We Don't Know Who A Is, But We Do Know the Deepest Darkest Secrets Behind Pretty Little Liars' Beauty
ABC Family1/6After five seasons full of red herrings, a steady lineup of dreamy significant others, and a seemingly endless fall, Pretty Little Liars has majorly amped up the plot in this pivotal penultimate season. And we're only in the first half. But like with the five seasons before, Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer's hair and makeup are almost like supporting characters. (Let's be honest, Lucy Hale's expressive eyebrows practically deserve an IMDB credit of their own.) So before that much buzzed about time jump (more on that in a bit) in the second half of season six, let's catch up with the Liars and their more evolved — and dare we say it — grown-up beauty looks right now. Although, we guess a hostage situation might make you mature pretty quickly.
But let's start with a major reveal that doesn't involve A. The show's hair department head Kim M. Ferry drops this bombshell: "We don't really use hairspray on the show." Whaaaa? "That's part of the beauty of their looks, they always want to be casual and get caught off guard and get caught into these crazy stories so I really wanted everything to move." Good point. Stiff helmet head doesn't really flow with the story when escaping from an underground dollhouse bunker or running from a hooded villain. Also, you may have noticed more natural makeup looks on the girls this season. Well, that's intentional because the beauty needs to support the storyline. "The girls have been dealing with a lot of stress, so they probably wouldn't work on doing their makeup as much," explains makeup department head Cindy Miguens. "The first thing after you're getting kidnapped is not to go and get your nails or full-on makeup done."
ABC Family2/6For Lucy, a.k.a. Aria Montgomery and her on-fleek arches that launched a bajillion YouTube tutorials, well, "she's gifted with these amazing eyebrows to begin with," confirms Cindy. We figured as much. The makeup artist just adds a touch of definition with light strokes of Dior Show Brow Styler and, if necessary, Anastasia Brow powder in medium.
Also, when one of the stars — ahem, Lucy or Ashley Benson — wants to cut her hair into a tousled bob or lob, she has to get permission from all the big bosses on the show. (For an example of why, just Google: Keri Russell, Felicity, haircut.) "It's not like making a last second change, like just cut it off and have fun," Kim says.
Whether Aria's adorable bob was motivated by Lucy's desire for a change or A's sadistic game plan (aka, the script), we die for her drastic trim. (OK, perhaps a poor choice of words.) To create Aria's wavy 'do, Kim first takes a mini flat iron and works through Lucy's naturally wavy — and very thick — hair and then spritzes on Aquage Beyond Body Sealing Spray to set the ensuing style. Then she holds a 1-inch curling tool vertically and bends and wraps sections of Lucy's hair around it, but the trick is to leave the ends out. Kim will alternate the direction of the curl for that tousle-y effect. Then she will finish off with Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray](http://www.oribe.com/dry-texturizing-spray.html) for a "grittier, piece-ier edge to it."
ABC Family3/6Whenever we think about Hanna Marin — or Ashley Benson's clique-stalkable Instagram — the smoky eyes look jumps to mind. "Definitely," agrees Cindy. "You know she has been my smoky girl because it fits her personality and it also fits her character." The makeup artist likes shades of black on Ashley, including a Make Up For Ever black eye pencil on the waterline and smudged around the eye, plus the comprehensive Stila In the Light eye shadow palette. Ardell double lashes in medium and short finish out Hanna's signature eyes.
For Ashley's messy lob, Kim's setting spray and curling technique is similar to Lucy's. To create Hanna's messy part, she takes a tailcomb and, instead of drawing a straight line, she runs Zs through the hair part. "I really like the idea of them having a not perfect part because nothing is very perfect about their lives," Kim says. But conscientious maintenance when the girls are off-set is crucial, too. The hair guru sends all the girls (and guys) home with care packages featuring this year's fave: Bumble & Bumble Invisible Oil shampoo and conditioner. "It's sulfate free which I like," she says. "It's very light, but it helps to soften and tame the frizz."
ABC Family4/6Resident prepster Spencer Hastings consistently wavers between her control freak tendencies and her conflicting impulse control issues, but it's all disguised under a flawlessly dewy natural glow. "She's like the nude palette girl," Cindy says. She creates Troian Bellisario's on-screen no-makeup makeup look with tinted Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint as a base and a dab of MAC Cremeblend blush in Posey on both cheeks.
Another reveal: Spencer's boho-cool mini-milk-braid in "O Brother, Where Art Thou" (aka, the episode in which Toby accidentally ingests Spencer's pot-infused gummy bears) is a hairpiece. To create Ms. Hastings's loose signature waves, Kim's assistant Shari Perry dries Troian's hair by working her fingers through, instead of brushing out. Then she wraps large sections of hair around the outside of a wide-barreled curling iron. "That just gives it a difference in texture," Kim says. "It looks a little more natural." Shari then spritzes on some R+Co. Death Valley dry shampoo to smooth the waves, but add more volume and movement.
ABC Family5/6"Shay Mitchell is my contour queen for sure," Cindy says. She uses two to three shades of Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation Sticks to highlight and contour. "We contour her cheeks. We contour her nose and the rim of her face," Cindy explains. She applies the color directly from the makeup stick and then blends it in with a brush. "Shay's influenced all the others, I have a feeling, to add contour within their makeup looks as well," she adds.
Shay's hairstyling process is similar to Troian's, thanks to Shari. For the beachy waves, day two or even three hair tends to be key. "It actually looks better when you get some of the products in," Kim says of using dry shampoo at the roots of dirty hair. "It makes it look messier and piece-ier." But like her on-screen character Emily Fields, Shay is resourcefully low-maintenance, too — she opts for an everyday drugstore favorite instead of designer dry shampoo. "She really likes baby powder in lieu of dry shampoo," Kim says. "She loves sprinkling that into her scalp. You would think you would see it in her dark hair, but the heat of your scalp warms it in and it works really great!"
ABC Family6/6Once the tragically nefarious Charles is unmasked in the mid-season finale on August 4, we'll have to wait patiently until 2016 for that 5-year time jump that skips over college and that first transition year into the real world. (Although, we would have kind of loved seeing Hanna at a few frat parties and Spencer study abroad in London and meet up with that cute British guy again.) Obviously, Cindy and Kim have basically been sworn to secrecy, but they could give us a few hints — only related to hair and makeup, of course. "They're more into their careers. They're just all becoming young, successful ladies," Cindy says. "I've tried my best to make [the makeup] different from what they look like in high school, so hopefully the audience will notice it and will just go crazy for it," she adds.
With her Pinterest activities on overdrive, Kim has been formulating hairstyles for months in anticipation for the 5-year leap. "But it's really fun to see the jump and the [hair] changes that some made and the changes that some didn't," she carefully says. "We had a big production meeting with the writers and the producers and myself and makeup and wardrobe just trying to figure out — who are they five years from now? What are they? What is their job because that really speaks to what we have to design. If they're going to be working in a diner or something, say, then it would be a lot more casual than if they were working on Wall Street." Hints, perhaps? Also, 5 years is plenty of time for Caleb to grow his long hair back. Just saying.
