At the top of Verity, the titular best-selling author (Anne Hathaway) and struggling writer Lowen (Dakota Johnson) couldn’t be more different. Verity Crawford is at the height of her popularity, discussing her wildly popular romantic-suspense series, Noble Virtues, on national TV. At an indie Brooklyn bookshop, Lowen hesitantly shares an excerpt from her newly published novel to a disinterested audience of three—in which one member even takes a phone call during the reading. But the two characters do have one defining quality in common: You never know who either of them really is—a fact reflected in their intriguing hair and makeup.
“The story reminds me of a Hitchcock movie where it’s this mystery you can’t figure out, but you’re just so involved in these gorgeous people,” says makeup department head Andrea Miller, who collaborated closely with hair department head Robert Lugo.
The Michael Showalter-directed movie, based on Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name, opens with a clip of Gayle King lavishing praise on Verity. Smiling serenely, the author looks immaculately put-together, including her matte red lips, which are even more striking contrasted against her pristine white suit.
Reds are very important in this movie, says
“Reds are very important in this movie,” says Miller, explaining that Verity’s looks were executed by Hathaway’s personal makeup artist, Kyra Panchenko, who used the Kylie Cosmetics Lip Sculpt & Diffuse Brush 10 to apply MAC Cosmetics MACx-imal Silky Matte 12HR Wear Lipstick in Russian Red, sharpening around the mouth with Jones Road The Lip Pencil in Tawny Nude.
When designing the makeup, Miller also drew inspiration from costume designer Jacqueline Demeterio’s use of the all-white suit and pivotal red dresses later in the film. “[The red theme] was so powerful and so strong, so we took our inspiration from those areas and from Old Hollywood.”
Verity’s (Anne Hathaway) hero look for the film is the image of perfection with red lips and a waved lob.
Amazon MGM Studios/Alisha Wetherill
Verity’s side-parted, voluminous lob—a wig matching Hathaway’s natural color created by her personal hairstylist, Fríða Aradóttir, who worked with the actor throughout the movie—also took inspiration from the Golden Age of Hollywood. (It did not, however, take inspiration from the source material, which sees Verity as a blonde, something Hathaway has spoken about on the movie’s press tour.) Lugo explains that the classic style also marked Verity’s journey through the thriller. It was about “keeping the hair simple, but still showing a transition in time,” says Lugo. “She’s feeling like her sexy self, gorgeous, and powerful.”
Heading to an impromptu meeting at Verity’s publishing
Heading to an impromptu meeting at Verity’s publishing house, Lowen, who’s about to be evicted from her apartment, follows her agent’s directive to “dress nice.” For her makeup, that means a smoky eye complete with tight-lined top and bottom lashes, as well as over-lined mauve lips. (Johnson’s personal makeup artist, Emma Strachman, used a combination of the sold-out Makeup by Mario Ultra Suede Sculpting Lip Pencil in Smokey Pink and MAC Cosmetics Lip Pencil in Sweet Talk.) Lowen’s voiceover narration explains that she prefers the anonymity of New York City because she can “stay invisible.”
“For [Dakota], being invisible is pretty bloody difficult,” says Miller, with a laugh.
In the beginning of the film, Lowen (Dakota Johnson) opts for a more sultry look with smoky eyes and an over-lined mauve lip.
Amazon MGM Studios/Alisha Wetherill
To create Lowen’s subtle yet distinctive smoky eyes, Strachman started with the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Perversion, which she softened with the Armani Beauty Eye Tint Long-Lasting Liquid Eyeshadow in a shimmery champagne color. A few coats of the Westman Atelier Eye Want You Lengthening + Volumizing Clean Mascara finished the look.
“[The smoky eye] makes you question who Lowen is because she looks very sharp. It’s not a sweet, innocent look, so you’re wondering and waiting for your other shoe to drop,” says Miller. “You look at her and you’re like, ‘Hmm, what’s this about?’ You’re not quite sure. The entire movie—that’s what you’re doing.”
In a bit of foreshadowing, Lowen’s near-waist length,
In a bit of foreshadowing, Lowen’s near-waist length, dark brown hair hints at Verity’s, but with golden-red highlights and thick bangs. “There are similarities, right?” says Lugo of the two lead characters’ hair. But there were other reasons for Lugo’s decision on Lowen’s look.
Lowen’s dark hair realistically honors the script, balancing her wish to not stand out with the necessary cinematic punch of her introduction, he explains. “We wanted her to blend in with everyone else around her [on the street], so I feel like what made her stand out the most [as a co-lead] was just how glossy her hair color looks.”
Lowen’s dark brown hair color throughout the film is meant to echo Verity’s.
