Beauty Through the Decades

Published 2011 | By Lisa Maynard

A beauty tutorial through the decades.

1920s & 1930s

The “Roaring Twenties” was the decade of short bobbed hair, heavily lined eyes and tiny dark lips, an indication that a woman was modern and liberated. In the early 1920s Kurlash eyelash curlers appeared and Pinaud produced mascara ‘612’.

How To:

Skin

Apply a foundation in your skin tone that will give your complexion a creamy, perfect look. Skin tended to be pale and heavily powdered.
Rub blush into the apples of your cheeks and blend. Make sure the colour is still evident, as though you just walked in from the cold. Pinks and soft reds are the most prominent.

Eyebrows

Darken and turn your eyebrows slightly downward with an eyebrow pencil or eyeliner that is darker than your own brow colour.

Eyes

Heavy eyelids were fashionable. To enhance the size of a small eyelid smooth on your usual eye makeup primer, then apply a dark gray-based eye shadow from lash line to crease.
Kohl pencil was extensively used to line the top and bottom lashes, however a black or charcoal eye shadow powder will give the same effect.- Then colour your top and bottom lashes with black mascara.

Lips

Apply pale pancake foundation over clean and exfoliated lips. Then with a lip liner, exaggerate the Cupid’s bow on your top lip. Draw your lower lip as slightly plumper than it really is by extending slightly on the bottom. Draw both upper and bottom lips as shorter on the sides. This will ultimately create the 20s desired look of pouty love-heart shaped lips.
The three colours widely available were orange, red and deep rose. Fill the new lip shape in with pencil before layering matching lipstick over it. When you are through, your lips should not be as wide as they really are, giving the illusion that you have them puckered and ready for a kiss.

1940s

Natural beauties (natural with “a little support”) were the ideal of the forties. Known for her thick, unplucked eyebrows and swept-back blonde waves Grace Kelly’s timeless beauty with her perfect complexion, full pouted lips, and deep blue eyes epitomize this era.

How To:

Skin

Face powder was used to match the skin or to give a nice rosy glow. To get this effect a slightly darker warmish foundation was used and then powdered over with a powder that was lighter than normal skin.
To get a natural rosy look try a red with pinkish undertones, bright pinks with fuchsia undertones and bright roses.

Eyebrows

Eyebrows were kept fairly natural in thickness, but were manicured into clean, defined arches and accented by use of a dark brown pencil.

Eyes

For the eye use dark brown or black mascara. Eye shadows mostly varied in muted greys and browns.

Lips

There were two different lip colour schemes that were fashionable. “Monotone” lipstick was used to support a glorified natural look, which included light red, reddish orange, and raspberry tones. “Contrast” lips brought a definite accent and included cherry red, crimson and vermillion shades. Lips should look full and soft.

1950s

After the depression came Holly Wood glamour and the power of cinema. Woman looked to stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren and Doris Day for makeup inspiration. Create your own look from the era when housewives vacuumed their homes wearing full-face, makeup, impeccable hairdos and heels.

How To:

Skin

Smooth on a foundation in your skin tone that gives your complexion a perfect finish. If you need extra coverage opt for heavier formulations. Your goal is to turn your face into a clean blank canvas.
Apply a soft rosy blush on the apples of your cheeks and on your cheekbones. Blend well and fade hard edges away with a makeup sponge so you appear naturally flushed.

Eyebrows

Groom your eyebrows by brushing them back with an eyebrow brush. Thick, arched eyebrows were in fashion, so get rid of stray hairs but maintain a full shape with a sharp, noticeable arch. Define brows and eliminate sparseness with a brow pencil or brow powder.

Eyes

Apply eye makeup primer to hold eye shadow in place. Select a soft, shimmery eye shadow to highlight the eyes such as soft champagne, sheer silver, white and sparkly taupe. Stroke shadow on the eyelid to brow bone. Curl eyelashes and stroke on some black or brown mascara.
Trim a pair of false eyelashes to perfectly fit your top lash line. They should enhance your lashes without looking fake. When eyelashes are in place and secure, line over the false eyelashes on the lash-line area with black liquid eyeliner. Create a cat’s-eye look by drawing a line that gradually thickens toward the outer corners and end in tiny extended wings.

Lips

Line your lips with a waxy liner in a colour with red tones. If you are wary of using red try red infused pink and coral. Line your top lip with the Cupid’s bow exaggerated so your top lip appears slightly larger than your bottom one. Fill lips in with the lip liner before layering matching lipstick over it. Use a brush for the lipstick, so the colour is applied thoroughly

1960s

In the 1960s London took over from Paris as the centre of fashion and for the first time youth took control of style. Makeup became highly stylized, influenced by photographs of top models like Jean Shrimpton and later, Twiggy. The eyes became the main attraction of the face and eye make-up was nothing short of dramatic and bold.

