m a k e - u p

a h i s t o r y

There was really only one make-up look throughout the 1960s, that being dark eyes paired with pale lips. The cosmetics firm of Gala can take credit for much of this innovation, as they were the first to introduce the paler colours found in the houses of Dior and Lancome.

In 1957 Gala unveiled the "Lipline" - an interchangeable lipstick in pencil form. It was much faster that the old method of applying lipstick with a small brush, and opened up a market of women who previously hadn’t used makeup because of the time involved in putting it on. To increase their appeal to younger shoppers, Gala copied the French and Italian designers by blending titanium into their lipsticks, to create a shimmery, pale look, and introduced new colours, such as silver and green (mind you, anything that wasn’t red in the late 50s was considered a new colour…) In 1959 they extended their innovations to face powder, which had always been available in either pink or yellow. Gala began selling "mink" powder for a more tanned, natural look.

By 1961 pale had become the fashion for the face, with girls blending their own shades of lipstick at home and white eyeshadow cream one of the top sellers (it was meant to be used to brighten up eye sockets but women quickly found uses for it all over the face such as highlighting or wrinkle-hiding.) Eyes soon became the focus and were darkened considerably to contrast with the pale faces. Dark eyeshadow, liquid and kohl eyeliner, and mascara were used in abundance and smudged on eyes all over Europe and North America. Lips became paler, until girls began using white lipstick and could go no lighter. Iridescent nail varnish to match the lipstick completed the look.

6 0 s m a k e - u p f o r a 9 0 s g i r l

The 60s look is quite easy to pull off and is still used in many fashion layouts and advertisements. There are only a few products required above and beyond the make-up which most people own. Eyes require the most work and for a dark look it’s best to have a few shades of dark eyeshadows (ranging from grey to black), three types of eyeliner (liquid, kohl, and the regular creamy pencil sort), and mascara. A tube of industrial-strength eye makeup remover and cotton pads is also somewhat useful at the end of the day.

The eyeliner is probably the most important element of the above products, as with three kinds you can pull off any sort of look. Liquid eyeliner gives a very black line which won’t smudge or bleed when dry - but you must be VERY careful when putting it on (if you make a boo-boo, let it dry and wipe it off with a bit of tissue.) It is best for rimming the upper eyelid or defining corners. Using it on the lower lid is not a good idea, as it’s harder to apply (eyelashes get in the way) and gives an abrupt and very unnatural looking line. Kohl eyeliner does a nice job on both the upper and lower eyelids as it can be smudged and blended and gives a very black line, but should you touch your eyes or burst into tears mid-day, you will end up looking like Gene Simmons instead of Jean Shrimpton. Regular eyeliner gives a nice, smudgeable line, goes on smoothly, and isn’t as prone to accidents as kohl. The colour isn’t as vivid, but you can use lighter shades, i.e slate, in place of eyeshadows.

Pale lipsticks are available from more and more companies, but even if you can’t find the shade you’re looking for, it is quite easy to do it yourself. Most cosmetics companies sell white lipstick, which can be melted with another colour and poured into a pot to use (old eyeshadow or blush pots, like those MAC sells, work great, but you’ll need a brush to apply your lipstick). You can also use a pale cream foundation or concealer on your lips before applying a particular colour to lighten it up considerably. And if your lips are dark enough (mine are naturally quite reddy-pink, and though it may sound silly, you can get yours quite dark by giving them a quick brush with a toothbrush) you can simply use foundation to tone down their natural colour (If your lips are naturally too pale, if you do this you will end up with lips that same colour as your face which isn’t so hot.)

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