The hit HBO drama Euphoria has left a cultural impact in many ways, but one you may not expect is its makeup. Reporter Allison Rauch looks at makeup’s role in telling the show’s story, the real-life renaissance it’s causing, and how it’s changing as the show premieres its second season.
ALLISON RAUCH, REPORTER: When HBO launched Euphoria in 2019, the show exploded online almost instantly. Starring Zendaya, it provided breakout roles for practically all other featured actors including Sydney Sweeney, Hunter Schafer, and Jacob Elordi. Since then, Euphoria has been praised – and criticized – for its discussion of heavy issues such as drug usage, promiscuity, and mental illness. But perhaps the most striking aspect of Euphoria is its style, particularly its makeup. Head makeup artist Doniella Davy has stated in interviews that the makeup is a crucial aspect of the show.
Makeup in film and TV is usually meant to disappear, but Euphoria is taking the opposite approach. Season 1 was marked by glamorous, hyper-stylized makeup that was unafraid of glitter and rhinestones. So naturally, the looks began appearing on visual social platforms such as Instagram and Tik Tok. The term “Euphoria makeup” was coined to describe any sort of over the top, colorful makeup look.
A confession: I’ve never seen a single episode of Euphoria. But as someone who keeps up with beauty media, I saw my entire feed taken over by Euphoria makeup in 2019. Now, as the show returned for its second season on January 9, I’m seeing a resurgence. So I sought out some genuine Euphoria viewers to see what they thought, and to tell me if I was on the right path.
Carly Witteman, a Medill sophomore and writer for STITCH magazine, noted that she’s sometimes uncomfortable with themes of Euphoria but enjoys the makeup and style aspect. She says she thinks Euphoria’s makeup builds on evolving trends while introducing new ones.
CARLY WITTEMAN: The makeup trends in season one really build off this maximalism that we’ve seen in fashion, and I think Euphoria, really sort of, like opened the floodgates to maximalism and makeup. For instance, I bought colored eyeliner and tried to do the clouds, you know, on my eyelids that Jules has in the first season. I feel like this risk to take bold makeup choices has really, really come out of Euphoria.
RAUCH: Nozizwe Msipa, school of comm sophomore, tended to agree. She, like Witteman, dislikes some of the plot and theme aspects of the show. But she had the same sort of comments on the hyper-stylized makeup.
NOZIZWE MSIPA: It really built the visual world right? Like in season one like the makeup built part of the visual world of the show because I think so much of it is like it’s hyper, hyper – heavily stylistic as the shows very stylistic, right. Especially, the cool cool cool thing about the makeup is I can see rhinestones and glitter and really pretty colors.
RAUCH: Davy has spoken about how the looks are a collaboration between show creator Sam Levinson, the makeup team, and the actors. The makeup evolves alongside the characters, telling their stories.
WITTEMAN: Specifically, there’s one character, Kat, in the first season, who is sort of on this path of self discovery. I think that’s really reflected in her makeup and like the bold choices she starts to have.
MSIPA: She’s been through like a dominatrix era. This season – well, so far – she’s supposed to be in like this sweet loving relationship. So yeah, her makeup is definitely more muted. And like more pastel colors.
RAUCH: But aside from Kat, it seems that all the makeup in Euphoria is becoming more muted for season 2. Davy told US Magazine that fans could expect makeup to be “more refined and more subtle.” Witteman and Msipa have noticed this in the first two episodes of season 2.
WITTEMAN: A lot of the makeup is darker and more muted thus far. Specifically with Jules’ character, her makeup in the first season was very bright. And from what we’ve seen in the first episode, it’s a lot darker. It makes her face look a lot more angular and gaunt. And yeah, I think it is reflective of her character arc.
MSIPA: Season two episode one like Maddy, she had like this killer wing – her eyeliner was so sharp, it was gorgeous. So it wasn’t like – maybe in season one it would have been like that but also like glitter, rhinestones. Season 1 like established the visual world, Season 2 is carrying it on but I think in a subtler way maybe giving time for more character work.
RAUCH: Witteman and Msipa’s comments seemed to reflect the praise I’ve read online about Euphoria makeup. But as someone clueless, I wanted to see what another outsider-looking-in thought. Enter Aman Datta, school of Comm sophomore. He, like me, hasn’t seen the show, but finds himself intrigued by some aspects. So he gamely agreed to comment on the makeup.
AMAN DATTA: My qualification for makeup and knowledge about makeup is that I know English.
RAUCH: I showed Datta a series of Euphoria looks, mostly from season 1, and had him react. And though, again, he’s not knowledgeable on the topic, he was able to draw some comparisons to things he has seen, including his favorite movie.
DATTA: It’s more sort of colorful and sort of accentuated is I guess the word…Sing Street is a good example actually, of, you know, you see, these characters sort of evolve with their outfits and clothes. A lot of their character arc I would say happens visually.And so applying that same idea to make up and changing makeup and corresponding to a character arc. That’s a cool idea. Again, this is making me consider watching the show.
RAUCH: Talking to Datta was interesting, as it allowed me to reflect on the idea of maximalist Euphoria makeup and how it has been utilized in other film and TV projects. But as I did more and more research, I was considering watching the show, too. So I caved and watched the pilot. And although, thematically, parts were uncomfortable, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. And I found that the beauty moments, even just in the first episode, really worked alongside each character’s M.O. Regardless of if the show is for you or not, Euphoria makeup is becoming more and more accessible as it moves to the forefront of social media.
WITTEMAN: I think both social media and Euphoria kind of play in with one another. Like, in terms of like the chicken or the egg, I don’t necessarily think like one really exacerbated like, the fashion that we see today. But yeah, I definitely don’t think Euphoria would be as popular without Instagram, Tik Tok and other social media.
RAUCH: And, as Davy said, Euphoria is not claiming to be the first project to use makeup expressively. But it seems it can be credited with bringing dramatic, stylized makeup to a mainstream focus in young adult society. And, whether you’re a fan of the show or not, it’s hard to ignore that influence.
MSIPA: More rhinestones to the people, more glitter eyeliner.
RAUCH: Video clip of Doniella Davy is from Deadline Hollywood. For WNUR News, I’m Allison Rauch.
