1940s makeup guide



 

Natural beauties (natural with "a little support") were the ideal of the forties.

Face powder was used to match the skin or to gave 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 popular rouge colors were red with pinkish undertones, bright pinks with fuchsia undertones and bright roses. 

For the eye dark brown or black mascara and a small eyeliner was used. Eyeshadows mostly varied in muted grays and browns.
Eyebrows were kept fairly natural in thickniss, but were manicured into clean, well defined arches and accented by use of a dark brown pencil .
 
 





For lips all shades of red including clear bright reds, cherry reds, pinkish reds, and orange reds were popular. Two different color plans for lipstick use existed. On the on hand the "monotone", where lipstick was used to support a glorified natural look (includes light red, reddish orange, and raspberry tones) and on the other hand the "contrast", where lips brought a definite accent (includes cherry red, crimson and vermillion shades). In any case lips should look full and soft. To effect this top lip was slightly exaggerated.
 
 





It was popular to wear nail polish according to clothes and accessories. Therefore a lot of colors were used. Especially blue-reds, brown-reds, bright reds, green, mustard yellow, black, navy blue, plum, and mauve were popular.

Basic look was a polished nail with a left out white half-moon and a white sliver at tip.
 


... some color examples:
.
Pink Red
Rouge
.
Fuchsia
Rouge
.
Pink Red
Lipstick
.
Bright Red
Lipstick
.
Cherry Red
Lipstick
.
Deep Red
Lipstick
.
Orange Red
Lipstick
.
Crimson
Lipstick
.
Brick Red
Lipstick
.
Mustard Yellow
Nail Polish
.
Violet
Nail Polish
.
Navy Blue
Nail Polish

 
 
 [Homepage