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When Euphoria first aired in 2019, we were instantly hooked. From the captivating cinematography to its bevy of breakout stars – Jacob Elordi, Hunter Schafer and Sydney Sweeney, we’re looking at you – bums were firmly planted in seats to witness the chaos cooked up by showrunner Sam Levinson every Sunday when a new episode dropped.
But what would Euphoria be without its smudged, glittering makeup looks that have somehow survived police shootouts, drug overdoses and raucous house parties. The brainchild of makeup artist Donni Davy, even if you’re not a fan of the show, you’ll find it difficult escaping the reach of its impact on your feed. Before the Clean Girl, Euphoria had beauty in a vice-like grip, bringing the excitement of editorial makeup looks to everyday life. It’s the reason this beauty editor is rarely seen without a smattering of rhinestones decorating their eyes, seven years later.
After we were all left in limbo, wondering if season three would ever come to light (FYI, season two first aired all the way back in 2022) the season three trailer finally dropped earlier this year and April 12 will see Zendaya, Alexa Demie, Maude Apatow and co return to our screens – five years on from when we last saw them.
Ahead of the season three premiere, Glamour caught up with Donni to find out what’s in store. Here, she shares the genesis and evolution of the show’s beauty looks, the feral glam of season three and the future of the show.
Your signature look has become instantly recognisable, but I’d love to know how you first developed it while working on Euphoria?
Donni Davy: The show really gave me permission. I really started during COVID because Euphoria season one had come out, but I had never really used my own face as a canvas. I was in my own stupid, limiting relationship with makeup, so I felt like I could never do it. I started putting on colour and sparkle and I was like: ‘Why did I waste my whole 20s not doing this?’ Life got more fun and then I started experimenting with hair colour and having so much fun with it – I had rainbow hair for a minute.
I want more people to be able to experience that. Once you can start showing up in life in a way that you feel like you’re really you, then you’ve hit your stride. That’s the best thing you can get out of your life, it’s high karma points too because you’re inspiring other people and we do need that in society right now otherwise everything will become stagnant. With all the tension in the world, especially in the US, this is a really great time for people to embrace expressive makeup and get out there and be completely unapologetic. This is not the time to be demure.
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Were you expecting the beauty to be such a breakout part of season one of Euphoria?
Donni: I wasn’t expecting it at all! I knew I loved what my team and I were creating and that it wasn’t typical TV makeup. I thought people would notice it, but that it would be a side note. I did not expect it to blow up in the way it did and it was cool because people really tapped into it in this way where they got the emotional resonance of it. They weren’t just doing it because it looked good, they were into the feelings behind it and the music – it was a visceral, emotional thing for people. It just hit at the right time. The show is good, the characters, music, cinematography and makeup are all memorable. It was this perfect storm.
I think that’s why people felt like they could recreate it because it was all these characters going through traumatic stuff and they’re crying and their makeup is smudged, their cheeks are flushed. Their whole face isn’t a full beat and that’s what’s cool to me in makeup – a perfect bake powder beat is not cool to me personally. What’s really modern and cool in makeup is a more lived-in feel where it has this feral kind of energy to it. The makeup on season one was totally feral.
Since working on Euphoria, you launched Half Magic – which just arrived at Sephora in the UK – how did the brand come about?
Donni: We wanted to build a brand, but that’s not the Euphoria makeup line. I thought that’s what people would call us in the beginning, but nobody did. We built the brand where the DNA is born from the show, but Half Magic is more a continuation of the conversation and to give people ways to recreate looks from the show, but also new looks they want to try or find ways to make their everyday makeup more fun.
How did you first get involved in the show and how did you develop the overall aesthetic?
Donni: Sam Levinson always wanted makeup to be a big part of his show. I came in to interview and he told me he liked my work on this A24 film Under the Silver Lake. I was like, “Oh, so you want colour and face gems and glitter?’ He said it should be part of the story and to go pretty hard with the freedom to push it. So I did. In the beginning, I didn’t push it enough and I realised that after the pilot episode. The lighting is quite moody and dim, so it wasn’t vivid. I started amplifying the colours and shimmer, adding more glitter and more face gems – things that would reflect back light – and it started showing.
