By Grace Kim

Dame Pat McGrath returned for her second consecutive year as Victoria's Secret makeup lead at the 2026 Fashion Show, held at Sony Studios in Los Angeles. Guido Palau led hair for the show. Both named specific products, and both framed the season's direction in nearly identical terms: glamour, radiance, and volume without heaviness.

The reported product list is short and concrete. Backstage, Palau used L'Oréal Paris Elnett hairspray, Color Wow Dream Coat Supernatural spray, and Color Wow Xtra Large Bombshell Volumizer, plus extensions for added volume. McGrath reached for the Pat McGrath Labs PermaGel Ultra Glide Eye Pencil, smudged softly around the eyes, then layered shadow on the lids. She finished with glossy lips and dabs of moisturizer on each model's cheekbones.

What did the hair direction call for?

Models arrived backstage in personalized satin Victoria's Secret robes with rollers stacked high — Paloma Elsesser, Alex Consani, and Anok Yai among them, according to Harper's Bazaar, which published the backstage report. The rollers served the method, not the photograph.

"The direction for the 2026 Victoria's Secret show is to celebrate the ultimate expression of luxurious healthy hair," Palau told Bazaar. "The aesthetic includes the mega blowout combined with a celebration of natural textures and curls. A modern take, luxury without limitation."

Note what that statement does not specify. Palau names no texture-by-texture protocol, no per-model variation, and no timeline for how natural curls and a uniform blowout coexist on one runway. The quote promises a "celebration of natural textures" while the documented technique — rollers, volumizer, extensions — points toward a single silhouette.

How did McGrath build the glow?

McGrath described a layered base as the foundation of the look, arguing that shimmer and lashes demand a complexion that reads polished but light.

"With shimmer and beautiful lashes playing such an important role in the overall glamour, the complexion needs to feel polished but never heavy," she told Bazaar. "I want the skin to catch the light beautifully, both on the runway and on camera."

The camera clause matters. A look engineered for runway lighting and broadcast cameras will not translate directly to daylight, however precisely the moisturizer is placed. McGrath's own framing concedes the point: the skin is built to "catch the light," which is a lighting condition, not a skin condition.

What changed versus last year?

McGrath named the distinction herself.

"Glow is absolutely part of the story, but this year we're embracing glamour in a more dazzling way," she said. "Think beautiful, radiant skin paired with incredible shimmer, and gorgeous lashes that bring a real sense of drama to the eyes."

She extended the claim into aesthetic theory: "I adore the transformative power of light — how a touch of sparkle can make a look feel almost otherworldly. For me, it's about that magical balance between a luminous, beautifully perfected complexion and the excitement of something truly spectacular. The Victoria's Secret runway is the perfect place to celebrate beauty that is unapologetically glamorous, playful, and full of fantasy."

That is the brand's language as much as the artist's. "Unapologetically glamorous" and "full of fantasy" belong to Victoria's Secret's own repositioning playbook, and a makeup lead speaking in campaign cadence is doing two jobs at once.

Who else shaped the look?

McGrath credited a three-person creative core: herself, Palau, and Adam — referenced by first name only in the source.

"Working with Adam and Guido is always such a joy. They're great friends, and we have this wonderful, almost unspoken language creatively," McGrath said. "We share a love of transformation, glamour, and creating a complete vision where every detail works together."

She positioned the 2026 work as iteration rather than invention: "It's an evolution, never a repetition. By playing with texture, proportion, color, and light, even the smallest adjustment can transform a familiar look into something completely new. That's where the magic happens!"

Evolution is a defensible description. The documented toolkit — Elnett, Dream Coat, a smudged eye pencil, moisturizer on cheekbones — is standard backstage material, not new technology. What reads as new is the emphasis: shimmer promoted from accent to centerpiece, and lashes given structural dramatic weight.

What should buyers take from it?

Four products are named in the source, and three sit at drugstore or mass-prestige price points: Elnett, Dream Coat Supernatural, and Xtra Large Bombshell Volumizer. The technique stack — rollers for lift, volumizer at the root, hairspray to set, extensions for mass — is replicable without a backstage team.

The makeup formula is simpler still: hydrated skin in thin layers, a soft gel pencil smudged at the lash line, shadow on top, glossy lips, and moisturizer tapped on the cheekbones where light should land.

Whether "dazzling" shimmer survives the transfer from Sony Studios' lighting rig to a Tuesday morning commute is the question neither artist addresses. The runway sells the fantasy. The products, at least, are on the shelf.

The 2026 show continues at Victoria's Secret's established tempo — one show per year, one creative team, one silhouette — and the named-product trail suggests the brand still sees backstage credit as a retail channel worth cultivating.