Katy Perry’s Beauty Evolution, From California Girl to Outer-space Alien

Today, Katy Perry turns 40. From Katy Hudson to one of the boys, original California girl, and outerspace alien: Katy Perry has lived many a life, and donned the glam to match.

Across two and a half best-selling decades in the music industry, Perry has been chameleonic. Each new record comes with a beauty metamorphosis. When she first burst onto the scene with her breakout One of the Boys album, she leaned into rockabilly, campy aesthetics: chocolatey brunette pin curls, a cherry red lip, and choppy bangs. The Teenage Dream era was a sugary sweet, sardonic take on pop culture as confection: pastel pink blush, whimsical up-dos, and a drawer of rainbow hair dye. It’s a period of time that gave Tumblr and Pinterest boards plenty of fodder, from her candy-colored bouffants, to highly pigmented eyeshadow.

Then the dance-inspired, darker Prism record, in 2013, saw Perry both launch a color-popping beauty line and strip it back to a softer, femme vibe—the woman continues multitudes—while 2017’s Witness brought in the bleach blonde pixie crop. 2020’s Smile—a record about finding the light, resilience, and optimism—saw Perry play with big blonde curls, doll-like eyes, and more cheekily clownish makeup. Her most recent record, 143, ushered in her most striking beauty era in a long time: oil-slick hair and long raven tresses, sculpted and contoured cheeks, icy-blue eyeshadow, and a ’90s-leaning taupe lip.

For years, Perry looked to the late, great hairstylist Jesus Guerrero as a key part of her glam team. For her appearance at the 2024 MTV VMAs, where Perry collectsed the Video Vanguard Award, Guerrero crafted wet-look extra-long lengths. Today, she works extensively with Rick Henry and makeup artist Michael Anthony.

The last year has seen a seismic style and beauty shift for Perry—but as we’ve come to see, change is part of her M.O., so we should only expect something even more subversive in her 40th year. Scroll below for a quicktime journey into Katy Perry’s beauty evolution.