Feral, Campy, and Full of References: Jessie Buckley’s On-Screen Makeup Artist Breaks Down ‘The Bride!’

The name Jessie Buckley is everywhere right now, thanks to her new appointment as the 2026 Oscar’s Best Actress for her role as Agnes Shakespeare in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet. But just weeks before heading to the British countryside to step into the role of England’s most renowned playwright’s wife, Buckley was wrapping another film about a famous bride—this time set in 1930s Chicago with a much different backstory. Buckley swapped her signature bixie haircut and minimalist glam for bleached brows, bruised eyes, and an ink-splattered mouth to become the undead focus of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s reinvented Frankenstein film, The Bride!.

Though Buckley’s scene-stealing performance as the self-described “feral” main character—who oscillates between the names Penelope, Ida, and finally, The Bride—is entirely unforgettable, the aspect of film that became seared into the minds of us beauty editors was the star’s striking look: ripe with bruised discoloration and black smears emanating from the corner of her mouth. The culprit? Not just the messy hand of her mad scientist maker, but the film's decorated head makeup artist, Nadia Stacey.

You may recognize Stacey’s work on Emma Stone from her shapeshifting roles in Poor Things and Cruella, but this romantic thriller guided the hair and makeup head down a campier road.

“From a makeup perspective, I knew there were so many incredible opportunities to create character,” Stacey tells Who What Wear about her initial pull towards the script. “I love a reimagining of classic stories—an opportunity to redesign and put my own slant on something.”

The original material that Stacey put said slant on was, forgive the pun, a Frankensteined affair. There were the obvious references to the 1935 horror Bride of Frankenstein—where Elsa Lanchester, donning a white-streaked, “electrocuted” wig and blackened lips, portrayed the monster’s resurrected mate. Then, there were the more subtle nods to Man Ray and Pat McGrath’s runway looks for Galliano, the latter of which Stacey called “a huge inspiration.” In the end, it was a patchwork of references stitching together the picture we now have of The Bride—but the look's defining mark was a lovechild of Nadia, Gyllenhaal, and Buckley themselves.

You see, The Bride’s stark black stain was never written into the script, but a collective result of the trio’s brainstorming—and an element that would soon become a trademark design of the film, splashed across movie posters and premiere carpets alike. “[It was written] that she would have black ink pumped through her veins as part of the re-invigoration process,” Stacey explains. “Maggie, Jessie, and I talked about what would actually happen in the process, and we thought about her sitting up and coughing—the ink splashing across her face.” We later see this spillage everywhere, draining from her ears, trickling down her collarbones, and streaming from major arteries on the inside of her arm.

On any set, no-budge beauty products are a must for long shoot days and early-morning hair and makeup, which is why the artist turned to Pat McGrath Labs for Buckley's haunting look. “I needed staying power, so I relied on Pat McGrath’s Sublime Perfection Primer,” she states. Though The Bride’s makeup changes throughout the film (most notably before death and after), there are elements of the character’s look that remain—and if you examine closely, you can spot the Pat McGrath magic.

The Bride wears a “tired girl” medley of drooping plum and pink eyeshadow before she has her “accident,” a nod to the time period with a touch of runway inspiration. “I wanted something that was period but also showed a 1930s good-time girl,” she explains. “The colours would still be on her eye when she dies and is invigorated, so it needed to work in the next look.” Post-resurrection, her rosy eye makeup morphs into pinkish-purple bruises, all made possible with the Pat McGrath Mothership IX: Huetopian Dream palette. A few other musts in her kit were Mothership XI: Sunlit Seduction palette and the Perma Gel Eye Pencil in Xtreme Black.

It was Pat McGrath’s silent stamp on Stacey’s makeup kit that resulted in a celebratory collaboration—a collection of best-sellers sold in The Bride!-themed kits, plus a limited-edition version of the Lip Sculpt + Shade Contour Duo outfitted in bespoke movie packaging. “Collaborating with Pat is always exciting—she is a visionary and a huge inspiration in my work,” says Stacey. “Making The Bride’s makeup something that can be taken into everyday looks is really exciting,” she adds. “Makeup is versatile, and there are no rules, so you can be as extreme or downplay as much as you want with the look.” And play our editors did, thanks to the latest buzzy film collaboration for Pat McGrath Labs.

Shop The Bride’s Look