The Unlikely Hair Inspiration Behind the New Charlie's Angels, From Cardi B to Foxy Brown

"Let me tell you, I have used the Bobbi Brown Perfectly Defined Gel Eyeliner ($27) in so many films," Weaver said. "It really is tried and true, and you can blend it out and get a shape that you want. Whether you want it smudgy and smoky, or you can really manipulate it and it has enough time to be bendable before it sets. It's the one product that's stayed on well in all kinds of conditions. It's my go-to."

Between the four leading women and the disguises, Friend knew there would be many hair changes — so she did her research. "As a kid, I was a Charlie's Angels fan," she explained. "I always wanted to be an Angel. I thought they had the coolest clothes, hair, everything. So when Elizabeth [Banks] told me she wanted to do this, I basically pulled inspiration from supercool chicks from all eras to today and also from the old movies, because we wanted to give homage to all the women who have been Angels."

Who are some of the individual "cool chicks" she looked to for each individual actor, you wonder? "I looked at each of the girls and said, 'What can we do to make them look modern? What can we do to make them look cool? What goes with their outfits?' For Ella [Balinska], for example, I looked at everyone from Foxy Brown to more modern celebrities like Cardi B. She always has a different hair look, and even fashion looks. Honestly, it was just about creating that cool factor."

For beauty buffs, it's basic chemistry: oil breaks down tough-to-remove makeup. But when an actor is wearing fake blood for an entire day of filming, you need to bring out the big guns. Weaver has a trick up her sleeve: "This might be surprising, but the Blue Cross Cuticle Remover ($4) is one of my favorite things to remove the stain on skin."

For the "action glam" looks, as Weaver called it, she leaned on a few Anastasia Beverly Hills palettes. "I love the Modern Renaissance and Norvina palettes," she said. "Those were really great to carry in my kit to be able to do quick changes, bump up for high shine, or add beautiful warm mustard tones with pink highlights. They were really, really important for me to have for this project."

"At some point, I lost count, but each of the girls, I think they ended up . . . we had so many hair changes. I think each of the girls probably had at least 15 to 20 hair changes. I mean, and all of it is done through different using their hair, extensions, bang pieces, ponytail pieces, wigs. It's just whatever would fit to get into the style, and that's always been a trademark, especially the girls who started the Angel movies. It was always a trademark that the girls would always have wigs and have disguises. So that's something we definitely wanted to add. And you know, that's the real . . . that's the fun part of it."

There are obviously plenty of action sequences in Charlie's Angels, which means making the actors look sweaty is par for the course. Weaver's big tip? Blue shop towels you can get at car shops, like Simpli-Magic Blue 50 Pack Shop Towels ($15). "Those cut-up squares are great for blotting skin with water and sweat," she said. "I cut them up in squares and blot the skin; I can use them over and over and keep the makeup on as long as you lightly blot and don't pull on the skin. Believe it or not, autobody car shop towels can work movie magic."

"Elizabeth's look as Bosley was a strong, contemporary, clean look that had to be buildable," Weaver said. "I had to be able to think very quickly on my feet and have very organized quick changes because she was writing, directing, and producing this. So most of her looks were easily changeable — we sometimes had to do our touch-ups in a parking lot, or the back of a car, or in a restaurant because she couldn't go back to the trailer."

There are only a few products Friend loves in her kit more than her clip-on bang pieces (which she actually "ended up using a lot of" in the film), but one of her biggest favorites is the Living Proof No Frizz Humidity Shield ($23). "We used the whole line: the hairspray, the paste. I was really happy with those products."