What The Ladies Of White Lotus Season 3 Look Like Without Makeup

If "The White Lotus" Season 3 cast looks familiar to you, it's because the creator of the scathing satirical spectacle, Mike White, possesses a flair for plucking the crème de la crème from a wide array of movies and TV series and sending them on lavish vacations that devolve into darkly comedic nightmares. But would you recognize the women from the HBO hit without the makeup that transforms them into well-heeled tourists or the even flashier red-carpet trekkers they are in real life?

While the show's cast didn't have to worry about a murderer being among them, they did discover they had something in common with their characters: You can feel pretty miserable in surroundings that look like paradise. Season 3 was filmed at the Four Seasons Koh Samui in Thailand, where temperatures soared into the triple digits. "By the end of each day, we're just caked in sweat and makeup. You can peel your clothes off with a trowel," Jason Isaacs, who plays a Southern patriarch who finds himself in a spot of legal trouble, told Time of the suffocating heat.

Rebecca Hickey, the show's makeup artist, revealed to Bustle that the weather contributed to that glossy glow on the cast's smooth faces. "The dewiness was unavoidable," she said. She also didn't want anyone looking overly made up, explaining, "They're meant to look like they've had a glamorous vacation, but still have this natural, effortless feel to them." But even with this stripped-down beauty look, the stars of "The White Lotus" look far different from their characters when they aren't wearing any makeup at all.

Blackpink's Lisa Manobal made her acting debut in Season 3 of "The White Lotus." Despite her status as a global superstar, some of her co-stars were unfamiliar with her work before meeting her. After doing her research by watching the meaningfully titled Blackpink documentary, "Light Up the Sky," Natasha Rothwell became a fan. "You have to understand, Lisa is Beyoncé of Thailand," she told Etalk. However, Lisa's character on "The White Lotus" is nothing like her K-pop persona. She plays a resort staffer named Mook, so her makeup is more subdued than that of the wealthy guests. Lisa likely didn't mind significantly toning down her glam, as she did away with it altogether when she appeared on a Korean reality show in 2018.

Lisa also looked like a completely different person when she got outfitted in fatigues and a beret on "The Real Men 300," a series in which contestants underwent rigorous military training to see if they could hack it in the Korean Army. Lisa appears to have no makeup on in footage from the show — although it probably would have stayed put if she did. "She doesn't sweat," one of her castmates observed while they were performing physical challenges (via Kbizoom). That ability likely came in handy while trying to keep her makeup intact on the balmy "White Lotus" set.

While Lisa's line of work often requires bold beauty looks, the MAC cosmetics global ambassador doesn't like to use a heavy hand when it comes to her day-to-day makeup. "I like to do makeup-no makeup. Just blush and lips," she told Vogue. On "The White Lotus," Mook opts for a similarly understated look.

On "The White Lotus," Aimee Lou Wood's chatty, effervescent character, Chelsea, seems like one of the few resort guests who is determined to actually enjoy herself. Unfortunately, her much-older partner Rick (Walton Goggins) makes this difficult by being a mopey grump. Woods also had a hard time fully enjoying her idyllic work setting because her self-esteem took a blow when she saw her scantily clad, stunning co-stars. However, she told Time, "Chelsea, my character, is so free. So whenever I'm having those kinds of insecurities, I always just tap into, 'Chelsea doesn't care, I can't care.'"

Chelsea a Zoomer who has embraced astrology and other New Age beliefs, and makeup artist Rebecca Hickey tried to capture the character's free-spirited, bohemian nature by giving Wood a beauty look that wasn't as refined as that of the other women staying at the White Lotus. "I try to root each look in reality — what would this person actually do? That's what makes it feel natural," the makeup artist explained to Bustle.

One of Aimee's favorite skincare products sounds like it would be right up Chelsea's alley. The "Sex Education" star shared a makeup-free photo in a 2017 birthday tribute to her makeup artist sister, Emily Wood, who got her hooked on a cleanser from a clean beauty brand: Tropic Skincare's Smoothing Cleanser Complexion Purifier. "This is amazing and smells so good," she told Stylist of the product. While Aimee allows her sister to use her face as a canvas for elaborate makeup looks, she told The Standard that she has a no-nonsense skincare routine: "Double cleanse, toner and s*** loads of moisturizer."

