4 Landmark Makeup Looks!

After several trial makeup sessions and photo shoots, my project on famous vintage makeup looks is finally done. The result is a how-to booklet on the 20s, 50s, 60s and 80s. Why did I choose those particular decades? Because that is when the most dramatic changes in makeup happened. From no makeup at all to super and smoky eyes, from red lipstick to concealed lips, from porcelain skin to showing your flaws, from very clean classy lines to overstated ones around the eyes, from sticking to black, white and basic colors to mixing every possible color… These are the transitions my booklet describes!

For the project I chose fonts and colors that remind of the certain decade, based on what was used in publications, for clothing and for interior design. For every decade I included images of the It girls, who actually made those looks popular. All the other photos were taken and edited by me, as well as the entire design of the booklet. I must say I was quite happy of how the pictures I took of Krisi ended up resembling the celebrities of the time a lot. Here is a little collage of what I put together.

If anyone would like to have it I can provide them with a pdf version of it!

The Twiggy Look

One type of makeup I absolutely love is the look of the 60’s. It may seem a bit extreme today, but that is exactly what makes it charmingly bold. It stands out almost like a statement piece. The 60s were totally opposing the plastic look of the 50s. Women were letting freckles show through and abandoned the red lipstick completely. It was all about the big dramatic eyes!

So how did WE do the Twiggy style look… Start by applying foundation, but not too much. As we said, if you have freckles let them show. Then apply white shadow across the entire lid. Take a black shadow, in this case I used a creamy one, so that it sticks more. Draw a line across the crease of the eye and be careful to make it define and even on both lids. Then, take a shade of dark grey and blend it but just a little bit. Line your lower lid with white liner, pulling the liner to the outer corners. Do the same thing but with black liner under the white one. Then, line your upper line with the black liner starting from the very inner corner and pulling outwards. For the lashes it is best to apply false ones, or at least use a few coats of mascara to make them really big and thick. It is important to make the lower lashes also show a lot. For a finished look almost conceal your lips with a nude color.

And here you go! Check out our result. I hope you like it!

The Crazy 80s!

Next up – the crazy 80s! Here we are talking about serous color and the basic rules are that neon is good, not everything has to go together and glitter is always a plus. I managed to find some brighter colors in my cosmetic drawer but if you don’t have any buy or borrow some, because here you cannot get away with just basic colors.

The face again is porcelain – no blemishes, no dark circles, it has to be perfectly matte. The eyes are your accent. To begin with cover the entire lid in white eye shadow. In this case I used a crème one, as it stays for longer and lets other color stick on it. For the lids up to the crease I used a teal shade of blue, and framed the corners with a bright green. Above the crease I added a deep purple shadow at first creating a cut-crease and later blending it together with the blue. Almost right under the brows I used a light bright pink while again blending it to the rest of the shades. Here it is really important to blend in order to get a gradient-like effect. In the tear sections of the eye we repeat the white once again to brighten up the eyes even more. For liner we use a regular black liquid one with a little pin-up style in the outer corner. Black mascara is a must as well. The eyebrows here are styled with a brow pencil. If your brows are too thin you need to make them thicker, because the 80s girls wore their brows clean but thick. For blush use a bright shade of pink but blend it nicely along your cheek bones. You want to look like an 80s girl, not a clown. The lips are red or pink, preferably with gloss on top. You can add some glitter here and there, just to make things more sparkly!

And there you go! Krisi actually changed her lip tone to a lighter one and wore this style to a party. It spices things up and makes you look more bubbly and fun!

Let us know what you think!

The Flapper Girl 2014

The vintage makeup looks experiment continues and our next try were the 20s. You probably remember from my previous updates that the 20s were characterized by the really dark eyes and the narrow heart-shaped lips. Here I recreated on Krisi the so-called flapper girl style. In pop culture it became trendy again after the last Gatsby movie, where the party girls were nothing short of gorgeous.

So to begin with, we prime the face with concealer and foundation aiming for a really porcelain look and set all of that with matte powder. There are two tricks here. First, you can use the concealer to also cover up the lips, since you will need to draw on them later on. Second, use a lot of powder under the eyes, since you will be using very dark eye shadows, which tend to drop under the eyes. Having powder there will make it much easier to clean up afterwards. Once you have this done, cover the entire lid in dark grey and black eye shadows. For this look here I also used dark green to match the eyes of my model. Go as smoky as you can and line the lower lid as well. Don’t forget to blend everything though, because you don’t want any sharp lines for this look. Then use your favorite mascara and apply quite a lot of it. The lips are where it gets tricky. For a 20s look you want to draw a heart shape on your upper lip even if it is not naturally such. Also have the lining of the “new” lips narrower than the actual ones aiming for a doll-like effect. Do this first with a lip liner pencil and then fill in in a shade of red – preferably darker. Finish up with some pinky blush.

