7 steps to big 1950s eyes

Eyeliner, and by extension eye make-up as a whole, and I have had a long standing love affair stretching back all the way to when I was 14 years old (and not technically allowed to wear make-up yet, but I'd put it on - and take it off before returning home - each day at school...such a rebel, I know!). Back in those days (the late 90s) I loved nothing more than to rim my lids, top and bottom, with thick, smoky black (or less commonly blue) liner and any number of different colours of shadows.
 

Like many teenagers, I played around a lot with make-up during those formative years as I tumbled ever closer towards adulthood, sometimes sporting vivid indigo hued mascara, vampy sage green and grey adorned eyes, violet shadow, sultry gold liner, and all number of different looks. It was fun, creative, and helpful in ultimately helping me to learn which eye-makeup colours (and products themselves) worked best on me – and which were best left back in the 90s!
 

These days, well over a decade since high school ended, I generally stick with the same small handful of beloved, highly tried-and-true eye cosmetics: black liquid liner, black mascara, and light coloured shadows (i.e., cream, mushroom, pale pink). Every now and then though, especially since I rather adore the dramatic, attention grabbing eye make-ups looks that were present throughout the 50s (particularly during the second half of the decade), I channel my inner 16 year old again and toss on a striking, heavily made-up eye.
 

I know that I'm not alone in this regard and that many of you greatly enjoy experimenting with various make-up looks as well. As such, I wanted to share this delightful pair of vintage magazine pages that I recently came across on Flickr, which guide you through seven easy steps to achieve big 1950s eyes.

{Both vintage images via Dovima is Divine II on Flickr. Please click on an image to be taken to its respective Flickr page, where you can also see an even larger version of each image.}


Aside from the fact that few of us still use cake mascara applied with a brush, these handy instructions really look as though they could have just as easily come out of a contemporary magazine. A few years ago beauty experts were recommending step number seven right, left and center, but having already seen it suggested in mid-century magazines (such as this), I knew that lining your inner lids with white pencil was a technique that had been around for decades.
 

By today's standards, the look these steps create isn't astronomically dramatic, but it's still bold and very beautiful. Though you might not adopt it as your day-to-day vintage eye make-up look, it has elegance and appeal aplenty, making it immensely well suited to fancy evening events in particular.
 

I hope that, as it has for me, this charming tutorial has put you in the mood to try a captivating vintage eye this coming summer. On your marks, get set, sharpen those eyeliner pencils, ladies! It's time for a big 1950s eye!

Maybelline's three quick 1950s tricks to eye beauty

It might sound strange to say that a week which begun on a holiday (Victoria Day) feels like it's been a long one, yet it has it. You know how the end of the month can be, as various issues that had been accumulating over the past three or four weeks suddenly seem to collide, each one needing to be addressed, and you find yourself more than a little tuckered out - akin in a way to the infamous "I need a vacation after my vacation" feeling that sometimes crops up as a holiday wraps up.

Fridays however, are meant to be light and fun, and free of the shackles of both the work week and life's pressing demands, in general, and so on that note, I thought I'd sure something quick and fun with you today: a great vintage Maybelline cosmetics ad from 1954 that highlights three quick tips to eye beauty.

 
{Charmingly pretty illustrated 1950s Maybelline ad via Van Michelle on Flickr.}

 

If - like me - you wear cat's eyeliner and eyebrow pencil, you'll likely find these three steps very familiar. I like how in the third step, after applying mascara, it's suggested that one "blends a bit of Maybelline eye shadow into the upper lid", thus creating a subtle smoky effect, long before the term smoky eye came into play.

While few of us still use mascara that comes in a compact and is applied with a separate brush (though a small handful of brands - such as Longcils Boncza Cosmetique Cake Mascara still exist), overall these three steps have remained unchanged for decades now, and are are still about the quickest, easiest way to give your lovely peepers an instant 1950s look that exudes glamorous beauty.

While I'm no stranger to a bold lip, I've always adored focusing on my eyes when doing my make-up, and begin with them when applying my daily cosmetics. I start with soft (white, ivory, beige and/or soft pink) eye shadow, then much as in this ad, apply eyeliner, eyebrow pencil (my natural brows are incredibly sparse and so pale they're almost invisible), and mascara.

For my eyeliner and mascara, I generally opt for classic black. My eyebrow pencil is a warm reddish brown that was actually designed to be an eyeliner (Cover Girl Chestnut 212), but which I find glides on easily and stays puts for the whole day better than most of the products designed specifically for eyebrows that I've tried (many, interestingly enough, of which actually bothered my sensitive skin).

Though these three tricks from Maybelline are scarcely secrets, I always enjoy seeing precisely how ladies of the past applied their cosmetics, and thought that as as a nice way to kick off the last Friday in May, you would, too. Do these steps differ much from how you apply your own eye makeup, or are they pretty much identical?

I hope that no matter what kind of week - and month - you've had, sweet dears, each of you will be able to enjoy as weekend that's every bit as beautiful as a classic mid-1950s eye is!

1950s step-by-step photo tutorial for applying eye make-up

✯ Day 337 of Vintage 365 ✯

It's a safe bet to say that the majority of us have at least a decent handle on how to apply eye makeup, especially given the emphasis on that particular facial feature that certain vintage looks call for (hello, cat's eye eyeliner!).

Some of us are old pros, others relatively confident in their abilities but not quite as resolute in their skills as they hope to be one day, whereas there is certainly a percentage of vintage make-up fans who are just starting out with learning how to apply old school cosmetic looks on themselves.

No matter where you fall on the spectrum, it's likely that you'll enjoy the instructional set of black and white photographs in today's post, which show the precise techniques used (on this model at least) back in 1950 to achieve a strikingly elegant, endlessly classic lined eye look.

{Dramatic, but certainly not overpoweringly so, and richly beautiful vintage eye make-up tutorial from the pages of a 1950 copy of Life magazine. Image via Van Michelle on Flickr.}

 

In this particular step-by-step guide we're taken through the five stages of achieving a striking early fifties make-up look, which include shadow, pencil (eyeliner), lower lid, and eyebrow, cumulating in a finished, polished face that is as timeless as the day is long.

I always delight in vintage make-up and hairstyle tutorials like this, whether I'm merely observing them as a fan of the past or taking detailed notes so that I can recreate the same style myself later on.

It’s always such a treat to chance upon vintage images like this and get a chance see exactly what products were used, as well as what steps were taken, to achieve the very mid-twentieth century make-up looks that I adore (as so many of you do, too) and emulate most myself.