16 Insider Secrets About The Hair And Makeup Looks From "Bridgerton" That'll Make You Love The Show More Than You Already Do

    The team used a special technique to quickly sculpt the actors' jawlines and cheekbones before applying makeup.

    Fabiana Buontempo
    by Fabiana Buontempo

    BuzzFeed Staff

    As most of you know, Season 2 of Bridgerton premiered last month. If you're a fan, you're already aware that it's full of steamy love scenes, quirky characters, and plenty of juicy scandals. And one of the very best parts of the show, in my opinion, is the stunning time period makeup and hair looks.

    The Bridgerton family sitting at a wedding together
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    Erika Ökvist is the hair and makeup designer for Season 2 of Bridgerton. Everything from Queen Charlotte's elaborate wigs to Penelope Featherington's pouty lip to Kate Sharma's bronzed lids are all thanks to Erika and her talented team.

    We spoke to Erika about all things Bridgerton and behind-the-scenes beauty — including how she preps each actor's skin before makeup application, her favorite looks so far, how long it takes for the show's wigs to be made (hint: it takes way longer than you'd expect), and more.

    1. Erika wanted all of the show's makeup looks to enhance each actor's natural beauty.

    A man and a woman standing close to each other
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    Erika said to achieve a soft, natural makeup look, she relied on the colors in each actor's undertones. "On somebody like Kate Sharma — played by Simone Ashley — she's got beautiful bronzes and really warm, lovely apricots in her undertones," she told BuzzFeed. "If we use that color scheme on her eyelids, even though we can see that it's makeup, it's just going to enhance her natural beauty."

    Erika said layering the makeup was also key to not having makeup look too heavy. "It's easier to layer the makeup as the day goes on or as the lighting in the scene changes, rather than applying a ton of makeup upfront," she said. 

    In terms of products, Erika and her team often used Pat McGrath’s Bridgerton collaboration eyeshadow palettes for the delicate makeup looks. 

    2. The wedding scene in Season 2 created a few specific makeup challenges for Erika and her team.

    Queen Charlotte from Bridgerton handed a crown to a bride
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    Erika said applying makeup in the makeup chair is one thing, but once that look is brought to the set, it can look completely different due to many factors. " can do the makeup and like how it looks with your eyes, but ultimately, it's about how the camera translates the makeup looks," she said.  

    "For instance, on one of the days when we were filming the wedding, everybody was inside. And they all looked flawless and beautiful on and off camera. And then they took the party outside and the sun was reflecting white light directly onto everyone's faces because we were somewhere where there were white stones," she said.

    "Because of that, everybody's makeup looked washed out, so we had to then go in and layer on more of the makeup. That's why it's so great to apply light layers and go with pigments and color schemes that you know you can take away or add on — because the camera needs to see it and it needs to read the same," Erika said.

    A bride and groom in Bridgerton
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    3. Creating the makeup looks in Season 2 was a very collaborative process.

    Members of the costume department dressing a female character from Bridgerton
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    "The film business is always a collaboration. You start with somebody writing a script that creates a character, then you've got somebody who needs to cast the characters. So those people are also involved in helping create the makeup looks," Erika said. 

    "And then when the actor comes in and sits in my chair, they add their input as well. Also, on fitting days, I would be there with the person who's going to dress the actor every single day. Together, the three of us — the actor, the costume department, and me — will create the character's final beauty look," she said.  

    4. Both the characters' costumes and personalities influenced the makeup looks as well.

    A woman sitting in a purple dress
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    "The hair, makeup, and costumes are all fluid. They're beautiful together and what I would call a piece of art. Once you achieve that, you need to figure out what this character is about," Erika explained.

    "Maybe it's somebody who should look a little bit innocent. Maybe we make the eyes a little bit rounder rather than catty. Maybe there's somebody who is a little bit catty, and maybe we make her beauty look darker. The last thing we do is just figure out: who is this character? I think it's really important for the actor to be able to fully embody the character when they look in the mirror at themselves," she said. 

    5. Erika's makeup application techniques varied depending on the actors' skin type.

    A woman holding a town paper looking perplexed
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    "Finding the right way to apply makeup on the different actors is important. Because for some people, you need to apply it with your fingers because you need the warmth of your hands to spread the makeup. Some people need makeup applied using a brush, while for some, you might have to use beauty blenders. It all has to do with what skin they have," she said. 

    6. Erika tried her best not to put too much pressure on herself to compete with the makeup looks in Season 1.

    A female and male character from Season 1 of Bridgerton
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    To not put too much pressure on herself in Season 2, Erika compared the beauty looks in the seasons of Bridgerton to fashion worn during different seasons of Fashion Week. "Celebrities [who] go to Fashion Week wear new looks each season. They will never repeat the same looks year after year," Erika explained. 

    "The same logic applied to how I approached the beauty looks in season 2 of Bridgerton. This season was completely different from the first season and I was starting fresh," she said. 

