Known for her work with Charli xcx (including the internet-breaking Hackney Town Hall wedding moment), Caroline Polachek, Lara Stone, FKA twigs, Princess Julia, and Dua Lipa, Lauren Reynolds is the artist behind some of the most striking faces in pop and fashion today. She has also been a key presence at Chopova Lowena, most recently for their Spring/Summer 2026 show, where she paired bare, radiant skin with sharp embellishments: chrome-spiked lashes, pearl-lined lids, neon blush, and wet-gloss cheeks.
Her work shifts seamlessly from minimalism to full-blown theatre, from cool tones, skinny brows, and porcelain skin to studded eyelids, acid blush, glitter, and gleaming, hyper-glossy textures. We sat down with Lauren to talk about everything from ritual and narrative in makeup to dream collaborations, astrology, and the art of keeping skin glossy under stage lights.
Your work feels very playful and fantastical, what are your biggest non-makeup inspirations? Film, art, club culture, dreams?
I take a lot of inspiration from art nouveau, anime, hyperfemininity, tattoo culture, sci-fi and fantasy, goth culture, internet subculture and catholic and religious art.
What was your first entry point into makeup?
I had really bad acne as a teen so that definitely drove me towards it. But when I think about it, before that I remember being so enamoured with the teenage rudegirls in South London growing up, who would have frosted eyeshadow and toothgems and pierced bellybuttons and really tight ponytails. I just thought they were so cool and intimidating and glamorous, in that way that preteen girls just adore older teen girls. I wore baby pink frosted Miss Sporty eyeshadow up to my eyebrow every day in Year 7, and thick concealer stick drawn all over my face trying to emulate them. I think that was my first significant experiment in makeup that felt like self-expression beyond like, smearing yourself in glitter gel as a kid.
Your looks are often maximalist, playful, textural, how do you think about materiality in makeup (chrome, pearls, glitter) almost as sculptural elements?
I love playing with light and form and contrast, I really think about it when I’m doing someone’s makeup — how the light is going to hit the face, how I can capture it and play with that. I think that’s why iridescence and metallics and shine is such a theme in my work. It just makes it a little bit magical. Using other elements than makeup is just a more extreme version of this, they bring texture in a more exaggerated way, more detail and interest. To me makeup is another accessory to your look just like jewellery is, so it makes sense to use these kinds of materials on your face too.
There’s something of the uncanny in some of your looks, from spiked lashes to exaggerated blush. What is your inspiration for these types of works?
I love taking ideas of beauty and femininity and exaggerating them to become a bit hyperreal - making eyes extra large, making the skin glisten like an oyster, using something shiny near the eyes that catches the light and looks as if the wearer is welling up from a distance. That’s just really beautiful to me.
I guess you see this kind of exquisite distortion a lot in sci-fi and fantasy film and across anime, club culture, a lot of counterculture in general that pushes the idea of beauty just a bit further than normal. I love glamour and sexiness and exquisite beauty, I don’t like to make things intentionally ugly, to me I always want someone to look and feel beautiful and pushing those things in this hyperreal way is my way of doing that.
I guess you see this kind of exquisite distortion a lot in sci-fi and fantasy film and across anime, club culture, a lot of counterculture in general that pushes the idea of beauty just a bit further than normal. I love glamour and sexiness and exquisite beauty, I don’t like to make things intentionally ugly, to me I always want someone to look and feel beautiful and pushing those things in this hyperreal way is my way of doing that.
Can you take us behind the scenes of Charli xcx’s iconic bridal makeup moment? What was the vision?
Charli is so authentic to herself and that’s how she always wants her makeup to feel — beautiful and in the vibe but unfussy so she can be in the moment. We both love moodier, cool browns with a white outfit so we went with a monochromatic look which felt like the right balance of chic, cool and modern.
Tell us about the smoky eye you created for Caroline Polachek for the British Fashion Council.
