Historically Accurate: 1920s Makeup Tutorial

I naturally have large eyes, a round face, I'm stupidly pale, and have really long eyelashes. I would've been drop dead gorgeous in that era.

My great grandmother was alive until I was 23 years old. She shared many memories with me. One of her memories of mascara was that women pretty much gobbed mascara on their lashes so that they were stuck all together but deeply thickened. Then they used a needle or a hat pin to pick apart lashes in order to separate. Sounds treacherous!! Thank goodness for mascara wands today!!!

the 20's will be here again in 5 years. i say we bring this look back.

Apparently the ridiculously long brows were taken from film (which in turn borrowed from stage,) where these long, dramatic brows would be drawn onto a character to expand the eye area and give that character their archetypal expression.  Since most film heroines had that wistful, downward-slanting brow of purity, it was also a popular choice outside of film and theatre.  Furthermore, while ancient Egyptian culture was definitely a huge influence on 1920s fashion, the dark lips and eyes also owe heavily to stage and theatre.  The new electric lights and cameras would wash out the actor's face, so they drew eyes and lips dark to ensure that the actor's expression would still be visible. They also (re)invented contouring for that reason, but for the same reasons that apply today, it didn't transition into everyday makeup as readily. Source was a stage makeup instructor and you know they like to take credit for everything under the sun so take this with a grain of salt. Also, thank you so very much for a well-researched, accurate historical tutorial. Takes ages to find a tutorial that can do even a halfway-authentic application, let alone one that's as spot-on as this.

I love how you give a ton of information on why the women of that time did what they did. It's great!

when you have a Gatsby dress up day for english so you watch make up videos to look 1000% accurate

Fun fact, before lipstick women used to put cinnamon powder on their lips to achieve a red colour, they were also taught to press their lips together before entering a room to achieve that temporary red colour. Read it in the history part of an authentic beauty guide from 1928. A very interesting reading. Did you know that the arms and hands were considered to be the most beautiful part of a womans body? There is an entire chapter dedicated to taking care of and slim your arms and hands, they even used makeup on them. Another interesting tip mentioned in the book was to wash your eyes with water nce in a while (either splashing your face with eyes wide open or dip your face in a bowl of water eyes wide open).

lately i've been obsessed with 1920's-1980's makeup tutorials, because they're so different from today and im a makeup addict. lol.

my mother used red lipstick as blush and vanilla as perfume.

What a great video. You did a wonderful job.   My grandmother was 35 years old in 1920. She said few average women wore makeup in those days. Those who did were considered 'fast' but everyone wanted to wear it!   But movie stars and flappers were the ones who wore it most.

They did not have mica shimmer reflecting powders so they put vaseline ontop of a smoky shadow, for a "shimmer".

You have the perfect 1920's flapper face. You resemble the stars of that era. :)

The 20's look was mainly to create a strong emotion on the actress faces because of the mute and b&w movies, as a strong contrast of colors ( pale / white fondation - deep and thin extended eyebrow with a "falling" smoky eye - heart-shaped lips in a winy color )

Oh gosh, I'm old enough to remember when you could still buy mascara in cakes. It was very difficult to use. Nobody would put up with that now. Good job!

I wrote my bachelor thesis about the history of make up and this is so accurate. I love that u also talk about the history. Plus the make up itself is very beautiful! Thumbs up. Great video!!!

I can't do anything about looking paler lol but I enjoyed this anyway! 20s-60s looks are always entertaining.

As a history fanatic I'm thrilled with your research and that you differentiate between the facts you know and the observations you've made. Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic! It's really nice to be able to say I appreciate your work instead of hey cool video. I'm going to try this tomorrow.

This costume designer really appreciates your dedication to research and authenticity! I'm going to a 20s themed holiday party this week and I love being able to use your video as a cheat sheet.

You should do a Lucille Ball makeup transformation since you look like her!!!

This is great! First makeup tutorial I've seen where you actually learn something interesting, I've never seen a makeup tutorial before where legit facts about makeup is presented. I'm going to continue watching the rest of your historically accurate videos now. New subscriber here! (You deserve much more recognition!)