Sienna Miller’s Hair and Makeup in ‘War’ is a Masterclass in Quiet Luxury
Beauty
Hair and makeup designer Tara McDonald drew on the best beauty brands and hair colorists to create Carla Duval’s (Sienna Miller) moneyed appearance in “War.”
It’s not often that an actress makes it onto her own character’s mood board, as is the case of Sienna Miller in HBO’s new contemporary legal drama, “War.” Throughout the series, Miller plays Carla Duval, an A-list movie star and the polished better half of unfaithful tech oligarch Morgan Henderson (Dominic West). Given the character’s background as a British starlet, hair and makeup designer Tara McDonald drew on Miller’s own aesthetic to inform Carla’s on-screen look, taking secondary inspiration from Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman.
“We see so many pictures of Sienna in magazines and are quite familiar with how she looks,” McDonald says. “[So] we sort of thought, ‘well, why not pull on the actress that is Sienna Miller?’” Having dedicated her life to transforming into somebody else, Miller was excited by the premise of hamming up her existing look and “playing it almost as [herself].” Miller’s only request was that McDonald and her team emphasize her natural freckles, recommending a light brown Charlotte Tilbury eye pencil. “I personally prefer the freckle pen because I feel like I can kind of diffuse the freckles a little bit more,” McDonald confides. “When she wasn't looking, I used a freckle pen. When she was looking, I used the pencil.”
Sienna Miller's moodboard for "War."
Tara McDonald
Throughout the series, Carla alternates between three different looks: an understated, quiet luxury for everyday wear; a polished, effortless look for meetings and public-facing affairs; and what McDonald refers to as “the full movie star look,” which she debuts on the red carpet for her film premiere in episode one. Carla’s “more exposed look” leans heavily on natural, pinky tones on the eyes and lip, and serves as a base upon which McDonald builds the other two. During production, McDonald’s most used product was Chantecaille’s Cheek Gelée in ‘Happy,” a Japanese gel product. “It's a very sheer, creamy blush and I use that on her for every single scene she was in,” McDonald says. Whether on the red carpet or breaking down in her bedroom, rest assured that Carla was wearing “Happy.”
If Carla’s routine looks expensive, that's because it is. Miller started every morning on set with the $85 111 Skin Rose Gold Brightening Facial Treatment Mask. Drawing on years of expertise behind the makeup chair, McDonald believes that leaning on brands like Chantecaille and Chanel does actually make a difference in creating an “elevated minimalism” look. But the expenses didn't stop at individual products; McDonald sent Miller to “the best hair colorist in London,” Nicola Clarke, who does the hair of stars like Kate Moss, Cate Blanchett, Olivia Wilde, and Carry Mulligan. “[Carla’s] got that expensive hair color,” McDonald says, lauding Clarke’s warm toffee base with bright blonde highlights as a necessary step to helping Miller get into character.
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In addition to leaning on her arsenal of “fabulous” designer beauty products, McDonald credits focusing on the finer details of maintenance with creating a moneyed makeup that “just sort of oozes this wealth and well-groomed appearance, but you can't quite put your finger on what it is.” If she had to put her finger on the source of Miller’s polish, she credits glowy skin, perfect, polished nails, and intentional hair coloring. “I am really interested in the subtle codes of expensive grooming,” McDonald says. Rather than use lash strips, McDonald applied each of Miller’s fake lashes one by one.
Drawing on Miller’s natural wavy hair did not mean forgoing hyper-controlled maintenance, as Carla's understated beauty is the product of meticulous control. On set, McDonald used the GHD waver tool and a little bit of Oribe styling cream to tame and maintain Miller’s moneyed blonde, pulling out small pieces to heighten her natural wave.
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Get Carla’s Grace Kelly Glam
Dominic West and Sienna Miller in "War."
Warner Bros. Discovery
For Carla’s movie premiere in episode one, the actress wears a bold lip, heavy contour, elevated sheen, and natural eyes. “As a makeup artist, my favourite thing is a red lip,” McDonald says. “For the premiere, we used a good old classic Chanel red lipstick because it was such a jump from her everyday look.” From a character perspective, it was important for McDonald to create a harsh juxtaposition between Carla’s public and private-facing personas. Where she was to look “natural and soft” in the confines of her home, her premiere makeup was designed to exude polish and harshness. McDonald drew on Grace Kelly as inspiration, mimicking the actress’s signature looped bun for hair.
