Viewers who made The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Hulu's most-watched unscripted series of 2024 had one big question for the stars of #MomTok, even before digging into their friendships, marriages, and dirty soda recipes. How do they look like that, all the time?
The eight women followed on Secret Lives, due for season 2 on May 15, might grant personal makeup awards to slightly different products and subscribe to individual self-care routines. But there's a uniformity to their appearance that goes beyond the matching blue coats they wear in the show's title sequence. Their hair is often waist-length and styled into gentle "Utah curls"; their lashes are long and fluttery; their outfits hit a high-low balance even a fashion editor like me can't ignore. In Reddit thread after Reddit thread, no matter how viewers feel about their intrapersonal drama or interpretation of Mormon teachings, they have one word for this cast's appearance: "perfect."
When I touched down in Salt Lake City in early April, meeting Secret Lives of Mormon Wives stars Taylor Frankie Paul, Layla Wessel, and Jennifer Affleck at the launch party of their campaign with the affordable makeup and skincare line MCoBeauty, that's not a word they use to describe themselves onscreen. Chatting before the trio unveils their photos (and catches up with the four other cast mates in attendance), they admit the glossy reality-show exterior doesn't always reflect what's happening on the inside.
Taylor Frankie Paul, considered one of the originators of the #MomTok group, was pregnant during the show's first season. Seeing her body and hair change onscreen made watching the show "a really hard time." "I was 70 pounds heavier, and my makeup was done the opposite of how I would have done it," she tells me. "During pregnancy, to look at yourself and see a difference, it's so hard. So for me, in a beauty sense, I was really hard on myself. I don't think I looked anything close to perfect. If anything, I thought the opposite."
The Mormon Wives stars had accumulated a combined social media audience of more than 10 million before the series. They shared enough of their beauty routines and parenting milestones for followers to feel like they knew them—all while controlling the camera filters and the narrative. Starting to film for Hulu meant ceding control over the final edit. Rewatching their lives cut and spliced in eight episodes onscreen, naturally, impacted their self-image.
"I definitely feel like being in this industry and being on camera, it's hard not to want to show up as perfect all the time," Jen Affleck says. "I mean, especially watching [myself] back at moments that I didn't wash my hair or did my makeup as good...I think we're definitely our worst critics. But I also realized there's so much beauty [in] not showing up as being perfect—and especially being moms, we don't always have time to do our hair and do our makeup and do all the things."
Going into the confessional booth forced the women to be real about one another; watching the show back made them confront themselves. Paul and Affleck both tell me they've invested in self-care heading into the second season, ranging from nightly journaling to therapy sessions.
Bringing #MomTok off cell phones and onto TV had its beauty perks, though. On a large scale, the women are now faces of MCoBeauty in a nationwide campaign—and with affordable products they actually use (and adore). Beyond the opportunities to swatch foundations and eyeshadows in commercials airing around the country, "I feel like I found a lot of confidence after season one," says Wessel, who was recently divorced at the start of the first season. "It was hard to watch yourself on camera, for sure, and like watch that back, but I definitely was a very scared girl going into season one, and I feel like I definitely found my confidence over season two."
She tells me that the second time around, she wore less makeup on filming days. And while other cast mates hired stylists to dress them, she happily continues to pick out her own clothes. "I'm just showing up more authentically, which I'm really proud of."
Paul has also stepped back from using a makeup artist or stylist. When she's the one picking up the primer, blush, and mascara, she's more confident in the final look. "Obviously you know your face best," she explains. "So what I learned quickly from season 1 to season 2 is I do all my own makeup for everything, interviews, big events."
Affleck's time spent in front of the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives camera has taught her to look inward before sitting down to a screening for season 2. "I feel like I'm now finally getting to the point of like, there isn't any need for perfectionism. What really matters is who we are on the inside and as long as we can focus on that and prioritize that and being the best versions of ourselves, people will see the beauty on the outside."
For Paul, joining the show and navigating family changes (that would be a spoiler to share here) isn't just a matter of seeing herself and accepting the tape; it's settling into an entirely different lifestyle. "This is all so new to me," she says of parenting and working with cameras watching her every move. "I've never experienced anything like this." Whatever's ahead on season 2, this much is certain: The first impression looks aren't the whole story.
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 2 streams May 15 exclusively on Hulu. MCoBeauty is sold at Target, Amazon, and MCoBeauty.com.
