As a very early birthday gift, my fiancé's father gave me the Sony eReader and I was so excited to use it. I had used John's Nook and fell in love with it because of the simplicity and the convenience of it so when his Dad gave the Sony eReader to me I was super happy. Now the task at hand was what book to pick because it's expensive! I'm super picky about what books I read because to be honest, I get bored easily. I finally decided, after much searching, to purchase this book:
I had originally wanted get her biography BUT according to the reviews and other articles, a lot of the facts and stories were fabricated and very untrue. I wanted to know the real stories behind this classic icon. I'm about halfway through the book now and to be honest, Marilyn Monroe's (Norma Jeane Mortensen Baker's) life was not very glamorous at all. Her troubles started since she was born and just continued to work against her till the day she died. I'm sure a lot of people knew that Marilyn had her problems, but the author goes into great detail. I feel as if it's a fiction book even though it's not. Sad and tragic. I could probably go on and on about her life, but this isn't what this entry is about. It's about my current obsession with her beauty and makeup secrets!
Regardless of her troubles and issues in her personal life, one thing was certain: she always looked amazing! The author constantly inserts people's reaction when they saw MM and how each thought she was stunning. This made me want to go and find out her secrets because deep down inside I wanna look as gorgeous and timeless as Marilyn!
I found out lots of her secrets and the products that she used, and many people don't know that she used to do her own makeup (though she did have her own personal makeup artist, Allan "Whitey" Snyder.) By doing her own makeup Marilyn knew just how enhance her best features on her face. Her favorite brands were Erno Laszlo, Elizabeth Arden, and Max Factor, all brands that can still be found today! To keep her skin flawless she always used some sort of protector on her face. There have been reports that she even used Olive Oil! An easier and more pleasant smelling alternative that she used was Nivea Cream in the Tin Can. Not the one in the plastic tub...for some strange reason the one in the tin is better?
People have also said that she used to rinse her face 15 times with cold water to close her pores. I don't know how true that is though. When it came to prepping her face MM's routine was pretty straightforward: moisturize, foundation, concealer, translucent powder, and matte blush. She also had a technique to make her nose smaller using blush and vaseline. The process would be to powder the tip of her nose and dab vaseline on it repeating the process until she achieved a pixie shape nose to her liking.
Her technique to make her eyes pop was quite simple too, in fact it's so simple I think anyone can do it.
Here's a run down:
1-She used a white shimmery shade stick all over the lid to the inner tear duct to her brow bone. (If you find that cream shadows crease or you just don't have any shimmery white bases just use a pearly white powder shadow. I really recommend Phloof!, Naked Pigment, or Vanilla Pigment by MAC)
2-She would then use a warm brown, a silvery blue, or even green to the outer part of her crease.
3-For her eyeliner, she would use liquid or fluid liner and line her eyes with the end sweeping out but not connecting the top and bottom. She would do a very narrow line on the top lashline and then the bottom. There have been also tips that have said she would do somewhat of a trapezoid shape to make her eyes appear larger. It is said that she rarely used black and used mostly brown/dark brown.
4-She would then use a white kohl liner and line her bottom lashline giving her a more wide eyed appearance.
5-Marilyn always used falsies, but instead of using the entire strip, she would cut them in half and only use half of it on the outer corner of her eye to give a more wide eyed look and fanned out appearance. Of course she curled her lashes and added mascara!
Here is a video to help you get started! I absolutely adored Kandee's video and interpretation:
Don't worry I didn't forget to talk about her lips! You would think that the lips would be the easiest right? Nope! This girl was not a swipe on and go gal. Infact she layered five different shades of red to achieve the shade that she wanted. FIVE! This is why just one shade of red just won't do. With her lips, there is a certain bout of depth of colors. Basically what she did was the same we do to our eyes. Adding different colors creates different kinds of dimension and depth. With her lips she used several different shades of red, each precisely applied with a lip brush to get her desired color.
How to get Marilyn's Lips
1-She would use a red liner and go out of her natural lip line to create a fuller pout.
2-Then she would apply three layers of different shades of red. (Her choices were Guerlain, Elizabeth Arden, and Max Factor)
3-Now the next step is important. In order to make her lips look more plump and full, she would apply her darker shades of lipstick on the outside and the lightest on the inner part of her lip. This added the dimension that she wanted.
4-She used a white highlighter on just the middle of her pout.
5-Gloss was her final step. (Though I have read that she would layer the gloss in her process as well. It would come out to be something like: liner, lipstick, gloss, shadow, more lipstick, highlight and gloss. That's a ton of work!)
I'm sure that there are a ton of other secrets that haven't been shared with us but the ones I shared with you I think are pretty nifty. She went with the basic things that flattered everyone. If you try this and it doesn't come out as wondrous as MM, remember it's all trial and error. Just because it worked for her doesn't mean it will completely work for you. Tweak the process to make it your own and shine! Hope you guys liked my little makeup article. Hopefully I will do more soon.
It seems like I'm raving about the product right? However, this is where my love for it ends. The formula is where this product falls flat. It's a bit too heavy for my lashes and makes them wilt like little sad flowers. I can get a great curl using my Shu Uemura lash curler and this mascara negates any curl I've created. Another gripe about this mascara is the water resistant part. It doesn't seem very water resistant at all! If I tear it will smudge. I don't know why CoverGril insists on creating this water resistant formula when their waterproof formulas have been some of the best mascaras I've tried. The curl doesn't drop and there is no smudging whatsoever.
