How to Look Like an Eighties Dancing Queen
One of the coolest looks this fall and winter is that retro eighties face which is very sparkly and vivid. The effect you want is to look a little bit like a parrot. This means the entire eye area is coated with multi-colored shadows. The effect should be very sexy and the entire face should look downy and glittery – almost like it was made out of velvet.
The key to getting this look is to prime your face with a very white foundation and then put bronzer under the cheekbones and temples. Be sure to contour your face a lot because they were really into that in the eighties. Suck in your cheeks and apply a lot of bronzer in the hollow of your cheeks to get that icy Studio 54 type face that was so chiseled in structure and that went so well with those padded shoulders. A bit of powder was also always put right under the nose tip to make it look narrower and more turned up. If you like you can put darker bronze face powder beneath a double chin to minimize it.
Although contouring was a real trend the really big cool thing about eighties was the eye shadow. Nowadays the eye shadows that are made in outrageous colors are even more vivid than ever so this effect of having eyes that look like beautiful bird’s wings is even more exaggerated.
A classic color combination is to apply lime green all over the inner part of the eye over the lid and over the pupil and then decorate it with a generous sweep of purple out at the corners. You can extend these colors to the height of your eyebrow and the more glittery. Using the sparkling mineral based eye shadows that are on the market nowadays succeed very well for creating unique and very glamorous looks.
In the eighties they did not wear fake eyelashes as much as we do now and the retro effect is accomplished with or without them. The mascara was not always thick looking with this look although it does look good. You are best to go more with feathery lashes that are long at the edges of the eyes (kind of like the eyelashes boasted by Tweedy Bird in the Warner Brothers cartoon.)
They also used a lot of eye shadow pencil as opposed to eyeliner so the eyeliner blended more into the actual eye shadow. Using a bright parrot or electric blue eyeliner would work well with these colors.\
May 8th, 2010 at 7:54 am
Just wondering if you know any brand that does an actual ‘parrot blue’ eyeliner?
Your help will be heaps appreciated!
Cheers!