If there was one table you’d want to sit at tonight, it would likely be the one belonging to Stella McCartney. I like to think of her as the Regina George of the Met Gala (albeit a far less blond, way better dressed, and much nicer version at that). And with McCartney playing the role of queen bee, she naturally arrived at the museum with her gang of gorgeous plastics in tow, which included Cara Delevingne, Kate Bosworth, Reese Witherspoon, and Rihanna. But before they hit the red carpet, the primping party started in a balloon-filled suite at The Carlyle (complete with McCartney’s monogrammed undies), where makeup artist Vincent Oquendo was charged with readying the “ladies who wore the pants” tonight—McCartney and her Brit sidekick, Delevingne. “It was a girl party—Stella’s girls are fun girls,” said Oquendo. “I’ve done some red-carpet things before where you’re there and it’s like a hostage situation, and this was not that at all…Stella has good juju and it’s infectious.” While he kept things “dewy and pretty” for the designer with individual lashes, he created a smoky cat-eye accentuated by a full band of fringe for Delevingne (as if her arches weren’t already enough competition). For Rihanna, however, it was all about hair, “When she first walked [into the room] she had this gorgeous lion’s mane—it was just divine,” he noted. The guest list was certainly tight this year (likely to make room for all the Charles James-inspired ball gowns), but if you had actually made it through those storied doors, Oquendo assured me that you could indeed take a seat with Stella’s star-studded crew. (The dress code: On Mondays they wear white tie.)
Here, the step-by-step to Delevingne’s envy-inducing lid look:
1. Create the winged shape using a soft brown pencil, smudge, and set with matte, taupe shadow.
2. Next, run over the entire lid with a cream shadow, blending it up into the crease. (Oquendo applied Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Colour in Cocoa.) “You have to blend it quickly because it sets really fast, but once it sets it’s waterproof, so it’s perfect for the red carpet because it doesn’t move,” he explained. “The trick is to put something under it first because it doesn’t blend as beautifully as powders and pencils do.”
3. Pack a bronze pigment over the waterproof shadow to build depth. Try Laura Mercier Illuminating Eye Colour in Earth Glow.
4. For definition, trace along the inner rim of the eye with black, waterproof gel liner and go “full on” with the mascara—applying to both top and bottom lashes.
5. Place a full set of falsies on the upper lash line and use a lash curler to gently bond the faux fringe with your natural set. Apply another coat of mascara to finish.
6. For Delevingne-like brows, fill in and elongate your arches “just a touch” with a combo of soft, sheer powder (like MAC’s Omega Eye Shadow) and pencil (try Anastasia Brow Wiz in Medium Ash). “I always go cool on the eyebrows—especially if I use bronzey [shades] on the eye. I like the contrast to make the eyes pop in a subtle way.”
—Amber Kallor, Style.com
