Ryan Murphy’s newest show, The Beauty, is a satire for the Ozempic age, exploring our image-obsessed, beauty-as-currency culture through body horror, exploding models, gooning and sexually transmitted diseases that (spoiler!) make you beautiful. One of the main characters is FBI agent Jordan Bennett, who gets unknowingly infected with said virus and transforms from (beautiful actress) Rebecca Hall into (slightly younger beautiful actress) Jess Alexander. 

As part of the promo tour for The Beauty, Alexander turned up at the BAFTAs over the weekend, where she embodied classic elegance with a hint of edge. Dressed by Giorgio Armani, she wore a strapless beaded dress that was just slightly sheer, with a printed mesh underlayer giving the suggestion of tattoos to add some texture. “It feels like the ultimate blend of quintessential London cool girl but also a nod to old Hollywood glamour,” Alexander tells Dazed. “You have to have some glam for the BAFTAs.” 

The beauty look added to this sense of old school glamour. The hair was slightly waved but kept purposefully undone to give her sharp bob a 1920s-but-more-relaxed feel. Make-up was also kept light rather than going for a perfectly polished look – what Alexander calls “an ode to Hollywood but with a more lived-in look so it feels a little more timeless”.

To create the look, make-up artist Brooke Turnbull, whose clients also include Charli xcx and Mia Goth, took inspiration from understated, light-filled glamour and nostalgic Hollywood. “The references we discussed all shared the same quiet confidence where everything feels considered but effortless,” she says. For the matte base, Turnbull used the cult foundation Armani Luminous Silk, while the lips were glossy with the Prisma Glass Lip Gloss in shade 07. 

“The focus was on creating a seamless glow that felt cohesive from skin to lip. Luminous Silk was layered in sheer veils to catch the light in a very natural way, while the lip was kept softly glossy so everything melted together with the tone of the dress,” explains Turnbull. To balance the glow, the eyes were kept intentionally matte with the Eye Tint in the shade ‘cedar’ to create gentle definition. The final result was one that Alexander was very pleased with. “No one paints my face like Brooke does!” she says.