Fans Think Taylor Swift’s Crystal Cat Eye Makeup Is A Clue About Her New Album

It’s become Taylor Swift’s M.O. at this point: fans started watching MTV’s Video Music Awards uncertain whether she would even show up, and ended it in utter pandemonium after an album release announcement. She might have gone home with three Moonmen under her arms — including a historic Video of the Year win for her self-directed submission — but the real winners of the night were undoubtedly the fans. Taylor Swift’s 2022 VMAs look is one of her most daring fashion and beauty choices of all time, eschewing her typical penchant for all things retro in favor of thoroughly modern (and very sultry) dress and makeup selections. To complement the glittering, jewel-encrusted Oscar de la Renta gown, legendary makeup artist Pat McGrath gave Swift an equally shimmery makeup moment more dramatic than she’s worn in years. Decidedly trendy and a subtle nod to her back catalog, the VMAs look — and her on-stage announcements at the award show — will be remembered for a very long time.

Swift’s crystal cat eye makeup was made using an all-new Pat McGrath Labs shadow palette, McGrath herself revealed on Instagram just after the red carpet. The Mothership X: Moonlit Seduction palette is described as “a neutral-lover's dream”, which is as apt a Swift description as any. McGrath shares that after prepping and perfecting the complexion, she dusts just two shades through the lid and crease before it’s time for crystal application.

The crystal cat eye, though, is actually a double cat eye — the wings of jewels follow the outline of her liquid liner flick, forming three rows of eye definition. Naturally, Swift had to wear her signature red lipstick for the occasion, too. McGrath says she first lined Swift’s lips with the PermaGel Ultra Lip Pencil in Blood Lust, adding extra depth to the corners with darker shade Deep Dive. Then, she blends the shades together and toward the center of the lips before topping it all with the LiquiLust liquid lipstick in shade Elson 4. Though she took her hair down and realigned her long bangs for the after-party, Swift kept the same glimmering makeup.

Of course, if you watched even a few minutes of the VMAs, you know that Swift’s attendance and three wins took a backseat to the real story — the announcement of her new concept album, Midnights, out Oct. 21. The album’s cover reveal also happens to be a major beauty moment in and of itself. Swift is seen in a rare nude lip look and a wash of shimmery, ‘70s-style blue eyeshadow. On the back of the disco resurgence, blue eyeshadow is enjoying a major comeback, but the incorporation of the look into an album cover immortalizes it.

Before she even arrived at the VMAs, fans were hard at work speculating possible meanings and messages in her look. Oscar de la Renta’s social team helped kick off the frenzy by cryptically captioning videos of the dress with lyrics from her song “Mirrorball”, and the gown’s crisscross diamond chains made many think of her “Look What You Made Me Do” music video — not to mention the shard-like jewel fragments in her makeup, which look so much like a disco ball too. But true Tayologists know that these bold VMAs looks are probably a simple indication of where her new album’s headed: glamourous, womanly, irreverent, and so exciting.