In The Scenario, reporter Kirbie Johnson takes readers behind the scenes of the buzziest movies and TV shows to reveal how the best wigs, special-effects makeup, and more are created. For this edition, Johnson interviewed makeup designer Jennifer Powell and hair designer Florencia Anahi, the duo behind Prime Video's much-anticipated Legally Blonde prequel, Elle, to find how they went about transforming actress Lexi Minetree into the high-school version of everyone's favorite Harvard law grad.

In Elle, the prequel series to the 2001 film Legally Blonde, we learn how (and where) Elle Woods—the chipper, buttery blonde who conquered law school—grew up. The Bel-Air teen’s dreamy Los Angeles lifestyle gets interrupted with a major blow to her junior year plans: her dad, a notable plastic surgeon, botches someone’s nose and her family must move to a place known for not being sunny (or pink for that matter): Seattle.

The prequel also shows us that Elle's dedication to beauty—her bright blonde hair, rosy-pink makeup, and perfectly-manicured nails—began long before joining Delta Nu. In fact, for both makeup designer Jennifer Powell and hair designer Florencia Anahi, it was important there was a throughline from the high-school version of Elle, played by Lexi Minetree, and the version we see in Legally Blonde, played by Reese Witherspoon (who was executive producer for the Prime Video series). Images of Witherspoon lined the hair and makeup trailer walls as inspiration, while Minetree spent hours in the salon chair to achieve the perfect blonde. Below, Powell and Anahi share how they went about imagining Elle's live before law school—and the products and techniques that went into Minetree's mid-nineties transformation.

Elle's mom, Eva, is the driving inspiration for her look.

Unlike many coming-of-age series, Eva (played by June Diane Raphael) is revered by her daughter. Elle (played by Lexi Minetree) looks up to her mother and even finds her cool, emulating aspects of her look and taking inspiration from others. “This is a young girl who idolizes her mom,” says Powell. “Elle and her mom have a close relationship, they're both into beauty. It’s not all that they are, but it's definitely not a part of them that they feel they have to ignore or have to like squash down.”

One way Elle mimics Eva is they both have French manicures with square tips, although Elle’s are shorter than her mom’s. While in hair and makeup, Minetree received gel fills every two weeks from nail artist Tony Tran.

Another beauty treatment both mom and daughter adhere to in the series is the perfect spray tan, an element that helped physically express their characters’ sunny disposition. “We were sending them out for their spray tans because we wanted them to stand out in Seattle,” says Powell. “No matter what the weather is, they're still dressed for and defiantly still holding on to that LA vibe.”

Both Minetree and Raphael received spray tans every five to seven days, varying between two levels of custom tans depending on how dark they needed to be, and iIn-between tans, Powell used MAC Face & Body Foundation to keep the color from looking splotchy. “[The formula] is so sheer and thin, and unless I'm covering tattoos, I want to see the skin [underneath],” Powell explains. “And I didn't want anything frosty or shimmery—we're not doing Dancing With the Stars.” Powell also needed a foundation formula that could be easily cleaned up in case anything went wrong on set. “[Minetree and Raphael] are in some very beautiful vintage outfits, especially June. She's in cream, baby blue—all the soft colors—so I could not have any transfer.”

Mid-'90s references ranged from Allure magazine to Beverly Hills 90210.

Most of Powell’s references for the film came primarily from her personal experience in the mid-nineties. “I was 25 in 1995, so I was right in it as a young makeup artist,” she says. That includes early issues of Allure magazine that Powell kept and stacked in the corner of the makeup trailer. “Allure was for me, in my 20s, a very special magazine because it was the beauty magazine, so that was so wonderful to pull from and reference,” Powell explains. “It was really fun to flip through the pages and look at the great beautiful editorials and ads—because the ads will also say so much [about that time].”

