Back in 2019, the world was introduced to the headstrong and heavily face-gemmed Maddy Perez. “I made, like, three extensive mood boards for my look,” Alexa Demie told Vogue of her onscreen character’s appearance that same year. Alongside makeup artist Doniella Davy, Demie helped to define the overarching beauty look of the hit HBO show when it first launched. “Euphoria makeup” was shorthand for a melancholic maximalist look: brightly colored inner corners and gradient shadows, double-pronged and knife-sharp eyeliner flicks, two-tone lips, gems, gems, and more gems.
With the third season of Euphoria dropping April 12, the cast got back together for the Los Angeles premiere yesterday evening. Each castmate—from Demie to Zendaya and Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney, Maude Apatow, and Hunter Schafer—registered a distinctly different red carpet style. Demie, for one, opted for a vintage pewter and gold arrow-striped Bob Mackie gown from 1991 and dainty Anita Ko jewelry. And while her dress screamed showgirl, her choice for glam was much more pared back from anything we’ve seen before. Almost anti-Euphoria as we’ve come to know it.
Demie looked fresh-faced, with a glowy complexion and softly contoured cheeks, adding a whisper of a coral blush. Her lips were lightly blurred (as is the contemporary trend) and brown-nude, while eyeshadow was kept light, and lashes delicately curled. Her raven-dark hair was curly and tousled, with just a wisp of bangs.
Looking back at Euphoria’s season one premiere, it’s a starkly different aesthetic for Demie. The actor—who has always done her own makeup—sported that signature winged eye, layers of false lashes, and an icy shadow, a glossed and cool-toned nude lip, creamy contour, and her hair in a slicked down bun. It was a look she committed to across the years, and one that reveled in ’90s beats and Chicana culture.
It was a generation-defining approach both on and off-screen for Alexa Demie, igniting a wave of glam creativity when the pervasive trend was for the clean girl, minimalist look. The descendants of Demie today? Zara Larsson and Olandria, with their Bratz-doll-level glam by makeup artists Sophia Sinot and Ngozi Esther Edeme. High octane-pigments, gemstone appliqués, and iridescent sparkle across the eyes, lips, and bridge of the nose define the contemporary trend for playful, expressive makeup.
Meanwhile, Alexa embraces a more pared back, elegant style of glam (it has been seven years, after all—personal aesthetics and glam preferences change!), and her fresh face looks all the more radiant against her killer vintage pull.
