You don’t need a cinematographer’s eye to catch that “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” is a film full of big, bold, beautiful colors. Primary colors, mainly—a blue door, a red coat, a yellow tire lock—are all set against a vivid green background whether that’s inside of a hotel room or the rolling hills outside Sarah (Margot Robbie) and David’s (Colin Farrell) car windows as they embark on a magical road trip that time travels them through the past in order to break old habits and open themselves up to love once more.

Korean-American director Kogonada’s saturated color palette for “Journey” creates stunning visuals and a sense of otherworldliness. And while costume designer Arjun Bhasin added to the Technicolor feat with his colorful clothes, makeup designer Nana Fischer and hair designer Adruitha Lee enhanced it by doing the opposite — keeping the leads’ beauty looks subdued. As Fischer tells The Set Set: “All those primary colors really pop on screen and so we didn't want to cloud it with heavy eye colours or lip colours.” Kogonada’s directive to the beauty duo was to keep things soft, from the winged eyeliner to the hairstyles. “The film really dictates that,” adds Lee.

Kogonada’s other non-negotiable? Robbie needed bangs. To avoid the hassle of frequent trims, Lee had a wig designed in a warm blonde shade that not only enhanced Robbie’s skin tone (she is glowing in the film), but also complemented the punchy primary shades on screen. “With both the hair and makeup, you don’t want to clash with the colors of the set,” Fischer explains. “You want the beauty to be in harmony with the background tones so when you look at the screen, everything feels beautiful and natural. Otherwise, it can be visually confusing.”

There’s no denying that both Robbie and Farrell look breathtakingly beautiful throughout the film, even as they’re supposed to be reliving some of the most emotionally challenging moments of their lives. Fischer enhanced Farrell’s complexion with a combination of Chanel Les Beiges Water-Fresh Tint and Sensai Bronzing Gel, the latter of which, she says, is great for guys because it doesn’t look like makeup. “It tints the skin without covering up anything so you can still see all the uneven areas and pores.” To keep his hair out of his face without looking stiff, Lee raked a combination of Hanz De Fuko Sponge Wax and Scheme Cream throughout with her fingers.

For Margot’s Sarah, Fischer and Lee developed looks that put the focus on her eyes. The first time you see her on screen, she’s about to meet David at a wedding. The camera closes in on her face and immediately you’re struck by her strong, defiant gaze framed exquisitely by those swooping bangs (inspired by one of Robbie’s previous red carpet appearances, says Lee). “It’s a real wow moment,” Fischer muses.

To enhance Robbie’s eyes, Fischer employed eyeliner in a variety of ways throughout the film. In the beginning scenes, that meant a Sophia Loren-style cat eye in a deep bronzy-brown shade and lots of black mascara. “When we meet Margot’s character she's guarded with a bit of a hard exterior, and that hard liner gives her an edge,” Fischer explains. “As she goes through her journey, her eye makeup becomes softer and softer until by the end, she’s almost bare-skinned.”

And this gets to beauty’s other role in “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.” Sure, Fischer and Lee may have been concerned about clashing with the film’s color palette, but they also used the hair and makeup to subtly signal to the audience where Robbie is on her emotional journey. “She's a character who doesn't care, or pretends she doesn't care, so the clothes, the makeup, they’re like a mask that then gets stripped away,” Fischer explains. Look closely and you’ll notice her eyeliner slowly fades to nothing. By the last few scenes of the film, all she is wearing is Chanel Waterproof Eye Stylo Eyeliner along the top waterlines and some brown mascara. “The pencil along the waterline adds invisible definition while the brown mascara enhances the blue of her eyes,” explains Fischer.

Robbie’s hair in the film also reflects Sarah’s inner emotional journey. As her tough exterior begins to crack and her and David set off onto the highway together, her hair goes half up, “so that we could expose the vulnerability in her face,” says Lee, whose two key products on set for Robbie were Unite’s Seven Detangler, to add natural movement and Static Guard (yes, the stuff for fabric) to smooth frizz.

Sarah’s hair goes back down as she continues to fight back her feelings. It’s tucked behind her ears as she travels to the past and to meet her late mom. And it’s pinned all back in a romantic updo in a scene where Sarah and David dream what the wedding might have been like if they attended as a couple and not as two perfect strangers. Breaking the hair into two sections and using just four bobby pins, Lee created an elegant-yet-effortless chignon. “I'd like to make it sound a lot fancier or a lot more complicated, but it really wasn't.”

Farrell’s look remains the same throughout their journey, except for when he travels back to the night he starred in his high school musical. Fischer, Lee, and Farrell had fun playing with the theatrics of it all, deepening his tan, slicking back his hair, and giving him a bit of guyliner (courtesy of a MAC black kohl). David’s disastrous debut and big beauty moment are the catalyst for his and Sarah’s first tender moment together, as she whips out some makeup remover and a cotton bud to clean off the remnants of his eyeliner. “It's the first time where you see that they're kind of like, ‘Ooh, something might be happening,’” says Fischer.

The film ends with the rain clearing, the sun shining, and Robbie wearing romantic pink shades on her lips and cheeks. Sarah and David walk through their last door—the one to David’s apartment—and Mitski's cover of “Let My Love Open The Door” signals we’ve reached our happy ending. But if you’ve been paying attention, you know that. The details have been in the beauty all along.