    7. Of all of the looks created for Season 2, Erika's absolute favorite was the Queen's heart-shaped wig.

    Queen Charlotte posing with people behind her in Bridgerton
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    "My favorite look was the first wig I ever made, which was actually a heart-shaped gray wig for the Queen," she said. "It was a little bit [of] an impossible architectural shape. I loved that one."

    8. Anytime Erika saw a final beauty look on camera, she was quick to critique her work.

    A woman sitting in a white dress with a camera filming her
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    "Every time I saw [a beauty look] on camera, I'd say 'I wish I could do this differently.' I had to think about this when I first started in this industry because I would get stress headaches because I would panic so much because I'd see something and say, 'Oh, I could have done it better,'" she said. 

    "But with the knowledge that I have now and with the time and the money I've been given, I have to honor what I created, as long as I did my best."

    9. While filming, Erika always gave the actors a facial massage to get rid of any puffiness and to sculpt the face.

    Two women wearing beige and silver dresses looking off to the side
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    "I always had some sort of face massage with us like beauty rollers or gua sha. But I'm also old-fashioned, I really like to do it with my hands because then I can feel what's happening [with the skin]," she said. 

    "I make sure to wake up the face and make sure that the blood circulation is going to help drain the puffiness which happens in a lot of different places. But obviously, the most important places to focus are the jawline, cheekbones, and eyes," she explained. 

    10. The key to all the flawless skin seen in Bridgerton is sheet masks, SPF, and a specific Pat McGrath makeup primer.

    A woman wearing a white gown looking off to the side
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    "The most important thing is that they come in in the morning and we hydrate and then hydrate more. But [product-wise], we use a lot of sheet masks for a really quick and impactful hydration boost," she said.

    "I would also always apply SPF. Forget about everything else, because if you don't do SPF, you're screwed. Then I follow that with a really good primer. We used a lot of Pat McGrath's Skin Fetish Sublime Perfection Primer because it's got hyaluronic acid and that acts almost like an ozone layer for the skin," she said. 

    "It just holds on to all the moisture that we spent all that time trying to give to the face. It also helps the SPF not to evaporate and it holds on to the makeup — so even if we apply something very, very sheer, it keeps it in place," Erika said.

    A curly haired girl looking off into the distance in Bridgerton
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    11. Male leads — like Jonathan Bailey and Luke Newton — got the same attention to detail that the female actors did when it came to their skin prep and makeup application.

    Two men getting groomed
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    It was important for the makeup team to treat each actor with the same attention to detail. "Some of our main men are probably in the makeup chair for about an hour," Erika said. "I treat everybody equally. All the men need the same kind of hydration — and that stuff just takes time."

    'If we're using their own hair, we have to make sure that the grooming is on par [too]," she said. "One millimeter of hair out of place here or there really makes a difference."

    When it came to the makeup, the base was set — and fairly minimal, meaning actors could wear it off set and have it not look out of place. "The base that we use on everybody consists of primer, foundation, and concealer," Erika said. "Even the men sometimes, if they had to go out after filming, they would go with their set makeup. That just shows how secure they felt with how their makeup looked."

    Two man chatting and looking into the distance
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    12. Queen Charlotte's elaborate wigs took the longest to create compared to other characters' wigs.

    Two women drinking tea and talking, one of whom has a huge ornate wig
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    "The Queen's wigs took up to two weeks to make. And then took about 45 minutes to an hour to apply," Erika said. 

    "For the other women who had a wig, theirs would take about two hours to create and then half an hour to an hour to apply."

    13. The makeup team warned all the actors to leave their skin as is while filming.

    14. Although each character's hairstyle was different in most of the scenes, there had to remain some consistency so the hair stayed true to who the character was.

    The Bridgerton family posing together
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    "Every single person [on the show] has their own kind of hair DNA. Let's say, Lady Featherington — she's in a new hairstyle every single time we see her. Yet no matter what she is wearing, you still know it was her," Erika said. 

    "The creative process for creating wigs and hairstyles was where we just had loads of fun. But also, it's where I had to step in and say, 'Stop now because if you [do] that, it's going to be too much like this character or that character.'" 

    She emphasized the importance of keeping the DNA of a character's look, especially with so many characters and families on the show.

    15. Erika and her team also made sure to use the right products to maintain the health of the actors' hair types.

    16. Although Erika and her team tried not to make the wigs too heavy, they were still uncomfortable to wear.

    Queen Charlotte from Bridgerton reading a paper
    Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022 / Via Netflix

    "Let's just face it — wearing a wig is never comfortable, and the queen's wigs are not light. So I think that Golda Rosheuvel established a way gliding regally with them on. With all of her jewelry, all of the wigs, the corsets and petticoats, and everything that she was wearing, I bet she was doubling in weight every day — yet she made it all look so effortless," Erika said. 

    For more from Erika Ökvist, follow her on Instagram.

    What's your favorite look from Bridgerton? Share in the comments!