70’s Makeup was synonymous with skinny eyebrows, dramatic cat eye eyeliner, and retro smoky eye makeup. Some 70’s makeup trends were exceptionally glamorous, while others were natural. Makeup of the 70’s also included a nostalgia trend, where looks from the 1920’s were replicated. It was these trends that actually inspired the skinny brow and smoky eye. The advent of boogie disco music in the 1970’s also lead to the glamorous disco queen look, with its bright red lipsticks, rosy cheeks, and shimmery eye shadows. Alternatively, those who loved following the natural trend, sported sheer lips with pastel eye shadow.
That being said, these trends may not necessarily be something of the past,. We see them increasingly making a comeback on catwalks and social media. Better yet is that you don’t need to be a professional makeup artist to recreate these looks. Here’s a guide to help you get the overall look.
70’s Makeup Steps for Skinny Eyebrows
- Use a spoolie brush to brush your eyebrows in upward strokes so you can ascertain where your brows are unruly and too dense.
- Cut the unruly hair above your natural eyebrow line. Use an eyebrow scissors for best results here.
- Get an eyebrow shaper or stencil and an eye pencil.
- Choose the thinnest shape, and draw in the shape with your eye pencil.
- Use your tweezers to pluck the hairs outside or around the stencil, thus shaping your brow to the exact shape as the stencil.
- Don’t forget to pluck any stray hair between your brows.
- The plucked area may become temporarily inflamed, so be sure to rub a soothing balm on the area afterwards to help reduce irritation.
Products You Will Need
- An eyebrow pencil
- Your eyebrow stencil
- Tweezers
- A spoolie brush
- A soothing balm or gel
70’s Makeup Steps for Cat Eye Eyeliner
- Line your upper lash line from its inner to outer corner.
- Remember to continuously keep the line sparse.
- For the dramatic flick, turn the eyeliner upward as you reach the end of your upper lash line.
- For a more dramatic flick, make your flick line thicker than the rest of the line.
Products You Will Need
- A good liquid eyeliner like Rimmel’s Wonder Wing eyeliner in black is perfect for this kind of dramatic effect.
70’s Makeup Steps for Shimmery Smoky Eye Makeup
- Prime your eyelids with an eyelid primer. This keeps your eye makeup on for longer and enables smoother eye makeup application.
- Apply your foundation and concealer to even out the skin tone around your eye area.
- Neaten or brush your eyebrows to improve your overall look.
- Ensure that your eyeshadow palette has a range of light, medium, and dark shades.
- Apply the lightest shade entirely over your base.
- Use the second lightest shade over your mid lid and blend.
- Select a darker shade to apply over your lid’s edge.
- Create a “V” shape in your crease with an even darker shade, and don’t forget to keep blending in the shade to prevent harsh lines.
- Take the darkest shade and apply again over the crease and “V” shape you applied a shade to in the previous step. Remember to apply more of this shade, until you get the desired smoky effect.
- Use eyeliner on both your lower and upper lash lines. You can also use the darkest shade you’ve used in your crease to line both your upper and lower lash lines.
- Apply your favorite mascara to your upper and lower lashes.
- For the shimmer appeal, take a shimmery eyeshadow and apply it along your crease and lid.
Products You Will Need
- Eyelid primer
- Foundation
- Concealer
- A spoolie brush
- Eyeshadow palette in matte shades
- Shimmery eyeshadow palette
- Eyeliner
- Black mascara
70’s Makeup Steps for Bright or Sheer Lips
- Outline your lips with your favorite lip liner. Remember that your lips will appear fuller if you line them along the outer edges of your natural lip line.
- Take a bright red or bright pink stay fast lip color and paint the area inside the lip liner outline.
- Blot out any excess lip color with some blotting paper or tissues.
- You may also apply lip gloss for some shimmer if you like, although it’s best to not use gloss if you prefer the matte look and have applied matte lipstick.
- Depending on your preferences, you can choose a shade in liquid or crème stick form.
