Love the hairstyles and makeup on Netflix’s Hollywood? Here’s how to do them at home

From The Politician to Pose, everything Ryan Murphy touches turns to TV gold. The American screenwriter/director/producer’s most recent offering is no different. Starring longtime Murphy collaborators Dylan McDermott and Darren Criss, as well as newcomers Laura Harrier and Samara Weaving, Hollywood tells the tale of a group of aspiring actors and filmmakers as they navigate the politics of stardom.

Set in the Golden Age of Hollywood, the show recalls a time of glitz and glamour. Think Katharine Hepburn and Vivien Leigh; embroidered pencil skirts teamed with tiny cardigans; side-swept pin curls and postbox-red lips. But it was also one of exclusion. Women were there solely to be looked at, people of colour routinely overlooked and the LGBTQ+ community forced to hide in the shadows.

In Hollywood, Murphy flips the script, asking, ‘What if things were different? What if women and other marginalised identities were in charge? What would creativity look like then?’ It’s a thrilling concept, and one that will whisk you away for a couple of hours; a welcome escape from the grim realities of lockdown.

But it doesn’t have to end there. After binge-watching all seven episodes, keep the fantasy alive by transforming yourself into your own Hollywood starlet. Stuck for ideas? We asked makeup artists Lucy Bridge and Celia Burton, Bleach London’s Alex Brownsell and hair stylist Kiyoko Odo to lend a helping hand. Below: a seven-point guide to Hollywood beauty.

1. The Hollywood glow 

From Laura Harrier’s Camille Washington, a young black actress trying to resist being typecast as a maid, to Samara Weaving’s Claire Wood, the daughter of a big studio boss hoping to break out of her father’s shadow, one of the defining features of Murphy's leading ladies is their luminous Hollywood glow. For tips on how to shine both on screen and off, we turned to London-based makeup artist Lucy Bridge, who’s worked with everyone from Harry Styles to Charles Jeffrey.

“For creating that effortless and natural glow, I love La Mer’s Hydrating Illuminator,” Bridge offers. “This can be mixed in with your foundation to give a dewy yet natural appearance, or it can be dabbed on to the cheekbones and eyelids once your makeup has been applied. My go-to natural radiant foundation would be Lumene’s Instant Glow Beauty Serum. This gives just the right amount of coverage if you’re not looking for anything heavy, and leaves the skin looking dewy without looking sweaty. It’s a staple in my kit, too—I can't go a day without using it on either myself or a model.”

2. The perfect pin curls

Nothing says Hollywood like pin curls. It’s a style that oozes glamour and sex appeal. Take Patti LuPone’s Avis Amberg, a rich housewife who suddenly finds herself calling the shots when she’s temporarily put in charge of her husband’s film studio. As part of her power dressing, Amberg’s hair is worn up and styled in tight pin curls, lending her an air of formidability. Then there’s Mira Sorvino’s hapless Jeanne Crandall, whose brushed-out pin curls, swept to the side, give her a sense of fading glamour as Hollywood turns its back on her.

On how to get the perfect Hollywood curls, hair stylist Kiyoko Odo has the following advice: “Apply Bumble and bumble Thickening Spray to wet hair and rough-dry it. If you need body, I recommend rough-drying upside down to lift the roots. Then use medium-sized hot rollers all the way through the hair, wait until the rollers are completely cold and then take them out. Starting from the fringe, part the hair going backwards. Pick up the front fringe section and spray it with hairspray, backcombing the root. Then, using a tail comb to make the curl smooth, decide its position and sweep on to the forehead, putting a grip on it to hold in place if you need. Take the next section of hair and repeat these steps until you’ve worked through the whole head. Spray it one last time with hairspray and then you’re done.”

For more inspo, look to the AW20 catwalk shows—Miu Miu, Anna Sui, Christopher John Rogers, MSGM—where Hollywood curls took centre stage.

3. The ready-for-your-close-up red lip

No Hollywood beauty look would be complete without a signature siren-red lip. It’s bold, it’s powerful, it’s sexy, and it’s worn by women of all ages on the show. It’s also very on trend for AW20. See Ralph & Russo, Oscar De La Renta, Jil Sander and Givenchy.

“The lip was the most important part of a 1940s lady’s makeup,” says Bridge. “It was known to keep up a woman’s spirits during wartime. It was always a shade of red. Lip pencils were introduced by the end of the 1940s and to this day, they are still the most important part of the perfect red lip.

