When HBO's popular teen drama Euphoria premiered last summer, it depicted the dark underbelly of suburban teen lives dominated by drugs, booze, and sex. Like Skins, but with more sexting. Now,
just before two new December episodes of the series this December, Euphoria has come to represent everything 2020 wasn’t. There’s no spontaneous romance, lively nightclub scene, or reason to put a sequined crop top on.
This year’s not offering many rhinestones, but there’s never been a better time to make an eye makeup statement. Just as Euphoria’s impossibly dramatic makeup looks mirror the intensity of being a teen, ours should follow suit. 2020 is the moment where we’re all tapping into our angry adolescence and the above-mask aesthetic can communicate that.
Enter Makeup Artist Doniella Davy, the visionary responsible for the mesmerizing beauty moments on Euphoria. Bold color, shimmering gold tears, and rhinestone eyebrows are just a few of the styles that keep your eyes glued to the screen. It's hard to look away from Euphoria for a number of reasons, and the facebeats are one of them.
Pre-pandemic, Davy was kind enough to teach ELLE.com staffers how to take the looks offscreen. Four ELLE Editors—two Gen-Zers and two millennials—gave the glam looks a try for a casual day at work. (This was back when office spaces and non-standing desks were a thing.) Here's how we did and here's how you can create the looks at home. Because who couldn’t use a bit of sparkle?
Maddy's Neon Glow
How To Get The Look:
- Apply NYX Vivid Brights Cream Color in Lavender applied with a fluffy eyeshadow brush as a base all over eyelids, up into the crease and beyond.
- Apply any shimmery or matte lavender eyeshadow layered on top of Step 1 with a fluffy eyeshadow brush.
- Next, grab Suva Beauty Hydra liner in Acid Trip applied all the way around the perimeter of the eye, and angled into points in the inner and outer corners. This is best done with a slanted flat eyeliner brush, and can be as thin or thick as you like.
- Keep your brows free from any heavy filling, and brush them straight up. Secure with clear brow gel or Aerogel hairspray.
- Apply MAC Nude lip liner and lipstick. (Any peachy nude will work!)
- Finish with curled lashes and two coats of mascara on top and bottom.
Ariana's Version
"When I got assigned to recreate Euphoria's resident baddie Maddy Perez, I knew it was going to be a lewk. IMO, Maddy's got some of the best makeup on the show and her bright liner and lilac shadow was pretty easy to apply. It took some time to get her eyeliner even, but anyone can do this look at home. Just make sure you're not rushing, use a good liner brush, and voila! You're suddenly a student at East Highland high." — Ariana Yaptangco, Social Media Editor
Maddy's Rhinestoner
How To Get The Look:
- Choose a base eyeshadow color, any color! Davy recommends any Colour Pop, MAC and NARS eyeshadows.
- Choose another color to blend into it and create a fade if you want. This is NOT about defining the crease with a darker color. Let the crease breathe, and if you’re going to define it, do it with rhinestones (from Amazon!).
- Add black winged liner if you need to be fierce. Use any cream pot black eyeliner, but Davy's team used Chanel for Maddy.
- Apply this with a slanted flat eyeliner brush. Be patient! Perfect winged liner is really hard.
- Use small pointy q-tips to help make corrections.
- Use any white (clear-drying) eyelash glue to attach rhinestones of any shape or size to your eyelids, lash line, eyebrows or all of the above.
- I like to keep a peachy nude lip with Maddy’s blinged-out eyes, but experiment with darker nudes and lip liners.
- Keep your brows free from any heavy filling, and brush them straight up. Secure with clear brow gel or Aerogel hairspray.
- Finish with strip lashes by House of Lashes.
Chloe's Version
"Maddy is the wildest woman in the game. The second her rhinestone glam aired on Euphoria I knew this was a dream look I wanted to create. It was not hard at all! The rhinestones make it feel like it's an elevated YouTube glam that only the best beauty bloggers in the game could master, but in reality it's a super easy DIY art project. The hardest part was making sure my rhinestones didn't smudge my eyeshadow when I applied them every so delicately. I would wear this look to the club, I actually wore it to work, and maybe a carnival to cause a scene, just like Maddy." — Chloe Hall, Special Projects Editor and Producer
Kat's Seeing Green
How To Get The Look:
- Start with NYX Vivid Brights cream color in bright green applied with a flat concealer brush as a base all over eyelids, but keep in a round/oval shape. Bring the shape just above your crease.
- Use a shimmery light green eyeshadow to dust on top. This helps to set the cream color.
- Apply a tiny bit of green glitter or a really shimmery green eyeshadow toward the inner corners of your eyes to add reflection there.
- Use a medium/dark green shimmery cream eyeshadow to line just below your lower lashes. Davy used a cream pot eyeshadow by Chanel.
- Line your lower waterline in black waterproof eyeliner.
- Load up with several coats of black mascara on top and bottom lashes.
- Apply Glossier Boy Brow in Black (or whatever color matches your brows) and brush brows straight up
- Apply a berry or burgundy lipstick with your fingers.
- Go slightly outside of your lip line so the effect is a bit blurry, almost like bee-stung lips or popsicle lips.
Nerisha's Version
"The characters in my latest obsession Euphoria are unhinged, fearless, and hella dramatic—and their makeup looks are no different. There’s Jules, who plays a lot with vibrant eyeshadows and liners; Maddy’s always covered in rhinestones and Rue really, really loves glitter. But my makeup spirit animal is easily Kat. Kat is the rebel of the cast and her makeup is basically a middle finger to anything deemed “glam makeup.” Glam isn’t always soft pinks and browns: it can also be a sharp, thick winged liner, a deep red lipstick with a darker liner, or my favorite Kat look—glittery green eyelids. So I attempted to coat my lids in money green like Kat. I started off by priming my lids with a white base before packing on a bright green eyeshadow. When I felt like there was enough on my lids, I blended out the shadow with a deep brown and brought the color above my crease to create a slight gradient. I added a little green shadow on my waterline and packed on a mint green glitter shadow all over my lids for a fairy-like finish. One-color lids are all the rage right now and Kat’s money green look has just claimed the top spot on my mood board." — Nerisha Penrose, Associate Editor
Jule's Pink Lady
How To Get The Look:
- Apply Stila liquid shimmer eyeshadow in a light pink color or any of their other iridescent pastel shades. You can use this straight out of the tube on your lids, and then blend in with a small fluffy eyeshadow brush.
- Use any skinny brush to apply Makeup Forever Aqua Color paint in orange or red, or mix them together to get a bright warm red. Keep the color rounded on your inner corners, as opposed to pointed like Maddy’s, and bring out the color halfway across your lower lash line.
- I didn’t use mascara on Jules for this look, but feel free to curl your lashes and apply any color of mascara.
Mia's Version
"I was slightly intimidated to try out Jules’ boundary-pushing eye looks, but I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to actually recreate. Particularly, the Make-up-forever pen did a great job of adding a bold neon orange stroke in one quick swipe. Even though this was well beyond the norm for me in terms of daytime makeup, my co-workers and strangers on the subway all agreed it was the perfect combo of subtle-meets-edgy." — Mia Feitel, Design Director
"Enjoy painting your face!" — Doniella Davy