Swapping Ringlets For a Ring: Erika Ökvist’s Emmy-Winning Work Behind Penelope Featherington’s Glow-Up
Beauty
Ahead of her second Emmys win for “Bridgerton” season three, The Set Set spoke with Erika Ökvist about the secrets behind Lady Whistledown’s sophisticated beauty transformation.
Nicola Coughlan in Bridgerton season three. Courtesy of Netflix.
Hiding behind her pen name Lady Whistledown, Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) was a “Bridgerton” ballroom sideline character in the show’s first two seasons. Decked out in childlike, lemon-meringue dresses that swallowed her figure and curls as tight as her mother’s grip, the unmarried wallflower knew a beauty and sartorial shake-up was necessary to level up in society, granting her both the freedom and fiancé she desired.
Enhanced hairstyles and sleeker hemlines are the cornerstone of Penelope’s glow up in season three. Signalling a newfound maturity and independence as she settles into married life, Penelope’s tightly wound ringlets loosen into lustrous Hollywood waves while her sherbet-colored frocks are swapped for rich, satin gowns.
The thoughtful hair and makeup transformation seamlessly complements Penelope’s evolution as a character, says lead hair and makeup designer Erika Ökvist, whose work on the season’s “Old Friends” episode earned her a 2025 Emmy award for Outstanding Period Or Fantasy/Sci-Fi Hairstyling. “In the beginning, [Penelope] had a really soft voice, which changed to sound like a more comfortable and confident person; it’s almost invisible but so impactful,” Ökvist tells The Set Set. She’s becoming her own person and breaking free of her mother’s influence, which means feeling sexy in her makeup and commanding in her costume.” Here, Ökvist reflects on the intricacies of creating Penelope’s glow-up and its role as her societal secret weapon.
Growing Up Bridgerton
Over the course of the entire series, Penelope's beauty DNA is critical to her character arc. Season one was about staying firmly placed under her mother’s thumb with baby-soft makeup and tightly-pinned hair — a deliberate choice to ensure her role as a background character. In season two we see Penelope begin to experiment with her beauty look to try and feel out her own aesthetic (she is a teenager, after all). The result is extravagant hair accessories, cherry blush on the centers of her cheeks, and tight curls that formed a sort-of faux fringe. “You try everything [at that age],” says Ökvist. “She's in love and she doesn't want to be just a wallflower.” Not all of it works, but that’s the whole point.
Ökvist’s design process wasn’t dissimilar. “It’s an experiment. I’d try a few things and they’d be too far out of her look DNA,” she says. “One day I tried a blue eye with mascara and it was a total disaster.”
Everything gets turned up a notch in season three, in part thanks to Penelope’s introduction to Madame Delacroix (Kathryn Drysdale), an in-demand dressmaker who uses a fake French persona to gain high-society clientele. “It’s Madame Delacroix who has got all of the insights from France, and so [Penelope’s] taking advice from her,” explains Ökvist. During the process of season three, “[Penelope] takes the knowledge of elegance that she's gotten and then makes it her own.” We’re seeing her young personality shift and evolve into one that’s grown-up and sophisticated.
A Hollywood-Meets-Regency Hairstyle
The most notable shift of all is in Penelope’s hairstyle, transitioning from unflattering ringlets to undulating Old Hollywood curls (think Rita Hayward and Veronika Lake). “You just have to take a look at Nicola Coughlan’s face to know that those Old Hollywood siren hairstyles really work for her,” says Ökvist. “A lot of the Hollywood actresses had really soft, feminine features and adding a winged eyeliner, for example, makes a very appealing and incredibly sexy look.”
In season one, Nicola’s curls were purposely styled to hide her incredible cheekbones and create the illusion of youthfulness. This time around, Ökvist says the team made sure that the cut and shapes of Nicola’s hair enhanced her facial structure, using her curls almost like contouring makeup. “A curl hits under the cheekbone allowing the cheekbone to catch the light,” she explains. “That curl is essentially [creating a] shadow on her face.” Ökvist also brought kiss curls into Penelope’s style — perhaps the most overt way of communicating that she wants to be kissed.
Penelope’s hairstyle may have changed over the past three seasons, but her hair color hasn’t, says Ökvist — it’s the exact same shade since day one of filming and across all seven of her wigs for the show. The perception of the colour differs mostly due to the dress shades she’s wearing. The costume team deliberately chose cooler-toned dresses for Penelope in season three, making her hair appear “something more sexy and auburn looking,” says Ökvist. Working with costume designer John Glaser was crucial to maintaining this mature cohesiveness in Penelope’s evolved style.
THE EYES HAVE IT
Ökvist dreamed up some incredible eye-makeup looks throughout season three, one of the most talked about being Penelope’s look for the Hawkins Ball — more formally known as the Innovators Ball — where Lord Hawkins showed off his latest innovation, the hot air balloon. Penelope wears a gunmetal-gray shadow on her lids (a combination of smudgy Victoria Beckham Satin Kajal Liner in Ash, opens in new tab and meticulously-placed shades from the Dior Backstage Glow Maximizer Palette, opens in new tab to add dimension) with crystals embellishing the inner corners of the eyes to catch the dazzling lights at the ball. A generous coat of Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara, opens in new tab finished Penelope’s eye look.
Glittery shadows and sparkly appliques aside, it was eyelashes that added something extra-special to the eye looks in season three. “Eyelashes can really make or break a look,” Ökvist says. “All of the girls wore clusters, but Nicola’s had to start further in on the eye; [and we had to be careful] not to overload them, which can close eyes up and make them look smaller.” A favorite among the team, most notably for makeup artist Jessie Deo, were the ultra-natural-looking Dark Swan of Denmark Eyelashes, opens in new tab.
Ökvist also made sure to enhance the men’s eyes on set, using shadow to knock any natural coloring, like blue tones, that might already be on the lids. “You have to be careful, though,” Ökvist says. “We don’t want to use any sparkling products that totally give it away.” It doesn’t stop at shadow, the men also got acquainted with lash tints, including Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey).
Penelope’s Power of Self
The finale sees Penelope bid farewell to Lady Whistledown, making way for her true self to shine, without the pseudonym. Penelope’s glow-up was never about appearing as a main character, but instead finding her true power. “It is such a transformational, purposeful shift that she does to feel her best, because that's exactly what she's trying to do,” says Ökvist. She’s shedding her lack of confidence for true ownership of who she is. Her makeup — or “war paint” as Ökvist calls it — is about reclaiming her confidence and character that was waiting to shine all along.
Nicola Coughlan in Bridgerton season three. Courtesy of Netflix.
