Daisy Edgar-Jones's Wild West Meets Old Hollywood Beauty Look Is All I Can Think About—Here's Every Detail
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I’ve always had a thing for Old Hollywood glamour. A feline swipe of charcoal eyeliner à la Brigitte Bardot, a glossy, temple-grazing finger wave, a dose of fresh, ultra-ethereal skin… I eat it up. But all of the above served with a side of jaunty Wild West sultriness via our July cover star, Daisy Edgar-Jones? It was the unexpected beauty amalgamation I never knew I needed. (Seriously, where’s an 1800s saloon when you need one?!) If you’re feeling as inspired as I am, keep scrolling—we have every hair and makeup detail just below.
If you’re familiar with Edgar-Jones’s work (Normal People and Where the Crawdads Sing), you’ll know that range is one of the actor’s many fortes, and that same, chameleon-like quality also came in handy when she was tasked with lassoing the retro cowgirl vibe of our July cover. “Working with Daisy is a dream—she is a real natural beauty, but she can easily transform into any character,” explains celebrity hairstylist Cervando Maldonado. “We wanted to create a whole different character for Daisy; a vintage bombshell pinup with a modern twist. To create the hair, I was really inspired by classic movie stars like Rita Hayworth and Veronica Lake.”
Bouncy volume was a through line and something Maldonado created a lasting framework for as soon as he began to prep Edgar-Jones’s hair for a long day on set. “I started the process on damp hair and began by applying Oribe’s Grandiose Hair Plumping Mousse ($42) from the roots to the tips, topping the same areas off with a layer of Olaplex’s Volumizing Blow Dry Mist ($30).” After coating Edgar-Jones’s strands with the product, Maldonado began to blow-dry the hair with a boar bristle brush, adding medium-size Velcro rollers to each section as he dried to create volume and to help hold the shape. (Pro tip: Always start at the front and work backward when you’re drying and setting the hair with rollers like this.)
After letting the hair sit for about 15 minutes, Maldonado removed the rollers and grabbed a one-inch curling iron. “Once again, you’re starting in the front with this process,” he explains. “Working section by section, I pinned the hair close to the head to let it form into a classic 1940s set. I let that sit for another 15 minutes and then removed the pins one by one starting at the nape of the neck, and then brushing the hair out with a Mason Pearson Hair Brush ($325) working my way to the front of the head.” (This, he says, is what really builds that gorgeous Veronica Lake–inspired shape.) “After that, I took huge flat clips and pinned them around the waves to keep the hair in that shape and let it set, once again, for about five to 10 minutes before removing the clips.” To finish, Maldonado used L’Oréal’s cult-favorite Elnett Satin Extra Strong Hold Unscented Hairspray ($16) to lock the style in place.
“About mid-shoot, we gave the hair a bit more volume and texture by brushing it out so that it looked slightly different from when we started but still maintained a similar concept to keep the shoot cohesive,” he notes. To keep Edgar-Jones’s hair shiny and frizz-free through a long day of shooting, Maldonado tells me he kept a couple of additional trusted products—Olaplex’s No. 7 Bonding Frizz Protection & Heat Protectant Oil ($30) and Sheila Stotts’ Removal Brush ($39)—on hand at all times.
Celebrity makeup artist Jo Baker echoes Maldonado’s sentiment regarding the inspiration for Edgar-Jones’s beauty look: “It was all about a glamorous Old Hollywood cowgirl dolly vibe … dreamy doe eyes using neutral desert tones punctuated with starkly bold dolly lashes and sun-kissed pretty skin!” And while said bold accents like Edgar-Jones’s impossibly long lashes and sunset-tone cat-eyes were inarguable focal points for the look, skin prep (as always!) was essential. “I began by prepping Daisy’s skin using Plated Skin Science’s Daily Serum ($258). I’ve been obsessed with this since discovering it a few months ago,” says Baker. “It gives me glass-like hydration and shine and is the perfect pre-makeup staple for flawless, beautifully radiant skin.” Because the serum has so many different benefits, Baker tells me it helps streamline her skin-prep process so she can dive into the actual makeup application sooner rather than later.
“This look was all about country-inspired glam with a vintage feel, so I applied a soft and smoky saddle-brown matte shadow from Bakeup’s Desert Road Trip Palm Palette ($24) along Daisy’s top and bottom lashline pulling it out to a wing shape.” In addition to the soft, shadowy liner, Baker explains that it’s the spiked, ultra-fluttery lashes that look a more modern edge. Baker’s MVP product? Bakeup’s Tarantulash Mascara ($27). “This mascara delivers a bold and fearless doe-eyed lash that flutters and commands attention,” she explains.
To keep the focus on Edgar-Jones’s gaze, Baker kept the skin, cheeks, and lips comparatively simple. “For the base, I used Supergoop!’s new Protec(tint) Daily SPF Tint SPF 50 ($44), which I absolutely love for the summer. It leaves you with a gleaming protective base that looks natural but with a little extra glowing magic!” Baker finished off Edgar-Jones’s complexion with Saltyface’s Liquid Bronzer ($36) for a shimmer-free bronzed flush and Hello Sunday’s The One for Your Lips SPF 50 Hydrating Lip Balm ($12) on the lips for a fresh and juicy pout that didn’t look too made-up.
Erin has been writing a mix of beauty and wellness content for Who What Wear for over four years. Prior to that, she spent two and half years writing for Byrdie. She now calls Santa Monica home but grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and studied writing, rhetoric, and communication at University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. She studied abroad in Galway, Ireland, and spent a summer in L.A. interning with the Byrdie and Who What Wear family. After graduating from UW, she spent one year in San Francisco, where she worked as a writer for Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen before moving down to L.A. to begin her career as a beauty editor. She considers her day-to-day beauty aesthetic very low-maintenance and relies on staples like clear brow serum (from Kimiko!), Lawless's Lip Plumping Mask in Cherry Vanilla, and an eyelash curler. For special occasions or days when she's taking more meetings or has an event, she'll wear anything and everything from Charlotte Tilbury (the foundations are game-changing), some shimmer on her lids (Stila and Róen do it best), and a few coats of the best mascara-type product on earth, Surratt's Noir Lash Tint.
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