At a launch event for her newly-endorsed foundation, celebrity makeup artist Lilly Keys is offering color matches. As I assume position in her chair, Lilly appraises my face, evaluating the blush I strategically applied to emulate a post-vacation sunburn. “Wow, that’s how I’ve been doing blush for years,” she says. “Now, it’s what all my clients ask for.”
Considering those clients include Olivia Rodrigo, Charli XCX and Addison Rae, it’s no coincidence that my own makeup might reflect Lilly’s techniques. From TikTok tutorials to ‘Best Beauty Looks of the [Insert Red Carpet Event Here],’ the artists glamming young Hollywood have been inadvertently making over the beauty standard with each gig — their looks populating Pinterest within minutes. And when it comes to your skinny braids and bleached brows, faux freckles and side-swoops, you can credit one duo: Lilly Keys, and hair stylist, Clayton Hawkins.
Together, Lilly and Clay work on Olivia, Charli and actress/singer Melissa Barrera, and their individual rosters are similarly expansive. In addition to regulars, over the past few weeks the pair have dolled up Dove Cameron, Hailey Bieber, Maddie Ziegler, Nadia Lee Cohen, Iris Apatow, Demi Lovato and Sarah Hyland between them — their services are often booked up 28 days of the month. Clay, who bought his first car with money from styling girls for prom, has assisted veterans Chris Appleton and Mark Townson, whereas Lilly cut her teeth on the UK popstar circuit, with Little Mix predecessors, Girls Aloud. Despite growing up continents apart — Clay in Los Angeles and Lilly in South Africa — both claim their high school theatre backgrounds introduced them to the art of glam.
It was the fateful filming of “2099” — a Charli XCX-Troye Sivan hyperpop classic — that first “trauma-bonded” Clay and Lilly, as the duo’s boat began sinking in the middle of Lake Piru. Now, their pre-event prep playlists feature a slew of Charli hits, with Olivia even citing their “great taste” in her Met Gala getting ready video. That’s because their job is “50 percent vibe and 50 percent making people feel as good as they look,” Clay says.
On the day of our interview, they’re in Vegas with the popstar, and the final product is another home run. Pay close attention to Olivia’s frost-bitten lips, the wind-swept up-do, and prepare to be algorithmically attacked by a slew of recreations. After all, that’s the Lilly-Clay effect. Read on for the duo’s full breakdown of evolving popstar beauty.
The looks you create daily are literally informing culture. What’s it like to see your work reflected back to you by girls on your explore page?
Lilly: Oh my god, it’s so flattering. I mean, I know I’m not the one that invented it, but doing something like sun-tanned blush and the fact you then work with someone who says, “I want you to do this”. I saw you wearing it, and that’s why I complimented you.
What style would you each stake your claim to, that you’ve now seen become ubiquitous?
Clay: I have such a soft spot in my heart for that Y2K era hair, the spiky buns, the braids, the jewels, the hair accessories. That’s my nostalgia peak point, so I guess it’s when I started bringing that back with a couple of my clients years ago and watched it become a huge trend. Face-framing braids, which I did a lot about a year and a half, two years ago. Olivia and I collaborated on that and it became very ubiquitous. It’s cool going to her concerts and seeing everyone recreating these hair looks that we just had fun doing.
Lilly: I love putting faux freckles on people; I’ve been doing it for years. I feel like I’m really good at it too because sometimes when I see faux freckles, they look very fake.
Clay: It makes it look like you aren’t wearing as much makeup as you probably are.
How collaborative are clients? Do they offer parameters to work within or just give you free rein?
Lilly: Everyone’s different — people have a look that they love. But usually when I’m doing a red carpet, we’ll pull a bunch of references, and say to the client, “What do you think about this? Should we do this today?”
Clay: Normally hair, makeup and wardrobe the day before are in a group chat, discussing our dream scenarios, putting together the perfect look. But everyone’s different. And like I said, our job is 50 percent vibe and 50 percent making people feel and look good. Some clients want you to do what they want, 100 percent. Melissa really lets us play. She loves to experiment and she’ll let me put wigs on her. Everyone’s different and it’s just about making everyone feel beautiful.
Lilly: Of course, if we’re doing a beauty editorial or anything like that, we can go crazy, but I’m not going to push what I want to do on someone ever.
