Jodie Foster's 2021 Cannes Look Is A Masterclass In Juicy Summer Makeup

On Tuesday, June 6, A-list celebrities gathered at the opening ceremony for the 74th Annual Cannes Film Festival. Every year, the star-studded event at the French Riviera showcases a slew of memorable beauty moments — and as it turns out, this time around was no different. Case in point: Jodie Foster’s 2021 Cannes makeup, achieved by celebrity makeup artist Brett Freedman using Charlotte Tilbury products. Luckily, the glowy look (which was accompanied by her luxe Givenchy shift dress) is surprisingly simple to recreate, and the ideal summer makeup for a subtle but seriously pretty effect.

“It’s funny, there are certain women who look more beautiful the less makeup you put on them, and Jodie is like that,” Freedman tells TZR over the phone. “I just try to make her a little more vivid.” In fact, he opted for a dewy, no-makeup-makeup look on Foster, who is the honorary recipient of the Palme D'Or for the film festival this year. “I wanted it to feel a little juicy in the French Riveria, so we gave it [her makeup] a golden, peachy glow,” he explains.

The makeup artist reveals that the secret to making products last throughout a long event like this one (especially in the summer) is choosing ones with high-impact formulas, such as those touted as “matte” and/or “long-lasting.” “These matte foundations [like Charlotte Tilbury’s Airbrush Flawless Foundation] that are so popular right now can be a great trick [to help it stay put all day],” he explains. Plus, he adds that using a wet eyeshadow (as opposed to dry, straight out of the pan) stains the skin, and in turn, keeps the color from smudging or wearing off. “For lips, I love doing a matte and adding something on top,” he says, which will also add a stain of color that lasts all the way through the evening.

Below, find out Freedman’s step-by-step tutorial on achieving Jodie Foster’s 2021 Cannes makeup looking. Make sure you’re stocked with all the Charlotte Tilbury products, too.

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Dewy Complexion

“With Jodie, I first did a very sheer moisturizer [using Charlotte’s Magic Serum Crystal Elixir and the Magic Cream], and that sort of just preps it,” he explains. “And because her skin tends to be on the dry side, while it’s still dewy [from the moisturizer] I used the Airbrush Flawless Foundation with the brush all over. I find that if you do it while the skin is a little dewy with the moisturizer, it mixes it together [to create a glowy look].” In addition to the skin care products, he applied Charlotte Tilbury’s Wonderglow Face Primer — which he’ll mix with the foundation if he doesn’t do the moisturizer trick — to prime her complexion.

As it turns out, Freedman likes to apply foundation all over, from the neck to the eyelids. “What I find is [by doing this], you’ll use less concealer,” he says. “Concealers are great for dodging things, but they have a thicker consistency.” But, that’s not to say he won’t use this particular product — in fact, his go-to is the brand’s Magic Away Concealer. “I only put concealer in her eye socket, just where it’s dark.” Next, he went in and spot corrected with the concealer where needed. “When that’s done, I put just a touch of eye cream or some sort of moisturizer and dot it where the crow’s feet are.” To set everything, Freedman finished off with a light dusting of powder using Charlotte Tilbury’s Airbrush Flawless Finish.

Add Color To The Skin

After he finished Foster’s foundation, the next step was the blush. “I used the Cheek to Chic in Ecstasy, which is a great little compact because it has two shades — there’s a peach and pale highlighter in it,” Freedman explains. “So, you can mix them together, just use the peach as the color, or you can dip into the middle and just do more of the highlighter.” His take for the event: swirling them all together on a fluffy brush, and sweeping it on Foster’s apples up to her temples, and then across her forehead to the bridge of the nose and down the neck and on the chin.

Following the blush, he went in with the brand’s Hollywood Superstar Glow Highlighter. “It’s an oversized champagne highlight powder,” the makeup artist says about the product. While he says liquid highlighters are okay for everyday life, he prefers using a powder formula for a red carpet event. Therefore, he applied the powder highlighter to the top of the actor’s cheeks and finished off by adding a tad on the brow bone and around her tear duct to brighten the eye.

Cool Shadows

“The eye makeup I like to do is very diffused,” Freedman explains about his signature aesthetic. For this particular look, he decided to use the Pillow Talk Instant Eye Palette. “Because I was doing a peachy lip and cheek, I thought let’s do a cooler tone eyeshadow, but still in the neutrals and browns.” First, he swiped on a mid-tone brown over the whole eye area. “I go on the lid and the lash line with a medium-size brush,” he explains. “It’s almost like a taupe faint smoky-eye.” Next up, he went in around Foster’s lash line with a shimmery brown shadow on a wet brush. “Because it has a little shimmer to it, it doesn’t look hard or flat.”

After he finished the first round of shadow, Freedman used Charlotte Tilbury’s The Feline Flick liquid liner. “It just has that little felt tip that you can dot and dash,” he notes. Once the liner dried, he went back in with the same brown shimmery shade on a tighter brush to blend out the black liner.

As it turns out, Freedman only applied Charlotte Tilbury’s mascara to the top lashes, not the bottom. “I really wanted the darkness and intensity to just be on the top,” he says. “I still put the liner down there, but I don’t really darken the lashes just because in pictures it gives that lift, illusion, and drama.” And to make her peepers really pop, he put a few individual lashes from Ardell on the corners of the eyes.

“Jodie has full brows so she doesn’t really like to touch them,” Freedman adds, explaining that he lightly applied Charlotte Tilbury’s Brow Lift pencil and Brow Fix gel. “Whatever’s there I just make a little more vivid.”

Subtle Pout

According to Freedman, Foster has fine “kitten lips,” as he calls them. “She’s kind of like a Celine Dion — [because with] Celine Dion, you never really see a bold lip.” For the red carpet, the makeup artist filled in her whole pout using Charlotte Tilbury's Pillow Talk Medium Lip Pencil. “That was basically her lip color,” he says. “Then, I just sort of iced it with the champagne diamonds gloss.”

Even if your invitation to the Cannes Film Festival got lost in the mail this year, you can still try this celebrity-approved makeup look for any dinners or work event on the calendar throughout the summer. Consider it Jodie Foster-approved.