How to do Euphoria makeup for Halloween, according to the show’s makeup artist
Plenty of shows set the tone for fashion trends, but few have become so celebrated for its makeup that it inspires a whole new genre—like Euphoria makeup. That's exactly what the hit HBO show did with its inventive use of glitter and artful takes on eyeliner. Instantly, “Euphoria makeup” was all anyone could talk about.
But as much as we'd love for cloud eyeliner or glitter tears to be part of our day-to-day, they're not really the most practical—unless, of course, you're talking about Halloween. Every year there's a Halloween costume that promises to be both topical and easy to execute, and for 2022 that's without a doubt Euphoria makeup, even years after the first season premiered. Not only can you wear something already in your closet (unless you're going for Kat's cam-girl glow-up, in which case, amazing), but most of the makeup you need is just one Amazon Prime order away.
The other great thing about dressing up like a Euphoria character for Halloween is that there isn't one single makeup look that's better than the rest. They're all fantastic, and every character has more than a handful to choose from—which, admittedly, can also make it difficult, so we asked the show's head makeup artist, Doniella Davy, to break down how she created each of her favorite looks.
Whether you want to go as Rue, Cassie, Maddy, Jules, or Kat, scroll on for Davy's best advice and the products she recommends to re-create the looks at home.
This article originally appeared on GLAMOUR US.
Doniella DavyCassie’s Jewels
Cassie's (Sydney Sweeney) jeweled face was designed to interplay with one of the show's heavier scenes, in which her character gets an abortion. While the anesthesia settles, she has a dream of herself skating on an ice rink. “I wanted her makeup to look and feel like the opposite of the trauma she was going through,” Davys says. “It had to be highly visible, as Cassie would be spinning on the ice, and it had to match her ice-skating costume and be appropriate for a figure skating moment. This scene is so emotional, but the makeup is so uplifting and self-celebrating.”
The key to this look is gems straight from Amazon and a blue eye shadow base. Davy used a variety of colors and sizes but did not layer gems on her actual eyelids because of how uncomfortable that would be. “Any eye shadow layered on top of eye shadow base would work great as a colorful backdrop to the gems,” Davy says. She secured the gem with eyelash glue but warns you'll definitely need a combination of makeup wipes and an oil-based cleanser to get everything off.
Doniella DavyGoth Maddy
Maddy's (Alexa Demie) winter-formal look was originally meant to be ice queen but slowly morphed into something more goth with a ’90s-supermodel vibe, complete with rhinestones from head to toe. The inspiration from this look actually came from Demie, and a fashion reference of a model wearing similar eye makeup. At first it didn't feel very Euphoria to Davy, but she thought it would work well with Maddy's outfit. “I tied the look back into the show by having my Euphoria makeup assistant, Kirsten Coleman, add tiny floating rhinestones into the black eye shadow,” Davy says.
The key to nailing the look, though, is definitely all about pressed black eye shadow juxtaposed with silver shimmer. To get the unblended effect, Davy suggests using a flat concealer brush. The show's hairstylist, Melanie Smith, also put a line of gems in Maddy's hair part, which, in Davy's opinion, pulled the whole look together.
“It made sense to go in this darker direction with Maddy for the final episode because her character had been through her own personal hell at this point, which then resulted in this apprehensive moment of Maddy and Nate getting back together,” says Davy.
@donni.davy / InstagramRue’s Glitter Tears
Because Rue (played by Zendaya) is in a perpetual state of anguish, Davy wanted her Euphoria makeup to feel melancholy even if it was colorful. In the end it all came down to placement. “I tried to keep it weighted mostly under her eyes, which is where tears would fall,” says Davy. As for the seminal star sticker, “On a whim I placed a small star on her cheekbone in the first episode, and it became a theme that I circled back to for her look in the final episode. I didn’t realize at the time, but the Labrinth song that plays during Rue’s final scene in that episode has the lyrics ‘I’ll do 25 to life, if it makes me a king—a star in your eyes.’” To re-create the look, apply star face decals accordingly.