Clay: Correct. That’s really what separates us. It’s not really even the skill, it’s that we’re there in service of not only the client, but just the overall look. The event, what the outfit is, the time of day it’s going to be.
VOGUE featured you both in Olivia’s ‘Met Gala GRWM’ video. How have you seen the beauty at those kinds of events evolve? Is there more risk?
Clay: Oh yeah, and everyone is getting so much better at every job. Makeup is better now than it was three years ago. Hair is better now than it was three years ago. Look at wig technology now from what it was like 10 years ago — you have girls who are out there hosting an award show with 10 different wigs that look incredible. Artists that rest on their laurels, they get left behind.
Lilly: You’re only as good as your last job. But something like the Met, it’s such an exciting thing to do, to collaborate together.
When you’re brainstorming a new look or pushing the boundaries, where are you pulling inspiration from? Who are you looking to?
Lilly: 100 percent Pinterest. I have a very good hack for Pinterest, you guys: if I search anything, for instance, Halloween, goth, whatever, this is just pulling out of the sky. If I put the word editorial —
Clay: If you don’t say editorial, you’re not going to get it. You have to say editorial. I think it’s important to try to not have references that are current people. Especially with artists. We want to separate you, we want to do our own things. So I’ll buy lots of magazines from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s.
Lilly: I do the same thing.
Clay: Well, you know what else has the best hair, which I really get a lot of inspo from? Old Playboy. Playboy hair.
What’s a trend you would love to see die?
Clay: You know what is dying, which I think is good, is overly polished.
Lilly: I was going to say that that kind of very overdone brow that’s faded in the middle. I mean, when I’ve seen it done, it is beautifully executed for sure. But it’s just that overly polished thing. It’s never been my makeup aesthetic anyway, and I think that’s kind of coming away a little bit because it’s also unattainable.
What about skinny brows?
Lilly: You know what? I actually love skinny brows. They got a bad rep for a minute and everyone’s like, don’t touch them, whatever. But I actually think there’s something really elegant about a skinny brow. People are now bleaching their brows, but just underneath them, making it seem skinnier because the dark is the skinny part.
Clay: I love transformation. I’m not afraid of extensions and wigs and hair pieces. I think the coolest thing about what we do compared to so many other jobs is that we get the instant gratification of the before and after. What other job do you get to do that? You get to create something in three hours and then have it go onto the world stage?
Lilly: We scream and clap when we see it on the carpet. It can be addictive for sure. It’s inspiring to us.
Clay: We inspire ourselves.
How do you navigate the pressure of having someone watch your process?
Clay: I like attention. I don’t care.
Lilly: It’s nerve-wracking sometimes, especially when we’re doing a very big red carpet on a very well known person. Within minutes of being on the carpet it’s going to be written about in publications all over the world, so to have your work scrutinised so quickly…
Clay: I will say that we never really criticise other glam looks because you never know how much time they had. Sometimes someone will have 30 minutes, 20 minutes for a full look.
Lilly: Two hours, for instance, is the norm where hair is being done at the same time as makeup, the same time as nails. They have to get dressed and then there’s usually a film crew filming what’s going on, they’re being interviewed or people are on their phones. It’s a stressful environment.
Clay: Do people know that it all gets done at the same time? Peace and love to the manicurist, but the manicurist just somehow always gets more space than anyone else.
Lilly: Clay will be doing high, snatched ponytails, while I’m doing graphic eyeliner. I feel like people don’t realise how stressful it can be backstage or in a hotel room getting someone ready. I’m not just saying that cause we literally just talked about it, but I wish people knew how intense it can be behind the scenes to get someone to look perfect.
Clay: At the end of the day, we’re in the service industry. So you might think you want to do this, but really you’re not the superstar in the situation. You’re working for other people and it’s your job to cater to them. And it’s really, really, really about the client. So unless you are super client oriented, you will not succeed in this business.
Lilly: I definitely feel like I’m in the service industry when I’m walking up a thousand steps with my 70 pound case and my makeup chair, let me tell you.
Clay: The stairs are the worst part of the job, but we get next week off. We’re going to be so bored.
Lilly: I know, Clay. By day two we’re going to be like I need to get back to work. Let’s do a fucking editorial.