The 2021 Golden Globes continued the unique format that award shows have taken on throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. The world poured over images of the best-dressed celebrities…from their living room sofas. The biggest and brightest stars from around the globe donned their sparkling designer gowns for intimate photoshoots from their back-gardens (they know the benefits of ‘golden hour’ just as much as you and I) to upload to Instagram in place of the traditional red carpet shots.
The Monochromatic Look
Angela Basset showed us all how to master monochrome this year. The actress took the risky move of matching her makeup look to her dress but pulled it off without a hitch. The gorgeous deep plum of her gown is echoed in her purple smokey eye (achieved using Pat MacGrath Labs’ Mothership VII Divine Rose I Eyeshadow Palette) and a mauve-toned nude lip. Mirroring the purple tones perfectly, the look avoids looking ‘samey’ and is instead balanced from head to toe (literally). Her choice to keep the shape of the shadow within the bounds of what we’d expect from a traditional smokey eye, and the rest of the makeup simple, stop the look from being overly confusing or distracting. Angela is a vision in purple, and a stunning one at that. Why not try the monochrome look for yourself by matching your lipstick to your dress, or your eyeshadow to your shoes?
Check out the look on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/p/CL292RAjgRX/
The Bold Lip Look
A number of celebs chose to keep their makeup focused on the lips this year. Andra Day shows the beauty of a bold lip with her raspberry pout that stands out beautifully from her silver dress, jewellery, and a sleek updo. Using four different lip products for the evening, Andra created a slight ombre effect that looked far from dull in her pics for the gram. A bright and bold lip is a sure way to inject a healthy glow into your look and elevates even the simplest of outfits. Although, bringing four lipsticks in your bag to brunch isn’t the most practical idea, so maybe save this one for special occasions!
See the look on Andra’s IG page – https://www.instagram.com/p/CL3Evmpgbbp/
The Lash Look
Cynthia Ervio went big, bold, and beautiful this year. In addition to her attention-grabbing neon green gown and full-length white gloves, Cynthia chose to go for some brave makeup, too! Keeping the skin simple and the lip nude, Cynthia decided to make it all about the eyes – more specifically, the lashes. The key to this look is the huge, voluminous spiky false lashes that draw all the attention to the eyes, nicely complimenting the vibe of her amazingly crazy dress. Using these big lashes cleverly avoided the need to incorporate more colour into the look, as introducing more alongside the bright green dress could have been visually confusing and too much. Instead, Cynthia achieves the perfect amount of bold and bright in this modern take on red carpet glam.
Take a closer look at Cynthia’s amazing makeup on her stylist’s Instagram page – https://www.instagram.com/p/CL2wegCF0zO/
The Glossy Skin Look
Good skin will never go out of fashion, and a number of celebs chose to highlight their glow for the awards. Kaley Cuoco shows us how it’s done in her Instagram pics where she shows off her beautiful silver gown that glitters almost as much as her makeup. Keeping the eyes and lips nude and natural, the focus really falls onto her shimmering cheeks achieved by glow guru Charlotte Tilbury’s products. The sunset makes her goddess-like glow pop, and serves as a reminder as to why the highlighter trend continues to shine (pardon the pun).
See the glow in all its glory (plus some behind the scenes videos and photos) on makeup artist Jamie Greenberg’s IG page – https://www.instagram.com/p/CL2ziktH365/
Margot Robbie also followed the glowy skin trend, but rather than going for a golden ethereal shimmer like Kaley, she instead focused on a natural, dewy ‘just woke up like this’ look. The rest of the makeup is kept incredibly simple – a very minimal eye and a ‘my lip but better’ lipstick, which makes the actress appear youthful and effortless. Margot’s beauty shines through this healthy and clean makeup.
The Classic Look
Some chose to stick to what works and channelled a sophisticated, classic makeup style. Elle Fanning, Lana Condor, and Sofia Carson all proved that a tried and tested black winged eyeliner and winged lash will always look gorgeous with nearly any look, and will never fail at an awards show or red carpet. The dark liner makes the shape of the eye appear elongated and wide, making it perfect for a night where lots of photographs will be taken. Simple yet sexy, a good winged liner suits everyone and can work seamlessly with any look, from Elle’s blue Gatsby-style gown by Gucci to Lana’s highly embellished, colourful Monique Lhuillier dress. So get practising that wing – when the event is going to be closely captured by Instagram, it has to be perfect!
Elle’s classic cat-eye look can be seen in this stunning Instagram post – https://www.instagram.com/p/CMBCaCEhXLs/
The Neon Eye Look
Nicola Coughlan aimed for the totally unexpected at the Golden Globes this year. Bypassing the classic smokey eyes, red lips, and winged liners of days past, Nicola instead chose the most incredible neon-pink eye look. The bright coral-toned pink shadow that Nicola featured made her pale blue eyes pop, and was a beautiful colour against her light skin tone. She kept the rest of the look stunningly simple – clean, slightly dewy skin, natural glossy lips, and just a touch of black mascara is all that was necessary to accompany that pink shadow. This look is all about the youthful, fun, and gorgeous. Nicola clearly isn’t afraid of colour, and after seeing how amazing this look turned out on her social media, I would encourage you not to hesitate to try it out for yourselves!
Need some visual inspiration? Nicola’s Instagram post shows all of the gorgeous details of the look – https://www.instagram.com/p/CL2y0QBASEG/
The variety and diversity of the looks at this year’s Golden Globes awards was a fantastic injection of joy into another day of lockdown, and it felt like celebrities were more inclined to try something bolder this year. Why not take inspiration from the attendees and attempt to recreate some of these looks for your next zoom seminar? There’s nothing like rocking a neon eye or matching your lipstick to your outfit to get the day off to a good start!