Tate McRae is (literally) so golden. When the musician closed out her set at Lollapalooza 2026 in Chicago, she didn’t just wave goodbye and leave the stage—she took things to the next level of pop-star glamour and dunked almost her entire body in a glimmering metallic gold paint. And we’re not talking body shimmer or glitter, though McRae does often channel a 2000s aesthetic in her performance looks. Nope! This was thick, drippy, molten gold, as though she was turning herself into a statue onstage. (Cue the James Bond theme music!) McRae was completely covered in the metallic liquid from her neck downward, even her fingernails, and after seeing video footage of the big show-stopping moment, we had some questions—namely, was this actually paint, and if so, what kind and how long did it take to remove?
So we reached to McRae’s makeup artist Kali Kennedy for answers!
According to Kennedy, it wasn’t paint at all—it was methyl cellulose, copper, and water mixed into a paint-like consistency. The product was actually made by Blair Adhesives, the same folks who create the slime for the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, Kennedy explains, so they knew how to make a material that would shine onstage. While Kennedy isn’t sure exactly how much of the liquid was used for the stage show, McRae’s team did use 135 gallons for the gold bath video shown in the Lollapalooza visuals; Kennedy estimates the stage gold bath was about half that size. Kennedy adds that McRae and her team had been talking about the idea for months but weren’t sure they could pull it off, but they really, really did.
Surprisingly, there was “no real skin prep” involved pre-gold dip, save for what Kennedy describes as a “healthy coat” of body moisturizer. However, as soon as McRae left the stage, there was a group waiting to immediately wipe away the excess product before she hopped in the shower. “During the Lollapalooza gold bath I was hiding behind the staircase waiting to clean her off and her last choreo move sent gold splatter backstage,” Kennedy shares. “I’m pretty sure it’s still in my hair.”
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