The Red Lipstick Looks At The 2023 Oscars Solidify Its Icon Status

Beauty trends come and go with each season, but there is a select set of looks that stand the test of time and transcend social media algorithms (here’s looking at you TikTok). Think chignons, voluminous flowing waves, smoky eyes, and matte red lipstick — essentially the hair and makeup styles that flood red carpets year after year, including the 95th Annual Academy Awards. So skeptics take note: classic red lipstick took over the 2023 Oscars red carpet.

Despite its tumultuous history, red lipstick came to symbolize female power during the American Suffrage Movement, and continues to be a powerful statement in 2023 — no wonder so many stars have made it their signature makeup look. At the 2023 Oscars, mother-to-be Rihanna rounded out her effortless glam Alaïa gown with a messy top knot and cherry red lipstick, while Jessica Chastain went the Old Hollywood glamour route by pairing her cascading copper-red waves with fluttery lashes and a true blue-red lip.

And those are just two of the glamorous examples of how the biggest stars in Hollywood wore the classic shade on the carpet. Ahead, all of the celebrity red lipstick moments from the 2023 Oscars.

Rainey Qualley

“Effortless glamour” might seem like an oxymoron, but that’s exactly what Qualley achieved with the loose bends added to her chocolate brown hair and swipe of matte red lipstick.

Michelle Williams

Williams is known for wearing a red lip on the red carpet and it’s easy to see why — a bold poppy lip adds a warm contrast to her icy platinum pixie cut. The actor’s makeup artist Angela Levin layered Chanel’s Rouge Allure Velvet Luminous Matte Lip Colour in Ardente and Magnétique to create the perfect shade.

Rihanna

Rihanna has a reputation for arriving to a red carpet at the absolute last possible moment, but her beauty look is always worth the wait. For the 2023 Oscars, the mother-to-be went with an effortless messy top knot, glam cat-eye, and matte cherry red lip care of Fenty Beauty Fenty Icon Semi-Matte Refillable Lipstick in Grill Mast’r.

Jessica Chastain

“Jessica’s look was inspired by classic sirens of cinema’s golden era. Glowing skin combined with lush lashes, an elongated eye, and a bold berry lip, which have always been symbols of a woman’s power of seduction,” the star’s makeup artist Kristofer Buckle said in a press release. The exact shade Chastain is wearing? Charlotte Tilbury’s Matte Revolution Lipstick in Red Carpet Red.

Lady Gaga

Gaga went full-on ‘80s with her red lip, combining a few of the decade’s biggest makeup trends into her look: smudged wing liner and pink draped blush. Her makeup artist Sarah Tanno used the smudge-proof Haus Labs Atomic Shake Lip Lacquer in Cherry Shine to ensure her lip stayed fresh all night.