"It takes a long time to get to be a diva," Diana Ross once said. "I mean, you gotta work at it." True to her own mantra, the queen of Motown, who turns 80 today, has been doing just that throughout her career with equal parts directional hair and makeup. While attending high school, Detroit-born-and-bred Ross enrolled in cosmetology school, practicing hairstyles on herself as well as taking neighbors as clients. But it was when she became the lead singer of The Supremes that Ross's look—her coif and thick lashes especially—reached new heights. "My mom does all her own hair and makeup, and always has," explains Tracee Ellis Ross. "Eyelashes, the whole deal—she does it herself.”
In the '60s, the charismatic frontwoman whipped through a mesmerizing lineup of looks, from a curvy, chin-grazing bob accented by kittenish flicks and heavy fringe to a towering, teased-to-there bouffant with cut-crease smoky eyes and pale lips. And by 1970, striking out on her own with her first solo album Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand) and number one single "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," Ross began flexing her cloud of natural curls. With her the-bigger-the-better hair, either let down or tied back and topped off with an ornamental chapeau, iridescent eyes, and glossy lips, Ross perpetually brought drama to the stage, helping usher in the disco era. 1975's Mahogany, in which she starred as rising fashion designer Tracy Chambers, was one standout, featuring her silky soprano vocals, theatrical costumes she designed herself, and that petrol blue Afro. Releasing perennial dance floor favorite "I'm Coming Out" in 1980, Ross continued to not only up the ante on the volume of her mane, but embraced the decade's trendy saturated lids and draped blush to dramatic effect. And since then, the icon hasn't stopped unleashing her inner diva. Not for a second. Here, a look at Ross's standout beauty moments.