The White Lotus’s Makeup Artist Spills the Character Details We’ve Missed

“During the first season, I was really concerned about everyone looking realistic. When you go on vacation, you don’t wear a lot of makeup,” says Rebecca Hickey, The White Lotus’s lead makeup artist. “So I kept telling my team to do ‘no-makeup makeup’. I mean, I haven’t really stuck to that,” she laughs.

Hickey was approached to do the makeup for the HBO show’s first season in the height of the COVID pandemic. “A friend called and said the show was in need of a makeup artist to shoot for two months in Hawaii, even though we’d be stuck in the hotel the whole time because of the pandemic. But I feel like when Hawaii calls, you answer. We didn’t know the magnitude of this show. We had no idea! We were reading the script like, well, that’s interesting; a little odd,” she laughs.

Fast forward a few years and the show is now on its third season and has become an HBO darling — and a fan favourite. Last week’s episode was watched by 4.2 million people, and don’t even get us started on the volume of viewers who immediately take to TikTok to share their theories and thoughts after each episode.

Another thing that couldn’t have been predicted? How The White Lotus has solidified itself as a fashion show, whether it meant to or not. “Mike White, the show’s creator, gives us so much freedom. Sometimes he’ll look at our [selects] and go 'That’s what you’re doing? Uh, ok...’" she laughs. “For example on season two, with the characters Mia and Lucia, we did all these crazy colours and outfits. I think Mike didn’t expect it to be a fashion show. But the costume designer Alex [Bovaird] and I were like, ‘Let’s make this fun’ so she started pulling like, head-to-toe Prada looks.”

On season three, one makeup look in particular has become the standout beauty moment of the show: Chelsea’s glittery purple eyeshadow at the full moon party in episode 5. “I wanted to do something really fun for the party,” says Hickey. “And really play with the idea that Chelsea and Chloe’s older boyfriends weren’t there, and they were finally amongst peers, people their own age. I wanted it to feel childlike, as if they were two teenagers in a bathroom doing their makeup and getting ready for a party. I don’t think that kind of look would have happened if Rick had been there with Chelsea.”

To get that striking opaque purple shade, Hickey used Lemonhead’s Spacecase Glitter Pro-Palette in the shade “Violet Hour.” But Hickey’s absolute makeup must-have for filming in Thailand? SPF, particularly Vacation Inc. Super Spritz SPF 50, which Hickey would spray over the actors’ makeup while shooting, and Westmore Beauty’s Body Coverage Perfector (“This creates an even finish and doesn’t come off with water or sweat!"). “We also did a lot of damage control,” says Hickey of working in intense heat. “So things like fans, cold towels, umbrellas.”

Other than Chelsea’s memorable glitter beauty look, I ask Hickey if there have been any other The White Lotus beauty looks that are on the more subtle side that might provide clues about the characters. “I love little thoughtful details when it comes to makeup, so yes. With the character Kate, she lives in Texas so I wanted her to always have her full face on, but in unexpected ways with different colours. You can’t see it too much but we played with pink and green and blue eyeshadow that you would only really notice if you were looking for it.”

Speaking of the show’s trio of friends (Kate, Laurie and Jaclyn), Hickey says viewers may not have picked up on a tiny detail that speaks volumes about the group’s dynamic. “Laurie, played by Carrie Coon, has this really weird nail polish colour,” says Hickey. “It’s like this bluish-purple. It doesn’t really make sense, because she’s this big New York City lawyer and it’s just odd,” explains Hickey of the muted, not-so-flattering choice for a vacation manicure. “It’s saying that she was really excited about vacation, and really wanted to fit in with the other ladies, but she just kind of misses the mark. It’s a strange choice. I think little things like that are fun because maybe the audience doesn’t quite pick up on them, or while you’re watching you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s weird’, but you don’t know the backstory. I just love little nuggets like that.”