Marilyn Monroe Makeup

Marilyn Monroe has been a style and cultural icon for over 60 years now, and her makeup still works for today! It has a slightly retro/pinup feel without being too obvious. Throughout her days in the spotlight, her makeup stayed pretty similar, so I came up with a look that you'd probably find her wearing on any given day - a neutral but flattering (and slightly seductive) eye, and red lips. This could work for every day, or could even be used for special occasions.

Step by Step

  1. I started with my eyes, but you could do this in any order. Apply a primer if you have one, and then a white pencil or white cream base all over your eye lid and around your tear duct. Then set that by patting a matte white eyeshadow over it, so that it won't crease and will stay vibrant. It should look like this.
  2. Next, take a blending brush and blend a light, matte brown shadow into your crease. Then, to add even more depth, take a slightly darker brown and blend it deeper in your crease. To do this, I like to take the tip of a regular or pencil eyeshadow brush and line the exact line of my crease, then blend it out with a fluffy brush. Run the lighter brown along your lower lashline for emphasis.
  3. Now, line your eyes with either a black liquid or gel eyeliner. Add a short wing. Make sure to take your liner all the way to the inner corner of your lashline, to create the specific shape that Marilyn has. Then line your waterline with white to open up your eyes, apply mascara (to your top and bottom lashes) and fake eyelashes if you have them to create this look.
  4. Now conceal your face. I concealed my many zits and discolorations, as well as the beauty marks on my cheek, since Marilyn only has the one above her lip. If you wish, apply foundation. I chose to only apply concealer and powder.
  5. Then its time to add the most iconic element of this look - the lips. I applied a chapstick first so my lips wouldn't appear dry, then lined and filled them in with a red lipliner. I chose to apply a more opaque red lipstick on top.
  6. Lastly, use your black eyeliner to create a small dot above your lip to emulate Marilyn's beauty mark. Don't worry, hers was fake too.

And that's it!

I hope this tutorial was easy to follow and that it helped you out. If you do choose to try it, let me see!

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