“Brother, under what foreign sun did you apparently get so sturdy,” an amused Benedict grills his younger sibling Colin in a recent Bridgerton trailer. To be fair, he has a point.
The Netflix drama’s upcoming third season, premiering with the first four episodes on Thursday, May 16, finds Colin appearing less boyish and more like a man ready to win Penelope’s heart after insulting her at last season’s Featherington Ball.
Portrayer Luke Newton’s efforts in the gym obviously factor into the character’s newfound swagger, as does Bridgerton’s talented hair and makeup team, whose behind-the-scenes work in “hunking” Colin up following a summer of traveling boiled down to emphasizing what was already there.
“In Seasons 1 and 2, we emphasized all the rounds, so his hair was quite round. His costume also had a lot of frills, so we didn’t see his square jawline,” Emmy-winning hair and makeup designer Erika Ökvist, who took home a statuette for Season 2’s “The Viscount Who Loved Me,” tells TVLine.
In Season 3, however, they’ve revealed the actor’s jawline with a fresh haircut and a seemingly endless supply of open shirts, and highlighted his “superhero eyebrows” with strategic makeup.
Penelope (Nicola Coughlan), the season’s leading lady, also undergoes a small on-screen transformation, swapping out her bright and frilly dresses for a demurer look. That’s not to say she wasn’t already a gem, but now her outfits are working with her rather than against.
It’s the result of Bridgerton’s hair, makeup and costume designers utilizing color theory — combining different colors to create a certain mood or emotion — to make Portia’s third-born daughter appear much more sophisticated compared to previous installments.
Nicola Coughlan in Bridgerton
Even Penelope’s hair looks darker and more elegant despite Coughlan wearing the same wig she’s had since Season 1. “The reason why it doesn’t look as bright, why it looks more sensual and elegant, is because the yellow in the dresses that she used to wear in Season 1 enhanced the red and the orange,” Ökvist explains.
But with the character’s cooler-toned gowns changing how she’s perceived in the coming episodes, it shows “what color does and how you have to think when you do hair and makeup.”
Ökvist learned that lesson the hard way while filming Anthony and Edwina’s almost-wedding in Season 2, Episode 6. The three-day shoot for the altar scenes in St. James’s Church went off without a hitch for the hair and makeup guru. But as hundreds of extras gathered at Hampton Court Palace for the outdoor reception, Ökvist quickly realized a problem she hadn’t anticipated.
“It’s a garden party, but it was paved by white stone, so this sun just reflected straight back into the white flooring up into people’s faces,” she divulges. “Even though [the extras] had the exact same makeup as they had in this beautiful church, they all looked like quite pale.”
Ökvist and her team resolved the issue by adding more blush and stronger lips to the awaiting actors, underscoring the noticeable impact of Bridgerton’s hair and makeup department on the revered period romance and its stunning leads.
Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton in Bridgerton
