There are famous faces, and then there is Madonna. For more than four decades, the Queen of Pop has reinvented not only music but beauty itself, making every eyeliner flick, platinum curl and crimson lip part of pop culture history. So when Madonna asked pioneering makeup artist Laura Mercier to do her makeup, the answer wasn't an immediate yes, in fact it was a firm no. For three years. "I was scared," Mercier admits. "I'm just a quiet girl and she's... Madonna."
Eventually, after much cajoling from legendary photographer Steven Meisel, Mercier relented, beginning an eight-year creative partnership that would see her become one of Madonna's most trusted collaborators (Madonna has dubbed her ‘The Rembrandt of makeup artists’). Speaking to us, the woman who pioneered the 'no-makeup makeup' movement reveals why she was terrified to accept the job, the painstaking eyeliner technique behind the Take a Bow video, and the only time she ever kept Madonna waiting.
Ironically, although Mercier built her reputation on effortless, skin-first beauty, long before TikTok coined the ‘clean girl’ aesthetic, her first collaboration with Madonna couldn't have been further from barely-there makeup. Inspired by Ava Gardner, the look centred on flawless skin, a perfectly sculpted red lip and one of the most technically demanding beauty staples of all: a razor-sharp flick of liquid eyeliner.
Meeting Madonna
Few A-list faces have escaped the masterful touch of Laura Mercier. From Julia Roberts ("Laura has the ability to make you look like yourself") to Mariah Carey ("In Laura’s hands, you look glamorous but real"), she has worked with the world’s greatest icons. Yet, it took over three years - more than 1,000 days - for her to finally agree to work with the Queen of Reinvention herself. When Steven Meisel told Laura in no uncertain terms that she was "out of her mind" to pass up the opportunity, she finally acquiesced.
© Ron Galella Collection via Getty"I went to meet her at her home in New York," Laura recalls. "It was the most beautiful Art Deco apartment, which I didn’t expect - she has incredible taste. She had this huge dog that completely terrified me, and she opened the door in a robe."
At the time, Madonna was looking to radically reinvent her aesthetic for an upcoming music video (which would become the iconic Take a Bow). Together, they envisioned a classic, Ava Gardner-esque look. "She loved the concept," Laura says, "but her only rule was: don't make the red lipstick too orangey."
The eyeliner that nearly broke her
Despite her initial intimidation, Laura inadvertently raised the stakes by assigning herself the single most difficult makeup technique to execute: sharp liquid eyeliner.
"I always seem to put myself in the most challenging situations. Why the hell did I propose eyeliner?" she laughs. "I was already intimidated by Madonna, and then I suggest a retro eyeliner look, which is technically the most difficult thing you can do. No one has perfectly symmetrical eyes; sometimes one lid is a bit softer, or one eye is slightly smaller. Making them match is a huge challenge."
© Getty ImagesThe working conditions only added to the pressure. "We were shooting in a dimly lit, old-fashioned Spanish house in Ronda. It was a terrible environment for applying makeup. The chairs were so low that I had to sit on the floor with my knees on cushions just to reach her face, all while trying to maintain a perfectly steady hand." After Madonna declared the first eye "perfect," the real pressure was on to mirror it.
"I was literally sweating," Laura confesses. "Like many people, she has one eyelid that's slightly smaller, which is when you have to 'cheat' the lines a bit. I mapped the liner slightly higher on that side, creating a tiny 'beak' on the wing so that when her eyes were wide open, they appeared perfectly symmetrical. Luckily, it was impeccable. She absolutely loved it, and we clicked instantly - but then I had to recreate that exact same look every single morning of the shoot."
Inside Madonna’s makeup chair
"Madonna views makeup as another form of creative expression," Laura says. "Once you earn her trust, she gives you her absolute, undivided commitment - something I’ve never experienced with any other client. When she knows you can deliver, she’ll ask about your process and exactly how long it will take. You’d better calculate that time perfectly, because if you run even five minutes over, you’re dead." Far from being off-putting, this intense discipline suited Laura perfectly.
© Getty Images"I love it because you always know exactly where you stand with her, and she gives you her full concentration. She arrives precisely on time, and everything on her table is laid out with the precision of a surgeon - you're never scrambling to find a brush. That's exactly how I prefer to work, so we matched perfectly. She also understood right away that I prefer not to talk while working, which suited her well, as she was able to brainstorm and we’d sit there and not one person would bother us. If I said something was going to take two hours we’d have two hours and it was like that for eight years.”
"You’d better calculate that time perfectly, because if you run even five minutes over, you’re dead."
Don’t ever be late
There was only one time Laura ever made a scheduling mistake; “It was my first time travelling with Madonna and she was staying in the Lanesborough in London. I’m not sure what she was promoting at the time but it was like a zoo with people camped out outside. I was really jet-lagged and for the first time in my career I missed my alarm clock and was five minutes late. Never again. I had to go through the underground parking lot to avoid the crowds and she was sitting in her hotel room on the floor. I walked in and said ‘Good morning!’ and everybody was like, ‘Oh my god!’ Madonna looked up. ‘Last time.’ That was all she said. I replied ‘sure. I am so sorry’ and for the next eight years there wasn’t another moment of imperfection. She’s been nothing but lovely and warm, smart, communicative, and appreciative. With me she was a total joy. It was an amazing journey that came to an end when I made my makeup line but she even gave me her name for one of the lipsticks.”
Eight years with the Queen of Pop
Looking back now, Mercier says the experience still makes her heart race. "When you're working with someone like Madonna, you're part of the performance," she says. "You can't be sick. You can't have an off day. You have to be perfect so that she can be perfect." It's a standard she came to admire as much as fear. "It was an incredible journey. I learnt so much from her professionalism, her discipline and her creativity. Working with Madonna wasn't just about doing makeup - it taught me what excellence really looks like."
