The Golden Globes happened Sunday night in Los Angeles, and while we weren’t expecting much excitement from the red-carpet “blackout,” it proved to be pretty entertaining for our inaugural Facebook thread, where The Glow Up gang rated their hits and misses. Though most of last night’s dresses fell firmly on the side of “meh,” one of our #Faves, Issa Rae, was a clear standout.
Wearing a plunging and shimmering black gown by Prabal Gurung—which we would’ve loved on her in almost any color—Rae stood in solidarity with her comrades in the #TimesUp movement, who prompted the evening’s theme of #AllBlackEverything. As the Insecure star, who was nominated for best actress in a TV comedy or musical series, told E! News, “Time is up, and I’m happy to make an impact. Bye, old Hollywood! You’re dead.”
But in a sea of black dresses, how does a rising star make a splash? For Rae’s longtime makeup artist Joanna Simkin, the answer was ultimately simple: Let her gorgeous skin take the spotlight.
“I [was] honestly a little nervous, because I think that color is so beautiful on her,” Simkin told The Glow Up. “It took me a minute to figure out, ‘What am I going to do? How do I make her stick out?’”
The answer came to her in collaboration with Rae’s stylist, Jason Rembert.
“I told him: ‘Honestly, I think it’s about her skin, because her skin is stunning,’” Simkin said. “And he was like, ‘I agree!’” It’s really about her skin, and her smile.”
After begging Rembert to give her arms, collarbone and cleavage to work with this year, Simkin began experimenting with ways to make Rae’s skin really gleam. She found an emollient—and affordable—solution in Vaseline Cocoa Radiant Smoothing Body Butter.
“I’m kind of obsessed with it. It’s very hydrating—like, super hydrating,” she said. “I was mixing pigments into it, to get the hydration with shimmer, too ... her skin reflecting is really all I’m going for.”
And if you’re shocked to find out that one of your faves has found a new favorite in the drugstore aisle, the key is in how hydrating Vaseline’s formula is, aside from its delicious scent.
“[Issa]’s a big fan of anything that’s really hydrating, and she really likes it,” Simkin said. “I like the finish on it—when we put it on, I felt like her skin was gleaming, without looking like I had oiled her. I’m very cognizant about how her skin photographs; especially against a black dress.”
The pigment Simkin used is, surprisingly, also a drugstore brand. Despite the many high-end pigments she has in her arsenal, her favorite for Rae’s skin came courtesy of CoverGirl’s Katy Kat Pearl Shadow + Highlighter, which she scraped into the body butter to give a glistening effect on the skin.
Simkin topped off her own CoverGirl’s look—Rae is a brand ambassador—with a soft plum-based smoky eye, which you can achieve at home using CoverGirl’s TruNaked Roses Shadow Palette (Mauvergine, Rose Gold and Mousse) and CoverGirl TruNaked Smoky Shadow Palette (Jet). Each is less than $10, so that’s a whole lotta red-carpet-ready look at a bargain price!
We may not end up looking as flawlessly fly as Rae—who personified #BlackGirlMagic last night—but for less than $30, we’re sure gonna try!