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Cardi B has the kind of personality that can't be contained. It's just one of the reasons the world loves her: Her candor and energy is great for the camera and the red carpet — and it creates GIF-able moments that resonate with all of us. However, it's not so great for her makeup artist, Erika La' Pearl. "From start to finish, it takes a while to do her because she doesn’t like to stay still!" the pro tells Refinery29. "She's always getting up to get something to eat, always doing business calls. It takes a good hour and 30 minutes, sometimes two."
La' Pearl and Cardi have worked together for three years now (including Cardi's Love & Hip Hop: New York), so she's gotten used to her client's wildcard nature. "Her publicist, Patience, emailed me out the blue," La Pearl explains. "Cardi was working on a cosmetics line at the time and they wanted to collab with me on that. I ended up doing her makeup instead, and she fell in love with me."
It's been a wild ride ever since. La' Pearl says that they've evolved from doing complicated cut creases and exaggerated lips to lots of sophisticated nudes and pinks. Oh, and that ride metaphor is actually quite literal. "A couple of days ago, during Fashion Week, I had to do her full face in the car," La' Pearl says. "Contour, lashes, everything. There were six of us squeezed in the car, the sun was going down, and we hit a speed bump. It took me less than 20 minutes, but it still looked amazing!" As always.
Another unsurprising revelation includes the fact that Cardi's approach to beauty is much like her approach to fashion: high-low, baby. The same way that Cardi pairs her Fashion Nova knits with a $100,000 watch is how La' Pearl approaches glam: So. Much. Drugstore. "She's so humble," La' Pearl says. "What you see on TV is how she is in person."
Ahead, get the secrets on Cardi B's everyday face and what she's like in the chair. (When she's able to sit still, that is.)
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