Everything You Need to Know About Rihanna’s “Bitch Better Have My Money” Video Makeup

If you think Rihanna’s new music video for “Bitch Better Have My Money” looks more like a Quentin Tarantino film than a flashy pop video, you’re right: It’s supposed to. “Rihanna really wanted it to look like a movie, not a music video,” says makeup artist Ozzy Salvatierra, who did all the makeup on the four-day shoot around Greater L.A. — locations included the middle of the ocean, the desert, a hotel and a pool. “Part of her influence was Natural Born Killers and Tarantino films like Grindhouse.”

Because of the storyline, the singer wanted to look “like a real person and not like the superstar she is,” Salvatierra tells Pret-a-Reporter. “She always looks so immaculately perfect that this time we went with hardly any face.”

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Although her makeup changes and evolves throughout the video — from distressed to day-after-staying-up-all-night — there was one consistent theme: “I would describe it like a girl who stole makeup from Rite Aid and didn’t really know how to use it,” says Salvatierra, who also has worked with Erykah Badu, Courtney Love, Lykke Li and Parker Posey. “She’s the bad girl in the video. It’s kind of messy and not perfect and fun.”

The makeup guru got really creative with products, beyond the very minimal Cle de Peau foundation ($120) and concealer ($70) he used on Rihanna’s complexion. “I had this cherry red lip pencil that I got at a shop in Beverly Hills called Valerie sitting in my kit for ages, and we used it as eyeliner and put gloss over it, so she has this shiny red lip-liner eye, which was really cool,” says Salvatierra.

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His tip for creating a wearable shiny eye, which Rihanna has rocked in editorials before, is Egyptian Magic. “It’s kind of like an all-natural Vaseline — it shines like Vaseline, but it’s not sticky.” Salvatierra also repurposed a dark blue Lancome eyeliner ($27) as a lip liner, gave the singer a chocolate brown pout and painted Wite-Out-esque Lime Crime eyeliner on her lids. He also mixed a lot of custom colors, like eye shadows and lip glosses, for her.

Juxtaposed with the purposely imperfect makeup was impeccably coiffed hair, courtesy of Rihanna’s longtime hairstylist, Yusef Williams. “Her hair is always perfect,” says Salvatierra. “Yusef gave her a beautiful red-colored modern shag and changed it up — for one look it was little buns and another down, wrapped in a bandana.”

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Additionally, manicurist Kimmie Kyees had decals made of the video’s villain, which she then silk-screened onto Rihanna’s nails. Says the makeup artist, “The attention to detail was amazing. Her eye is so amazing, and she really knows what she likes. She’s so much fun — you feel like you’re working with her, not for her. It’s a collaboration.”