The Beyhive is abuzz with the recent premiere of Beyonce’s film Black Is King, but while the main focus was on the fashion visuals served, our eyes were fixated on beauty looks that were too good to ignore.

1. Create a half-winged liner for a more feline eye shape

Beyoncé is known for letting her eyes do all the talking when it comes to her beauty choices but, if you looked closely, you would notice that behind strategically fanned out false lashes there was one more trick contributing to her coveted almond eye shape. 

Her winged eyeliner didn’t seem to line the entire eye but started a little past mid-lash line and flicked out past the outer corner of the eye.

Creating a winged liner that extends to either corner of the eye tends to weigh down the lash line as it gets thicker, but this technique allows the liner to sit very closely and thinly along the lash line and look barely there while creating the illusion of a more elongated, feline eye shape.

2. Achieve the illusion of a wider eye with higher crease placements

We know that placing a darker eyeshadow shade in your eye crease creates depth and dimension to your eye look, but what we learnt from Beyoncé is how to make your eyes look like they are bigger.

Achieve a wider look to your eye and give your eyeshadow more real estate to occupy by placing your darker shades just above the eye crease. 

This makes the space of your eye lid look wider and – when the shadow is flicked slightly at the ends – also elongates and tapers the eye shape so it looks in proportion.

3. Flip a natural look from boring to brilliant with touches of shine

We could not ignore Beyoncé’s go-to makeup artist Sir John’s signature spotlight eye paired with iridescent second-skin coverage throughout the whole film but it’s the way that he applied it to the subtle, natural makeup looks that took it to the next level. 

Going for a soft-glam look, tonal makeup was given dimension and life with the addition of light and shine on eyes and lips.

The tones stuck to browns and neutral pinks with lips topped with tinted gloss that looked like your natural lip shade, but better.

Eyes were given a generous helping of clear gloss or shimmer shadow with pink flecks to bounce in a rose-tinted dimension.

4. Don’t get it twisted: braids don’t have to be just one thing

Along with being a fashion and makeup feast for the eyes, Black Is King also served as an inspiration mood board of the coolest braided styles of the season.

Not just settling for simple box braids, the visuals sought to showcase the beauty of African hair styling and braiding inspired by different African tribes and cultures. 

Mix it up and get into box braids with blonde highlights running through them, paired with cornrows wrapped into Bantu knots – all accented by super wavy kiss-curled baby hairs.

5. Black lipstick makes a comeback

The gothic staple received a revival, Queen Bey style, as we saw blacker-than-black lipstick featured more than once in the film. 

Black lipstick was given a modern and expensive update paired with crystal- studded clothing, head accessories and high-shine finishes. 

Make sure that your black lipstick is in a matte finish and applied with the precision of a lip brush to create stamped-on colour against super clean, pared-back skin. 

Apply up to two coats of lipstick if needed to get the maximum colour payoff, and elevate the look with slicks of gloss to take lipstick from matte to vinyl luxe in seconds.