While the bulk of awards season takes place earlier in the year, the summer still gives us a few awards shows to look forward to, namely the BET Awards. While the internet is buzzing over that truly iconic Lizzo performance, and Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus riding in on actual horses, the red carpet hair and makeup isn’t something to sleep on.
We love any show that crosses genres—it widens the pool of our faves we get to spot on the red carpet, plus the BET’s more relaxed feel means guests get to have a little more fun with their looks. From Rihanna debuting a new hair color that may or may not mean her album is coming soon to Yara Shahidi’s embellished braids, there were some truly stellar beauty moments. Check out all the very best looks from the night, below.
Lizzo continued her domination of summer 2019 with an incredible performance of her song “Truth Hurts” at the BET Awards Sunday night, where she appeared atop a wedding cake in a veil, bridal lingerie, a killer pair of sunglasses, and twerked while playing the flute. This comes on the heels of her MTV Movie & TV Awards performance of “Juice” that featured a tribute to the movie Sister Act.
Basically, Lizzo is giving us all the viral performance clips we need and even Rihanna—and her new red hair—could not deny her excellence last night, giving her a standing ovation. Could anything feel better than a Riri standing “O”? We’re guessing not.
Watch the performance for yourself below:
Now you know why Rihanna loved it—and the Internet went nuts for the moment. “Had to make a GIF of Rihanna applauding Lizzo, I now release the GIF into the wild, for the benefit of the human race,” one person tweeted.
Lizzo, herself, tweeted an image of Rihanna clapping and wrote, “That’s it… that’s the tweet ??♀️.”
But praise from Rihanna aside, Lizzo’s motivation for the performance was much deeper. There’s nothing I’d rather see than black girls falling in love with themselves on T.V.,” she tweeted. “Big girls— you are IT! YOU ARE ALWAYS the bride in a marriage of SELF-LOVE!”
The social media reactions from fans watching on television was incredibly positive. “Ok @lizzo you did that shit!! When you pull that flute bitch I jump out my chair!!!” Saturday Night Live’s Leslie Jones tweeted. “MY GIRL @LIZZO WILL GIVE YOU A PRODUCTION! THE ENERGY! THE NARRATIVE! THE COSTUMES! THE THIGHS! THE BUNDLES! THE DAGGONE FLUTE PLAYING WHILE TWERKING!” another Twitter user wrote. “@RIHANNA knows what it is everyone should be standing. The category issssss 100% THAT BISH!”
Do you think it’s too much to ask for a Lizzo and Rihanna collaboration—perhaps for RiRi’s new album?
Last night’s BET Awards, hosted by Regina Hall, were packed with must-see moments. There was an epic Mary J. Blige medley (featuring Lil Kim!), a tribute to rapper Nipsey Hussle, yet another incredible Lizzo performance, and an inspiring speech from Tyler Perry, to name just a few.
But for many Rihanna fans, the fact that the singer and Fenty beauty founder was in the house was the biggest news of all. The singer was on hand to present the Lifetime Achievement Award to Blige. “Ladies and gentlemen, get on your feet right now, c’mon now,” she said from the stage. “The recipient of the 2019 BET Lifetime Achievement Award, the undeniable queen of hip-hop and R&B, Mary J. Blige.”
Rihanna’s fans, a.k.a. her “Navy,” quickly noticed that the singer was sporting newly red hair (although, her braids were a red hue when she went day drinking with Seth Meyers earlier in the week); that alone might not sound too noteworthy, but some of those fans think it’s a sign she’ll soon be releasing new music. “Rihanna changes her hair color when she’s about to drop an album,” one wrote on Twitter. “Rihanna has red hair again . music gonna be ????,” another tweeted.
“Rihanna singing w red hair… we are that much closer to R9,” one social media user said, referring to Rihanna’s highly-anticipated ninth album.
Others simply loved the look and think it’s RiRi’s best color.
“It really does suck that it can’t just come out, because I’m working on a really fun one right now,” Rihanna recently told Sarah Paulson in Interview magazine about the new album. “I’m really happy with a lot of the material we have so far, but I am not going to put it out until it’s complete. It makes no sense to rush it, but I want it out. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m like, ‘Even if I don’t have the time to shoot videos, I’m going to put an album out.'”
Minutes after I sit down with Hailey Baldwin at the BareMinerals clean beauty event this week (she was just named a “Power of Good” ambassador for the makeup and skin care brand, along with Letitia Wright and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), the eternally glowy, smiley blond gets practically giddy when she notices my Canadian accent. (In case you’ve been hiding in a cave, Baldwin’s been spending a lot of time with a much more famous Canuck.) And while I’ve been told that bridal Qs are off limits, Baldwin clearly has wedding on the brain—the couple was spotted at a New York City courthouse where marriage licenses are issued later that same day, setting off a storm of rumors that she and Justin Bieber are already married. Spoiler: they’re not.
But back to Baldwin: I can confirm that IRL, the 21-year-old future Mrs. Bieber is all cheekbones, crazy-long limbs (she trained as a ballet dancer) and spot-free, luminous skin (she had on makeup, but not much tbh). The woman has an inexplicable affinity for the nineties—the style of that decade (chunky socks, sneakers, and boxy suits, like the velvety Max Mara number she was wearing) and its supermodels: Christy, Linda, Cindy, Naomi (“They were on just such a different level, I would never even put myself in remotely the same category.”) Natural beauty is her thing (maybe a Meghan Markle low-key makeup vibe is in the cards for Baldwin’s big day), she’s kind of hung up on her fine hair, and she’s never met a drugstore beauty aisle she didn’t like.
