When Hannah Waddingham stepped out at the Ted Lasso Season 4 premiere in Los Angeles earlier this week wearing Monique Lhuillier—a strapless cream-and-gold dress with metallic floral embroidery—the glow was almost blinding. And, according to makeup artist Stephen Sollitto, that was exactly the point.
“Since the dress was so special, we wanted Hannah to shine, not the makeup,” he says. “So, we did a simple, clean look on her. For me, the girl, the dress and the event are always the inspiration.”
That restraint is why the prep mattered more than the products on top. “Hannah has gorgeous skin. She takes great care of it,” Sollitto says. “Exfoliation and hydration are the best keys to makeup prep.”
Sollitto, working alongside hairstylist Dicky Collins and stylist James Yardley, built that prep around a four-piece lineup from Paula’s Choice, part of an ongoing partnership between the artist and the brand. First up: the 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant ($37), which he credits with unclogging pores and controlling oil—the difference, in his words, between skin that “photographs clean and glowy” and skin that just looks matte. From there, the Pro-Collagen Peptide Plumping Moisturizer ($49) went on for what the brand markets as 24-hour hydration, giving the base something to grip without sitting heavy under foundation.
For the eye area—often the first place makeup starts to crease or go flat under camera lights—Sollitto used the Peptide Eye Serum ($39) before concealer, noting that it “visibly lifts and tightens.”
But the standout of the llineup was the brand’s Peptide Gloss Balm ($24) a lip treatment with a subtle vanilla scent and sheer pink tint. Sollitto praises the product for being “a slice of heaven in a tube” and says he’s reached for it “100 times in a few days.” He also credits it with “plumping, smoothing and nourishing both on contact and over time.”
