Photos: Getty Images; album cover: Vito Fernicola.Save this storySave this story
Earlier this month, in the midst of touring her Tropicoqueta album, Colombian superstar Karol G unexpectedly released No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto, which translates to I Don’t Regret Feeling So Much. The title is an almost perfect thesis for the album: moody, raw, and unfiltered. There are melancholic ballads, including “Después de Ti,” her collaboration with Greg Gonzales of the pop band Cigarettes After Sex, alongside more unruly anthems like “Matadora,” or “Killer.”
Fans had reason to suspect something new was coming. Months before the surprise album’s release, Karol began dropping beauty-related hints (unsurprising, as she’s someone known for playing with her hair colors and nails). In January, she posted a carousel on Instagram—including an image of herself wearing rhinestones across her forehead and a baby-blue manicure— captioned: “Unfocused But SparkLYYYY.” It was easy to write it off, as she was in the midst of building the world around her album Tropicoqueta. And in April, at the end of her historic Coachella set, Karol announced she was taking Tropicoqueta on the road. The resulting tour, Viajando Por El Mundo—or Traveling Around the World—seemed poised to continue the same visual language: flowers, fiery colors, and plenty of tropical extravagance.
The cover art for “No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto.”
Vito Fernicola
But there was another clue for both her new album and “sentimental-blue” era. In one of the promotional videos for the tour, Karol opens a suitcase. Sparkles spill out. She looks at them and says, “No, I’m not packing that one yet.” It was a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, but it now feels like a preview of what was coming.
The aesthetic of No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto could hardly be more different from Tropicoqueta. One is fluorescent, maximalist, and celebratory; the other is somber, introspective, and stripped back. On the album cover, Karol appears almost makeup-free and bathed in a cool blue hue—giving the image a nostalgic vibe reminiscent of Britney Spears 2003 album, In The Zone.
For Karol, color has always been part of the storytelling, according to Duván Foronda, her makeup artist of nearly a decade. “She is someone who puts color to everything; for her, a song has a color; for her, a feeling has a color.”
When they were creating Tropicoqueta, that feeling was happiness. “She said, ‘I want an album that’s really tropical, that feels really happy.’ And to her, the color that expressed that was orange,” Foronda recounts. The beauty followed suit. “That album had a really defined aesthetic,” he says. “In terms of the makeup, we did a lot of red lips, brown lip liner, and orange tinted cheeks.”
A close up of Karol G’s makeup for her “Viajando Por El Mundo” tour.
Henry Hwu
Now, he’s helping Karol strip things back. Duván, whom Karol affectionately calls “Duvi,” has been part of the process of bringing the singer closer to a more natural version of herself. It’s an interesting evolution for an artist whose beauty identity has always been playful.
Before joining Karol’s world, Foronda followed in the footsteps of his mother, Adriana Pérez, a notable Colombian makeup artist. He assisted her on various jobs until eventually building a career of his own, including working with lingerie brand Leonisa—comparable to Victoria’s Secret— which is one of Colombia’s most recognizable brands. There’s something fitting about Karol entrusting this particular beauty transformation to someone who understands the visual language of Colombian beauty from the inside out.
For this era, though, the inspiration came from somewhere else entirely: Hawaii. During the trip, Foronda noticed Karol gravitating toward blue. “I noticed she started wearing a lot of blue,” he says. Eventually, she told Foronda why. “She told me, ‘I don't know, this new era, which is more mine, more vulnerable, more personal, feels blue.’” Soon, the color began appearing everywhere. “We would go out with her, and she would wear a blue shirt, sometimes a blue purse, or even a blue phone case,” Foronda recalls. But this isn’t an electric cobalt or the kind of neon blue that might have felt at home in the Tropicoqueta universe. It’s softer, airier. “You’ll notice it's not a vibrant blue; it's like a sky-blue,” he says. “It’s calming.”
Karol performing in Los Angeles for her “Viajando Por El Mundo” tour.
Henry Hwu
That sense of calm is starting to make its way onto the stage, too. On her Viajando Por El Mundo tour, which recently stopped in Los Angeles for three sold-out shows with special guests including Becky G and Bruno Mars, the energy of this newer era exists alongside the tropical spectacle that fans have gotten to know.
“In the show, we’re still doing the Tropicoqueta [aesthetic], but we’re starting to add some new touches,” Foronda says. “We’re adding Swarovski crystals in her makeup, adding glitter to her makeup, and we’re also doing darker makeup.” It’s the “moodier” makeup, however, that is the biggest departure for the Colombian singer, says Foronda.
“In this new era, we’ll see her with makeup that’s darker, riskier,” he explains. The deeper, more undone looks are meant to reveal another side of Karol: the rebellious one. The key to this look is a smudgy eyeliner. “It has to be messy; it can’t be glam or perfect, like a perfect line,” says Foronda.
And if that feels like a rejection of the pristine, hyper-polished beauty which has dominated our feeds for years, that’s because it is— at least a little bit. After spending recent years embracing her natural beauty and the soft-focus appeal of “clean girl” makeup, Karol is embracing the mess. More eyeliner. More glitter. More crystals. More drama. The clean girls, it seems, are in fact getting glittery.
Foronda’s inspiration board for this new direction is equally sparkly. “I get a lot of inspiration from Zara Larsson’s makeup artist, Sophia [Sinot],” he says. “I love all the glitter she uses, and the little rhinestones she adds to the eyes. I love all the glitter she adds to her body.” His technique is refreshingly low-tech. “I bought an [eyeshadow] palette, and I mix it with body lotion.” The eyeshadow palette is from a New Zealand-based brand, “Question Beauty” while a new MIM body lotion—Foronda’s makeup brand— inspired by a lyric in Karol’s song “Ivonny Bonita” is expected to launch soon and will be available worldwide.
Bruno Mars joining Karol on-stage during her "Viajando Por El Mundo" tour in Los Angeles.
Felipe Orvi
Of course, underneath all that glitter is skincare. Before a show, skin prep takes priority. Foronda’s secret weapon is a 15-minute Medicube Booster Pro massage that provides temporary rejuvenating effects through LED, microcurrent, sonic vibration, and EMS (electric muscle stimulation), alongside the MIM Hydrating Gel, which contains hyaluronic acid and vitamin B5. Afterward, it’s all about removing what went on. According to Foronda, Karol swears by the MIM Gentle Makeup Remover, particularly when it comes to the layers of mascara required for a stage performance. “For a show, you have to wear a lot of makeup, and that includes heavy mascara,” he says. “And she would always [accidentally] take off all her eyelashes when taking off her makeup.” Now, the remover has become a permanent fixture in Karol’s kit. “She would tell me, ‘There’s no makeup remover like this one.”
It’s a small detail, but it captures the beauty philosophy behind this new chapter: the drama can be taken off. The rhinestones can come off. The glitter can be washed away. What remains underneath is the person Karol has been trying to get closer to all along.
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