Amazon MGM Studios/Alisha Wetherill
Johnson’s personal hairstylist, Joshua First, relied on Le Labo Hinoki shampoo as a foundation to create all her looks through the film, while Reverie Milk Anti-Frizz Leave-in Treatment, a Kevin Murphy serum, and Rōz Milk Hydrating Leave-In Conditioning Serum were musts for achieving both leads’ smooth waves.
At the meeting, Verity’s publishers and her real
At the meeting, Verity’s publishers and her real estate-exec husband, Jeremy (Josh Hartnett), hire Lowen to ghostwrite the next few Noble Virtues books that Verity can’t complete due to a mysterious accident. Lowen heads up to the Crawford home in Vermont, which is a stunning, if not foreboding, contemporary house by Danish sculptor and designer Jens Quistgaard that’s pretty much hidden in woods.
As she immerses herself in research and becomes drawn into Verity’s world, and Jeremy’s orbit, Lowen’s earlier sooty smoky eyes soften into ethereal browns, while her strong mauve lip color shifts to a matte taupe courtesy of Westman Atelier Lip Suede in Piqué and Victoria Beckham Beauty Lip Definer liner in #2. “It has to be soft because we want you, the audience, to fall in love with her. Because she’s sweet. Pretty, but not screaming,” says Miller. “You see her vulnerable.”
When Lowen arrives at the Crawford house, her makeup becomes softer and subtler.
Amazon MGM Studios/Alisha Wetherill
On the first night in the Crawford home, Lowen discovers what seems to be Verity’s autobiography, hidden on a jump drive in a pack of cigarettes, and she dives into the manuscript. Fragments of the powerhouse author’s path to her incapacitating accident then unfold through Lowen’s POV, starting with Verity’s steamy first encounter with Jeremy. Cut to a champagne-drenched black-tie gala, where Verity—in a draped crimson Versace gown and a bouncier version of her voluminous lob—immediately captivates Jeremy from across the room.
As for her makeup, Panchenko stripped everything back
As for her makeup, Panchenko stripped everything back. “We wanted the red lip to feel like armor, the version of Verity she presents to the world and the version Lowen can’t shake,” Panchenko explains. “Early in the relationship and before she became a best-selling author…. I took almost everything away. Fresh skin, barely any makeup. I liked that the audience has to sit with both, and decide for themselves which one is real.”
When Hathaway walked on set for the gala scene, “everyone was just like, ‘Wow,’” says Lugo. “[Her hair] had that sexy, Hollywood texture where it was moving around. In Lowen’s eyes, when she [imagines] Verity in that red dress, she’s just like, ‘This is gorgeous and perfect. She can do nothing wrong.’”
As Lowen prepares to start writing, Jeremy offers both an invitation to dinner at the local fine-dining Bavarian restaurant and carte blanche to Verity’s designer evening wear in the indisposed author’s walk-in closet. Lowen selects a slinky red Versace safety-pin slip dress, reminiscent of Verity’s earlier first-meet gown, and presumably blow-dries her long, dark brown hair and bangs into a sleeker, sultrier style.
Verity on the night she meets her husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett).
Amazon MGM Studios/Alisha Wetherill
Lowen similarly wears a red lip color and red dress on her dinner date with Jeremy.
Amazon MGM Studios
She put in effort
“She put in effort for that. She’s going there with intention,” explains Lugo. “She’s going there with dignity. She has to impress him somehow.”
For the pivotal evening, Lowen forgoes her woodsy natural look and returns to her big-city smoky eyes and a sultry dark lip (a mix of Dior Addict Lip Glow Balms in Mahogany and Blackberry). As the viewer, we’re forced to ask if she’s also indulged in Verity’s makeup, since she earlier fantasizes about helping herself to her host’s monogrammed silk robe, perfume, and other, erm, necessities. “That could have been,” say Miller. “We don’t know what went on in that head.”
As Lowen spends the evening with Jeremy, she seems to morph into Verity, ready to stake her own claim on the author’s success and her own ambitions. “She’s empowered now,” Miller confirms.
“That’s the turn—the meshing point,” Lugo adds.
You’re supposed to not quite understand what’s happening,
“You’re supposed to not quite understand what’s happening,” continues Miller. “We pull you all the way through it and at the end, it’s like, ‘Oh, didn’t see that coming.’”
For more behind the scenes beauty details of your favorite films and TV shows, keep reading:
- Lili Reinhart’s Hair Transformation for The Love Hypothesis Was Both an Art and a Science
- Why Nicole Kidman’s Practical Magic 2 Wig Had to Be So Different From the Original
- Homecoming on The Shards Can Only Mean Cindy Crawford Hair, Michelle Pfeiffer Glam, and an ’80s Makeover
- How Hair Is Used as “Armor” in House of the Dragon Season 3
- Margo’s Got Money Troubles Is Coming Back for Another Season of Wild and Wonderful Hairstyles