“Before creating a bold and defined lip, it is very important to prep the lip with a lip balm. In the 1940s, red lipstick was always matte, which tended to be slightly drier than other lipsticks, so this is very important to have primed lips before. Start by filling in your lips with a lip liner that matches your chosen red lipstick. I like to line the outside of the lips first to define the shape, then use it to fill in the entire lip, which acts as a base for the lipstick. It will hold the lipstick for longer and will stop the edges from bleeding out. I prefer to apply lipstick in thin layers to build up the colour, so after each layer, blot your lips with a tissue in-between to get rid of any excess.”

4. The Anna May Wong bangs

One of the few characters to be based on real-life people, Anna May Wong (played by Michelle Krusiec) was a true Hollywood legend. The first Chinese-American actress to gain international fame, Wong spent her career fighting to be seen in an xenophobic industry. Keen to distance herself from the exoticised characters she played on screen, Wong began cultivating a flapper-style image, epitomised by her blunt fringe which she wore straight in the middle and then curled to the sides.

To get the look, Odo advises the following: “Wet the fringe and spray it with thickening spray, especially at root, and brow-dry it to make it straight. Use hair straighteners to make it more straight, but it still needs to follow the forehead shape so it sweeps naturally. If it’s too long, trim the hair. Then spray it with Bumble and bumble Thickening Spray to give you a natural shine and hold. Next, take the outer sections of the fringe and use a comb to make a wave shape, clipping it with section clips while it dries. When it’s dried, take the clips out.”

5. The waiting-in-the-wings eyeliner

As well her trademark fringe, Anna May Wong was also known for her sultry winged eyeliner—again, a nod to 1920s American glamour—which she would often accentuate with pencil-thin brows.

“The best way to do a cat eye is to first set your mirror up correctly. I like to hold mine underneath my chin and look down to find the right angle,” says Bridge. “Doing this allows your eye to sit naturally. Looking into a mirror straight on, you end up having to hold and pull your eye to get the right angle, which will distort your eye shape instantly. Sweep the eyeliner into the roots of your eyelashes, start really thin and build up the thickness. This way it’s easier to add in rather than take away.

“To add the cat eyes, I like to draw a rough guide with the eyeliner coming out the corner of my eye and attach it to the line I previously drew on the roots of the lashes. To get a precise wing, I love to use the tiny Muji cotton tips dipped in cleanser to clean up any mistakes. Sometimes your eyeliner can look uneven and it’s more about what you take away to even it up, rather than to add more product.”

6. The redhead coiffure

Judy Garland. Rita Hayworth. Deborah Kerr. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, there was no shortage of redheads, and Murphy’s reinterpretation is no different. Patti LuPone’s Avis Amberg and Holland Taylor’s fearless studio exec, Ellen Kincaid, command the screen and their male counterparts as the show’s fiery red bombshells. So if you haven’t already done a Dua Lipa, here’s Bleach London co-founder and expert colourist Alex Brownsell to show you how it’s done.

“Red and orange have proved very popular colours during quarantine as people make more daring hair decisions, knowing they don’t have to worry about what their bosses, teachers or grandparents are going to say,” she says. “Red’s a bold shade but a relatively entry-level one (compared to blue or green), which we’re more used to seeing in pop culture.

“If you’re already blonde, you can achieve a temporary version of this colour with a vegetable dye by mixing orange and brown. If you aren’t, you can use a permanent hair dye in a natural light red (7.34 in a box dye) or if you want to go full Milla Jovovich in the The Fifth Element, you can use Bleach London Plex Bleach followed by Tangerine Dream Super Cool Colour all over.”

7. The screen-ready brows

With so much attention already focused on the lips and that overall movie-star glow, Hollywood brows were kept fairly natural. That said, they served an all-important function of framing the eye.

“Not over-plucked or dramatically filled, instead, 1940s brows were kept tidy, brushed into a natural arch and held in place using petroleum jelly or lanolin,” says Glossier ambassador and Adwoa Aboah’s go-to makeup artist Celia Burton. “To achieve this look today, use a brow wand to brush your eyebrow up at the front and out as you move towards the edge of the face. With your brows standing to attention, you’ll be able to determine what you can pluck out of the way to enhance your natural arch. Use a good pair of tweezers and go hair by hair, stepping back every so often to review your work and see your face as a whole.

“To finish, use a clear brow gel or pomade (such as Glossier’s Boy Brow in Clear or West Barn Co’s Soap Brows) to brush the brows again, up and out. Use your index finger to press the brow on to the skin, fixing it in place and removing any excess product at the same time. If at this point you still want to add a little definition, use a brow pen such as Glossier’s Brow Flick to add depth or detail. A pen (as opposed to a pencil or paint pot), actually mimics the look of the hair, and keeps the brow looking full, fluffy and, most importantly, natural.”

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