How Ayo Edebiri’s Makeup Artist Crafted Her Radiant ‘Blooming’ Look

On the red carpet for the 2023 Emmy Awards earlier in January, The Bear actress Ayo Edebiri delivered a vital message straight to the camera: “Wear sunscreen even if you’re Black, and check your moles.” It’s the morning of the 2024 Met Gala, where Edebiri will be making her inaugural appearance. Her trusted makeup artist Dana Delaney echoes another of Edebiri’s signature PSAs: “Hydration is key,” she says from the calm, almost-quiet NYC hotel she’s holed up in, where she awaits the impending Gala frenzy set to unfold within hours.

Delaney was tasked with putting together beauty looks for Edebiri throughout award season, but she admits that the Met Gala presents an opportunity to flex her creativity a bit more.

“With red carpets, you’re creating a story throughout, so you kind of know what’s going to happen along the way. There’s not much deviation, but with [the Met Gala], you can obviously get a little bit more creative and collaborative. I really love the collaboration. [Ayo’s] has been texting me inspiration photos every day. So it’s much more involved, I think, for the Met Gala because it’s a fun event. People have fun with this. Red carpet sometimes feels like it’s more work. This just feels like a lot more fun, and people can select their creativity a bit more,” Delaney explains.

For a night as crazy as the Met Gala—and Edebiri’s first-ever appearance—Delaney is feeling the pressure but has her red-carpet makeup formula down pat. Three words to describe Ayo’s Met Gala beauty look for the night? “Radiant, blooming, and clean,” she says coyly.

A well-prepped base is paramount to create a canvas suited for creativity to shine—this is where radiance becomes the focus. Delaney prepped Ayo’s skin using the SK-II Facial Treatment Mask to drench the skin with a first round of moisture. “I like it because it doesn’t leave a lot of residue on the skin. I find that with a lot of masks, they leave behind something, so it pills. But this one really absorbs into the skin; it hydrates the skin in a way that sometimes you don’t even need to put on a lot of moisturizer,” she says. Next, she coated the already hydrated skin with a second round, using the SK-II Facial Treatment Essence and GenOptics Ultraura Essence Serum, before sealing the moisture in with the SKINPOWER Advanced Airy Cream.

With an itch to experiment, individuality also serves as the cornerstone of Delaney’s signature makeup approach. Ayo’s look seamlessly embodies this philosophy.

“Because it’s Ayo’s first Met Gala, it was really important to make her look like herself. She’s not a huge makeup girl. The inspiration for the theme was the Garden of Time, and she really wanted to look timeless. And I think that by looking like yourself and just keeping this thing simple, you’re going to look back in 10 years and say, ‘Oh, that’s me, and I like the way that I looked.’ The dress is more of a statement; we didn’t want to take away from that. She’s going to look very much herself with little hints of color,” she explains.

To form the complexion base, Delaney lightly swiped Ilia’s Skin Rewind Complexion Stick (in 35W) to build coverage. “I love that you can manipulate the consistency and coverage of it. I like to just put a little bit in the center of the face and work out,” she shares. Then, she went in with the Ilia True Skin Serum Concealer (in SC6.5 & SC8) to camouflage any blemishes. The star of the show was blush, a step she enjoys experimenting with the most.

As for the “blooming” portion of the look, Ayo’s cheeks were flushed in a bright pink hue, courtesy of the Ilia Multi-Stick in the shade A Fine Romance to match her floral Loewe gown. Using her fingertips, Delaney patted the color along the apples of the cheeks and intensified the color using the Ilia Color Haze Multi-Use Pigment in Sing to add more dew. Delaney maintains she is not much of a powder girl and only places it where necessary. For Ayo’s look, she used the Ilia Soft Focus Finishing Powder just in the T-zone to keep the rest of the face radiant. To keep things “clean,” Delaney opted for a muted lip using the Ilia Lip Sketch Hydrating Lip Crayon in Gala and a touch of the Lip Wrap Reviving Balm in Lucid for a “just bitten” finish.

Looking to upgrade your spring look? Shop Ayo Edebiri’s 2024 Met Gala look below.