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 history
00:19of 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
00:45and what was trendy at the time.
00:46So I reached out to Gabriela Hernandez.
00:49She's the founder of Besame 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.
01:00I would love for you to kind of give context as to the decade itself, what makeup meant.
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.
01:29Because after the war, the whole idea of the whole country was make babies so that we can
01:35recoup the people that 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.
01:46So things that really exaggerated the female form.
01:50And the same thing happened with the makeup.
01:51So makeup got a lot bolder than what it was in the 40s.
01:55It wasn't, like, taboo anymore.
01:58Talking to Gabriela was really enlightening.
02:01So I sat down with a bunch of vintage-inspired makeup and my Max Factor pamphlet and got to work.
02:06Here are Max Factor's Hollywood makeup secrets.
02:09So 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.
02:29With 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.
02:43The instructions for eyeshadow is to blend a natural shade of eyeshadow from your eyelash to your eyebrow.
02:50Wait a second.
02:52I'm going to blend kind of like a mid-tone brown on my eyelid following this application method, which is
02:59from eyelash to eyebrow.
03:01Once my base was down, I moved on to a little bit of pastel shadow inspired by my conversation with
03:06Gabriela.
03:07You definitely saw shadows being used in colors that were very obvious, like a teal and a blue and, you
03:14know, colors that were really bold.
03:18I decided to use a little bit of pastel blue, inspired by the illustration on the Max Factor pamphlet.
03:26After my eyeshadow was down, I moved on to mascara, or what they call it in the pamphlet, which is
03:31eyelash makeup.
03:33Now, I actually got my hands on an actual cream tube mascara from Besame.
03:41This mascara was really nice.
03:43It volumized really well, although I wish it came in a waterproof formulation, but I still think 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.
03:56Right, yes.
03:57You're meant to follow the natural curve of your eyebrow to the end of the brow, extending the line a
04:02trifle.
04:03If you go more pointy as it goes into your temple, kind of like a Marilyn Monroe, that was kind
04:10of 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, which was
04:21more straight.
04:22So I decided to go with a bit of a sultry vibe today.
04:26The 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 cat 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.
04:50Where the 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 are so big
05:01and 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.
05:19I used the Besame cream rouge and applied it to my cheek and blended downward to create the illusion that
05:27my 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 more oval.
05:38They want dull face.
05:41Dull face.
05:43Honestly, this was a lot of blush for me, but after kind of getting used to the look, I really
05:49liked it.
05:50I think that the effect of pulling the rouge down the cheek really does give the illusion of a more
05:56oval, more lengthened face.
06:00Now that my base makeup is completely done, I moved on to powder.
06:05So taking the Besame loose powder, I took the puff and blended powder toward the center of 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.
06:24Then, 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.
06:58You're meant to press your lips together, therefore depositing some color from the top lip down to the 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 attention from the
07:14fullness 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 was often used
07:43to reinforce really strict gender roles.
07:47It was actually expected at that time to wear makeup on a daily basis.
07:51There 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 available for other women.
08:11They couldn't really find makeup bases. The colors did not go beyond like a tan, so most of the women
08:18didn't wear base.
08:21You know, we want to look that way today because it's very pretty, and it's very feminine, and it's nostalgic.
08:39After talking to Gabriela and doing this entire tutorial, I realized that the 1950s is one small part of an
08:46entire line of makeup history.
08:48People think of makeup as this trivial, materialistic thing, but makeup goes so beyond simply what you're putting on your
08:55face.
08:55It has historical relevance. It has cultural significance. It has economic impact.
09:01Every decade has its own unique makeup identity, and I'm really excited to learn more about it.
09:07It's very evident that makeup is truly a reflection of the times.
09:20Thanks so much for watching, guys. Let me know what you want to see next on Beauty With Me by
09:24commenting down below,
09:25and click here to subscribe for Friday 29, and click here to watch another video.
09:29Bye!
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