00:08I've always looked to the 1950s as a period that was just rife in beauty inspiration,
00:14but I will be first to admit that I don't actually know that much about the makeup
00:18history of the decade.
00:20So I thought what better way to learn about it than to get my hands on actual vintage
00:25makeup tutorials from the 1950s and do it myself.
00:29I reached out to Max Factor, which is a beauty brand that's been around since 1909.
00:34And so Max Factor gave me this.
00:35So this is a makeup pamphlet from 1950 that details how to apply makeup.
00:40Before I tried the tutorial though, I knew I had to bolster my knowledge on the 1950s and
00:45what was trendy at the time.
00:47So I reached out to Gabriela Hernandez.
00:49She's the founder of Besseme Cosmetics, which is a beauty brand that has really taken inspiration
00:54from makeup from the 20s, 30s and 40s and 50s and adapted it for a modern day consumer.
00:59I would love for you to like kind of give context as to the decade itself, what makeup
01:04meant.
01:05You had from World War II, a lot of people that could not use a lot of makeup products
01:10because they weren't in production at the time because of shortages due to the war.
01:14As the 50s rolled around, there was all kinds of products being produced.
01:19Now, all of a sudden, it was kind of like an explosion of fashion, color, and makeup.
01:25Anything that would make you more attractive, the more feminine, the better because after
01:30the war, the whole idea of the whole country was make babies so that we can recoup the people
01:35that we lost.
01:36To be kind of the perfect wife type thing, you had to look the part.
01:40If you see the dresses, they had huge skirts, very tight waisted, pointier bras.
01:45So, things that really exaggerated the female form.
01:50And the same thing happened with the makeup.
01:52So makeup got a lot bolder than what it was in the 40s, it wasn't like taboo anymore.
01:58Talking to Gabriella was really enlightening, so I sat down with a bunch of vintage-inspired
02:03makeup and my Max Factor pamphlet and got to work.
02:06Here are Max Factor's Hollywood makeup secrets, so let's start with foundation.
02:13Pan-stick makeup was becoming increasingly popular.
02:16It was a cream makeup that was designed to be easy to use and applied with fingers.
02:20I applied my pan-stick makeup exactly how the directions called for.
02:24I applied light strokes to my forehead, nose, cheeks, chin, and used it very, very sparingly.
02:30With your fingertips, simply smooth it upward and outward from the center of your face.
02:34Continue until it's blended.
02:35Okay, upward and outward.
02:41So moving on to eye makeup, the instructions for eye shadow is to blend a natural shade of
02:46eye shadow from your eyelash to your eye brow.
02:50Wait a second.
02:52I'm going to blend kind of like a mid-tone brown on my eyelid following this application
02:58method, which is from eyelash to eyebrow.
03:00Once my base was down, I moved on to a little bit of pastel shadow inspired by my conversation
03:06with Gabriella.
03:07You definitely saw shadows being used in colors that were very obvious, like a teal and a blue
03:14and, you know, colors that were really bold.
03:18I decided to use a little bit of pastel blue inspired by the illustration on the Max Factor
03:25pamphlet.
03:26After my eye shadow was down, I moved on to mascara, or what they call it in the pamphlet,
03:31which is eyelash makeup.
03:33Now, I actually got my hands on an actual cream tube mascara from Bessonet.
03:41This mascara was really nice.
03:43It volumized really well, although I wish it came in a waterproof formulation, but I still
03:48think it looked good.
03:49So, moving on to eyebrows.
03:52Your brow kind of determined what type of woman you were trying to...
03:56You were.
03:57Yes.
03:57You're meant to follow the natural curve of your eyebrow to the end of the brow, extending
04:01the line a trifle.
04:03If you go more pointy as it goes into your temple, kind of like a Marilyn Monroe, that
04:09was kind of considered to be the seductive type of, you know, brow.
04:15If you were more of an ingenue or innocent, you would do, you know, the Audrey Hepburn ones,
04:21which was more straight.
04:22So, I decided to go with a bit of a sultry vibe today.
