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For the hair-and-makeup team behind the Netflix hit series Wednesday, achieving that ghostlike look on the characters is an art. To achieve those perfect dark under-eye circles, Nirvana Jalalvand’s pro tip is not applying any product under Jenna Ortega’s eyes. “I literally just don’t put any product under her eye, and then I just bring the base color up to where her under-eye is, and it creates that illusion of shadow,” Jalalvand said. “Once you get rid of the warmth and the skin tone, then it really allows the bluey tones under her eyes to pop out.”
For the latest episode of The Who What Wear Podcast, beauty editor Kaitlyn McLintock sits down with Jalalvand and the other Wednesday hair-and-makeup masterminds—Francesco Pegoretti and Lynn Johnston—to discuss their go-to products they used on set, how they drew inspiration from the original black-and-white run of The Addams Family, and more.
For excerpts from their conversation, scroll below.
Were there any standout staple products that you loved using this season?
Nirvana Jalalvand: The Pat McGrath foundation was incredible. Also, the Pat McGrath under-eye powder. I actually just used that all over [Jenna Ortega’s] skin, and it just gave this really beautiful “airbrushed finish” quality to her skin, which I thought worked really well.
Lynn Johnston: We did use a lot of MAC products. We used some Charlotte Tilbury products, Sculpted by Aimee, Glossier, Armani Luminous Silk, of course. Then on the special-effects side, we used some of the Bluebird palettes on the skin, illustrator palettes. The Embryolisse moisturizer is great for just breaking up any makeup if it’s a bit cakey during the day. It’s great for pulling it back and then working on top of again.
Francesco Pegoretti: I like a lot—Maria Nila and Oribe. For example, for the gala, when we have something structured, I like this brand Blix for hair spray.
Armani Beauty
Luminous Silk Perfect Glow Flawless Oil-Free Foundation
Sculpted By Aimee
Brighten Up Concealer
Embryolisse
Lait-Crème Sensitive
Maria Nila
Cream Heat Spray
Obviously, the Addams family is known for this pallor to their skin. It’s slightly ghostlike. How are you achieving that look, and what complexion products are you using?
NJ: That Pat McGrath foundation I was telling you about … worked really well because you can layer that really nicely. Jenna obviously has gorgeous Latino skin, but we still want her to have that goth, ghostly look like you were saying. What I have always done to find her Wednesday shade is I look at the lightest part of her complexion, and I match to that to give an overall hue of slight fairness.
PAT McGRATH LABS
Skin Fetish: Sublime Perfection Weightless Foundation
I am very impressed with the dark circles. The characters who have the dark circles, they’re so natural looking. How do you create such realistic-looking dark circles on these characters?
NJ: For Jenna, because hers is a lot more subtle … I literally just don’t put any product under her eye, and then I just bring the base color up to where her under-eye is, and it creates that illusion of shadow. Once you get rid of the warmth and the skin tone, then it really allows the bluey tones under her eyes to pop out.
Jenna loves it when they’re popping out. Sometimes, if she was well rested, she’d be like, “Oh, I look too well rested today.”
LJ: For some of the guys, we used either tones in the MAC Pro Palette that are very lacking in warmth, or sometimes, it might be the Ben Nye matte foundation. It just depended on who it was going on to and what their own skin color was. Anything that’s very thick or heavy, we tended to mix it with the MAC Pro makeup mixer to try and thin it out. Sometimes, there would be more than one color used so it doesn’t look so blocky. It looks more like something that’s real.
MAC
Pro Palette Full Coverage Foundation X 12
MAC
Face & Body Mixing Medium
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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