Celebrities and public figures have been dazzling us with breathtaking hair and makeup since the dawn of time (or rather, the dawn of celebrity), but there is something special about red carpet beauty. The intricate and bold hairstyles, the makeup that perfectly complements the red carpet fashions, and the jewelry that still makes me crazier when I think about it .......

This list of red carpet beauty looks would be a thousand slides short, but I've narrowed it down to 32. Here are the red carpet beauties that have stood the test of time and made me gasp (or applaud).

When you're attending the CMT Music Awards with your hot, hot husband (Keith Urban) and you're seven months pregnant and proud of it, the best way to turn heads is to show off your new strawberry blonde color, which matches perfectly with your crimson dress.

Early in her Hollywood career, Margot Robbie (who will appear many times on this list) attended the 2014 Australians in Film Awards in this stunning weave. It looks very complex and busy, but the flyaway keeps it from being too serious. Genius.

Jessica Alba's 2008 Oscars hair was the perfect 00s awards ceremony look: the braid was obviously quite complex, but it felt so extensive and dramatic (while also feeling loose and casual) that it instantly became a "best of" style.

When Natalie Portman actually shaved her head for V for Vendetta, it instantly helped transform her into a serious actor (and, let's be honest, a sort of bad girl). She kept a very cool balance between deep and dramatic eye makeup while still complementing her feminine dress.

There are many Blake Lively red carpet looks, but I chose the 2016 "Cafe Society" premiere (at which time Lively was pregnant and wearing a sparkly mini, which was a fun and bold choice) as the perfect half-up because it just felt right. Everyone should imagine their hair when they try this style.

Gwyneth Paltrow brought pink back into fashion with this Oscars dress. A simple low ballerina bang brought the right amount of edge back to a very "feminine" look.

It's hard to tell from this side angle (I wanted to give you a full view of this hair), but Jennifer Hudson matched the red gown and red lipstick with perfect synergy. But the star of the show is clearly the hair, which is perfectly over-the-top for the Met Gala.

Cara Delevingne is a dramatic beauty. I love this Old Hollywood glamour with a deep red lip, appropriate for the premiere of The Great Gatsby. Bonus points for her jewelry and perfectly posed.

Angelina Jolie's red carpet looks are always spot on, and her 2012 Oscars makeup was no exception (recall, this was the year of the "legs" and Jolie posed dramatically in a high-slit black dress). The red lip and smokey eye are perfection.

At the 2018 Oscars, Saoirse Ronan decided to debut a major new haircut - a blunt bob within a blunt bob, which was a special cut and styling." She was very excited about the change," explained her longtime stylist Adir Abergel, adding that it was designed to "bring real modernity to a classic shape."

Reese Witherspoon is well known for wearing her pretty blonde hair down, which makes this soft Oscar look (2006, when she was nominated and won for "Walk the Line") special. Soft, romantic, and perfect for this event.

Solange Knowles has pulled off some of the coolest and most surprising red carpet fashion looks (she was known to take more fashion risks than her sister), but my favorite is this 2017 Grammy look: simple, minimal makeup, with her gorgeous natural hair creating a halo around her face.

Audrey Hepburn attended the premiere of My Fair Lady with her hair in a very large bun (which, come to think of it, is actually quite appropriate for the role and her trajectory). Thanks to "Breakfast at Tiffany's," it also replaced the huge bouffant that made Hepburn famous.

Queen Bey doesn't walk the red carpet as much as she used to (she doesn't even have to, thank you very much), but I love this 2013 Grammy look.

If you've ever been tempted to wear a cute hair clip in your hair all at once, this is it. Andra Day was at the 2018 Oscars, and this is actually pink florals dotted throughout her updo, with mauve makeup to match her hair and vintage gown. Exceptional.

Sarah Jessica Parker has sported vertical hairstyles several times before (check out her Met Gala look), but I'm not sure I'm a fan of the 2022 "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" Met Gala (her dress was the White House's first black female It was a tribute to fashion designers) this huge bun.

Amandla Stenberg's 2019 Oscars hair makes many "best of" lists, and for good reason. The two-tone finger-wave patterned braid is a modern take on a vintage flapper style (much like her dress inspiration), and the entire look is classic with a twist.

Penelope Cruz's red carpet beauty is always divine, doubly so in her Academy Awards look (this one from 2014). Here, she shows off a ballet core before ballet cores became fashionable. The high full bang and smoky cat eye complement the petal pink dress.

When Angela Bassett showed off the longest ponytail ever seen on a red carpet (at the 2019 Oscars), it instantly became one of the best looks ever. Bassett has always been stylish, but not always in such a bold way.

This is a particularly personal pick: in the 90s, no movie was as big a hit as "Titanic," and Kate Winslet surprised at that year's Oscars. Her green gown was artfully enhanced by her wavy red hair (much like her role in the film) and very simple makeup. We curly girls also took notice.

One way to show that life is moving on is to attend the Grammys with a new boyfriend on your arm and looking as sparkly as you can imagine. That's exactly what Cher did after breaking up with Sonny, her shimmering purple eyeshadow as luminous as her smile.

At the "China: Through the Looking Glass" Met Gala, Anne Hathaway represented a hooded Buddha in a glamorous, sparkling gold gown.

Imagine arriving at the premiere of "Zombieland Double Tap" in this chic outfit. That's exactly what Emma Stone did for Old Hollywood with her wavy hair and flawless green eye shadow. Somehow Stone's good looks just keep getting better and better as her career progresses.

This list could be filled with Lady Gaga. But the premiere of "A Star is Born" will mark the beginning of a new era for the singer/actor as she unveils her most chic and glamorous red carpet look to date.

Halle Berry was already a pixie queen before her Oscar-winning moment in 2002, but it was still an innovative move to go to the dressed-up Oscars with a short, spiky, straight-up cut (contrasting with the deep romance of the dress).

At the 2018 Oscars, Margot Robbie (whose long blonde hair was and continues to be one of her trademarks) cut a few inches off her previously shoulder-length hairstyle to debut a short, pretty bob. It instantly became the hottest hairstyle of the year.

At the 2016 SAG Awards, Helen Mirren enhanced Jenny Packham's gown with her stunning blonde-tinged gray hair. She showed us how to look beauty with maturity and glamour in equal measure, without being afraid to age.

Jennifer Lawrence has given us many gorgeous beauty looks (she specializes in neutral makeup and fun, but not wacky, hair). That makes this look (at the 2018 Oscars) even more dramatic and fabulous: soft waves, a deep, angular smokey eye, and a matte lip with just a hint of red.

At the 1990 Golden Globes, wearing an oversized Giorgio Armani men's suit, Julia Roberts embraced traditional red carpet fashion and threw out the rule book. In fact, her natural waves and dyed red hair were just the opposites needed to make the look instantly iconic.

Angry (and racist) controversy aside, Zendaya's Oscar beauty look, which debuted at the 2015 Academy Awards ceremony, was gorgeous. She made the smart choice to show off her hair and keep her makeup simple with a smokey eye and pink lip. Not surprisingly, she quickly became a style and beauty icon.

Leave it to Elizabeth Taylor to show up at Cannes wearing a literal tiara (which, believe it or not, she owned), a gift from her third husband, producer Mike Todd, which she wore to the Golden Globes pre-party and wore it to the Academy Awards party.

Lupita Nyongo of Black Panther showed up on the red carpet with a gold chain literally braided through her hair, a nod to Rwandan culture. According to Vogue magazine, "The amasuzu, which is grown out, cut, and assembled into a series of crescents, was once worn by men and women as a sign of marriageable age and a signal to suitors. Stunning.