Peter Philips has always loved drawing. Growing up in Belgium, the artistic and image director of Christian Dior makeup studied graphic design before going on to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. But the turning point in his career came when he freehand-drawn a portrait of Mickey Mouse on a male model’s face during one of Raf Simons and Willy Vanderperre’s first shoots. In this shoot for ELLE, Philips drew on his love of bold colors, art, and graphic elements to create a portfolio of eye-catching looks on actress Alexandra Daddario, Dior’s fashion and makeup ambassador.
“I felt like a canvas,” Daddario says. “I’ve never done makeup like that before.” She instead wears a no-makeup look for her role as a neurosurgeon witch on the AMC+ TV series The Witches of Mayfairbased on the novels by Anne Rice (the series also recently came out on Netflix). “It’s really magical to see yourself transformed in the hands of artists.” Below, ELLE spoke to Daddario about her journey into witchcraft, her favorite makeup routine, and her self-care rituals during pregnancy.
What did you think of the shoot? Have you ever worn this makeup?
No, it was really unique. It was fun to have Peter do my makeup. He’s one of the best. I told him, “You’re like a surgeon.” His way was very precise, especially in the way he would ask for different brushes or makeup. He was a wonderful person, and I felt like a canvas, while he was making beautiful works of art.
What do you personally gravitate towards when it comes to beauty?
For my show, I do my makeup every day for six months, so it’s nice to have a break. When I do do my own makeup, I keep it pretty simple. I don’t do a lot: mascara, eyeshadow, and a little eyeliner. I’ve gotten into the habit of filling in my eyebrows and using a little blush. I try not to use too much foundation so I can take breaks during filming. I eat too much to wear lipstick. It’s always coming off and I have to worry about it.
Since becoming pregnant, have you adopted any new self-care habits or practices?
I’m constantly thinking about the baby. That’s the only really exhausting and new thing. Did I eat enough iron today? Did I stretch my hips enough for delivery? Did I take my choline pill? Everything else is pretty much the same, except I can’t drink. I keep buying wine and saying, “I’ll have it after I give birth.” There are a lot of really good wines in my fridge.
Has pregnancy made you feel differently about your body?
I feel the same way, except now I’m wearing my husband’s jeans. I view food and exercise as medicine even more strongly than before. Health and happiness seem beautiful to me.
I was perplexed by morning sickness: why would being pregnant make a woman so sick that she couldn’t keep food down? It didn’t make sense to me, evolutionarily or otherwise. Plus, there’s a baby doing somersaults in my belly, and that’s really cool. The ultrasounds were my favorite part.
Is there a particular element of beauty that helps you get more into your character for The Witches of Mayfair?
I play a witch, so I get to channel that. It’s about a woman coming into her power literally, but also figuratively, and coming into her personality. She’s a character who’s constantly growing, even at 30, and a lot of the clothing and makeup reflects that throughout the season. We also get to do a transformation in some of the later episodes.
Have you ever been fascinated by witch culture? Was it a subject of fascination for you as a child??
I remember watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch. As a young woman, I also want to tap into magic and discover what my power is. Of course, it doesn’t become literal powers, but I think you can see all the magic in the world by using your imagination. When I was little, I remember a friend teaching me how to make a strange drink by mixing tissues, water, olive oil, and other weird stuff from the kitchen. I was supposed to keep it in my cupboard for 48 hours, and my mother found it and was like, “What the hell is going on? What is this?”
As a young person, the idea of an imaginary source of power is very appealing.
Yes. We all have that to some extent. We believe in all sorts of things, like believing in the power of thought. When I was a child, The secret was very popular. And listen, there are moments in my life that feel really magical. There are moments that don’t, but there have been moments in my life where something magical has happened.
You talked about it a little bit, but what can we expect in the new season?
This character is constantly going through transformations and learning new things. She’s a woman who just found her real parents. She found out where she came from, and it’s a crazy, dark world. It’s a lot to deal with, finding out she’s a witch and she’s inherited this house and all this money. Getting involved in this really magical, supernatural world would be a lot for anyone. It’s a fun world to explore.
Your character is also dealing with family drama, isn’t he?
I really like that it’s a family story. In some of the greatest stories, even in Greek mythology, it’s all about families and dysfunctional relationships. It’s something that’s been happening since the beginning of time. A lot of people have dysfunctional families or [families] who function dysfunctionally. It’s an extremely dysfunctional family, so we can identify with it.
Did you look at any particular inspirations or material sources when diving into this new world of witches?
I read The Witching HourBut it was really important to me to find out who Rice was. I really dug into it. She was a fascinating woman, and all sorts of things happened to her when she was young. I was curious about why she wrote these books, who she was, and how she created these worlds. I found a book that had emails that a fan had sent her, and she would respond to this person every time and answer their questions in detail.
For example, I learned that she lost a daughter at the age of four. Obviously, for anyone who has lost a child, it is absolutely horrible. There are a lot of themes in her novels, like where do you go when you die? How do you survive on this earth when you have experienced something like that? [loss] What happened? She believed in ghosts and was very interested in the supernatural and scientific studies about people coming from the afterlife and saying “hello” in all sorts of ways. Her books explore what it means to die and lose someone, grief, loss and how to recover from it. I don’t want to speak for her. I’m sure there are people who know more than I do, but I think a lot of that influenced her view of what it meant to be human.
Do you believe in ghosts?
I’m not sure. I’ve never seen one, but maybe they just know I couldn’t stand them showing up. But I’ve heard some crazy stories. My friend Morgan was in New Orleans with me. [where we shoot]and we lived in the same house. She claims there was a ghost in the house that would come and pet my dog.
New Orleans is filled with [ghost] It’s a very haunted place. It has a very, very intense history. There are a lot of really magical people there. Sometimes I’ve had tarot card readings or psychic readings that were crazy.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
A version of this story appears in the September 2024 issue of ELLE.
Kathleen Hou is ELLE’s beauty director. She previously held the same position at New York Magazine‘s The cutShe has appeared in publications such as The New York Times Magazine, Vogue India, ForbesAnd SeduceShe was also co-founder of Donate Beauty, a beauty donation project launched during the COVID-19 crisis, which has donated over 500,000 products to over 30,000 healthcare professionals in over 500 hospitals.
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