Powell referenced ads and editorials from 1994 to1996 in order to keep in mind where beauty trends had been and where they were heading, something many hair and makeup designers do to help with period accuracy. She had images of mothers and daughters in the trailer, from Goldie Hawn and Kate Hudson to Kathy and Paris Hilton. Stars like Britney Spears, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz, Kate Moss and even the Spice Girls served as inspiration, but her main references were images of Claudia Schiffer and Witherspoon in Legally Blonde.

When thinking of Elle’s character, Anahi believed she’d be watching movies and TV shows like Clueless and Beverly Hills 90210, a backstory that informed the character's hair color. “She’s a classic, buttery blonde, no toner,” Anahi says of her specific shade. The goal was to keep her hair bright and warm versus cool, according to Anahi, likening the hue to Alicia Silverstone’s in the ’90s and, of course, Witherspoon in the original film.

Elle’s perfect pink lip stain is historically accurate (and still around!)

The lip color Minetree wears throughout most of the season is a product that was available to purchase in the ’90s, and it’s a product one could assume Elle was the first to adopt and share with her friends. “I loved Benefit’s Benetint in the ’90s, so Lexi’s wearing the original version,” says Powell. “I pulled out so many pinks when we were testing. My station was an array of every pink that I could think of, in case the producers wanted to see a more muted lip or something like that.” Benetint was one of the options, and not only did the rose-colored stain end up being the perfect color, but the budgeproof formula was also perfect for long days of filming. “It was nostalgic, it was beautiful on her, it holds up great, and you can mix it with anything,” Powell explains.

If they needed to add a gloss on top of the stain, Powell used MAC Lipglass. For the big Cosmopolitan party in the series, Powell used L'Oréal Paris Colour Riche Satin Lipstick in Tickled Pink, a frosted blue pink and another legacy lip product available in the ’90s that’s still around today.

The '90s trend they avoided on Elle.

“Dewy” and “luminous” makeup were not a thing in the ’90s, but you won’t see Minetree looking matte in the show. “ I definitely wanted to honor Elle and her vision for glamour, and her vision for pretty and sparkly,” Powell says. “It reflects in her room and her clothing, her pens, her accessories, so it didn't make sense for her to be wearing a matte neutral lip.” Instead, Powell opted for a satiny cream lip with a bit of gloss. “ I kept her on the edge of the sparkly L'Oréal girl … something more inspired by Claudia Schiffer.” (Editor’s note: Schiffer was a spokesperson for the brand in the ’90s.)

Three hair colorists helped Minetree achieve (and keep) her signature Elle blonde.

Minetree is a natural brunette. For her audition tape, her hair was dyed lighter and needed some work to get to the right Elle shade of blonde, a hue that took six and half hours to achieve. “When Lexi came to us [pre-filming], we had some color correcting to get her to the right level to match Reese Witherspoon's blonde,” Anahi says. “It was a journey. When that happens, you end up getting some breakage; it's a harsh process, but we nursed her hair back to health.”

The production was filmed in Vancouver, Canada and Los Angeles. Minetree is based in New York and had to upkeep the color for press. Brittany Otash colored Minetree’s hair every other week while filming in Vancouver. For the LA-based scenes, Yukari Yokomizo took care of her blonde, and while in New York, Minetree saw colorist Angela Hazelton.

Elle’s signature bouncy hair feature some 2020-era innovations.

If you want to mimic Elle’s bouncy hair at home without rollers, pull out your Dyson Airwrap— but not for the attachment you’re thinking of. “I wouldn't use the actual curl attachments, but more so the round brush,” Anahi says. “I love that one, it gives you great volume [and makes it] nice and smooth.” For products, Anahi said she used Color Wow’s Dream Coat once a week to help smooth out the hair, as well as the brand’s Xtra Large Bombshell Volumizer.

“Whenever we wanted to do any kind of curl sets, we'd use the Redken Hot Sets Thermal Spray 22,” Anahi says. “I love Redken, the brand is my go-to. For any flyaways—because when we get that back lighting and that blonde hair, we have to get in there—we use the Tancho Wax stick. Some people know it from back in the day—it's a throwback but it gets the job done.”

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