Here is how we did it! You can use all of this for a 20s themed party or just the eyes for a regular night out! Please, comment and ask questions in the section below. 

Inspired by the Vintage!

After my post about vintage I kind of got excited about recreating the most characteristic makeup looks with current products. And this is where the idea about designing a booklet on evergreen looks came from. Here I will be posting the results of my experiments featuring my roommate Krisi as my gorgeous guinea pig. The first look we did was inspired by the 50’s and the Marilyn era, when the pin-up girl became the face of fashion.

To do the 50’s we actually did not need to buy any new makeup product. The priming we did as usually with concealer and foundation, but we used a little bit more, really going for a porcelain complexion. For the eyes we used a nude shadow for the base and a brownish one for the crease. The lower lid is lined with brown eyeliner and for the winged eyeliner on the upper one we used black and liquid one. The lower waterline is lined with white eye pencil. For the eyebrows we used light brow pencil and the lashes we did with our favorite everyday black mascara. The lips we defined with cherry colored lipstick and to frame the face we used some pinkish blush on the cheeks. In the end we even did a 50s style up-do with a puff in the front and a bandana as decoration.

Here is our result… and we will keep them coming!

3 Red Carpet Hair Cheats

Inspired by the recently passed Oscars ceremony I have made some recent attempts to glam up my hair when going out. And as it turns out there are some misconceptions about what celebrities on the red carpet do to have such amazingly looking hair every time they get caught in the eye of the camera. Here are the 3 cheats that you can apply yourself in order to look amazing for a special occasion.

Dirty styles better…

This might sound surprising but it is true. It is normal for most of us to immediately wash our hair even when going for a style with the hair up for a special occasion. But really dirty hair styles better, because when it is freshly washed it is much more light, frizzy and super hard to work with. What you can do about it – wash your hair the night before the event and then use dry hair styling products and things like dry shampoo to make it more voluminous. I guarantee this way your up-do will hold better.

How to do perfect curls

At the Oscars or any other red carpet events even naturally curly celebs have their curls super sleek and perfect. This has nothing to do with what their real hair looks like… Even if it is naturally curly the best way to do curls is by straightening the hair first. Since I use flat iron to make my waves, what I would do is run the iron one time through the strand, before actually curling it.

Their hair is just so gorgeous…

You know how celebrity hair is always nice, long and voluminous and at the same time so natural? Well you won’t believe how much of it is actually not real. Most of them wear extensions for the more intricate styles that need more style, and one can’t even tell. So go ahead and use that cheat as well. There are plenty of options on the market and you can always have your hair dresser cut them according to your hair. If you use them to glam up a pony tail for example it will hardly ever be noticeable.

So go ahead, glam away, be gorgeous and rock your own red carpet!

Makeup Time Machine Vol. 2

As promised, we continue exploring vintage makeup looks :) 

The 1950s  

          

For the 50s there are two words that describe the popular look best – Marilyn Monroe. Color movies came about and with that the notion that women need to be flawless at all times. Foundation and powder were applied in natural shades but thick layers, so that imperfections can me concealed. Blush was rosy or peach in color. Eye shadows were glimmer and glamorous in colors like gold, grey and silver, but you got bonus points for extra sparkle. Eyeliner was dramatic and very black, together with the mascara. As for the lips – they were cherry or bright red. But really, for reference just check any photo pf Marilyn.

The 1960s

The sixties brought us the miniskirts and the first super model Twiggy. Again the way she looked is the emblem of the 60s beauty. Foundation was applied in thinner layers and natural shades. Blush was very light, very natural again and almost unnoticeable. The eyes, however, is where it gets interesting. In the 60s eye shadows started being mixed for the first time. Lighter colors were used as a base than different highlights were created with 2 or 3 darker colors. The darkest was used to highlight the crease of the eye, sometimes in a very defined and dramatic manner. Eyeliner was black and was used on both the upper and the lower lid – thin in the inner corners and thicker in the outer ones. They used a lot of mascara – more than one coat for sure, so that lashes are very black and dramatic. And here is where we go from red lips to pale lips – with nude lipstick or clear gloss.

