Billy Porter: Get our Cover Star’s Metallic Makeup Look
Your guide to Billy Porter-level glam, plus the products you’ll need.
On our March 2024 cover, actor, vocalist, and fashion icon Billy Porter shines like the star he is. Wearing makeup by Porter’s makeup artist of 13 years, La Sonya Gunther, Porter poses for the cover image with smooth, matte skin and eyelids painted with golden graphic liner. In the spread, the Pose star rocks metallic makeup looks in playful purple and futuristic silver hues—bold enough to inspire, yet totally possible to recreate at home.
Loving Porter’s looks? Ahead, we break down three of our favourite makeup moments from the March 2024 issue, plus the products you’ll need to recreate this glam!
Golden Glam
For look one, Porter models a bold brow, strokes of floating gold graphic liner, and a subtle swipe of gold highlighter across the cheeks for a lustrous glow.
Maybelline New York’s newly launched 2-in-1 Build a Brow is the secret weapon for natural-looking brows that can be groomed to perfection, like Porter’s—or any way you like. One end of the product features an ultra-precise pen to help draw on hairlike strokes, while the brush and brow gel on the other side locks the hairs in place.
To achieve this graphic liner glam, pick up a gold liner like Stila’s Stay All Day Artstix Graphic Liner in the shade “Charleston.” Create a thick, golden line beneath the brow bone and down the sides of the nose, and just under the eye to get Porter’s cover look.
For a subtle golden highlight that shows up and shows out on camera, opt for Tom Ford’s Soleil de Feu Glow Highlighter in the shade “Mirage.” This warm gold powder imparts a radiant glow over the cheeks that feels lightweight and looks superb.
Striking Silver
Look two features a stunning silver liner look paired with glassy, dewy skin and a clear lip balm for both hydration and shine.
Danessa Myricks’ Yummy Skin Soothing Serum Skin Tint Foundation is precisely what you’ll need to make your skin glow like Porter’s in look two. Available in 16 shades, this skincare-infused face base boasts light yet luminous coverage that visibly hydrates and smooths skin.
For look two’s graphic liner, you’ll want to draw on a similar shape to look one—only this time, swap your gold liner out for silver. Our pick? Urban Decay’s “Disco Daydream” shaded Heavy Metal Liquid Glitter Eyeliner. Thanks to its thin-tipped brush and high-impact, no fallout promise, this liner will have your lids shining like Porter’s in no time.
This just-dropped Lux Balm Ultra-Hydrating Cherry Lip Balm by Fenty Beauty leaves lips feeling hydrated, supple and conditioned. Its clear finish allows for you to get extra experimental by popping silver glitter just over the centre of your lips like Porter.
Purple Pops
The third look introduces a purple pop of colour, thanks to a metallic violet shade all over the lid and a plum pencil along the waterline. A matte foundation allows for the eyes to take centre stage.
New to Sisley-Paris’ makeup portfolio, the Phyto-Teint Perfection Foundation lends itself perfectly to look three’s matte skin. This skincare meets makeup hybrid offers up a radiant matte finish with medium to buildable coverage that lasts all day long.
A metallic, purple eyeshadow is the key to recreating look two’s standout eye. Take NYX Professional’s Jumbo Eye Pencil in the colour “Eggplant” all over the lid, winging it out at the outer corner of the eye, to match this violet-toned makeup moment.
To deepen up the look and make brown eyes like Porter’s pop, swipe a plum-shaded liner along the waterline. With its gel-like texture and long-wearing formula, our go-to is none other than Haus Labs’ Optic Intensity Eco Gel Eyeliner in “Amethyst Matte.”
PHOTOGRAPHY by Nick Merzetti
VIDEO AND LIGHTING by Shayne Gray
STYLING AND CREATIVE DIRECTION by George Antonopoulos
BEAUTY DIRECTION BY Souzan Michael Galway
HAIR by Cheryl Bergamy-Rosa for Exclusive Artists/Contents Hair Care, Eco Style and Dyson
MAKEUP by La Sonya Gunter
FASHION ASSISTANTS Alexis Ayala and Tess Jameson
FASHION INTERNS Hodaly Garcia and Keila Garcia
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