Leslie Bibb's "White Lotus" character is a member of a trio of girlfriends who are reconnecting on a wellness retreat, and it sounds like the actor would be taking full advantage of the resort's spa offerings if she were in their shoes. In a 2019 Instagram video, the "Iron Man" star gave fans a good look at her bare skin right before having a crystal fiber sheet mask placed on her face by her "genius" aesthetician, Faith Tatro of Touch of Faith Aesthetics.

Bibb lavished Tatro with praise in a 2024 interview with The Strategist, crediting the facialist for turning her on to two products — Epicuren's Soothe Dermal Repair Mist and Soothe Dermal Repair Balm — that healed her sensitive skin when it was suffering from New York City's harsh winter weather. "You go from freezing cold into hot buildings. This stuff, like it says in the name, is really soothing," she said.

Apparently, Tatro's work has given Bibb the confidence to go au naturel often on social media, including in some of the behind-the-scenes photos she snapped while shooting "The White Lotus." While her skin is undeniably luminous and flawless, she's one of those celebrities who is almost unrecognizable without makeup. In a 2020 Instagram video, she looked little like her polished "White Lotus" character Kate, who rocks a sleek blond bob and a full face of makeup. Her hair was brunette and tousled, but what really stood out was how different her (still stunning) eyes looked without mascara and penciled-in brows.

In a 2024 tweet, Carrie Coon revealed that she hasn't tried to alter her features with filler or Botox. She also often plays gritty characters who have little use for glitz and glam, such as a police chief in "Fargo" and a survivor of a post-apocalyptic event in "The Leftovers." Her character in "The White Lotus" seems to have a restrained hand when it comes to makeup as well, and Coon often skips it when providing fans with a peek inside her life outside of her work or when drawing attention to a cause she's passionate about. For example, she filmed an Instagram video in 2022, which showed herself without any makeup. However, the actor does have some regrets about not wearing makeup on her wedding day.

None of her "White Lotus" co-stars and their real-life partners had an unconventional wedding quite like hers. Explaining why she married her husband, playwright Tracy Letts, inside a hospital room in 2013, she told The Cap Times, "It was pretty much the only time he slowed down long enough to marry me, having a gallbladder attack." While she liked that she didn't have to wear makeup on her wedding day, she lamented, "Our pictures are just horrific."

Hopefully, she at least had her trusty Lansinoh Lanolin Nipple Cream on hand to give her lips a subtle sheen. Yes, you read that correctly. As she told Town & Country, she often uses the cream instead of lip balm and made her case for the swap by saying, "Nipples and lips are basically the same tissue."

In "The White Lotus," the knives come out whenever two members of the trinity of privileged pals on a girls' trip pair off. While gossiping about the odd friend out, one topic discussed is her appearance, and that of Michelle Monaghan's actor character, Jaclyn, sparks speculation that many in her profession face: whispers about how her skin is so taut and yoni-egg smooth. "Did she sandblast her face or something?" sneers Leslie Bibb's Kate. "It's very waxy."  On the show, Jaclyn exudes Hollywood glamour with her impeccable beauty look, but in many of her social media photos, Monaghan proves she's among the envy-inducing celebs who look even more stunning without makeup.

Monaghan told Into the Gloss that she doesn't like bringing her work home with her when it comes to her face. "I actually prefer as little makeup as possible. ... I feel like I need to give my skin a break when I can," she explained. She also doesn't like covering up her freckles, saying, "I think they give women a really youthful look." However, there is one product she gladly slathers over them. After being diagnosed with melanoma in 2007, she became militant about using SPF. "In my hotel room, I have an extensive, full-on arsenal of sunscreen. ... Any time we're going into hair and makeup for a touchup, I'm applying more SPF," she wrote in a Refinery29 essay while shooting "The White Lotus."

If Victoria Ratliff from Season 3 of "The White Lotus" looks familiar to you, perhaps you recognize the actor who essentially plays the Real Housewife from Durham, North Carolina, Parker Posey, from her early work in "Dazed and Confused" or a slew of indie films. Or maybe you saw her more recently in "Scream 3."

Not entirely unlike her character in "The White Lotus," Posey has adopted a rather iconic, Old Hollywood look in real life, often stepping out in oversized sunglasses and various forms of headwear. She's seldom seen without some color on her lips as well, which is why the rare makeup-free photos of her date back decades.

