Marilyn Monroe's makeup has been the epitome of glamorous makeup since the ‘50s. Although Marilyn already had a fairly glamorous look during her days of modeling, the “Norma Jean” era, it was her makeup artist from Twentieth Century Fox, Allan "Whitey" Snyder who polished her look, creating the timeless glamour appeal that made Marilyn one of the most iconic symbols of sensuality, beauty and true glamour.
Marilyn’s makeup step by step:
- Marilyn's skin always looked flawless. To begin this look, start with a fresh, clean face. Using concealer, cover any blemishes and don’t forget to use a finishing powder. For tips on how to get a flawless face, click HERE.
- Because Marilyn’s lip is so strong, you want to go light with the blush as to not overwhelm that strong, lush red lip. Marilyn's eyeshadow was also very subtle.
- Moving onto your eyes, again this is an area that you’ll want have looking natural, so start with a nude shadow from lid to brow bone. Next is eyeliner. Beginning at the iris point, do a very narrow line right at the top lash line top continue out at angle about ¼ of an inch.
- Eyebrows are next. Using a small angled brush make small strokes with an eyeshadow like Lipsi’s Native eyeshadow in Voyaged, along your brows to get that polished look. Don’t forget to blend, you’re going for a strong brow, but you don’t want to look like your eyebrows were drawn on your face by a clown.
- To finish the eye, you want to aim for strong, flirty lashes. False lashes are a great way to go, but if you’re not used to using them another route is to curl your lashes and apply a great mascara like L’Oreal’s Double Extend mascara. This is the Makeup Examiner’s favorite mascara because it gives that amazing look of false lashes without the aggravation, plus Double Extend has the added bonus of being super easy to remove.
- Now to completely finish the look it’s time for that lush red lip. Marilyn's lipstick was a mixture of two or more shades of red, but fortunately with modern makeup and the use of multi-tones, we don’t have to mix shades to get Marilyn’s signature look. A perfect red is Lipsi’s Buttery Bliss lipstick in Combustion. Begin applying the lipstick with a brush, making sure to perfect your lips by emphasizing the “cupid’s bow” on your upper lip. Marilyn finished her lips using Vaseline for shine, but The Makeup Examiner recommend a less messy route by using a clear gloss.
I hope that these tips will help you to get Marilyn’s timeless look and as an added bonus, cosmetic industry innovator, Caite Pywar of Lipsi Cosmetics, has again created a video “how to” video to guide.
