Practical Magic 2 Made Me Want to Look Like a Witch Again

Practical Magic 2 Beauty Looks: Makeup and Hair to Steal

I have rewatched the Practical Magic 2 trailer approximately eleven times. Ostensibly to catch plot details. Actually to study the very specific quality of Nicole Kidman’s eyes in the opening sequence — that particular luminous shimmer that reads as witchy without reading as costume — and Sandra Bullock’s hair at the premiere, a rich mahogany wave that is exactly the shade I want for autumn. The Owens sisters are back, and whatever they are doing with their beauty routines, I want in on it.

The film’s makeup was designed by Graham Johnston, who told Who What Wear that the goal was evolution rather than recreation — keeping the familiar bohemian warmth of the original while reflecting women who have genuinely lived in the intervening twenty-seven years. The result is the most wearable version of witchy beauty I have seen in recent memory.

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Gillian Owens — The Glam Evolution

The most important beauty decision in Practical Magic 2 is one that will catch original fans off guard: Gillian’s wild strawberry red hair is gone. In the sequel, Kidman’s character has shifted to a softer, dusty rose-gold — a deliberate storytelling choice by hairstylist Santantonio, who explained it this way: softening Gillian’s hair from that wild red into a lighter, dusty rose-gold mirrors her stepping into a matriarchal role. She is no longer the rebellious, jet-setting younger sister. The hair change communicates an entire character arc without a word of dialogue.

The makeup evolved in the same direction. Johnston built Gillian’s 2026 eye look around the Lisa Eldridge Betty Palette — specifically the pink and lilac shades — to give what he described as a “delicate, magical sparkle.” Not the heavy black waterline of the original. Something more ethereal, more lived-in, more interesting as a result.

On the press tour, Kidman’s makeup artist Gucci Westman worked with luminous skin, warm neutral eyeshadow, soft black liner, and a pink-nude lip. Her premiere hair — styled by Adir Abergel using a GHD Speed hairdryer and round brush — was loose, full curls with a deep side part and high-shine finish. Abergel called it “undone in the best way — a nod to the free-spirited sister from the original film, reset for the present.”

Sally Owens — Mahogany and Minimal

Bullock’s Sally has always been the counterpoint to Gillian’s glamour — the more controlled sister whose beauty reads as considered rather than expressive. The sequel leans into this contrast: makeup artist Sabrina Bedrani kept Sally’s look luminous and restrained, with light pink on the cheeks and lips and a darker, more deliberate eye that stays well out of smoky territory.

The more immediately coveted detail is Bullock’s premiere hair — a rich mahogany wave in a deep side part that is exactly the autumn brunette shade the CSC reader is either wearing or considering. It connects directly to the espresso and melted brunette direction coming through in salon requests this season. This is the reference image to take to your appointment in September.

Antonia (Maisie Williams) — The Brunette Wig Twist

Here is the fact-checked detail that makes the Practical Magic 2 beauty story even more interesting. Maisie Williams’s character Antonia — Sally’s daughter — inherits her mother’s brunette colouring in the film. Williams wore a Bullock-brunette wig for the role, and the hair team made it so convincingly natural that most viewers will not realise it is not her own hair. The decision to mirror the brunette through the next generation is deliberate storytelling: Antonia has her mother’s disposition in both practicality and looks.

At the premiere, Williams made a completely different statement — deep oxblood at the London premiere in a custom gown, and at the LA premiere a Maison Margiela Fall 2026 leather top and skirt that appeared to have been assembled from deconstructed biker jackets, complete with skeletal bird imagery and anatomical motifs in blue and dark tones. Her hair was pulled tightly back with one carefully placed curl at the front. The contrast between the two premiere looks — one referencing Sandra Bullock’s 1999 red carpet archive, one leaning into the eerie, gothic side of the film — is the most interesting beauty and fashion story of the whole press tour.

The Fall Beauty Formula the Film Gives You

The Practical Magic 2 beauty approach is not about recreating a specific costume look. It is a register — dark feminine beauty at its most wearable. Luminous skin over full coverage. A warm neutral eye with soft dark liner at the lash line. Pink or berry blush worn high. Mascara as the main event. Hair in volume and loose waves, or the deep side part with high shine. A lip that shifts between pink-nude for day and deep berry or oxblood for evening.

This is the Fall routine that makes sense — not the clean girl’s gleaming minimalism, not the heavy editorial darkness of a full gothic look, but something between the two that has been in the Owens family for generations.