My, weren’t we all so naïve before Pon de Replay? Trying to imagine a time when umbrellas had no bearing on the music industry, grills were only found on cars and where hairstyles had decade-long lifespans is near inconceivable. But before we sit and ponder how this alternative universe inhabited by ‘good girl Riri’ would pan out, we’ve plenty to thank her for too.   

Since catapulting to fame, Rihanna has made some substantial waves in the big old beauty pond. Her collaboration with MAC last year was a server-crashing frenzy with stocks of the Ruby Woo-inspired ‘Riri Woo’ selling out in a matter of hours. Impressive, no?  We've even got her to thank for the resurgence of dark Goth lipstick (raise your hand if you've ever owned MAC's Cyber lipstick...), and more recently for a little finger tattoo revolution. And that's before we even consider her hair.

We've honestly lost count of how many transformations Rihanna's underwent. It's this unstoppable propensity for self-reinvention that's most inspiring. To us normal folk, it’s effectively a ‘You can do it!’ kick up the backside to reach our full beauty potential - to try something new, abandon our fail-safe techniques or to finally take the plunge at the hair salon. And while we’ll probably never reach the transformative heights of that half shaved-half mullet look, we’ll still feel that little buzz of inspiration every time we scroll past her photo.

Click through the gallery above to see Rihanna’s best hair and make-up moments to get inspired. ​