I loved that look! Caroline was wearing this beautiful, super gothic McQueen dress and we wanted to bring a bit of that theatrical energy to her makeup — we were thinking about 1910s, 1920s vaudeville makeup, and how they would sculpt out their eyes in dark colours to exaggerate their expressions on stage. It’s emotional makeup, it almost brings a slight sadness to the face. We wanted that drama but without overpowering her features hence we incorporated quite a lot of negative space as well.
There’s a signature iridescence in your mother of pearl look for Tabitha Bennett, what’s the secret to that glossed, nacreous finish?
You need to put on so much more product than you’d expect, the model should look insane in real life! That’s how you get it really juicy looking. I layer different colours of fine translucent shimmers and blend them together on the face so that the face shifts different colours as they move. Multichrome shimmers exaggerate that even more. And layer glitters on top for wetness, and maybe oil pressed over the top of it all.
The Chopova Lowena SS26 show played with the tension between bare, natural skin and hyper-embellished details: chrome lashes, pearls, acid-flush blush. Can you talk about the conceptual starting point for the show's looks?
Chopova Lowena is always about creating different characters and that’s part of the fun of it. Emma [Chopova] and Laura [Lowena-Irons] tell me what characters they’re working on and we build from there — we both love embellishments and shiny things and unusual contrasts so it’s always loads of fun and they give so much space for play and creativity. I generally always prefer quite minimalist skin, especially for a show, skin on its own just has this beautiful glow that gets dampened by a lot of foundation and when I’m working with a lot of elements in a look, I want to keep this immediate, playful feeling by keeping the skin light. It’s more subversive and CL is always for the weird girls.
What is your favourite beauty look you’ve worked on?
It’s always changing and it’s usually something I’ve done recently. Right now I’m really proud of the pink and silver jewellery look we did for Chopova Lowena. I love that’s its so pretty yet subversive. I tested it the day before the show on myself, well after the official show test, sent Emma and Laura photos and they went for it! I love that openness and immediacy, that’s not typically how things go. I also currently love the look which had all these watercolour flowers and shimmers and silver studs around the eyes. I love contrasts, bringing together something very girly and soft with something hard and aggressive is a theme that’s present in so much of the art that I’m drawn to.
If your work was a song, what track would best capture it?
juice by daryana or Utai IV: Reawakening by Kenji Kawai.
Who would be your dream collaborator (dead or alive)?
Grimes and I could do something special together I think, that’s just something that makes sense in my head. In fashion? I’m hoping I get to shoot with Carlijn Jacobs at some point, I love her hyperreal and surreal sense of beauty. In my most unrealistic dreams, I would have to say McQueen.
Do you think makeup today has shifted from being about beauty to being about narrative, telling a story on the face?
I think its definitely shifted towards self-expression rather than a rigid idea of beauty for sure. It feels more acceptable than ever to like, draw on your face or wear gems round your eyes just to go out, similarly not having to wear much makeup if it’s not your thing, just to feel presentable. I think we can thank the internet for that, we have so much more exposure to different presentations of identity, which creates more space in real life for people to express themselves authentically.
Desert island product: if you could only take one thing in your kit, what would it be?
Chanel Le Crayon Khol Noir, endless fun with a black eye pencil. And maybe I can use it to write.
Best beauty tip you’ve ever learned backstage?
Closing one eye to check symmetry — it takes away your depth perception, essentially converting the face in front of you into a 2D image and any asymmetry becomes immediately obvious.
Astrologically, Venus is said to rule beauty and style, do you know what sign your Venus is in? (if astrology is something you resonate with)?
Aquarius! Which makes sense for beauty and style, but it also says I’m probably aloof in relationships but I’m clingy AF (laughs). I guess you have to take your birth chart as a whole picture.
What advice would you give to someone starting up in the industry?
Be ready for the long game, perseverance is as important as talent in this industry. Prioritise assisting and commit at least a few years to it, whilst you work on learning your craft inside out. You need breadth as well as depth to build a long-lasting career. People who come up quick rarely stick around so don’t chase quick fame — work on your technical skills, develop your taste, fuel your creativity and be nice. People remember that.