But here, hear it in her own words.
Glamour: Congrats on your first beauty contract! Tell me, why is Bare Minerals an important brand to you?
Hailey Baldwin: I’m really big on skin care and healthy living. I think it’s important to use products that don’t have harsh chemicals in them, that’s the main thing for me. My mom was always big on drinking a lot of water and eating really healthy, so those values really stuck with me.
Glamour: What’s one beauty trend you love but would never try?
HB: Black lipstick. I think some people pull it off, I don’t think I would.
Glamour: What’s one beauty trend you wish you had never tried?
HB: Oooh, really thin eyebrows. I had to them grow back. It took a couple years.
Glamour: What’s your favorite so-called “flaw”?
HB: My nose isn’t completely straight. I notice it, but maybe other people wouldn’t. Either way, I don’t really care. I don’t think “perfect” is a real thing.
Glamour: Your house is burning down! You can grab three beauty products, what are they?
HB: My moisturizer. I use Barbara Sturm, it’s the best. Then I’d grab one Bare Minerals’ BarePro Glow Highlighters—they’re my favorite. I swear I could use them for the rest of my life. And lastly, some type of lip balm or chapstick. I’m very simple, I would rather wear no makeup than anything.
Glamour: What’s your go-to getting ready music?
HB: I’m a big fan of rap music, so I’ll put on whatever rap playlist on Spotify on and just jam out. I’m into Cardi B these days.
Glamour: You’ve got wonderful hair. How do you keep it in such great shape?
HB: Listen, I have really thin hair. It’s like I have a lot of it, but its thin, and it takes forever to grow. I swear it doesn’t grow. I don’t know why, it’s just stubborn. I try to do treatments and try to be really careful with it, but I’m also blond, so every couple months I bleach it to highlight it, and that’s not very beneficial. But I try to let it air dry as much as I can, because I have heat on my hair all the time.
Glamour: What are you loving on your nails right now?
HB: I love doing nudes and pinks. My favorite is a pinky-nude color from Essie because it looks kinda fleshy.
Glamour: What is the latest Instagram rabbit hole you went down?
HB: I get into a lot of cooking rabbit holes, like food blogs and those videos that do quick recipes but speed them up so they show you what goes into it. I watched that for like an hour the other day.
Glamour: Do you cook yourself?
HB: Yeah, I do.
Glamour: What do you like to make?
HB: I make really good cinnamon rolls. I found this recipe a couple months ago for buttermilk cinnamon rolls, and they came out so good. I started making them for all my friends, and they were like “these are my favorite things in the world.”
Glamour: You’ve got $20 and free roam of a drugstore. What do you buy?
HB: So, I’m trouble in a drugstore, because I just buy everything. I would probably go for some lip balm, like some Aquaphor. It’s my go-to. Something I use on my hair all the time are those mini, 10-minute miracle leave-in sprays, so that’s another thing. Neutrogena makeup wipes, because I’ve been using them since I was like 13. And…I don’t know. I just buy really random things. Hair ties, scrunchies, nail files.
Glamour: You’ve been known to wear a scrunchie.
HB: Yeah, I feel like I helped bring the scrunchie back. I feel like I can honestly say that.
Glamour: What made you bust one out?
HB: You know what it was? Honestly, the start of it was that regular hair ties break your hair more, so I started doing the scrunchies as a point to keep my hair in tact. And then I thought it’s honestly cute. I was just on this really nineties kick.
Glamour: What do you love about the nineties so much?
HB: I was born in the nineties, and I’m just fascinated with that time period—especially with all the supermodels; Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, so many of them. I love seeing old photos of actors and actresses. I think the style was a lot more laid-back, but also like that the model style was very mini-skirts with white T-shirts and big, chunky sneakers and socks. I don’t know. I just find it aesthetically pleasing.
Glamour: If you could change one thing about beauty perceptions, either on social media or in Hollywood right now, what would that be?
HB: I struggle with girls wanting so badly to be like other people. I think it’s one thing to admire somebody, but it’s another thing to completely transform yourself to look like someone else, or transform yourself because we’re shelling out this really unrealistic beauty standard. I would like for people to understand the importance of natural beauty, and the importance of being yourself. It’s the coolest thing that you can do, and I think that people lose sight of what actually is attractive, like being kind, and being sweet, and having a good attitude and good morals. I think all that stuff falls to the side.
Glamour: How long do you usually spend getting ready in the morning?
HB: Around 15 minutes. I’m really quick, even if I’m doing makeup.
Glamour: Like in the shower, out and done in 15?
HB: Yeah.
Glamour: One last question, who is the woman inspiring you the most right now?
HB: I’m really inspired by Ashley Graham. I think that she’s such a cool voice. She’s so kind, and she says whats on her mind and is strong in what she believes. I just think she’s beautiful and a really, really powerful force in this day and age.
Sunday nights feel a little less scary when you have a red carpet to tune into. And when said red carpet will feature appearances from the likes of Janelle Monáe and Chloe x Halle? Yeah, the 2018 BET Awards make this Sunday night a lot better than others.
This year’s ceremony marks a record-breaking turn for nominee Beyoncé (she became the network’s most-nominated and most-winning artist)—plus, with Monáe, Nicki Minaj, Migos, and more set to take the stage, there’s a lot of incentive to follow the ceremony. And the fashion on the BET Awards red carpet only got us more excited for what’s about to go down at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. From Serayah in Alice McCall to Logan Browning in Dion Lee, check out the very best looks from the pre-show, right here.
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