How Michelle Chung Uses Makeup to Bring Characters to Life in 'I Love LA'
We talked to the makeup artist about conceptualizing looks and collaborating with Rachel Sennott.
On the silver screen, our favorite characters often feel like real people. But behind the scenes, makeup artists like Michelle Chung play a vital role in putting the pieces together. Whether she’s executing absurdist, bagel-inspired looks for Everything Everywhere All at Once or turning Ayo Edebiri into a British pop star for I Love LA, makeup is more than just products for Chung — it’s a powerful tool for storytelling.
After studying art her entire life, Chung transformed her artistic passion into a love for makeup. Specifically, she became drawn to how the medium helps build entire worlds in film and TV. Now, having worked on a plethora of projects, the makeup artist finds that the most important part of the process is collaborating with the team at large — because although makeup is an essential element, it’s not enough to shape characters on its own.
For I Love LA in particular, Chung worked closely with the show’s creator, Rachel Sennott, in order to dream up glam that felt authentic to the characters. Unlike Everything Everywhere All at Once‘s distinctly experimental looks, I Love LA’s beauty was intended to feel subtle by emphasizing details like glowy skin and flushed cheeks. Rather than relying on makeup that felt too of-the-moment, Chung’s work is meant to be undetectable — as if the characters themselves are simply carrying out their daily routines.
Ahead, we speak to Michelle Chung about working on I Love LA and why the collaborative process is such a huge part of her work as a makeup artist.
On the Makeup in I Love LA
We really wanted the makeup looks in I Love LA to feel fresh and almost timeless in a way — they weren’t trendy looks of a certain era or time period. We wanted fresh, clean skin and for everyone to feel like a real person, not a caricature of someone. The real emphasis was on skin — glowy and dewy. Then, each character had their own look from there, Maia stayed fresh with a lot of sweet feminine pinks for cheeks and lips. Alani was dewy with a lot of lip gloss and glow. Tallulah had a bronzier look and some wild nails.
As far as the creative process, I love making mood boards, so I made mood boards for each character — but then, it becomes so much more from there. The mood boards are just a jumping off point, it then becomes a collaboration with the actors, the hair department and the costume designer. It’s such a group effort with creating these looks, and I always want them to be cohesive as a character.
On Her Favorite Look
I had so many looks I loved — Ayo’s look in episode two was really fun, she was so open to looking different, so we blocked out her brows and really went for it. It felt kind of like a David Bowie, ’70s vibe — with no brows and blush from the cheek to the eye. That was a fun look. I also really loved Rachel’s look in the final episode, it was such a vibe with her wardrobe and hair. It all came together in a beautiful way.
On Collaborating With Rachel Sennott
I think collaboration is key as a makeup artist. You can’t create a whole character on your own — there’s so many moving parts, and so many things that inform a character. I had a great hair partner, Ally Vickers, who really wanted to create a whole look, we really talked through looks together to create a mood. Our costume designer Christina Flannery was a genius with the looks, and we all just came together as a team to create full fleshed out characters. Rachel and I worked really closely, we talked about each look once we knew the outfit she was wearing. She’s so easy to talk to, and we were on the same page really early on with her look — so it became really simple, a real shorthand. She knows what she wants, but she’s also open to anything, so it’s really fun working with her. She’s also such a kind, sweet and funny person — so it’s lovely just to be around her.
On the Contrast Between I Love LA and Everything Everywhere All At Once
I think Everything Everywhere All at Once was such a different project — there were so many crazy, out of this world looks that didn’t lend themselves to reality, and the normal looks were as pared down as possible, sometimes with almost no makeup at all. With I Love LA, we wanted real characters, who were people that actually wear and love makeup. We wanted fresh beautiful skin, a kind of heightened reality, where everyone looks like themselves but a little better.
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On What Draws Her to a Project
On Her Beginnings in Makeup
On Her Favorite Project She’s Worked On
[I have] so many favorite projects for so many different reasons. Each project has their own challenges and fun moments. My favorite projects are ones where I feel like a part of a whole, where I’m really able to create characters and able to help tell a story through my makeup. Everything Everywhere All at Once was such an amazing experience, I really felt like the hair, makeup and costumes came together in a beautiful, organic way to help enhance the story.
I Love LA was also a really amazing experience because we had so many women in charge — it felt really special to have a group of strong women leading the way. There was also a show called Interior Chinatown that was amazing to work on. I had read the book and I loved it so much, it was really speaking to the Asian American experience in Hollywood — so being able to work on that was very special, to be telling a story that spoke to me personally. I really learn something from every project I work on, so it’s hard to pick one favorite.
