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Aside from her glaring blue eyes, perhaps the aspect of Elizabeth Holmes that made her so polarising was the slightly smudged, signature red lipstick. In the Hulu series The Dropout starring leading lady Amanda Seyfried, it is a faultless detail which can be attested to makeup artist, Jorgee Douglas.
In an interview with W Magazine, the artist describes the makeup look as “manic” (so like us trying to do our makeup five minutes before a Zoom call?). She explained, “A manic mask because you’re covering up the real you, the fear.” Because of COVID protocols and the need to wear a mask at times, Douglas opted for the long-lasting power of the Lancome L’Absolu Rouge Drama Ink Liquid Lipstick in French Touch and French Bisous. You read correctly: mask proof.
Douglas was not too careful with the application and at times ensured that the lipstick appeared lopsided like Holmes had been wearing it in real life.
“I made one side of her lip lopsided because I saw in the interview that’s how it was,” the makeup artist added. “The lights were sometimes so forgiving on set that on the monitor I noticed it didn’t look as lopsided as it was in interviews so I thought, ‘I guess I’ve got to go in there and make it even worse.’ That was one of my standout moments, really messing up the shape of her lips and hoping that it read right.”
The Dropout premiered on March 4. It follows Holmes, the CEO and founder of Theranos, as she rose (and subsequently fell) from notoriety in 2014 after she funded over $92 million USD from investors for technology that was believed to revolutionise the healthcare industry that did not work. Holmes is now in court where she has been accused of 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy.
The series is now streaming on Disney+.
