In addition to her catalog of absolute pop bangs, Chappell Roan is probably best known for her distinct fashion and beauty on stage. Her Botticelli-esque red curls and drag-inspired pale pancake base are ever-present, while her outfits and makeup feature an ever-changing array of neon, glitter and rhinestones. But for her weekend two performance at Coachella 2024, she spread her sartorial wings, so to speak, and completely metamorphosed into a giant butterfly.
To help complete his transformation into a human-sized insect, Roan enlisted the help of Donni Davy, euphoria makeup artist and founder of Half Magic beauty. “I was really obsessed with his music,” Davy says of their first official collaboration. “Then when I saw the Coachella lineup, I DMed [Roan] and said, “Can I please do your makeup for Coachella for free?”.
As the creator behind it euphoria looking radiant, Davy is basically the godmother of modern festival make-up (in fact, Half Magic handed out face jewelery on the grounds of the polo club), she says 'it was literally the first time I'd ever put on a musician's make-up to perform. A the stage.” A live set came with its own unique challenges, he adds, particularly getting details to project onto the back of a giant audience while maintaining a rigorous performance.
But when Roan's styling team let him know the star's look would be six-foot-wide butterfly wings in pink, red and black, Davy says he was inspired to create some thing glamorous, flashy and, well, bug. Although she had done butterfly wing eyeshadow on Maddie before euphoria, wanted to try “something fresh to revamp the butterfly eye makeup category,” she says. “I'm really excited about the antenna eyebrows.”
The result: hot pink liner brows; exaggerated, black eye makeup loaded with reflective crystals; and shade of bright pink and lavender. Roan's gang also got the bug-inspired treatment with eyeliner antennae adorned with face jewels.
The key to melt-proof stage makeup, says Davy, is to skip anything too emollient during skin prep, meaning no oil or heavy moisturizer. He used “just a little bit” of Milk Hydro Grip Primer under Roan's signature white base, which he created with Haus Labs Medium Coverage Foundation in shade 000 mixed with the brand's long-lasting Hy-Power Pigment Paint in White Onyx Matt. To keep her face makeup in place, Davy relied on a combination of high-impact setting sprays, One Size Mattifying Waterproof Setting Spray and Kryolan Setting Spray, instead of powders that could potentially come off with sweat .
To go with the pink color palette of the butterfly costume, Davy used Half Magic's new Glitterpill Eye Paint + Liner in the shade Sweet Prince, which she said was an almost perfect match with the wings of butterfly The finishing touch, which was Roan's idea, was placing Half Magic's iridescent glitter face gems along her brows.
Full butterfly glam, all that was left was for Roan to perform in front of a packed audience, during which he parted his huge wings to reveal a more manageable ensemble. “She's so cool and calm,” says Davy, “and then she gets on stage. And she's this complete alter ego with wild energy.” That's Davy's favorite part of the process, he says: “when my work is finished and I see the talent bring it to life.”
