Chappell Roan’s Makeup Artist on Her Prosthetic Nipple Pasties for the Grammys

The night before the 2026 Grammy Awards, most makeup artists were home prepping their kits or reviewing the next day’s schedule. Sasha Glasser was at Staples. The makeup artist and prosthetics designer behind Chappell Roan’s faux-tattoos and nipple-less nipple piercings was furiously printing out fake tattoo designs before the office supply store closed for the night—designs she’d be applying onto Roan’s chest and back for the red carpet the next day. “There are different ways to design tattoos for makeup and companies that make really amazing options, but because we decided on the look the night before, I had to print the designs out at Staples 30 minutes before the store closed,” says Glasser, who used one of the shop’s laser printers and waterslide paper to create DIY versions of those at-home tattoo decals you might have applied as a child. “It’s basically a paper that has this shiny wax on top, so the ink sits on top, and the moment you put water on the back, the ink falls off.”

While Glasser was tasked with creating tattoo decals that decorated Roan’s torso, it was the singer’s stylist, Genesis Webb, who designed them alongside her tattoo artist, Jenny Collins (known as @puppypuppyplaytime on Instagram). “The idea was to do something unique,” Glasser says of the designs that mimicked delicate fabrics like lace and embroidery. “That’s why we did them in a brown color, which feels uncommon.”

Courtesy of Sasha Glasser

But it wasn’t Roan’s beautifully faded tattoos that had everyone scratching their heads and losing their minds the next day. It was her nipple prosthetics, complete with piercings and, well, no nipples (a fact that not only had the internet wondering if she was wearing a bodysuit, but also laying bare, quite literally, Instagram’s absurd and outdated censorship of female breasts). “The idea was for her to not be so naked,” Glasser explains.

Glasser may have had to go to Staples to print out Roan’s tattoos, but to seamlessly cover up the singer’s nipples and create fake piercings, she broke out her heavy-duty prosthetic supplies. The nipple covers, which Glasser described as “prosthetic pasties,” were from a new-ish prosthetic brand called Out of Kit. “It’s not like any other type of prosthetic because it has a sticky backing, like a Band-Aid, so you don’t have to glue it down.” For extra insurance, Glasser and her team, makeup artists Malina Stearns and Chelsea Delfino, used Telesis glue, an extra-strong medical-grade prosthetic adhesive that can hold up against far heavier materials than nipple rings and a light-as-air chiffon dress.

Glasser was still nervous (as if a last-minute, late-night trip to Staples wasn’t enough to wear on her nerves). The silicone prosthetics were incredibly thin, which meant that putting a ring through them could rip them if they were accidentally tugged or pulled too hard. “Genesis and I tested it. We’d put the ring in the prosthetic and tug, and it would rip out, so that was scary.” Glasser’s solution? Power mesh, the stretchy fabric often found in activewear, shapewear, and leotards. “I cut a dime-size piece, glued it to the back of the prosthetic, and then we stuck the earring through both the prosthetic and the mesh,” she explains. That extra reinforcement did the trick, allowing Roan’s team to breathe easy as she stepped onto the red carpet.

Glasser still wasn’t done troubleshooting, though. The Out of Kit prosthetics needed to be painted to match Roan’s skin exactly, and it had to be done when the rings were already in. To keep the jewelry clean, Glasser covered them in bubblegum wrappers, removing them before clasping the dress in place. In the end, the team pulled off an incredible beauty illusion. And while Glasser was shocked at the size of the public’s response, she had no doubt she and her team pulled off nothing short of spectacular—and not just because of their MacGuyver-esque makeup tricks. “It helps when you have good prosthetics, but it’s also a testament to our skills that we’ve worked so long on perfecting.”

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