HBO’s hit teen drama “Euphoria” had a clear influence on makeup trends.
The show’s graphic eye makeup and face jewels served as the inspiration for many designers during the spring 2020 season shortly after the show’s June 2019 premiere, with models sporting rhinestones, graphic eyeliner and neon colors on the runway.
While each character had their own distinct beauty look, the makeup of Maddy Perez — a role played by 25-year-old actress Alexa Demie — was one of the most influential, with Instagram fan pages popping up to pay homage to the character’s use of bright colors, gem stones and glitter.
Demie herself is no stranger to the beauty world. The actress’ mom is a former MAC Cosmetics makeup artist, who instilled in her a love of beauty that she’s infused into her character. Demie worked closely with the show’s makeup artist, Doniella Davy, to help create her character’s looks, even bringing in her own gemstones.
Now the actress is bringing her affinity for bold makeup back to MAC, teaming with the brand on a collection of high-pigment eye shadows and brow gel fit for her “Euphoria” character, ranging in price from $17 to $24.
WWD caught up with Demie to talk about her latest MAC collaboration, her own beauty practices and “Euphoria” beauty trends.
WWD: Your mom is a former MAC makeup artist. How did she influence your beauty habits?
Alexa Demie: She influenced me in a lot of ways. One was having good, clean skin. She always made me wash my face even if it was 2 a.m. She also still does the Nineties lip and eyeliner and creates like 100 variations of that look, so that’s something I’ve taken from her.
WWD: How does the MAC collection reflect your own beauty practices?
A.D.: All of the products really were special to me, but I think the eye shadow was the perfect partnership because growing up when I was in middle school and high school, I was doing a lot of eyeliner looks and now I’m exploring more with eye shadow, so it’s just the perfect collaboration.
WWD: Your character didn’t shy away from a bold makeup look. How did you collaborate with the show’s makeup artists to create Maddy’s looks?
A.D.: I made mood boards with many different images that I had saved over the years and I brought gems in from my house. It was a collaborative process. I got to say what colors I wanted and what I wanted to do with the gems. I’m super particular about my eyeliner shape, so I always started that myself and they finished it. I made sure I always had lip liner on, except for the episode where I barely had anything on.
WWD: Were you expecting the show to have such an impact on makeup trends?
A.D.: No, honestly I wasn’t at all. I loved what we were doing, but I didn’t know how far it would go. It was definitely surprising.
WWD: How do you think makeup played a role in “Euphoria?”
A.D.: [“Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson] loves makeup and appreciates the art of makeup, especially for Maddy. He wanted girls to pause the TV and re-create the looks. Makeup is a huge part of her character and her backstory — you see her doing makeup as a little girl [in the flashbacks] — so that was really important for my character. She is the type of girl that is going to wake up early to do a full beat before school. It just got really fun and all the actors started playing with the makeup looks for all the characters. It’s amazing because you don’t get to do that a lot in acting so it was a dream come true.
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