Cardi B's Blinged-Out Mask Took 36 Hours, Cost About $7,000

Cardi B's major fashion statement at Paris Fashion Week wasn't a simple ready-made mask she slipped on -- it required painstaking man-hours and a few stacks to get the final product.

The "I Like It" rapper turned heads Thursday when she showed up at Offset's Paris Fashion Week show showing off a blinged-out mask and plenty of cleavage. Bradley Jordan, the creator of Cardi's CoutureMask, tells TMZ ... from start to finish, the mask took his team 36 hours.

Jordan had creative control but Cardi did have one specific request -- she wanted ample room for her eyes to avoid even the slightest obstruction. The designer didn't want to take chances ... after the mask was done, he made an all-important revision to make the eye cutouts even larger. You can see, he left Cardi's eyes plenty of room to shine.

Jordan says he started the mask with just the material, but then covered it with opal cut black glass, of varying sizes, set in silver. He added a matching choker -- with gemstones -- to give Cardi complete coverage.

Rihanna, French Montana and Future have also rocked CoutureMask -- and a customized one usually runs between $3k and $7k depending on the facial coverage and the gems used.

No doubt, Cardi went all out for her piece -- much like she clearly did for her post-fashion show celebration ... if you buy what she tweeted.

And, why wouldn't you?