Try Rihanna’s Soft French Tips For a Chic Summer Mani

When icons collide… there’s sure to be some stellar beauty inspiration. Especially when those icons are Rihanna and—wait for it—Smurfette.

On Saturday, June 28, the 37-year-old (Rihanna, I mean. Smurfette’s age is complex) attended the global premiere of Smurfs in Brussels, Belgium. For the event, she wore a baby blue babydoll top (of course!) and matching silk maxi skirt.

While you might think it would be easy to continue the concept with her manicure—Smurfs blue actually isn’t that hard a nail polish color to find—the ever-subversive artist decided to take a different route.

Rihanna’s Super Soft French Manicure

While a square shape and French tip are nothing new for Rihanna, this manicure was a little different than what we’ve been seeing lately.

Short and sweet, the length didn’t extend much farther than her natural nail bed. The thin tips, painted a creamy white shade, were hard to differentiate from the set’s pale pinky-nude base color unless they caught the right light—that’s what makes this a “soft” French manicure. Luckily, the Smurfs chose an outdoor setting for their blue carpet.

Rihanna’s Baby Blue Babydoll Top

In the new movie, Rihanna is voicing Smurfette. While she chose to forgo a method manicure, her outfit certainly paid tribute to the first female Smurf to ever exist. (If you need to catch up on the lore before you hit the theater, Smurfette was created by an evil wizard to infiltrate and disrupt the Smurf village. Cute girl things! But now I think they’re all friends?)

The baby blue set was custom Chanel Haute Couture, inspired by a look from their spring 2003 collection. Both the sheer organza babydoll top and long silk skirt are embroidered with crystals and covered in porcelain sequins, feathers, and other treasures.

On the blue carpet, she wore her hair half up and tucked behind her shoulders so the delicate details of the top had the full spotlight.

Rihanna’s Red Carpet Makeup

The rest of the soon-to-be mom of three’s look was more in line with her outfit than her nails, drama wise.

“The soft pastel color of her dress really drove the inspiration for the beauty look for the Smurfs premiere,” makeup artist Hector Espinal explained. He took beauty notes from the 1950s and modernized it in the true Rihanna way to create a velvet smooth complexion that balanced pastel blush with high-shine, highly lined, glossy lips. “We wanted it to be fresh and flirty.” 

For her base, the artist applied her go-to foundation, Fenty Beauty’s Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation, and contoured with Match Stix Contour Skinsticks in Truffle and Sun Stalk’r Instant Warmth Bronzer in Bajan Gyal. Then, he added a mix of shimmer highlighter: Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter in Mean Money/Hu$tla Baby and Afternoon Snack/Mo’ Hunny.

“For the Smurfs premiere, we did a delicate blend of both matte and satin finishes on the cheeks and eyes to create that super subtle shimmer that just looks fresh and refreshed—never shiny,” he added.

Her lip combo included the neutral brown I Woodn’t Traced Out liner and Gloss Bomb in Fu$$y. And for a touch of poolside skin? Her body was coated in a special Smurfs edition of Fenty Skin Butta Drop Mini Shimmering Whipped Oil Body Cream.

“We love this Smurfberry scent, too. It smells just like summer fruits and gives skin that sexy glow,” added the artist.

In case you’re wondering, I did not think Smurfette would be my summer 2025 beauty inspiration. But that’s the way it goes, isn’t it? And if Rih’s into it, it must be good.