Behind Cynthia Erivo’s Spellbinding Wicked Transformation, from Airbrushed Makeup to Stenciled Eyebrows (Exclusive)

Cynthia Erivo's transformation into Elphaba for Wicked was involved, to say the least.

But despite the actress, 37, having to sit in the makeup chair for hours each day, Frances Hannon, makeup and hair designer for the film, tells PEOPLE that Erivo was "perfect" to work with from the beginning.

The transformation into Elphaba began with Hannon and her team creating custom green makeup because there was nothing on the market that Hannon felt was quite right for their needs.

It started in summer 2022 before the actress arrived on set. At the time, Hannon was working with models whose skin tone was an extremely close match to Erivo's, but as the pro tested various green shades, she found that the lighting would affect their appearance.

"Every time I trialed the shades, I couldn't get it to work in all the lights that I knew Cynthia would need to walk through," Hannon tells PEOPLE exclusively. "In a dim light or shadow, they would go gray. I didn't want everything to be done in post-production, even though that's an option."

She ended up finding a discontinued cream eyeshadow made in Canada that had a neon base, and that's when Hannon was really able to get down to business.

She took it to SFX makeup pro David Stoneman, who specializes in bespoke creations, and together they mixed up what became "Cynthia Green." It's got a bit of neon yellow in it to have a reflective quality to prevent the skin from absorbing light — and it works in all sorts of environments.

"It trialed perfectly," Hannon says, adding that when Erivo arrived to see the makeup for herself, she was "delighted."

Every day of filming, Hannon says Erivo's makeup took two hours or more to complete, depending on how much of her body they had to cover, which varied based on what costume she was wearing.

The process started with a coat of a custom green primer that was applied with a brush or sponge, then the "Cynthia Green" makeup was put on top. This formula, which was airbrushed on, was only "slightly less fluid than water," Hannon says. That allowed it to go on so smoothly so it would sit on top of Erivo's skin without creasing or cracking all day. The makeup artists then contoured on top of that to add dimension to her face.

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Even Erivo's head was painted green (she shaved her head before this role) so that if her skin showed under her wigs, it would be the hue, too. Keeping every detail in mind, the lace on her wigs was green as well.

"We worked out the contours using little freckles to make her look younger, which helps give her a story arc as time passes," Hannon says, noting that they were templated to ensure they were in the same place every day. "And we used eyebrow stencils because Cynthia shaves her eyebrows. I worked out the best shape and had them all bespoke made."

Aside from getting the shade and texture of the green makeup perfect, another aspect of Erivo's look that Hannon needed to get nail was its durability, as it was critical that the formula wouldn't rub off on anything.

"We didn't want anything that would transfer onto Ariana's skin, transfer onto other costumes, or transfer onto her own costumes," Hannon says. "We never had that problem with the shade, even with her flying, singing, running."

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The removal process was another story. But, Hannon says it was much quicker — usually less than an hour. There was a special makeup remover that the team used to get the green hue off Erivo's skin gently. During filming, Hannon says Erivo stuck to her usual skincare routine, and has "perfect skin," by the way.

"Her skincare routine was a normal skincare routine, with the addition of the products we needed to use to remove the makeup at the end of the day, which weren't damaging to her," Hannon says.

"Some people's skin might have broken down with that particular makeup, but Cynthia's didn't. Some people might have sweated it off. Cynthia didn't. Everything about her made it work."

At the end of the day, Hannon praises Erivo for not just her flawless complexion, but also her performance and her professionalism.

"She never, ever, ever once complained, ever."

Wicked hits theaters on Nov. 22. Go behind the scenes of the magical movie with PEOPLE’s new special issue, availablehere.

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