Inspired by Katy Perry, Dita von Teese, Joan Holloway from TV's Mad Men and even a toned-down, cleaned-up Amy Winehouse, here's how to achieve that sexy pin-up girl face!
Retro make-up is always in and with Katy Perry topping the summer charts with her hit "I Kissed a Girl", Mad Men scorching up the TV screen and burlesque retro beauty Dita von Teese looking flawless on the red carpet and splashing in her martini glass, the look of the pin-up girl is back in style, bigtime!
The Pin-Up Girl Look
The pin-up girl was very, very sexy but still had an air of playful innocence. Some, like Marilyn Monroe, came to epitomize wholesome glamour and others, like Bettie Page were vampy.
What has become known as the quintessential pin-up girl look is the glamourous look popularized in the 1950s by Marilyn Monroe and Bettie Page: cat eye eyeliner and full red lips.
Tools For the Pin-Up Girl Look
- foundation, concealer and powder
- black liquid eyeliner
- black eyeshadow
- champagne eyeshadow
- false eyelashes
- eyebrow pencil or powder and eyebrow gel
- blush
- highlighter
- red lipstick and lipliner
Here's How to Get the Look!Face:
- Apply your base as you normally would - foundation and concealer only where you need it and powder to help set it. You'll actually want to use a bit more powder than you normally do, as the classic pin-up face tends to look quite matte.
- With a large brush, sweep a natural-hued powder blush (for the classic pin-up face use a rosy-coloured one) onto the apples of the cheeks and sweeping up towards the temples. If your blush is one with shimmer, even better!
- Dab a creamy flesh-toned highlighter onto your browbone, down your temple and across the tops of your cheekbone.
- Comb your brows up with an eyebrow comb and fill in any sparse bits with a bit of eyebrow powder or pencil. You'll want strong, dramatic eyebrows for this look. Finish by sweeping on some eyebrow gel to set them.
Eyes:
- Sweep a champagne-coloured shadow across your lid.
- With an angle brush, apply black eyeshadow in a line across your lashline, as close to your lashline as possible. Start from the outside corner and draw it in towards your nose. You can extend the line out as far as you wish and as thick as you wish later, but it's better to start with a little and add, than have to try to erase mistakes. This step is to show you where you want to draw your liquid eyeliner line - it will be so much easier if you take the time to draw a practice line!
- Once both your practice lines are drawn evenly and you've got the look you want in powder, it's time to add the false lashes. First curl your eyelashes with an eyelash curler - this will help blend your own lashes with the false lashes.
- Apply the false eyelashes carefully and allow the adhesive to dry.
- Now you're ready to add your liquid eyeliner. By doing this step after you apply the false lashes you can cover the band so it's not visible.
- The same way you drew your powder line (outer corner in towards the inner corner), carefully and slowly draw your liquid eyeliner line. You will probably not get a perfect line the first time, and that's ok. You can always go over with another line.
- Make sure your eyeliner has covered the false eyelash band.
- Add two or three coats of black mascara, starting at the base and wiggling the wand slightly before pulling it out along the rest of your lashes. This creates maximum thickness as well as length.
Lips:
- With a sharpened red lipliner, outline your natural lipline and then fill in your entire lip area with the pencil. This helps your lipstick to last and prevents that horrible outlined lip look when the lipstick does wear off.
- With a lipbrush, apply your lipstick. If you're hesitant about wearing red lipstick, you can choose a softer red tone or a sheer red. Apply two coats, blotting in between and after the last coat.
Tips:
- For a less dramatic, still sultry look, forgo the red lips and select a high shine, nude or rosy pink gloss.
- If you choose to skip the false eyelashes, dust loose powder onto your lashes and add an additional coat or two of mascara for a similar effect (the powder helps to make your lashes look thicker).
The copyright of the article Pin-Up Girl Make-Up in Make-up Application is owned by Catherine Solmes. Permission to republish Pin-Up Girl Make-Up in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