In order to make the glitter tears last all day or night, Davy recommends one of her all-time favorite glitter products, Revlon’s Photo Ready Eye Art. Davy swears by it because “the glitter goes on like liquid eyeliner with a built-in thick brush. Once it dries, it doesn't move.” And when it comes to application, she recommends not stressing too much: “Rue's looks are not about perfection. They are pure moody expression.”
To add depth and contrast, Davy says to line your lower waterline with black liner and take the liner a little outside your lash line, then finish with loads of mascara.
Doniella DavyKat’s Nun Halloween Makeup
Kat's (Barbie Ferreira) Halloween costume wasn't your standard nun costume. It's based on the main character from the film Ms. 45, Thana. Davy hadn't seen the film before, but when she heard Kat would be in a nun costume, she felt “very strongly” that her makeup “needed to have sparkly upside-down crosses hanging beneath her eyes.” In the film Thana is abused by men and goes on a killing spree. “I wanted to convey that anger through her makeup, but also a bit of irony,” she says. “A nun killing people is ironic! A nun wearing upside-down cross makeup is also ironic.”
In order to achieve a sharp line for the eye shadow, Davy used Scotch tape right where the black fades into the red, which she also blended out a little as it went upward into the crease. Kat's lower lash line was also outlined with red eye shadow, and the crosses were drawn on with a skinny eyeliner brush, black gel eyeliner, and Nyx black glitter liquid eyeliner. “This same eyeliner was also used to line along her lower lashes, which I had originally lined just with red shadow, which was to be a halo around this black liner,” Davy says.
She also used the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil as a lip liner and filled in Kat's lips with Lime Crime matte lipstick in a red shade and layered with Lime Crime gloss in a more orange shade to make the red a bit brighter.
@donni.davy / InstagramJules’s Colorful Liner
Jules's (Hunter Schafer) makeup is always colorful with lots of eyeliner worn in unexpected places. Davy wanted her looks to be “playful, carefree, and universal in terms of gender—not super feminine.” The idea behind these looks is that they take only 5 to 10 minutes and are applied to an otherwise fresh and clean face with little to no additional makeup.
To copy the looks, Davy recommends thinking of your eyelids like a canvas, and starting with pigmented eyeliner and shimmering eye shadow. “Hunter Schafer, just like her character Jules, is an artist, so I wanted her looks to feel painterly or like tiny drawings,” she says. Davy also opted for no mascara for a majority of Jules's looks. “I loved sometimes not using mascara on her, which would help keep her looks from feeling too polished or feminine,” she adds.
Unlike some of the other characters' looks, which represented what was going on with their character specifically in that moment, Jules's makeup was meant to serve as more of a timeline. “I love how Jules’s looks go from being lighthearted with pastels and neons to increasingly darker and more moody as the episodes go on,” Davy says. “Her look takes a quick turn after she goes and visits her friends out of town.”
Although the artfulness of these looks can be intimidating, Davy's intention was to encourage any and everyone to try them out. “You don't have to be good at makeup for these,” she says. “It's all about quick placement of color, and it should feel fun and uplifting.”
Instagram: @donni.davy @likethejetsonsLexi’s Main-Character Moment
Season two finally gave Lexi her moment in the spotlight…for better and worse. But one thing is for sure: Her glam was absolutely iconic.
As Lexi has more of a presence this season, Davy wanted to really grow and define the character's look. “She has the red lip, which is her signature thing, but I wanted to give her a little bit of a signature eye thing,” she says. “I have been just loving this sort of modern take on Twiggy, with the little spikes. Lexi's liner is never going to be that straight-out snatch, just because of her nerdiness. Her beauty is always a little bit retro-inspired; she has that perfect preppy retro style.”
Try Lexi's main-character moment with Magic Flik Eyeliner, gold shimmer eye shadow, and cherry red lipstick. Then put on a play about all of your friends and loved ones and force them to watch.
Instagram: @donni.davyCassie’s “Caddy” Liner
Cassie faces an identity crisis in season two and starts emulating her BFF Maddy to capture Nate's attention. For the first “Caddy” look that appears, we see Cassie in stark white eyeliner with big silver rhinestones—a much bolder take on sparkles than Cassie's tiny floating rhinestones in episode one.
