Fenty Beauty started with a very clear idea about who makeup is for. Rihanna launched it with LVMH on September 8, 2017, after a 2016 agreement and a stretch of development through LVMH's Kendo incubator, and it was her first solo cosmetics brand. The foundation was the statement: Pro Filt'r arrived with 40 shades, sold out quickly, and Time named it one of the best inventions of 2017. That is still where I would begin, because the base range here is the heart of the brand. The Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Longwear and the Fluid Flex Natural Matte foundations are the original idea in two finishes, while the By Rihanna Soft'Lit foundation and the Eaze Drop blurring skin tint cover the more luminous and lighter end. The We're Even concealer and Invisimatte blotting powder finish the face, and the Grip Trip primer sits underneath. On top come the Killawatt Freestyle highlighter, the Midnight Diamonds Diamond Bomb highlighter and two bronzers, the Sun Stalk'r Warmth powder and the Soufflé mousse cream. If bronzer is the part of the routine you want to get right, my note on where a good bronzer began is a useful companion, and primer matched to what your skin does explains the base layer.

The lip shelf is built around one shape of product that Fenty keeps reworking. The Gloss Bomb Lip Luminizer is the core, and here it sits next to the Gloss Bomb Stix, the By Rihanna Prismatic version and the Stackz layered luminizer, so you can see the idea in a tube, a stick and a stacked pair. The Midnight Diamonds Gloss Bomb in Universal, the Stix and the Swirl twisted luminizer are the shimmer end of the range. The Berry Brown'd Pout duo pairs a liner with a gloss stick, which is how I would build a deeper lip. A lipstick followed the foundation early too: the Stunna Lip Paint, a red long-wear liquid lipstick, arrived on November 23, 2017, only a couple of months after launch. What I would skip is layering a shimmer gloss over a shade that already has glitter in it; pick the glossy one or the sparkly one and let the liner do the work of defining the shape. For more on gloss and liner, a look at another famous lip gloss is a good comparison.

Fenty grew well past makeup, and this group shows the wider brand. Fenty Skin is here in the Hydra Vizor refillable moisturizer with SPF 30 and niacinamide, and in the Butta Drop Whipped Oil Body Cream, which turns up in the Guava Getaway scent and with tropical oils and butters. The Mista hair and body fragrance mist belongs to the same world, as do the Fenty Hair Homecurl curl-defining styling cream and The Rich One moisture repair conditioner. The Seamless Cream Blending Brush 185 is the one tool, useful with the cream formulas above. Think of the body cream as the extension of the foundation shade range: the same brand, now taking care of everything below the jaw. If you want other body creams to compare, body oils and lotions to put beside them covers the category.

The last group is the small things. Diamond Bomb is the sparkle line, in an All-Over Diamond Veil, a mini, a Wattamoment Fairy Bomb puff and Diamond Bomb Shadowstix, with a Smoke 'n Diamonds eye trio in the Midnight Diamonds limited edition. Body Lava is the body luminizer. Minis and sets show how the brand packages itself: the Mist N Match mini body mist trio, the Lil' Mists duo, the Mini Milks body milk travel pouch trio, the Quench Kit and the Start'r Set for balanced skin. For eyes there is the Hella Thick volumizing mascara plus Fine Linez gel eyeliner and pencil. The Curly Coasters set covers curl washday, and the Lipz Like Riri set pairs a liner with a sharpener. Pick a mascara like Hella Thick the way you would any other, and compare it with another mascara and its story.

If I were building a Fenty bag from scratch, I would pick one Pro Filt'r foundation in the right shade, the Gloss Bomb Luminizer, a bronzer and the Butta Drop body cream. The brand has gone from a single launch in 2017 to skin, hair and fragrance, and the common thread is still the same: a wide range of people in mind from the first product. Add a Diamond Bomb highlighter when you want the night version.

To round out the look, see Tower 28 Makeup and Skincare and Rare Beauty Makeup and Fragrance.