Behind House of Gucci's Beauty Looks: Tattoo Cover-Ups, a Prosthetic Nose, and Perms, Perms, Perms

As Tanno put it, doing the prep work before filming was “really a masterclass in accuracy” – especially when it came to the inevitable tattoo cover-up required for Lady Gaga’s transformation.

“Because she has so many tattoos, during the fitting, I would make note of what part of her skin would show [for each] outfit so then that way I don’t waste time sitting in the makeup chair before filming,” she said. “[Director Ridley Scott] shoots very fast, and sometimes completely out of order depending on the location – in any given day, she would be 40 years old in the morning, and then have to go back to being 25 – so we had to be prepared. Figuring out what tattoos were necessary to cover up and which weren’t was really an art to making the schedule work.”

This, as you can imagine, was no easy feat considering the sheer volume of body art. To help, the makeup team relied on the pro-favorite Skin Illustrator FX Palette ($76) to conceal all that ink, which is alcohol-based and heavily pigmented for easy cover-up.

“You start by canceling out the tattoos with an orange base all over the body, and then I would go in with something called Jordane ($55), a tattoo cover-up that you’d stipple that on,” she said. “Then you have to use powder to seal it, and then spray a sealer on it. And she has so many. Then you’re touching it up, and it has to look perfectly smooth, but then it rubs against the clothes. It’s such a thing. I said to her, ‘Your next role, I hope you’re Catwoman or something, where you’re in a cat suit the whole time. Because . . .”

As art imitates life, so does the makeup in House of Gucci. “With Gucci, because of the matter of the movie, we went quite big,” said Carboni. “The makeup was very bold, because so much of the times was all about bold makeup, and also this is Gucci. We pushed our boundaries.”

Yet, it also told a story. For Lady Gaga, Patrizia Reggiani’s makeup evolved with the decades as her status within the Gucci family pulsed. “We had to take her character through multiple decades,” said Tanno. “There was graduation of the type of makeup and the style, whether it was the shape of the eye that reflected the era or the lipstick. Something that was difficult to find with modern textures was the finish. All of the makeup back then had a velvet finish without a heavy pearl. It was really important to mimic these textures.”

That’s where the new Haus Labs Casa Gaga Italian Glam Collection came in. The entire lineup is a love letter to Italian culture – as Lady Gaga said in a press release, “There’s glam, then there’s Italian Glam” – which was used throughout the movie.

Carboni also focused on textures for the rest of the cast. “In the 70s, I used a lot of gloss because it was all about dewy skin and shiny lips. Then in the 80s, we went for more matte effect, so it was less translucent. In the 2000s, it was that sun-kissed look with messy, shaggy hair and nude lips.” (They used a handful of neutral shades from Charlotte Tilbury’s Matte Revolution Super Nudes Lipstick Collection ($34 each).)

One of the film’s biggest transformations goes to Jared Leto as Paolo Gucci – and, if you’ve seen the actor in Dallas Buyer’s Club or Little Things, you know he’s not afraid to fully commit to a look – which was indisputably the character that spent the longest in the makeup chair.

“Between everything, from the costume to the prosthetics to the makeup, it would take anywhere from three to five hours, depending on the day,” said Carboni. “We realized he would need a lot of prosthetics work for Jared early on, so decided to bring in [prosthetics designer] Göran Lundström who was just dedicated to him. He worked endless hours with his team to make him look as similar to the real Paolo, who was older and more round. He designed all the things – a bald cap, prosthetics to create a thicker nose, cheeks, even his neck – so it’s full-on prosthetic, but the amazing thing is you really couldn’t tell. It looked very realistic.”

As you could probably glean from Lady Gaga‘s most recent red carpet appearances, she didn’t dye her hair in real life; rather, the wide range of styles and deep brunette color came in the form of many wigs – the byproduct of Aspiras’s creativity.

“I spent six months doing the forensics of hairstyles for 10 wigs,” he said. “Then, before filming, when we were doing all the screen tests and whatnot, I came prepared with all 10 hero wigs – a new hairstyle for every major scene – and Ridley [Scott] said, ‘Oh, you know what? We only need two wigs.’ We move too fast, it’s hard to pace them.”

In the end, Scott changed his mind (although Aspiras did have to convince him before every scene and check in on how each style translated on screen) and as such, Lady Gaga wore all 10 wigs throughout the movie – and it ended up being the finishing touch that helped get her into character, and “the most gratifying thing as a hairdresser” to see.

“Do you know how nail-biting that was? In the early ’80s when she had that big perm moment, when she says, ‘Father, son, and the House of Gucci,’ that almost didn’t happen. But I am truly honored that [Scott] respected and he trusted me to live out my hairstyling fantasies.”

According to Carboni, there was one unifying goal with the makeup that reflected what she calls the “Gucci mood,” and that was creating a “sun-kissed Italian look that was bronzed and tan.” It’s why they zipped through warm and glow-y base makeup, fast, and self-tanner on set.

“For the men, I used a lot of the Chanel Boy de Chanel Foundation ($55) as a makeup base, and of course we used the warmest color. Then, my favorite product to give that subtle tan is the Tom Ford Bronzing Gel ($57). I use that on top of the makeup and it gives a kind of sheer and translucent effect, so it’s not cake-y, because making someone look tanned without making it look [fake] is the key.”

Carboni rotated between a handful of other bronzing products – from NARS Bronzer Powder in Laguna or Casino ($38) to Surratt Beauty Dew Drop Foundation ($75) to Trish McEvoy’s Beauty Balm ($87) – depending on each cast member’s skin type and undertone, layered meticulously for the most natural-unnatural-looking effect.

While Lady Gaga’s makeup evolved through each era in the film, her hair color played a crucial role in indicating her status at any given moment. In the beginning, for example, it was meant to look like she could have done it herself.

“For her as a young woman, she was not yet part of the Gucci dynasty, so she wouldn’t be able to afford to go to a very high-end salon or have a hairstylist and we wanted the color to reflect that,” said Aspiras. “Most likely, she would have done her own hair at home, because she lived at home. And she worked for her family, so it had to be a color that was pretty rich and natural, without any highlights or any type of color services. Back then, there was no balayage and whatnot, so we had to stay just almost beautiful virgin brown hair.”

As the years went on, and as Patrizia gained access to money and power, her hair color would eventually go on to become indicative of the trends at the time – all created with Joico pro hair color. (Aspiras is an ambassador for the brand.)

“For instance, the 80s was when she moved into more of a power look because she was now married into the Gucci dynasty. Back then they got their hair colored in this really rich, shiny, near-black color. These were all subtle changes that contributed to the character, her emotional state, where she was in her life, her status. We went from beautiful, shiny brown, well-kept hair, to by the end of the movie, it was dry and fried, short, and she looked like she gelled it back herself, showing her almost unhinged state.”

(It’s worth noting that in the aforementioned era, it wasn’t just the color that screamed “power” – it was also Lady Gaga’s perm. That, “Father, son, and the House of Gucci” perm. “The look wasn’t about having the ringlets, but rather the frizz and curls,” he said. “We would style with mousse and water to change the integrity of the curl, then brush it out. [Lady Gaga] kept saying, ‘Ugh! This is ugly,’ and I would say, ‘Oh, it’s tragic, but that was the look.'”

House of Gucci officially hit theaters Nov. 24.