The 1970s

The 70s came with the era of disco and movies like Saturday Night Fever. So, of course, big hair was a thing, but it went with a much more minimalistic look for the face. Women became more aware of skin care and started using a lot of moisturizers and products to protect, rather than cover up their skin. Foundation was used very lightly, or none at all, and same went for blush. For the eyes bright shadows were used, together with naturally-colored eyeliner and mascara, instead of the intense black. Some sparkle on the face was welcome for a night out. For the lips important was the wet-looking effect, that is why often times gloss was applied over the lipstick.

The 1980s

The rise of Madonna together with brighter, bigger and definitely blonder fashion… Concealer started being used to a great extent. Foundation was in natural shades and bronzer became a popular product in the drugstores, but still many opted for blush. Eye shadows were bright and often did not go with one another, and neon colors were completely okay for a night out. As for eyeliner and mascara – again black and again lots of product was applied. Pinks and reds were used for the lips, again with gloss on top.

The 1990s

The decade that gave birth to me. Many movie and music icons became popular over the 90s, but in terms of makeup it seems like it was the first time no set rules applied. A lot of subcultures appeared so it was up to the woman to decide which one, if any, she wanted to follow. One thing was for sure, the bright overuse of colors from the 80s was over. A considerable amount of grungy-looking ladies appeared, which together with the rising skinniness of models resulted in the “heroine chic” look. Gothic style also made quite an appearance with its all black everything. But as a whole women seemed to be counting more and more on naturally matching makeup or whatever it was that made them feel confident and self-expressed.

This was our look back on the 19^th century and what we today consider as vintage. It seems like things have more and more been going towards freedom of taste and choice, so I doubt there will be such dramatic and strict trends to follow like in the 50s or 60s for example, but who knows. Still, there is something to learn from every time period, even if it has to do with beauty. What is your favorite vintage look? Tell me about it in the comment section below.

Makeup Time Machine Vol. 1

It is a common notion that fashion is something of a cycle, since there are certain trends that keep coming back around a little updated, but more or less the same. But there is this one word that I have seen so many times in fashion publications over the last few years that I can’t even count – “vintage.” Vintage seems to be making everything sound cooler. It brings class and a hipster feel to your look, it makes you feel a little more unique. How unique it is if everyone goes “vintage” is another topic… Nevertheless, I like most ladies, have a thing of vintage, because let’s face it, there were some really beautiful fashion pieces and makeup trends in the past. The winged eyeliner look that I have mastered for example comes from the pin-up girl era. The vintage craze inspired me for this post – a look back at how makeup was done in the beginning of the 19^th century. Let’s jump into the beauty time machine!

The 1920s

The so-called Roaring Twenties were a big thing for makeup, because that is when the pale face stopped being a must. In the past tan was considered to be reserved only for women from the lower classes, so white face was a beauty virtue. Then THE Coco Chanel appeared with a tan and set the trends for a bronzed face and body. As for eye makeup it was a lot and it was dark. Intense eyeliner, which at the time was called kohl, was smudged around the eyes like you would do smoky eyes today. Eye shadows were dark grey or green and covered the entire lid. Blush was highly visible on the apples of the cheeks, it was unblended. Red lipstick was a MUST! It was applied so that it makes a heart-shaped curve on the upper lip even if you naturally don’t have one.

The 1930s

In this decade Hollywood starlets became goddesses and Art Deco came into fame and became the style of everything. This was a time of real glamor. Face tan became a bit lighter again but not to the state where it has to be almost white. Eyebrows were groomed to be very thin and curved up, while sometimes they were concealed and drawn anew, if their natural shape did not match the trends. Eye shadows this time had bright and light colors like blue, green and violet. The eyeliner was very thing and slightly winged at the end. It was only applied on the upper lid, as with mascara that only went on the upper lashes. The lipstick was applied in more natural shapes, but pretty much stuck to shades of red.

The 1940s

As opposed to the previous two time periods, in the 40s the makeup style was all about being natural. This decade was known as the Golden Age of cinema, and that is when the obsession with the looks of movie starts started in full force. The combination of foundation, powder and blush was all blended aiming at creating a more natural look. For eye shadows were used earth tones like brown, gold and green in a quite minimalistic manner only as a highlight. The same went for eyeliner and mascara. Nothing was too bold or dramatic. Lipstick? Of course, all red, still. 

This was how the first half of this beauty century looked liked. Now how about the second? Vol. 2 coming right up.