04:27The last step in the eyes is eyeliner.
04:29I took a little bit of this Ben Nye cake liner, dipped it in a bit of water, and drew
04:34a small
04:34cat eye above my upper lash line.
04:36To do the kind of the doe eye kind of wing look on the eyeliner came in during the 50s.
04:46Once my cat eye was on, I moved on to the very last step of the eye makeup section, where
04:50the eyelash meets the lower lid, draw a fine line forming a faint shadow back of the lashes.
04:55This is one of my favorite vintage makeup hacks, and it creates an illusion that your eyelashes
04:59are so big and fluffy that they cast a shadow underneath your eye.
05:03So now that the eyes are done, I moved on to rouge.
05:06There is an illustrative section of this pamphlet that tells you how to rouge a round face.
05:12That's me.
05:14The idea is to have an oval face.
05:17In the 50s, everyone wanted an oval face.
05:18I used the Bésame Creme Rouge and applied it to my cheek and blended downward to create
05:26the illusion that my face is longer.
05:28Then, the instruction says to blend the rouge toward the nose.
05:32This apparently lessens the highlight at the center of the face, making your face appear
05:37more oval.
05:38They want doll face.
05:41Doll face.
05:43Honestly, this was a lot of blush for me, but after kind of getting used to the look,
05:49I really liked it.
05:50I think that the effect of pulling the rouge down the cheek really does give the illusion
05:55of a more oval, more lengthened face.
06:00Now that my base makeup is completely done, I moved on to powder.
06:04So taking the Bésame Loose Powder, I took the puff and blended powder toward the center
06:09of my face.
06:12How did the nose last?
06:13Otherwise, the nose would be overpowdered, making it appear conspicuous.
06:21You must make sure your face is completely powdered.
06:25Then, when you're done, buff away the excess powder from your skin.
06:31Last but not least is lipstick.
06:33Now, I pulled out my old Guerlain lipstick, which is the same shade that Marilyn Monroe used to wear.
06:40Lipstick will only adhere to a dry lip.
06:45There are only three types of lips, according to this pamphlet.
06:49Thin lips, full lips, and drooping lips.
06:51I think that I kind of fall on the full lip section, so I followed those instructions.
06:56This is where things get a little weird.
06:57You're meant to press your lips together, therefore depositing some color from the top lip down to
07:03the lower lip.
07:04You are not meant to add more lipstick to the lower lip.
07:08Apparently, having less color on the lower lip and more color on the upper lip will detract
07:13attention from the fullness of a lower lip.
07:15I did not know that that was a bad thing, but I guess in the 50s it was.
07:19The last step was just to moisten lips to give them luster.
07:23So I took that to mean add a little bit of clear gloss.
07:30Going into making this video, I'm not going to lie, I was pretty nervous.
07:34While many people look at the 1950s as this time of American opulence, in my eyes makeup
07:41was often used to reinforce really strict gender roles.
07:47It was actually expected at that time to wear makeup on a daily basis.
07:52There was a lot of pressure, and I'm sure it was very hard on women to keep this up.
08:00Women of color definitely did not have a lot of representation when it came to makeup.
08:05There were definitely very limited selection of products, so they had to buy whatever was
08:10available for other women. They couldn't really find makeup bases.
08:14The colors did not go beyond like a tan, so most of the women didn't wear base.
08:22You know, we want to look that way today because it's very pretty,
08:25and it's very feminine, and it's nostalgic.
08:39After talking to Gabriella and doing this entire tutorial, I realized that the 1950s
08:44is one small part of an entire line of makeup history.
08:48People think of makeup as this trivial, materialistic thing, but makeup goes so beyond simply what
08:54you're putting on your face. It has historical relevance, it has cultural significance,
08:58it has economic impact. Every decade has its own unique makeup identity,
09:04and I'm really excited to learn more about it. It's very evident that makeup is truly a reflection of the
09:10times.
09:20We'll see you soon.
09:21We'll be right back to one pair because one is most popular.