How To:

Eyes:

Before applying anything, brush a little translucent powder over your eyelids with an eye shadow brush to create a base.
Apply blue, green, white or brown eye shadow to your upper lids stopping at the crease of the lid.
Next, apply a line of darker eye shadow along the eyelid crease.
Beneath the eyebrow, brush on or apply highlighter to accentuate the brow bone.
With a blending brush, lightly blend along the crease line to soften the shadow. The crease line shouldn’t look harsh.
Curl your top lashes with eyelash curler and apply false eyelashes.
Apply a line of black or dark brown eyeliner along the top lash line. Start with a thin line at the inner corner of the eye and gradually make the line thicker towards the center, then taper the line off at the end to create a tail.
You can apply a very thin line of eyeliner to the bottom lid if desired, connecting the bottom line to the top line at the outer corner of the eye to create a cat’s-eye look.
Apply mascara to the top lashes to create thick, long lashes

1970s

Beauties of the ’70s were tan, athletic and natural. Thanks to the rise of the feminist movement, women wanted to appear as unadorned as possible. Hippie culture, with its free love and anti-war stance was an important influence in the early 1970s. Generally females wore little make-up, concentrating on dark rimmed eyes although some did wear very pale lipstick.

How To:

Eyes:

Apply makeup primer on eyelids.
Apply a pearlescent medium shade from lash line to crease. On your crease and the outer edges of your upper eyelid, apply a darker shade. On your brow bones and inner corners of eyes, smooth on a highlighter. Blend edges of the colours together to fade any hard lines.
Run a white eye pencil along the inner rims of your lower lashes.

Cheeks:

Rub a gel blush into the apples of your cheeks for natural flushed cheeks. Pick a tone that is an exaggerated version of your natural blush, like a vibrant peach or raspberry stain. Blend well so the colour has no definite edges but you appear flushed. If you wish, rub some shimmery highlighter on the tops of your cheeks to make them pop.

Lips:

Apply a glossy lipstick of the same primary tone as your blush. Deep, vibrant jewel tones are tantamount to getting that 70s disco look. Apply clear gloss on top for higher shine wattage.

1980s

The last thing you want to do is look like you’re not wearing makeup. Go 80s extreme in Fuchsia lips and bright neon eyes. Remember to go easy on the blush; we are not in the 80s.

How To:

Face:

Apply your foundation all over the face for a flawless complexion. Apply a layer of translucent powder underneath your eye and along the top of your cheeks to your hairline to catch any eye shadow that may fall.

Eyes:

With a bright coloured eye shadow (don’t be afraid to go crazy) apply the shadow to your entire lid.
Line your crease line in a slightly darker shade than the eye shadow colour on your lid. Take a blending brush and blend the crease line so it softly blends together. Apply a thin liner on the bottom rim of your eyes with the same bright eye shadow applied on the lid.
Define eyes again by drawing a thin line along the top and bottom lash line with a black eye liner.
Finish eyes with false lashes and mascara to make your eyes pop.
Sweep away the translucent powder applied under the eyes earlier. This will take away any eye shadow that has fallen and highlight your cheekbones.

Cheeks:

Then work in a bright pink blush into the apples of the cheeks, high along your cheekbones, and up into the temples and hairline. Blending the hard edges with a clean powder brush.

Lips:

Lastly apply your lipstick in bright pink or red. Line your lips to make them bigger if you wish.

1990s

The popularity of grunge music strongly influenced makeup in the early 90s. Get the retro look by rocking out with red lips and smudged eyeliner, or go simple and fresh faced like Kate Moss.

How To: Grunge Look

Eyes:

Slept-in, heavily applied black eyeliner was the 90s grunge look. Copy the dark eyes by applying an eye primer to your eyelids.
Take a thin eye pencil or kohl and draw a thin line along the top and bottom eyelash line.
Then smudge your eyeliner, with a crease brush, to create a smoky rockers look.
If you want a darker effect, dip your smudging brush in black eye shadow and run the powder along the top lash line and bottom.
Make sure you extend the eye shadow a little upwards into a cats-eye. This will create a nice almond shape for your eyes and make them appear bigger.
Apply illuminator to the inner corners of your eyes and along the brow bone.
Curl your eyelashes and finish with two coatings of volumising black mascara.

Lips:

Lips were often red, dark mauve or nude, and lip-liner was used to create a bolder lip.
Create a bold lip by first lining the shape of your lips with a lip liner. The colour of the lip liner should be a little darker than your desired lipstick colour.
Fill in your lips with your lipstick. For a full look use a lipstick brush or for a sheer stained look, try dabbing on the lip colour with your fingers.
Make sure to slightly blend your lip colour with your lip liner so that harsh lines are blended and lips still look natural.

Cheeks:

Blush was usually not worn however; natural defined cheekbones were all the rage.
Add definition and warmth by apply bronzer to the bottom of your cheekbones, stretching upwards to your temples, and blending into the hairline.
Take a clean brush and blend the bronzer into the skin so there are no streaks and it looks natural.

Here’s a behind the scenes insight into ‘Beauty through the Decades’;

Photography - Esther Loke

Video – Lisa Maynard

Hairstylist - Emma Carey

Make-up artist - Melissa Rasmussen

Model - Philippa Kane