Olivia Rodrigo Wore This Exact Red Lip Combo for Her VMAs Performance

Her makeup artist, Nina Park, gave us all the details.

Olivia Rodrigo has had quite a week. Hot off dropping her highly-anticipated sophomore album, Guts—which is already getting Album of the Year Grammy buzz—the singer attended the 2023 VMAs on September 12, taking home multiple awards, including Song of the Summer, and gave the first big performance of her new era.

She wore two different looks, both as stunning as the moment deserved. On the pink carpet, she wore a custom Ludovic de Saint Sernin gown, encrusted with 150,000 Swarovski crystals, and she later changed into a custom red Sandy Liang two-piece set to perform "Vampire" and "Get Him Back." While her hair stayed the same—a gorgeous soft blowout by Clayton Hawkins—her makeup went from classic and soft to a bold red lip. We caught up with Rodrigo's makeup artist Nina Park, for all the exclusive details on both looks.

"For the red carpet, I loved Olivia’s dress and how it looked like it was dripping in diamonds," Park tells Byrdie. "We decided to keep it fresh and clean and let the dress be the statement. I wanted to highlight Olivia’s skin, so we used the Nars Light Reflecting Foundation ($50) to layer coverage but give a skin-like finish and added The Multiple Stick ($39) in Copacabana on the high points."

"It’s important to choose a buildable, breathable coverage that still looks and feels like skin," adds Park. "I love the Light Reflecting Foundation because it covers and evens out the skin so seamlessly, allowing the glow to light from within."

For Rodrigo's eyes, the makeup artist used Laguna Quad Eyeshadow ($40) to shape and sculpt before adding a wing with the Climax Liquid Eyeliner ($24). Then, she added the "Afterglow Liquid Blush ($32) in Orgasm on the cheeks for a soft pop of color and Afterglow Sensual Shine Lipstick ($32) in 200 Breathless and Powermatte High-Intensity Lip Pencil ($30) in 180 Walkyrie on the lips to finish the look."

A pop of color was really all it took to differentiate the two looks. "We really liked the idea of letting Olivia’s natural beauty shine for her carpet look," says Park. "With her performance, we wanted to go with a contrasting cherry bright red on the lips to match the red Sandy Liang costume for her performance." But Park says that it couldn't just be any old red lipstick—in fact, it turned out to be a mix of several.

"I had a few criteria for choosing the perfect red lipstick for Olivia’s VMA performance look. I needed to find a true bright red lipstick that perfectly matched her red Sandy Liang outfit. I also needed the texture to be smooth, hydrating but packed with pigment."

The winning combination was Nars's Powermatte Lip Pigment ($30) in the shade Don't Stop, the Powermatte High-Intensity Lip Pencil in 185 Cruella, and the Precision Lip Liner ($24) in Porquerolles finished off with the Afterglow Lip Shine in Triple X.

"I love to use sheer layers to build a lip—especially one that will need to be on for a long period of time and remain perfect for a performance. I like to start with a pencil, then a crayon lip pencil lipstick such as the Powermatte Lip Pigment. After blotting, a coat of liquid lipstick, like the Powermatte Lip Pigment, is applied on top; this combination is bulletproof if you need a bold, perfect lip that feels comfortable on but doesn’t move."

Up Next: All the Best Beauty Looks from the 2023 VMAs

Read the original article on Byrdie.