However, Victoria Ratliff quickly became a fan favorite not because of what she wore on her lips but because of what came out of them and went in them: a Southern drawl thicker than day-old white gravy and Lorazepam, respectively. Then there are Victoria's mercurial moods — she bounces between turning on the Southern charm and offending other guests with her standoffish snobbery. It's also amazing that she manages to put on her makeup at all because she's often zonked out, but no self-respecting, moneyed matriarch from the Bible Belt would be seen without her war paint.

"Her character has a lip on at all times because that's a very southern thing to do," Rebecca Hickey told Bustle. Unfortunately, fans won't be able to recreate Victoria's beauty look with 100% accuracy. "Parker actually would bring in her own discontinued Chanel lipstick to set, and that's what became her signature look," the makeup artist said.

Sarah Catherine Hook's "White Lotus" character, Piper, is one of the three Ratliff siblings with a somewhat unsettling dynamic — but one she doesn't seem to want any part of. She's just a religious studies major who wants to interview a monk, y'all. She's also one of the younger guests at the resort, and her minimal makeup plays up her youth.

Hook starred in Prime Video's "Cruel Intentions" reboot, and the Alabama native told Glamour that when she was a teen, people used to tell her that she looked like an OG star from the 1999 movie of the same name: Reese Witherspoon. As she got older, Hook was told she resembled other celebs, including Brie Larson, Cailee Spaeny, and Denise Richards. However, she doesn't try to replicate the beauty looks of these famous faces to garner such comparisons. In fact, when InStyle asked her to share "her biggest beauty and fashion ick," she said, "Not feeling like I look like myself." Perhaps that's why she has little or no makeup on in many of her Instagram photos.

According to Hook, she's not the type of gal who spends a lot of time primping in front of the mirror. However, she did indulge in some serious self-care while filming in Thailand. "My castmates and I found a really cool spot called The Health Lab, where you could hang out for $12/day and do circuits of sauna, steam room, cold plunge, CO2 baths, etc." she told Numéro Netherlands. "That was our escape and a place to reset after long days, or nights."

Natasha Rothwell, a familiar face from Season 1 of "The White Lotus," takes seriously good care of her face. "I love face products — masks, foams, cleansers, creams, astringents — anything that can restore my face to feeling as normal as possible," she told Into the Gloss in a 2018 interview. Thanks to her go-to skincare products, she says, "I wake up and I'm like, 'Who's this young person?'" 

However, Rothwell's radiant glow on "The White Lotus" might come from within — as in, secretions from her skin. Of her experience filming in sweltering weather, she told Marie Claire, "I'm a sweat-er ... I loved it, but this was, like, a next level kind of heat." Luckily, makeup artist Rebecca Hickey had a few tricks up her sleeve to make Rothwell and her castmates feel a little more comfortable. Her methods also ensured that the actors' complexions remained looking dewy. "We used cooling tricks — ice packs, high-powered fans, and cold towels to keep the makeup fresh, rather than relying on heavy powders or mattifying products," she said.

Rothwell told Into the Gloss she also tries to avoid the caked-on look. However, she added, "I typically like full-coverage ... I like to look like me, but the me where people are like, 'Oh, wow, she doesn't have any blemishes!'" But based on makeup-free social media photos, she doesn't need any foundation to receive such compliments.

Charlotte Le Bon's character, Chloe, is dating one of the many bald foreigners who live around the White Lotus resort in Thailand, and her LBH (loser back home) is a familiar face who has appeared in all three seasons of "The White Lotus": Greg (Jon Gries). Chloe hails from Canada and is appalled when she learns Greg thinks she is from France, but Le Bon's approach to beauty is very Parisian.

Speaking to the Vancouver Sun about her cosmetics usage in a 2024 interview, Le Bon said, "I wear nothing. Concealer for redness and a mascara, if I look tired." Instead of layering her skin with powder and foundation, the former model works to make it look as smooth as one of those LBH's cue ball heads by properly pampering it. "I'm obsessed with my skin. It's almost bad. I get crazy when I get a pimple," she told Violet Grey. It's hard to imagine a blemish on her porcelain doll dermis.

Unfortunately, Le Bon's customized skincare routine sounds all but impossible to replicate for those of us who can't afford voyages de luxe. "I see a woman in Paris who makes all of her own products. She comes from Morocco and works with essential oils. ... I wash my face with black soap once a day, and then I just apply a cream she does for me," she said. Spoken like a true well-to-do "White Lotus" character whose vacation destinations must have a spa!