Angelina Jolie is one of the most beautiful celebrities today. And her recent role as the villainess Maleficent made her more bewitching, thanks to MAC Cosmetics, which helped transformed Jolie into one of the most wickedly alluring characters on the big screen. Find out from the article below how the brand turned Jolie into “the ultimate female bad guy.”
All hail, Angelina Jolie as Maleficent—the most beautiful villainess ever created. The film in which she plays her aside, it’s admittedly hard to take your eyes off of Jolie, partly due to her obscenely dominant presence, but more so, for lack of a better word, because she is so striking. For the just- released Maleficent, MAC Cosmetics transformed Jolie into the ultimate female bad guy—powerful, vengeful, vulnerable, and, of course, indescribably beautiful. Although producers were hesitant to change her natural looks too much, Jolie was wary of looking too pretty. She insisted on harsher features, including a prosthetic nose, ears, and horns, and special-effects makeup artist Rick Baker used Lady Gaga’s horns as inspiration for raised, defined, and almost-inhuman prosthetic cheekbones.
And for makeup, artist Toni G (who had worked with Jolie before on films such as The Tourist, Changeling, and A Mighty Heart) used MAC Cosemtics on the set. It was less about cosmetics, he says, and “more about finding a way to bring the animation to life. Besides her prosthetics, her eyes were the perfect way to achieve this. I was very inspired by the labradrite stone, with shades of beautiful greens, blues, and yellows. I thought using those types of colors in the eyes was a perfect way to make her feel magical. Cristina Patterson painted very detailed contact lenses with these colors, and the VFX team then added a final effect to make her eyes glow when she was upset.”
With hours of costume prep, we wonder how the end of the day panned out. How, exactly, were all of the prostetics and makeup removed without tarnishing Angelina’s skin, hair, and eyes?
“My main concern and challenge was her skin, since we were using them on her for about four months. I didn’t want her skin to become irritated from the application and removal processes,” Toni explains. “We opted to use a mix of coconut and argan oil for removal, which worked perfectly and left her skin flawless.”
The launch of the movie also marks the launch of the Maleficent line for MAC. So we can all try to look like evil Angelina. “The eye-shadow palette is perfect to transition your look from day to night. For daytime, use the lighter shades to create a soft, natural look. Amplify the look for evening, using the darker shades to create a more sexy and sultry look,” says Toni of his favorite products in the collection.
Under the leadership of its executive chairman, William Lauder, Estee Lauder Companies and its portfolio of luxury brands, including MAC Cosmetics, continues to set the bar high in business partnerships and marketing campaigns. For more of the company’s notable ventures, follow this Twitter account.