Davy said she wanted to take Maddy's carnival look from last season and invert it. “It needed to be extremely bold and visible from across the hallway for the sake of getting Nate's attention,” she says. “At first I was going to do a baby blue situation because that's kind of Cassie's signature color. In my and Sydney's eyes, we just associate baby blue with her. I realized that actually going with the stark white would pop more on her skin tone. I thought white would also look kind of jarring, a little weird—borderline off, just shocking. She's really going through it to be morphing into her best friend.”
“There's definitely a comedy to it, especially with those looks,” Davy says. “The Maddy look is weirdly haunting on her because it's just like, ‘That's so not you.’ But then it finally gets Nate's attention. It was meant to be an attention grabber and to even be a tiny bit uncomfortable to see—even the baby hairs, the overlined brown lips. It's that secondhand embarrassment because it looks extra dramatic on her. And then the white was definitely a choice to make it look even more strange and odd.”It may seem complicated, but you can definitely DIY. Use a white liquid eyeliner to create the dramatic cat eye. Next, apply face gems to your lash line with tweezers, and finish off with some bold mascara.
Eddy Chen/HBOMaddy’s Sharp Cat Eye
It's the cat eye that launched a thousand TikTok videos: Maddy's New Year's Eve eyeliner. The central theme of Maddy's looks in season two was eyeliner as sharp as her insults. Davy considers this look to be the most popular of the season—a go-to choice this Halloween.
“What was really fun with that look is making the wing longer and longer, and just figuring out how long can we make this wing before it looks insane,” she says. “But we all were aligned that we wanted the wing to just be ultra long. But the whole look is simple. It’s more minimal.” She acknowledges that it's funny to call such an extreme wing “minimal,” but considering that Maddy wore hot pink liner and eyebrow gems to school last season, it tracks.
Use Half Magic's liquid eyeliner and Precision Eyeliner Brush to re-create Maddy's razor sharp wing, and top off with shimmer shadow on the lid. Complete the look with brown lip gloss.
Instagram: @donni.davyKat’s Fresh Face
“Kat continues experimenting with different looks this season, but in a way I didn’t expect,” Davy said of Kat's season-two transformation. “Instead of taking the goth-grunge-fairy-inspired direction that I had imagined, [Sam Levine] challenged me to bring a playful freshness to Kat’s makeup. You’ll see that many of her looks involve a super-clean lower lash line and bright colors. I interpreted this as Kat still being kind of new to wearing makeup, and still very much using it to help figure out who she wants to be.”
You can copy this multicolored aesthetic with Half Magic's Flying Saucer Set, which includes sky blue and alien green matte shadows (as seen on Katte), plus a blue-purple shimmer and neon face gems. Complete the ’90s-inspired look with brown lip liner and matching gloss.
Instagram / @donnidavyCassie’s Graphic Eye
This Caddy look also took some inspiration from Jules. “The goal was to sort of shift [Cassie's] whole vibe to be season-one-era Jules-Maddy-Cassie hybrid that would appeal to Nate, or possibly to his subconscious,” Davy explains.
“[Cassie] has blonder and straighter hair, paler skin, more makeup and her clothes are more Maddy x Jules vibes,” she continues. “We kept her face and whole body more pale to play up a Jules parallel, and also to touch on the fact that she’s been holing up with Nate in his cavelike house. Cassie is usually more tan and flushed, so seeing her pale is a little jarring and almost suggests that she’s unwell. Gorgeous but weirdly sterile? Like youthful, innocent energy gone.”
Well, if Halloween is all about being spooky, “gorgeous but weirdly sterile” certainly fits the bill. For Cassie's striking graphic eyeliner look, apply pencil eyeliner on your inner waterline. Then create an oversized cat framing your eye using a calligraphy-style liquid eyeliner, and top with shimmer blue eye shadow to fill in the negative space. Retrace your oversized cat eye a second to make sure it maintains its severity postshadow, and finish with black mascara and clear eyebrow gel.
