These Were the Absolute Best Beauty Looks in Music Videos This Year

The first is the blue hair and makeup in the scene where Lil Nas X is being escorted into a trial chamber after sharing a forbidden kiss with Satan, who was disguised as a snake. In this scene, Nas X plays the prisoner, judges, and guards. The latter two wear gravity-defying, icy-blue curls piled atop their heads. The eye makeup is a blend of matte and shimmery blue hues. Their long, stiletto-shaped nails are covered in denim to match their uniforms. Prisoner Nas X is dressed in a contrasting pink fur stole with a bejeweled ram head strap (a nod to his Aries sun sign) and metallic loincloth, with matching tightly-curled pink hair and minimalist yellow eyeliner.

If there’s one thing Lil Nas X will do, it’s push boundaries. Towards the end of the video, the Georgia-bred performer slides down a stripper pole straight to hell — it’s definitely a way to make an entrance. As he descends, tattoos appear all over his body, and his hairstyle morphs into a set of long, bright red cornrows complete with baby hairs arranged in uniform loops around the perimeter of his hairline. He ends the video with a lap dance for Satan, before snapping the devil’s neck and taking his throne. It’s a statement indeed, but the beauty moments in this video also made several points. 

Dua Lipa’s “We’re Good” music video focused largely on a lobster aboard the Titanic that was about to be cooked and eaten, until, spoiler alert, the ship sinks and it escapes. Lucky lobster — can’t say the same for the passengers. But before the ship is swallowed by the icy-black waters of the North Atlantic, there is a performance. Lipa, naturally, plays the entertainer, crooning for the ship’s wealthiest passengers on the ill-fated ocean liner.