- For sheer lips, simply apply a translucent lip gloss or nude lipstick shade over your lips. There’s no need to line your lips. Lip liner tends to make your lips look bolder, as it draws attention to your lips. You won’t need that if you’re opting for the sheer look.
Products You Will Need
- Lip liner
- Liquid, matte, or crème lip color in a bright red or pink shade, or a nude color for a sheer look
- Tissues or blotting paper
- Lip gloss
70’s Makeup Steps for Rosy Cheeks
Remember there’s a fine line between looking too rouged and being flushed, so follow the following steps to strike the right balance.
- Ensure that your skin is hydrated for a sheerer look. It’s therefore important to first moisturize, and then prime your face.
- You want your cheeks to glow, so opt for a foundation with a dewy finish. If you’re not sure which foundation to choose here, opt for Estee Lauder’s Futurist foundation, which is perfect to add a dewy glow, or if your skin tends to be dry.
- If you’re leaning toward a natural look, yet still want a rosy glow to your cheeks, opt for a liquid or crème foundation. Crème foundations blend more naturally into your skin.
- Acquire a warm tone blusher palette, preferably one with a define, sculpt, and highlighter section. If you’re not sure which steps to follow for the palette, look on the flip side of your palette for placement diagrams or instructions.
- If you don’t have a blusher palette and are working with a single shade, be sure to heat the shade by applying pressure to it with your fingertips. This makes it blend better with your natural skin tone.
- Furthermore, with the single palette, begin applying your blusher at the apples of your cheeks. It’s best to blend in upward strokes to soften any harsh lines. If you feel you need a bit more color, simply dab on more of the crème blusher.
- Don’t forget to set the blusher with setting powder.
- If you feel that you’ve overdone it or that your cheeks appear too flushed, make it look less dramatic by applying some of your foundation over your cheeks. This will reduce bold colors significantly.
Products You Will Need
- Moisturizer
- Primer
- Crème or liquid foundation
- A blusher palette with a highlighter, sculpt, and define compartments.
- A single shade blusher (if you don’t have a palette)
- Setting or translucent powder
FAQs
70’s makeup can be worn in a natural fashion. This look focuses on sheer lips and lightly applied sheer colored blusher. You can also go for a bolder disco queen look, with bold colored blue eyeshadow or shimmery eye shadow. This look is complemented with full lips, covered with bright red or pink lipstick. You can complete this look with an intense colored rouge but be careful to tone it done if you’ve overdone it. Remember the aim is to look a bit flushed across the cheeks, and not too red. Most women opt for thick eyebrows nowadays, but if you’re going for a classic 70’s look, it’s best to thin out or shape your eyebrows regularly too. You should therefore pluck your eyebrows and draw sparse lines when shaping with your eyebrow pencil.
70’s makeup included winged cat eyes, rosy colored blushers, bold lipsticks, or sheer lip gloss. It also included lots of blue smoky or gold smoky eyeshadows. You should therefore use or invest in red lipsticks, black eyeliners, eyebrow pencils and stencils, contouring blusher palettes, eyeshadows, as well as a primer for your face and eyelids, plus a foundation.
When you do 70’s makeup, you should first moisturize and prime your face and eyelids. Apply a dewy foundation, as well as a concealer over your eyelids. You can also use the concealer as a base for your eyeshadow application. Alternatively, you can use the lightest shade in your eyeshadow palette to cover your base. Use a black eyeliner to create a winged cat eye look. Apply the eyeshadows over your eyes in a sheer look or go for something more dramatic by applying more of the darker shade to your crease in a “V” shape. Also, be sure to apply eye pencil along both your upper and lower lash lines.
Use a blusher palette if you’re going for a more sculpted or contoured look. You should also neaten your eyebrows and apply thin eyebrow pencil lines to attain that sheer 70’s eyebrow look.
You don’t need to use a blusher palette if you’re a beginner. Simply blend a single-shade blusher from the apple of your cheek outwards, to get a naturally sculpted look. If you’re a beginner, you don’t need to choose bold eyeshadows or lipsticks either. Beginners usually create a sheer look with nude color lipsticks and lip glosses, toned down cheeks, and more subtle eyeshadow applications.
