Beyoncé pulled out all the looks for the Grammy Awards this weekend. First, she wore a Ralph & Russo gown dripping with Lorraine Schwartz diamonds to Roc Nation’s pre-Grammy brunch. Next, she rocked a black gown by Lebanese couturier Azzi & Osta to the Clive David pre-Grammy gala. And then during the show itself, she donned a Black Panther-inspired velvet gown by another Lebanese designer, Nicolas Jebran. But there’s another major lewk we need to talk about—her beauty look.
Both Beyoncé and SZA, who was nominated for five awards last night, wore millennial beauty brand Glossier this weekend. According to Glossier’s Instagram post, Beyoncé’s makeup artist Sir John used eyebrow shaper Boy Brow in Brown, Body Hero Daily Perfecting Cream, and the Perfecting Skin Tint in two shades, Dark and Deep. Glossier also used the occasion to tease a secret, TBD product: “Beyoncé wears ___ in ___ (coming soon),” the brand wrote on Instagram. But you can’t keep secrets on social media: according to Sir John’s Instagram, the new Glossier product is mascara.
SZA’s makeup artist, Samuel Paul, used Glossier’s Lip Gloss, cream blush Cloud Paint in Beam, and Boy Brow in Brown—along with Super Glow serum and Priming Moisturizer to prep the skin. This was a deliberate and smart choice of the brand, which has been criticized for privileging white women.
“[I]t’s so obvious that their preferred aesthetic is as white and wealthy as possible,” a commenter noted on Man Repeller of Glossier. Of course, Glossier wasn’t the only brand that Sir John and Paul used. Paul also featured Hourglass Cosmetics, Make Up For Ever, and NYX Professional Makeup, while Sir John also used NARS, Peter Thomas Roth, YSL Beauty, and L’Oréal Paris. Using Glossier alone probably wasn’t enough makeup for a full look.
See, Glossier has built its entire venture-funded empire—it raised $24 million in 2016—on selling barely-there beauty products to young women who don’t wear a lot of makeup in the first place. The brand’s official mantra is “Skin first. Makeup second,” and the brand has been critiqued and mocked for perpetuating “cool girl” beauty standards—aka beauty products for people who are already stereotypically beautiful. The Perfecting Skin Tint, for example, looks like liquid foundation but it does not cover blemishes or acne. “This product doesn’t [sic] do anything,” one reviewer at beauty forum MakeupAlley noted. “[T]his is just ridiculous. It’s tinted water,” another reviewer added.
In other words, Glossier isn’t usually viewed as your go-to for dramatic evening looks like the Grammy Awards. But true to its millennial spirit, the ambitious and young brand isn’t interested in staying in its lane. Earlier this month, the brand came out with an exfoliating formula called Solution, the first of its products to formally acknowledge the fact that acne exists. (Though even Solution is being marketed to liberate you from makeup eventually.)
In 2017, Glossier came out with Stretch Concealer, which offers more opaque skin coverage than its Skin Tint, and a perfume called You, which CEO Emily Weiss described as your “boyfriend’s neck after he has been wearing cologne for eight hours.” And now, as seen on Beyoncé’s famous lashes, Glossier is coming out with mascara. Glossier doesn’t want to be your coffee date anymore: it wants to go out and stay out with you—it even wants to stay the night.