Best beauty looks at Oscars 2012

While most people were studying the gowns (check out our gallery of dresses here), we were busy ‘ooh-ing’ and ‘ahh-ing’ over the biggest and best beauty looks that hit the red carpet at last night's Oscar awards. Ballerina buns, bold bangs and nude lips were all the rage this time round, so allow us to introduce you to our favourite looks from the evening…

1. Fringe fancies: Several stars looked absolutely erm, banging with fabulously face-framing fringes. Anna Faris and Rose Byrne channelled each other in more ways than one with almost identical dresses and matching cropped do’s as well.  Both accented their cute bobs with sleek fringes; the only differences being Rose’s off-centre part and brunette hue. Rooney Mara balanced the severity of her short, blunt fringe perfectly, by combining the ballerina bun trend with a feminine fresh face and touch of red lippie, while Ellie Kemper kept things luxe and ladylike, by pulling back her hair, leaving her glossy, heavy bangs to do that talking.

 

2. It's Bun wars: The stars brought out the big buns on the red carpet at last night’s Oscars with both tight, tidy ballerina knots and soft, tousled tresses taking to the red carpet. Tina Fey and Shailene Woodley both pumped up the volume with supersize knots sitting high on the crown of their heads, while Jennifer Lopez added a touch of turban chic to hers with large interwoven sections making up the finished “do”. Emma Stone, meanwhile, opted for an oh-so-sweet side-swept plaited twist that complimented her makeup beautifully.

 

3. Naturally nude: Although the trademark bold red lips were still out in some force last night, (turn to Angelina Jolie for a flawless example), the biggest beauty trend of the night was the nude lip with Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Natalie Portman and Penelope Cruz all choosing a barely-there look. Natalie Portman exuded an ethereal radiance with a glamorous look reminiscent of Grace Kelly created by makeup artist, Eileen Kastner-Delago. Portman’s lips were given a light red stain, which Kastner-Delago built with a few shades of Dior red lipstick.  “It’s a mix of reds, very 1950s, but not too strong,” said the makeup artist, who massaged the color into Portman's lips, blotted, then reapplied to build layers of color that would look more natural and also last throughout the evening. Makeup artist, Angela Levin called upon Chanel products to create Sandra Bullock’s fresh faced look by applying a sumptuous amount of Chanel Rouge Coco Lip Colour in Mademoiselle topped with Chanel Glossimer in Braise.  Beautifully does it.

by Natalie Lukaitis

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