Why Euphoria Season 3 Looks Different, According to Makeup Artist Donni Davy

In 2019, beauty lovers across the globe found themselves glued to their vanities, meticulously painting their eyelids purple, pressing delicate pearls along their lash lines, and tracing glitter tears down their cheekbones. The architect of this sparkle-drenched, high-gloss phenomenon? Donni Davy, the makeup artist behind HBO’s Emmy-winning series Euphoria. While the show explores the darker edges of adolescence with heavy themes of addiction, trauma, and identity, Davy’s hyper-expressive, light-reflective artistry became a luminous counterpoint to the gloom onscreen. It was a literal beacon of light in an otherwise dark world. But as the series returns for its long-awaited third season, something is shifting. The color is dialed down. The sparkle is more strategic. The chaos, while still present, feels contained.

After speaking with Davy for an hour over Zoom and screening the first three episodes ahead of their release, that evolution seems entirely intentional. After a five-year time jump, Euphoria’s iconic makeup hasn’t lost its edge—instead, it’s grown up alongside its characters. For instance, Rue, played by Zendaya, embarks on her journey to connect with God and attempts to build a more stable version of herself, and the absence of excess (read: glitter, color, and rhinestones) feels like a reflection of that effort to live a clean, intentional life. Even in the most high-glam moments, the looks are sharper, darker, and more controlled. What emerges is a new kind of beauty language for Euphoria: one that reflects not just who these characters are, but who they’re trying, however imperfectly, to become. It’s what Davy describes as “glam as armor,” a way to present the most powerful, “feral” version of yourself. And for the first time, she brought her own brand, Half Magic, directly onto set, applying her signature glitters, glosses, and pigments onto everyone who entered her trailer.

While runways have begun pivoting away from the “clean girl” aesthetic and toward something bolder, Euphoria is moving in the opposite direction. Below, Davy takes us inside the thinking behind season 3’s beauty transformations, and why, this time around, less might actually say more.

Sydney Sweeney as Cassie.

How did it feel getting back on the set of Euphoria?

It was just like, finally. But it was so cool to be able to stock the trailer with Half Magic. I created these products as my dream kit—super easy, fun, and made for anyone to achieve artistry-level looks—so getting to share them with our team, incoming makeup artists, and even background actors was amazing.

Honestly, though, the most exciting part about being back was getting to read the scripts. I wanted to know what was happening with these girls just as much as everyone else. It’s wild knowing everything that’s coming, and I’m so excited. This season is going to be such a fun ride for fans.

What does your creative process look like?

It all starts with the scripts. I read through and jot down notes, imagining the looks as I go. Sometimes it’s instinctive, like a color or texture just pops into my head based on a scene or setting. I’m thinking about everything, from the character’s emotional state to the environment, and how makeup can enhance that storytelling. For example, I chose a blue eyeshadow for Cassie last season when I knew the bathroom at school had pink tiles. Choosing a shade that contrasts with the set can reflect where a character is at. It’s a lot of minor aesthetic decisions.

For the new Euphoria x Half Magic collection, I wanted to bring fans into that process. The packaging is designed with all these little artifacts and Easter eggs from the show. You can see script notes, film stills, and iconic quotes, so fans can really understand how those initial ideas translate into the final looks. It’s like my love letter to the OG makeup fans.

The Euphoria x Half Magic collection.

Euphoria makeup quickly became iconic after season 1. What initially inspired you to be so creative and colorful with the makeup looks in the series?

It was really Sam [Levinson]. He brought me in after seeing my work on Under the Silver Lake, where I first got to experiment with color, glitter, and gems. When I interviewed, he had a full makeup vocabulary and was like, “I want you to go off.” So he really gave me that permission.

I was a little more subtle in the pilot, but once I saw it, I was like, “We need more glitter, more sparkle and color.” Especially with the moody lighting, I just wanted more of it—and actual glitter, not shimmer. We just turned the volume up. Sam wanted the looks to really be a thing for the show, so it became this collaborative process, but it was very much his vision.

Alexa Demie as Maddy.

There’s a five-year time jump in season 3. How do the characters’ older ages influence their makeup looks?

