The Post–Clean Beauty Era Starts Here: Emily Wood on ‘Breaking Beauty’

If you’ve scrolled past even one ethereal, slightly chaotic, impossibly cool makeup look in the last year, chances are Emily Wood crafted it. On Breaking Beauty, hosts Jill Dunn and Carlene Higgins sit down with Wood, the UK-born artist redefining what modern makeup can look like.

Emily Wood has swiftly risen to the top of the beauty world, not by following trends but by creating her own. She’s part of a new breed of artists who are breaking free from traditional beauty norms, and her approach is a breath of fresh air.

How Emily Wood found her voice in a “rule-heavy” industry

When asked about her earliest memories with makeup, Wood explains that her entry point wasn’t structured or polished — it was play. “I feel like my love of makeup came from just experimenting,” she says. “I never had any rules for it, and I think that made me really fall in love with it.”

Wood’s childhood was a key influence on her artistry. She would spend hours in her room, creating looks purely for the joy of it. ‘I didn’t think about trends or what was correct — it was just whatever felt fun and expressive to me,’ she recalls.

This is where her artistry truly began—in the quiet space between curiosity and imagination. No TikTok trends. No tutorials. No pressure to “get it right” or to get followers, clicks, or engagement. Just instinct.

Letting the makeup speak: Her signature process

One of the most compelling aspects of Wood’s philosophy is her approach to the creative process. While many artists map out their looks, create reference boards, or stick to rigid concepts, Wood moves entirely differently.

“Even now, I don’t plan too much. I like letting things happen on the face. I think that’s where the magic is,” she explains. That spontaneity is precisely what gives her work its signature edge—the softness, the blur, the slight tension between imperfect and intentional.

Despite the loose, effortless appearance of her looks, Wood is quick to point out that there’s a purpose behind the messiness. People assume I’m being effortless, but there’s intention behind it—it’s just not rigid,” she explains.

Why her art feels different—and why it matters

“I’ve always been drawn to colors and textures that feel a bit messy. Perfect feels boring to me. I want personality on the face,” she says. It’s an approach that pushes back on the polished, hyper-filtered aesthetic that dominated the beauty world for so long. Instead, Wood permits smudges, softness, and movement.

Dunn and Higgins also dig deeper into one of the core themes of Wood’s work: emotion. Her looks often feel painterly, as if they’ve been swept onto the skin with intention but without constraint. That makes sense, considering her background.

“I think because I grew up around art—painting, drawing, all of that—makeup just became another way to express what I was feeling,” Wood shares. Her artistry is an extension of that internal world—one informed by colors, textures, and moods rather than trends or virality.

If you’ve been feeling stuck in your makeup routine or weighed down by the expectation to make everything look “perfect,” Emily Wood’s perspective offers something rare: relief. Through her playful experimentation and refusal to follow traditional rules, she opens the door to more creativity, authenticity, and joy. Her approach is a breath of fresh air, liberating you from the pressure of perfection.

Makeup doesn’t need to be precise to be beautiful—it just needs to feel like you.

Read Next

• On ‘Breaking Beauty,’ Bobbi Brown Talks Resilience, Reinvention, and Her New Memoir
• ‘Breaking Beauty’: How Rachel Wiseman’s ‘Beauty Math’ Is Changing the Way We Shop
• How ‘Breaking Beauty’s Carlene Higgins Created Cassatt Beauty to Serve the Gen X Skincare Gap