Preen Cosmetics

Looking through some pictures of 1920’s makeup and you cna see why it was such a hit.

I love the feel and image that 1920’s makeup portrays.  The 1920’s were a time where women showed that they were liberated from the way they applied their makeup.  It showed that the flapper girls knew where they were going and what they were doing and they way they put on their lipstick and eyeshadow were true indicators that they knew exactly what they were doing with their 1920’s makeup style.

I love this look.  The 1920’s makup style has to be one of my favioutes and it’s easy to do as well.  I recently went to a costume party as a flapper girl and everyone commented on my 1920’s makeup, so here are five golden rules to get the classic 1920’s makup look.

1. Foundation.  Always start with a good base, and for a 1920’s makup feel you need a foundation that will give your complexion a creamy look.  You may have to search for the perfect foundation here, for a real 1920’s makup you need a pancake look – many women of the time used ivory coloured face powder for the perfect complexion.  You can usually pick something like this up with costume makeup or makeup that is used for the theatre.  If you find this is too heavy, thin down your 1920’s makup foundation with water on your sponge before applying.

2. Eyebrows.  Your eyebrows need to be in a slightly downward shape for the true 1920’s makup vibe and this can easily be done with an eyebrow pencil.  You could even use an eyeliner that is a little darker than your acutal eyebrow shade.  In the 1920’s, thin eyebrows were all the rage, but a word of warning – don’t start tweezing and plucking away!  You can eaisly achieve the 1920’s makeup for eyebrows by lengthening yours then styling your hair into a thick fringe or use a 1920’s style hat to sit perfectly across the brow.  This is so you don’t lose your eyebrows and when you don’t want the 1920’s makeup look you still have your eyebrows in tact!

3. Eyes.  Now that your eyebrows have the 1920’s makeup feel, it’s time to concentrate on your eyeshadow.  Use a gray-based shadow here, and sweep it across from lash line to crease.  You want a sooty, smoldering look so don’t skimp with that eyeshadow! Once that’s done, take a black eyeliner and use on both bottom and top lashes.  If you’re not sure on how to apply eyeliner, I did a rather good guide here, so now you’ve no excuse.  Then, coat all lashes, both bottom and top with   mascara. Your eyes should now look like some 1920’s makeup artist has been working on you, smoldering sexy eyes, flapper girl style.

4. Cheeks.  Little is more here if you see what I mean, do not go crazy with the blusher.  Use a cream blush if possible and just rouge your cheeks up a little.  If red looks a little too ‘Aunt Sally’ then try raspberry or rose.  Blend all hard edges but not too much.  You want to look as if you’ve just stepped inside from a chilly, winters day.

5. Lastly, the lips.  Put your foundation over your lips first to avoid staining, and then with a dark red lipliner create a 1920’s makeup lip look by really exaggerating your cupid’s bow.  Draw your lower lip as if it is slightly pllumper than it is and make sure you draw both lips as a little shorter than they are.  Fill in your lips in with lipstick and voila!  Your 1920’s makup for lips should look as if you are just puckering up for a kiss.

So there you have it, true 1920’s makeup done in five easy steps.  Let me know your 1920’s makeup success  stories

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