Authentic 1940s eye makeup

[Frenchy56]

As a disclaimer, I have done some searching, keep finding links to threads on this topic, but they don't work.

I desperately want to have a more authentic '40s makeup look, and I envy you girls who can get away with only applying makeup to your top lid- it looks very odd on me. I usually apply kohl eyeliner and mascara on my bottom lid, but this doesn't seem like something women would have done in the 40s, it always looks a bit too stark I think.

I've started using light brown eyeshadow and the barest dusting of mascara along my bottom lid, and I think that's a bit closer to a real 40s makeup look, but now I find that the black liquid eyeliner and mascara on my upper lashes/lid looks too heavy, any suggestions?

I'm starting to think that the super-volumising, jet-black plastic-brush mascaras that I normally go for are almost too dramatic for a real vintage face, what does everyone think? Perhaps i ought to switch to something like Great Lash, which I always thought never did much, but might be better now I want a more subtle look...

Edit: if there is a thread on this already that I've missed, would someone please be kind enough to post me a working link?

 

[Grant Fan]

Hi French,

I will tell you what I do and start with the eyes as it seems you have the most questions about that. I have a cover girl shadow trio called cafe late. I am very pale so the middle color, the one I apply from brow to lash line is really just about the same color as my skin. You have to remember women in the 1940s had very little when it came to make up because of rationing. they usually had little to no shadow on. Most women had liner/ mascara the powder kind (which I only ever make a mess out of when I try it) and lipstick. So back to the eyes, find a trio that the center color is just about your skin tone. Apply the center color all over. Then use the darkest color for your crease, and then I use a brush with only the all over color on it and blend the two together. Then the lightest shade you use on your brow bone only, you don't need to blend this color. The eye liner should be very thin, liquid liner (black) with a felt tip is best for this and only on the top lashes with the liner. Hold off on the mascara until the very end. Then I apply brown filler as my brows are relitively light and it brings them up quite a bit. Going a bit dark with the brows is ok because again there wasn't much in the way of color selections. I however look silly with dark brows so I match to my hair color and go slightly darker. Once your brows are done, I use Loreal true match super blendable compact makeup porcelain all over and use concealer for my under eyes and on a scar that I have that is very pink. Then I apply Loreal true match super blendable blush in baby blossom, it is a very pink color that has little to no brown or purple tint to it. I apply that along my cheek bones and make it significantly darker than I want it. After that I apply Loreal true match super blendable powder in porcelain alll over mine face eyes cheeks everything. This you will finds tones the blush down to a natural finish and gives you that wonderful matte vintage finish. I then apply my mascara, in black to my top and bottom lashes, I cant do the top only look my natural lashes are dark and it looks off if I don't do top and bottom lashes. They I apply my red lipstick of the day and I am good. I would post pictures but there are plenty on here of me and I don't want to re post things and take up space.

 

[HepKitty]

I like the matte Revlon shadows mentioned here:

http://www.diamonddame.com/2009/06/new-revlon-matte-makeup-1940s-style.html

I usually do cat eyeliner in brown since black eyeliner doesn't look good on me, top lids only, and black mascara. Liner on the bottom doesn't look good on me, and mascara just smears, so I leave the bottom lids alone. I try to make it look like the picture in the link above but I'm still a little heavy-handed. I don't bother with blush but I do love red lipstick.

Here is a link for a 1940s makeup search on youtube, if you have the time to sit through all the tutorials

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=1940s+makeup&aq=0

 

[zombi]

For eyeliner, I use Benefit Cosmetics "Babe Cake" eyeliner -- it's a cake/powder eyeliner that you apply by wetting your eyeliner brush, making a light paste, and then sweeping on. I really like it, and the compacts come with both black and brown in them already, so it covers both colours depending on which I like to use. It took me a little while to get the hang of it, but the cake eyeliner comes out somewhat softer and less stark than modern liquids. It looks much more like pencil but I have an easier time making a thinner line with the brush than I can with pencil; I'm a poor pencil user really. For eyeshadow I have some sort of matte really light brown I wear but a lot of the time I just put mascara and blush on and call it good?

I'm using Coty Airspun powder on my face. I don't usually wear foundations or anything.

ETA: Oh, I love the look of those matte eyeshadows! Thanks for posting that link.

 

[Tourbillion]

Eye makeup was pretty sparse in the 1940's. This is different than the 30's or 20's when they wore more eye shadow, well at least the stars did.

It seems that mostly women wore mascara and eye brow pencil in the 40's. Sometimes they wore eye liner in brown or black, and for evening eye shadow in gray or brown, this is mostly just in the crease or on the lid and crease. That is about it for the most part. They were playing up their lips and cheeks in the 40's.

I think that modern super long mascara is probably ok, since long lash looks were popular in the 40's. I tried cake eyeshadow once a while ago, and can live without it. I have to use mascara on my bottom lashes, I look stupid without it since they are so blond, I've seen 40's photos that seem to have this too. I personally wear brown or grey eyeshadow with 40's looks and add beige eyeshadow on the lid and brow since it looks funny to me to have bare skin there. I use brown pencil eye liner sparsely because liquid eyeliner shouts 1960's to me. I've seen photos were it seems like there is some eye liner on the bottom lid, but it is not exaggerated, and is an evening look.

It is possible that other eyeshadow colors still existed in the 40's besides grey and brown, especially since there were apparently around in the 30's. I have heard of matte shades of blue, green, black, violet and silver too. Not sure if the silver is metallic, since there was no photo, but it is possible that it was a special item for the movie studios. If you want to wear a brighter color, it goes over the lid and crease only. I have seen B&W photos of light colors that go all the way up, but they are late 40's early 50's and seem more 50's to me.

I would advise you to educate yourself on what the 40's actually looked like. Look at vintage photos here, and also try sites like flickr, try a search like 40's fashion and see what "ideal" women looked like then. I have looked at hundred's of 1940's color fashion photos, and there is only obvious eyeshadow in about 2% of them, and so far only in brown and grey. I'd call the 1940's eye makeup look "clean." Of course if you don't care to be accurate (not everyone does) you can wear metallic eyeshadow, strange colors of eyeshadow, any kind of liner, mascara etc. The choice is yours of course, but it sound to me like you are probably getting a pretty good vintage look already. I would love to see photos of your finished looks.

 

[Frenchy56]

First of all, thank you all so much for your detailed and helpful replies, I really appreciate you all taking the time to advise me.

I've experimented with some of your suggestions and I guess I've come to a compromise. I've come to the conclusion that the sparse eye makeup most 40s women seemed to wear just doesn't look 100% right on me- I *need* to have liner and a coat of mascara on my lower lashes, and liner on my top lid. So that part of my makeup routine is staying; given that I want to draw attention away from my nose and long, thin face, I find that sparsely made up eyes, whilst authentic, do the exact opposite.

However, I've found that using a dark brown liner on both my top lid and around the rim of my eye (if that makes sense!) looks a lot softer than my usual black kohl and liquid eyeliner. When my current mascara runs out I might try and get a brown/black one instead, or at least not a jet-black one like I usually get.

I'm not too keen on the idea of posting photos for a number of reasons, but thank you all again for your help!

 

[zombi]

So glad to hear you have found things that work for you!

 

[Isis]

I have a beauty book from 1946 that lists surprisingly many eyeshadows:

Just shine, ie a smear of Vaseline
Pale grey
Smoky grey
Pale blue
Blue
Gooseberry green
Moss green
Golden green
Brownish green
Golden brown

However, not everyone can have all these colours, every specific type is recommned two or three eye shadow. For example, platinum blondes with blue eyes should wear pale blue or pale grey or just shine.