Nicola Coughlan, aka Penelope in Bridgerton, and her red hair have become legend. Over the course of previous seasons the mysterious Lady Whistledown has gone from the thick, flattened curls she had when she was a shy little girl to soft, sinuous coppery-red waves to when she blossomed into a young woman in the third series. Her color has thus become one of the most desired by fans of semi-historical fiction.
Yet it’s not all copper that glitters and fans were stunned to discover how the 37-year-old Irish actress achieved the look. Her make-up artist Jessie and her hair stylist Farida who work on the set of Bridgerton both posted a time-lapse video on Tik Tok where you can see how they transform her Nicola into her character.
Makeup expert, Jessie, who also worked with Simon Ashley for her role as Kate Sharma in the series, has already garnered over 6 million views on her TikTok page @jessie_hmua.
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In the clip, Nicola is seen in a cream-colored dressing gown sitting on the make-up chair and while reading the script she begins the work of applying her wig, then moves on to the make-up to achieve her set look. The truth is that the actress never dyed her hair to play the role of Penelope.
Nicholas Coughlan. (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)Karwai Tang
She has always worn a wig and fans can hardly believe it, convinced that since she is of Irish origin she was a natural redhead. Many left messages of disbelief and surprise in the comments on the video, “that hair was too beautiful to be true” and “noooo, how is it a wig” some underlined, thinking that despite photos of Nicola as a blonde being shot during the promotion of the series , during filming she still chose to change color to get more into Penelope’s character. And instead the actress was able to keep her natural and blonde hair throughout her life on set.