The girls are still using makeup with intention to show up as who they need to be with what they’re going through, but the motives are very different. Jules, for example, is in a darker place. Her wardrobe is a lot darker, and a lot of color from her world is gone. We translated this into her makeup with darker, more neutral looks that are more tailored for the male gaze. Also, Maddy’s looks are grown-up and modern, like frosty eyes and lips, tan, sparkly, and high-contrast, feral glam moments.

Across the board, I was really into tight-lining eyes with eyeliner on the waterline. That was really big for me this season. I just loved how piercing everyone’s eyes looked when they were tight-lined. The show is really intense, and for me, piercing eyes feel attached to that. It also makes a smoky, dramatic eye feel more modern, which was the goal.

Hunter Schafer as Jules.

How do you use makeup to enhance each character’s chaotic storylines?

It’s really about making the makeup feel lived-in. I don’t want it to look like the girls just came out of a makeup chair. Even when the looks are intricate, they should feel achievable, like the characters did them themselves.

This season, there’s more bold glam from head to toe. Especially for characters like Cassie and Maddy, who are using makeup to show up as these almost superhuman, undefeatable versions of themselves. But there’s always nuance. We don’t use false lashes because we don’t want it to look too done. We want it to feel real, like they did their makeup quickly. Sometimes we’ll pull product away to let a natural flush come through, let lip liner fade, or even keep redness in the eyes if it works for the scene.

We’re constantly reacting to what’s happening. If someone’s crying, kissing, touching their face, the makeup can break down, and we let that happen. It’s not about setting it and forgetting it. It’s about letting the makeup evolve with the performance and the emotion, and deciding when to reset and when to let it ride.

Maude Apatow as Lexi.

As opposed to full glam moments, what do you do to give off the appearance of sweaty, tired, and run down?

We use hypochlorous acid spray, especially on Zendaya. She loves it. If we need to add sweat, we’ll literally just use a ton of it. It gives that sweaty, run down effect. And it’s actually a wonderful thing to have for skin prep because it’s antibacterial, so we’re big fans of it.

For Nate and Cassie’s wedding, did you use any classic wedding makeup techniques on Sydney Sweeney?

I don’t really fuck with classic wedding techniques. I just wanted her to feel very Cassie. Initially I thought it would be funny to give her an overly tan, overly made-up look, but where we landed based on her costume and hair, she actually looked stunning. She just needed to look like Cassie, so we kept her makeup quite simple. We did do a tight line which isn’t typical for a wedding, but I knew she was going to have a veil over her for part of it, and I just wanted those blue eyes to pop.

What we did do was change her makeup for the reception. We added light blue sparkly eyeshadow. I feel like that’s her color, but it’s also her “something blue.” She also has some manic craziness happen at the wedding that’s a classic Cassie meltdown. I had to do it as an ode to the Oklahoma! bathroom scene. It felt very right to have light blue sparkly eyes.

Did you have a lot of fun with Cassie’s OnlyFans characters as well?

It was very fun to play in that space with her. We were very inspired by old Hustler magazines that Sam showed me. The looks were meant to be cheeky and male-gaze-y. We did open, doe eyes instead of high-contrast tight lines. The looks are innocent, feminine, baby doll vibes, with rosy cheeks and glossy lips.

There’s lots of blood this season. How do you work on these violent scenes?

We use fake blood and splatter it everywhere. We have different kinds—mouth-safe and eye-safe blood. The one we love most looks best on skin, but it burns the eyes and isn’t safe for the mouth, so we use a mix depending on the scene.

For Nate at the end of episode three, we spatter him up, and then we let him just scream it out. He gets punched, the blood gets mushed around, and that’s it. If we have to do a reset, it’s a stressful process of scrubbing blood off and getting stains out and starting over again. It’s chaos.

Alexa Demie as Maddy.

What makeup products did you use the most throughout filming?

We used a lot of Half Magic. The Glitter Pucks in all the shades, the dual-ended lip liners, and the Magic Drip Glitter Lip Glosses were big. Also Crystal Butter, especially the really frosty shades.

For complexion, I was loving Suqqu’s Cream Tint. It’s a Japanese brand that’s kind of hard to get, but it became my go-to foundation on set.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.