Makeup: Two video tutorials and some hard facts

Today, I’m offering you two excellent video tutorials on 30s makeup style, plus the kind of dream crushing facts serious fashion history buffs always end up hitting you over the head with, but that’s not til the end of the post so don’t worry your pretty little head with that just yet.

The first one is from Helena Rubinstein (it can take a while for it to get going, but it’s worth it). The light shading around the eye is SO pretty, and the style is spot on. The eye brows look pretty much perfect to me at about 1:17 – after that the whole thing turns into more of an exaggerated movie star look, which is wonderful, but not really what I’m going for.

The second video is from makeup artist and model (and, might I add, makeup tutor extraordinaire) Natasha Rae. I get the feeling this look is intended for a burlesque setting, which would make it a little extreme in my context.

Actually, both looks seem a bit exaggerated (if super pretty) to my eye. Helpful style wise, but they leave the finer details kinda fuzzy. Is that really a lipstick color you could get away with? Luckily the retro fashionistas at Revamp have a whole page dedicated to makeup do’s and don’ts for the 1930’s.

You really should go over there and read the whole thing, but the jist is YES. The thirties looks we see today are usually WAY exaggarated. The short version: Lipstick not emulating natural coloring – only for evening. Eyeshadow – only for evening (unless you’re a bit of a harlot, in which case, please stick to light brown). For evening purposes good girls are allowed to darken their eyebrows a tad plus use eye shadow. But not a lot of it! Actually the Revamp thing is worth reading for the attached inspirational story alone. It’s about this poor girl who can’t hold a job and eventually ends up in prison for writing bad checks. I won’t spoil the ending, but her “muddy complexion” plays a major part!