One of the inspirations was definitely runway makeup, which historically is where people get to have fun and do cool, artsy makeup, but it’s on boring models who have no facial expression and march down a runway – it’s very cold and not inviting. Bridging that gap between makeup artistry and it feeling really real was what Euphoria did. It made it feel real and attainable because it was on people who were crying or laughing and they’re wearing it around school.
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What has been the most important thing you’ve learned from working on the show?
Donni: An important thing for me to remember working on any film or TV set is that I’m there to serve the story. My position is of service, I’m not there to do what I think is cool. I need to remember that I’m collaborating with a wider team. After Euphoria season one, it scratched such an itch for me creatively that I could have turned the volume up so much and done Chappell Roan looks on everyone, but I stick to the scripts.
I work with Sam, the producers and the cast, it’s all very collaborative. My job becomes taking in everyone’s dreams and perspectives and running it through my own aesthetic machine to make it make sense. Part of that is knowing when I can dial it up, when to dial it back and making sure that it feels like it makes sense for the audience. I’m always putting myself in the audience’s shoes and wondering how they’re going to digest it and if it feels right and truthful to that moment.
Returning after so many years to film Euphoria season three must have felt like a homecoming, what was it like on set?
Donni: It was a long awaited thing to get back to and getting to reimagine what the makeup would look like for this season, five years in the future. It’s different and it’s feral glam, not as playful as experimental as season one, although certain episodes will scratch that season one Euphoria itch. There’s a little something for everyone.
It was amazing because we got to put Half Magic makeup all over the makeup trailer. We used some on season two, but it was mostly samples, so being able to use my makeup line on all the actors and have my products all over our makeup stations was so cool. They’re the dream products that I always wanted to have in my kit and seeing my team of makeup artists use it and see them dig into the brand was so cool, it was a full circle moment.
Anything else you can share on the beauty looks we’re going to see?
Donni: My favourite incoming looks for season three are on Rosalía’s character – she plays a stripper and her makeup is super feral, aggressive and cool. There’s a lot of different makeup looks in season three and we also do a lot of special effects for the show – character makeup and tattoos that we design and create ourselves. Every skill I’ve ever worked on in 15 years of working on film and TV is in season three. There’s winged liner, sparkles, so much to sink your teeth into. It’s an anti-Clean Girl movement instead of a campaign against the Clean Girl look and I hope it inspires people to get more into glam.
The season is dropping as we’re seeing maximalist makeup return to beauty and people have been drawing connections to 2016 glam. What do you make of that?
Donni: I don’t know how that happened but it’s so cool. Either way, I was going to come in hot with season three because I don’t care what the trends are but with everything shifting to maximalism it’s teeing up the season so well.
2016 makeup was a bit more restrictive because it was a lot of steps and rules and that’s not my jam. The makeup we’re getting into now is total freedom and leans into the moodiness, how you’re feeling and what you want to portray. It’s a lot more about breaking rules and finding your own signature thing that can be ownable to you. There’s a lot more freedom in beauty right now compared to 2016 makeup with the 20 million steps.
How does it feel now that Euphoria is coming to an end?
Donni: Well, I don’t know if it’s finally at an end, I don’t know, there might be a season four – that’s public. The show is such an adventure because it’s truly run by an artist. Sam Levinson is a visionary, he’s very intuitive. If he feels like doing a season four, he’ll pitch it and he’ll do it if it gets green lit. Or, this might be the end, I never know. It’s always a wild ride. I didn’t know when season two was going to happen, I didn’t know when season three was going to finally happen. When it does, I go.
As Euphoria season three is finally about to air, how are you feeling now that everyone will get to experience it?
Donni: It’s nerve-wracking to know that there’s a lot of eyes on me. There was this freedom to season one because I was just messing around and on season two, I knew eyes would be on the makeup. I know that people are going to love it and eat it up, but also fear that they’re going to want more out of it. I’m always excited to see what looks people are going to latch onto. I try to go in with zero expectations but it’s very scary! When the trailer first came out, everyone was asking, ‘Where’s the glitter!’ and saying there’s no makeup in season three and I’m like, ‘It’s coming!’
