Last night, the 2025 ESSENCE Festival of Culture celebrated ESSENCE magazine’s 55th anniversary with the first night of this year’s evening concert series. And, on God’s time, the much anticipated Lauryn Hill closed the show in a beauty look worth waiting for.
It was nearing three in the morning, but Hill’s pastel eyeshadow was as awake as her vocals, which breathed through her discography from The Miseducation to Zion (Marley, that is). Brushed onto her lids and tapped into her inner corners, the pale blue tone stood out against her deep complexion. However, it did not stand alone.
Her soft-hued shadow juxtaposed a black wing, which took the form of a thick tail reaching from her outer eye corner to her temple. Her lashes appeared natural, but were layered in mascara, defining her eyeshadow even more. This time, paired with a braided pom pom ‘fro, deep chocolate berry (almost black) lipstick, and red blush on the balls of her cheeks. Essence Festival wasn’t the first time she pulled off a summer-approved cool-toned eyeshadow.
At her very first Met Gala back in May, Hill wore a green shimmer eyeshadow with a smokey lower lash line, then, at the after party, a blue under eye liner. “Ms. Hill always loves to incorporate elements of the natural beauty of diasporic indigenous women,” her makeup artist Alana Palau told ESSENCE, like a lived in kohl eye referencing the Fulani and Tuareg women. “[She] is the creative director of beauty aesthetic.”
While white eyeshadow is replacing (or at least, complimenting) the white pedicure trend this season, Hill’s endorsement of cool, pale eyeshadow tones proves the look works best on deeper skin. And, although her red nails represented the traditional “bold” color Black women have worn for decades, could pastel blue be the new red?
The ESSENCE Festival of Culture™ presented by Coca-Cola® will take place July 3-6. For more information and updates on the festival, visit our website and follow us on social media @ESSENCEFest on X, Facebook, and Instagram.