All of her Instagram posts that shout out Fashion Nova’s affordable clothing have pretty much cemented Cardi-B as the Queen of Ballin’ on a Budget, but the Bronx rapper makeup routine is also affordable. Her makeup artist Erika La’ Pearl says that Cardi’s signature polishes look is completely do-able.
The makeup guru told Refinery 29 that she uses Neutrogena’s $6 Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes “before anything because I want a clean surface.” From there, she applies a little moisturizer and lets it dry a bit. “I go on top of that with Anastasia Beverly Hills Hydrating Face Oil and let that sit for a couple minutes.” After applying the Poreless Mattifying Primer from Tarte, “to give her foundation a really even look,” La’ Pearl is ready to start applying makeup on the Bodak Yellow star.
For foundation, she mixes two shades of Milani Conceal + Perfect 2-in-1 Foundation + Concealer, 06 Sand Beige and 09 Tan. Each bottle of foundation costs less than $10 and can be found at your local drugstore.
The Grammy-nominated artist’s contour is a little more expensive. She uses a combination of the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit in Medium/Tan for sculpting and Black Opal True Color Skin Perfecting Stick Foundation in Beautiful Bronze on face and nose. The Black Opal foundation stick is also a drug store commodity and costs $10.
The Bronx Bombshell’s eye-makeup stays true to her glamorous nude theme. “She prefers really neutral colors on her eyes, so I use Ofra’s Contour Eyes palette which has lots of browns,” La’ Pearl said. “On the other hand, she likes very full lashes because her eyes are small. I stack two pairs of Goddess falsies from Lilly Lashes and use a curler to make them stand up and out.” Each set of lashes costs $30.
La’ Pearl also says that the rapper’s high energy can make La’ Pearl’s job tougher. “From start to finish, it takes a while to do her because she doesn’t like to stay still!” said the makeup artist. “She’s always getting up to get something to eat, always doing business calls. It takes a good hour and 30 minutes, sometimes two.”
Maybe now someone can show us how to stick out our tongues and still look cool.