ono had amazing taste in beauty.)
Finding yourself in Rihanna's glam squad is a blessing, but it turns out that knowing Ono has major beauty perks, too, because she stopped by our R29 NYC offices today to recreate one of Rihanna's two makeup looks from last night's Grammy Awards on me.
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Ono, who's known Rihanna since 2011 but has held this coveted title for five months, says that Rihanna needed a base that would stay in place all night long. "Obviously, Rih wants this beautiful skin, but it has to last," Ono says. "We had 20 minutes to change her for her performance look [after she accepted Best Rap/Sung Performance with Kendrick Lamar], so we wanted to make sure her skin was ready and had longevity." To do that, Ono primed with the humidity and sweat-resistant Pro Filt'r Instant Retouch Primer before basing Rihanna with Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation in 330 all over.
"These products were made for Rihanna," Ono says. "She's from Barbados, and it's very humid there. She wanted something that was humidity-resistant, sweat-proof, and something that would really last a long time, but also look like skin."
Rih also wanted her consumers to get plenty of use from the products. The Pro Filt'r Foundation also doubles as a concealer if you go about four shades lighter than your face, Ono says, and you can also use the Match Stix Shimmer Skinstick as a blush, a highlight, and even a lipstick. For the Grammys, Ono brushed on Chili Mango to the apples of Rih's cheek right after dusting on the Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter in Girl Next Door.
As for her lips, Priscilla used Mattemoiselle Plush Matte Lipstick in Shawty on the star and topped it with a layer of Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer, which is always in Rihanna's purse. "She wears it all of the time because of the shea butter in the product," Ono says. "You can put it over any lip colour, and the peach vanilla scent was picked by Rihanna herself."
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Although Ono couldn't give us any hints about what Fenty Beauty has up its sleeve next ("That's the forbidden question!" she jokes), she confirms that the line really is a labour of love, and that her badass boss is involved every step of the way. "[Everything] is handpicked by her," she says. "They're all her favourite shades. I feel like she never picks one over the other. She has different moods — vampy, neutral. That's how [everything] was made."
Watch the video above to see the finished look — and the moment when Ono used the Rihanna's same lipstick on my own pout. And nope — I'm never washing my mouth again.