What was it like to witness her two previously separate worldsār.e.m. beauty and Wickedācome together? āIt 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,ā says Grande.
That was on purpose. When creating her beauty look as Galindaāa collaborative effort between Grande, hair and makeup designer Frances Hannon, hairstylist Gabor Kerekes, and makeup artist Nuria Mbomioāit was āimportant to completely erase familiarity,ā says Grande. āTo look in the mirror and see someone else, and for people watching to see a character and not me.ā
āWe tried many different eyebrow shades, so many different toner concoctions,ā says Grande. āAnd so many different wigs because they all tell different stories. Iāll never forget when we finally landed on the perfect combination. Our director, Jon M. Chu, was like, āThat’s her.āā
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. āI actually am still bleaching them, but I’m toning them a little bit in between brown and blonde,ā she says. ā[Iāve got] sort of like gingery, strawberry blonde eyebrows right now, just because I really like it and I got very used to it.ā
āWhen I see dark brows on me, I feel like I’m looking at an alien,ā she continues. āIt’s quite interestingā¦ so 1726687615 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 āGalinda brow.ā I have a pink spoolie. Itās very fun.ā
Today, her brows are complemented with a wash of duochrome eye shadow across her lids that shifts from pink to silver depending on the lightāitās āSave Me This Dance?ā from the Ozdust Eyeshadow Palette ($55), Grande tells me. The shade names (like āThrillifiying!ā and āDarlingestā) are āall very specifically and Wicked-ly Ozian,ā she says. āThereās lots of Galinda-ified language.ā