What was it like to witness her two previously separate worlds—r.e.m. beauty and Wicked—come together? ”It was special and also kind of hilarious because since the last time I had seen my beauty team in person, I was completely bleach blonde and an entirely different human being,” says Grande.
That was on purpose. When creating her beauty look as Galinda—a collaborative effort between Grande, hair and makeup designer Frances Hannon, hairstylist Gabor Kerekes, and makeup artist Nuria Mbomio—it was “important to completely erase familiarity,” says Grande. “To look in the mirror and see someone else, and for people watching to see a character and not me.”
“We tried many different eyebrow shades, so many different toner concoctions,” says Grande. “And so many different wigs because they all tell different stories. I’ll never forget when we finally landed on the perfect combination. Our director, Jon M. Chu, was like, ‘That’s her.’”
So, yes, consider this official confirmation that Grande did not just cover up her naturally-dark brows for the film: She bleached them. And even though filming wrapped in January, she still is. “I actually am still bleaching them, but I’m toning them a little bit in between brown and blonde,” she says. “[I’ve got] sort of like gingery, strawberry blonde eyebrows right now, just because I really like it and I got very used to it.”
“When I see dark brows on me, I feel like I’m looking at an alien,” she continues. “It’s quite interesting… so 1726654024 I’m somewhere in the middle, but I plan to keep it up for quite some time. I’m doing it myself now. I have a little brow kit labeled ‘Galinda brow.’ I have a pink spoolie. It’s very fun.”
Today, her brows are complemented with a wash of duochrome eye shadow across her lids that shifts from pink to silver depending on the light—it’s “Save Me This Dance?” from the Ozdust Eyeshadow Palette ($55), Grande tells me. The shade names (like “Thrillifiying!” and “Darlingest”) are “all very specifically and Wicked-ly Ozian,” she says. “There’s lots of Galinda-ified language.”