This past Saturday night was made a little brighter when The Queen’s Gambit star Anya Taylor-Joy took over hosting duties on the season finale of NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Aside from stunning the audience with a turn of phrase in her native tongue, Spanish, Taylor-Joy also took our breath away with her angelic beauty look during her opening monologue. And if you saw the promo spots that ran ahead of the live show, you may have noticed yet another epic beauty look that was simply flawless. In short? She killed it.
The actress didn’t turn up in Beth Harmon’s signature copper-hued bob, but instead, sported the long, flowing, ice-blonde tresses we’re more used to seeing from the star every time she hits a red carpet. Lucky for us, celebrity hairstylist Gregory Russell and celebrity makeup artist Georgie Eisdell shared all the juicy details behind the hair and makeup looks we can’t stop thinking about. Keep scrolling for the full beauty breakdown and the products you’ll need to re-create the looks for yourself.
This glistening beehive is everything. “I was inspired by the style of the clothing to create a classic voluminous 1960s style,” Russell said in a statement. With that Courrèges number from stylist Law Roach’s personal archive, the vibe was clear.
Russell started by prepping the hair with a volumizing mousse and blowing it out with a round brush to establish the big shape. Once the hair cooled, he brushed through Taylor-Joy’s flowy tresses, separated two-inch sections at the front, and teased the crown to create that gorgeous bouffant. From there, he smoothed the teased section and secured it into a half-up style before ironing the front sections and ends of the hair. A final mist of hairspray for hold, and voila!
The ’60s inspiration extended into Taylor-Joy’s makeup look, too. From the dramatic cut-crease liner to the XXL lashes, it all worked.
Russell explained that he wanted to create a sleek and timeless hair look for Taylor-Joy’s opening monologue since she’d have to transform so many times during the show. To get the hair perfectly smooth, he applied some leave-in conditioner and serum to her wet hair before blow-drying and flat ironing it perfectly straight. He warmed up more serum and rubbed it through the lengths and face-framing pieces to amp up the shine.
“We kept her look very classic as we had to make sure the look could work with multiple character changes and a lot of costume changes,” Eisdell said. But if you ask us, the shimmery lid and pretty cat-eye, combined with that flawless complexion were so dreamy. Eisdell started by evening out Taylor-Joy’s complexion before adding a pop of color to her cheeks to create a bit more dimension. The eyes were the focus, so she went in with a shimmery silver eye shadow up to the crease and an inky, matte black wing line. An intense, curling mascara was used for been more drama. Finally, a bit of brow maintenance and a rosy lip tied it all together.
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