Marilyn Monroe look tutorial

Marilyn Monroe has always been the epitome of style, versatile beauty, class, grace and elegance, with innocent eyes and a vixen smile. She was a sex goddess in white, the perfect example of an hour glass figure... A standard still hard to match even for the likes of the modern A-list celebrities.

Which woman wouldn't want to look like her?

So, last Halloween I decided to do a Marilyn Monroe make-up as my ultimate halloween do… Now, I am an asian and look very much so, hence, you can probably imagine that I wouldn't look, no matter what I do, anything like the real deal but hey, that's what halloween is for :p

I got myself a white dress because very conveniently I didn't have one (huff! Who doesn't have even a SINGLE WHITE DRESS??? Silly me!) and a blonde wig from a costume shop. But since it was a last minute shopping (1 evening before halloween) I had to make do with what they had and frankly I wasn't satisfied. The dress material was cheap for the price I paid and quite unflatteringly ill-fitting. If MM ever saw that monstrosity she would just freakin' die, again!!!

Anyway, coming to the make up part, I had been doing some research as to how to do the best MM make-up and I did find a lot of them… Even found a couple by these lovely african-american girls who showed the process especially for dark skinned girls ( Now, I am not very dark but am definitely brown, about 4-5 shades darker than whites, so this was great for me). Check their videos here and here.

So, my test of endurance began as I am extremely impatient with make-ups and often prefer not using ANY make-up at all… So, I collected my make-up kit and put them together to see what could be useful… I did not go for an extensive make-up kit shopping so my tools are fairly simple and even raided from my man's shelf. Here are the things that I finally used:

You would need:

1.) Foundation

2.) Hair gel and pins

3.) Eye liner

4.) Mascara

5.) Rouge

6.) Lakme gold shimmer dust

7.) Some talcum powder

8.) Dark eye shadow

9.) Red lipstick

10.) Sponges

Step 1:

So, to start off with the procedure, I started with my hair. Now, like most asians I have dark hair. So, just tucking it in won't help :( To make sure that they don't stick out from underneath the blonde wig I had to make sure they are clipped securely. So, I used gel, pins and more gel like there is no tomorrow to keep my hair in place…

I used a BW hair gel and alberto balsam extra strong styling gel (usually for men) to keep the hair off my forehead and sides. Then I used the clips to pin my hair up tightly against my scalp.

Step 2:
Once done with the hair, I moved to the face. For the base, I used Revlon foundation to smoothen the skin texture and colour. I used a sponge from a packet full of make-up sponges I bought for £1 from Sainsbury's. You can always put lotion, moisturiser or vaseline BEFORE you put foundations and concealers to prevent it from breaking out.

Once all the areas of the face was well "coated" I started working on my cheek bones. I used some shimmer gold dusts and some bronzer to give high cheek bones appeal and also make my jaw look narrower since MM had a perfect heart shaped face. This would make a round face like mine look more triangular. To know how to contour check out the youtube video here.

I also used the same on the side of my nose to make it look smaller as did MM herself who apparently wasn't happy with her own nose even after going under the knife to correct it. I applied a bit of rouge and kohl on the side of my nose and blend them together.

I also applied some talcum powder on the centre line of my nose for highlight.

Step 3:
Time for the peepers… I used a wide range of products to give me the retro eye. I used black eye pencil to outline my eyes. Then I used some felt tip liners to give me a nice, neat lines on the eye lid and also a tail at the end of the eye (like the picture on the right).

 Once done, I used dark eye shadows to give a light smokey look. And finished it all off with some mascara. I also had bought some fake self-adhesive eye lashes but just failed and I had to throw the whole pack :( I also darkened my brows as MM or 50's fashion in general did so to give a sharp arched brows. Funny how MM never bothered lightning her brows despite having almost bleach blonde hair. 

Lastly I dabbed some talcum powder very gently on the eye brows to keep it from smudging. Here is the final look for the eye:

I know, I'm not a pro and the brows could be better... but it was first :(

Step 4.
Almost there!!!

I used red lipstick and made my lips slightly thicker than they are since MM had lucious lips. I also put some gloss on it to give it a shine.

Step 5.
Lastly, to finish off the look I put the iconic MM mole on my right cheek (although I later realised her's is on the left :p) and also wore my blonde wig. 

Here is the final look...

...together with the dress, bracelet and golden shoes:

I also took some pictures without the wig and with my original hair combed back in the old 50's fashion and to be be honest I was quite happy with that too. 

Take a look and decide which one looked better :)

 

So, go ahead and have fun with your own experiments with retro 20's-50's look…

Till then,

Stay beautiful…