HBO Max's Legendary Makeup Artist Interview

How Much Preplanning Goes Into the Makeup Looks on Legendary

Not even 10 minutes into the first episode of Legendary and you'll see how beauty-centric the HBO Max series is. For each ball, the houses come up with a theme for their performance and Gunter's team of hairstylists and makeup artists have the task of making them a reality. "Things are based on themes and categories within those themes," Gunter told POPSUGAR. "We got together with all the houses, we'd discuss what the looks were going to be and we would just get it going."

But this wasn't a situation where the beauty team had weeks or even days to prep. "Our turnaround time was fairly quick," said Gunter. "The department heads would all sit together with each house and discuss what look they wanted within the theme. We would then build from that and try to put it together and create something. That was like a one or two day process because that's all the time we have before the ball."

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Just How Fast the Makeup Has to Be Done, From Start to Finish

Image Source: HBO Max

Makeup prep began the morning of the ball and went up until the very last possible minute — showtime at 8:00 p.m. "We might start at 10:00 a.m. in the morning," said Gunter. "It didn't matter what was happening, by 7:45 p.m., we had to be done." Nine hours of beauty prep might seem like a long time, but considering each vogue house consists of five members that all need to be outfitted in the look, it's safe to say time is not on your side.

"Sometimes due to what was going on with the show there were a lot of curveballs where even at the last minute, you would have to change a look," said Gunter. "It can be chaotic and stressful backstage, but it wasn't for us. There was strong energy but if it was tense, we never felt it in the makeup department. We were just getting it done and we were having a ball."

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The Most Memorable Makeup Look From Legendary

With five episodes in total, there are no shortage of beauty moments to choose from which is probably why Gunter had such a hard time picking just one as her favourite. "One of my favourite looks was the Queen of Hearts which would be in episode two," she said. "The costume is beautiful and it's all this beautiful glitter. It was for Shyanne Escada, who's in the House of Escada."

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The Secret to Keeping the Makeup Looking So Flawless

Image Source: HBO Max

The beauty in Legendary isn't your average on-screen makeup. It's the kind of next-level makeup you see on stage on Broadway — that's what makes the show so unique. Because the ultra-pigmented and dramatic looks have to withstand a lot of activity, like dipping and voguing, not just any makeup will do. The secret is airbrush makeup.

"With stage makeup, you want to make sure that the products that you're using have the longevity," said Gunter. "You have to be able to layer and build, that's really the best thing about airbrushing with Temptu Airbrush Makeup. There's no touch ups in ballroom culture, once you're out, you're out."

If you haven't caught an episode of Legendary yet, it's worth signing up for a subscription to the steaming service just to catch the beauty moments. "I think this is a groundbreaking show," said Gunter. "To me there's nothing else out there of this nature. Each episode is amazing to watch. I just can't say enough about it. The costumes, the makeup, the hair, it was a really wonderful experience."

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