Standouts were few and far between on last night's Academy Awards red carpet. Most everyone played it safe, making for a rather boring evening (with the exception of Gary Busey's freakish attack on Jennifer Garner's neck!). Still, there were a few Oscar beauties who looked exceptionally lovely:

Penelope Cruz gets my vote for Best in Beauty. She always gets it right...that smokey eye is so alluring, and the nude lip looks fresh and natural, without competing with the eye.

Jessica Alba, of course, is rocking the pregnancy glow. Nevermind the fashion and beauty, I think a baby bump was the must-have accessory on the carpet last night, with Jessica, Cate and Nicole all walking the carpet with their "plus one."

I can't believe no one has been talking about how amazing Ruby Dee looked. She's 83 and looked fantastic! Her grey smokey eye and dramatic black liner were just stunning.

Katherine Heigl's hair is still looking a little too Joanna Kerns, but her bright coral lip was a fun, unexpected twist on the classic red carpet red lip. It complements the dress without being too matchy-matchy. Very modern. Love it!

Anne Hathaway's look was a slightly softer take on her usual bright red. I think Anne has a tendency to choose reds that work against her coloring rather than with it, but she got it right last night. I think working with Lancome is turning out well for her!

Jennifer Garner is back in Alias shape which, in the crazy world of Hollywood, means it's about time for her to get pregnant again. But seriously, her eye makeup and face-framing hair were just gorgeous.

Heidi Klum rocks the massive, dramatic bun like no one else can. And her makeup is flawless (when is it ever anything but?). She gets my vote for Best of Everything on this red carpet.

Marion Cotillard is everyone's favorite ingenue these days. Her Gaultier gown has drawn some unfortunate comparisons to a fish, but you can't deny that her makeup is stunning. Love the rose lip!

I've got the makeup artist scoop on Penelope, Katherine, Jennifer and Marion. To see the Chanel products used to get them gorgeous, read more.


Penelope Cruz
Makeup Artist Rachel Goodwin: "I was inspired by her gorgeous dress, which had a historical feel to it. I wanted to add a dramatic flair to her look with her makeup, which I did with a navy cat eye."

Rachel gave Penelope a stunning, dramatic look on the red carpet. She created a navy cat eye by lining the eyes with PRECISION EYE DEFINER in BLUE JEAN, then smudged the navy shadow from QUADRA EYESHADOW in BLEU CELESTE on top of the liner, giving her a deep blue almond shaped eye. She used TEINT INNOCENCE foundation in SOFT HONEY on her skin, and gave her complexion a matte, velvet finish with POUDRE CRISTALLINE ULTRA-FINE TRANSLUCENT POWDER. Rachel applied a new ROUGE ALLURE shade, NAÏVE, to Penelope's lips for a pinkish nude lip.

Katherine Heigl
Makeup Artist Monika Blunder: “My inspiration was ‘roman retro’ with minimalist glamour. The makeup had a warm glow and a sun-kissed look. She looked like she just got back from vacation in St. Tropez!”

Katherine was gorgeous and luminous on the red carpet. Monika gave her a bold, bright, poppy hued mouth with AQUALUMIERE GLOSS in PARTY RED, a new gloss formula from CHANEL launching in May, flown in from Paris for the Oscar red carpet. She applied SHEER BRILLIANCE in SUNKISSED to give Katherine's complexion a subtle, bronze glow. On her cheeks, Monika used POWDER BLUSH in HORIZON, a warm coral shade. She created a defined eye with INTENSE EYE PENCIL in AMBRE, and applied beige and brown shadows from QUADRA EYE SHADOW in DUNES to the lids. Finally, Monika added a touch of glamour to the eyes with INIMITABLE MASCARA in NOIR-BLACK.

Jennifer Garner
Makeup Artist Paul Starr: "My inspiration tonight was the glamour of old Hollywood; evoking the beauty of Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn. This was the first time Jennifer was wearing a black dress on the red carpet, so I wanted to give her a strong look."

Jennifer looked classically beautiful and glamorous on the red carpet. Paul started by creating a strong, sculpted eye. He achieved this look by lining the upper and lower lash lines with INTENSE EYE PENCIL in NOIR, and then perfecting the line with AUTOMATIC LIQUID EYELINER in NOIR. Paul shaped the lids with a shimmery taupe shadow from QUADRA EYE SHADOW in DUNES, and applied INIMITABLE MASCARA In NOIR-BLACK to the lashes. He used TEINT INNOCENCE, a sheer foundation, to give Jennifer's skin a fresh, flawless radiance. Finally, Paul completed the look with ROUGE ALLURE in TENDER, an elegant beige-pink.

Marion Cotillard
Makeup Artist Angela Levin: “My inspiration was Marion's pearly white dress with hints of gold and silver. The intricate petal-like design reminded me of a flower. And of course, I was inspired by La Vie en Rose!"

To give Marion a refined, ethereal look, Angela used the copper and pink-gold shadows from the MULTI-USE MAKEUP PALETTE in LUMIERE NATURELLE on her lids. She applied SHEER BRILLIANCE in SUNKISSED to Marion’s skin, giving her complexion a sheer sun-kissed glow. On her cheeks, Angela brushed on POWDER BLUSH in NARCISSE, a pale delicate pink. She finished the look with AQUALUMIERE SHEER COLOUR LIPSHINE in SOMOA, a copper-rose shade.