Like I said when I reviewed the lip gloss from the Kevyn Aucoin brand, this is a makeup artist that I really admire and one of the firsts persons that got me into makeup. I have two of his books, the Making Faces one and the Face Forward one and I thought it would be fun to try and recreate some of the looks he presented in his books.

Now, I don’t have the right equipment to make good selfies so you can actually see the makeup on me, but I still think it would be a fun thing to walk you through the steps and show you the products that I use. I don’t plan on doing every makeup look in the books, just the ones that I like and I do frequently.

The first one on the list is the “Bomshell” look, for which he took inspiration from Marilyn Monroe, particularly from this picture of her, as far as I can tell. It’s really simple and it’s a look that you can wear on everyday basis or that you can easily turn into a more dramatic one by just making it a little darker.

I used my favorite eyeshadow palette for this, but you can easily just skin the eyeshadow all together and I will tell you in a minute why. Here are the steps to recreate this makeup look:

1. Apply a liquid foundation of your choice starting from the center of the face and blending it outwards. I don’t wear foundation since I love BB creams or CC creams, so I used my Madara Anti-Pollution City CC Cream in the Light shade, for a glowy and natural look.
2. The next step would be to apply some powder on the face. I don’t use powder and I don’t have one in my makeup collection, but if you do, I recommend using some just on you T-zone, because Marilyn liked to have a glowy skin and you should apply just a small amount of powder on the cheeks or none at all.
3. The next step is to apply some eye primer. Kevyn Aucoin doesn’t use this step, maybe because eye primers were not that popular during his time or who knows why, but I did apply my Alverde eye primer which I don’t recommend, because it’s not a good one, but it’s better than nothing.
4. Now, for the eyeshadow, apply some medium brown matte eyeshadow in the crease and blend it well. I used the Passport & Pineapples shade from my Too Faced Tutti Frutti Sparkling Pineapple eyeshadow palette, but you can also use your favorite bronzing powder (which I often do).
5. The next step is to apply a “frosty white eyeshadow” all over the lid and under your eyebrows. Since I don’t have a frosty white eyeshadow, I used the Coconut Sugar shade from the same palette, which is a light cream shade with a satin finish. Or, you could use a highlighter that has a more white shade instead of a golden one. That’s why I said that you don’t necessarily need to have eyeshadows.
6. Then, he says to apply eyeliner using a fine brush in the waterline, but he doesn’t mention the color. I know that Marilyn Monroe used white eyeliner, but I don’t like the look of white eyeliner so I went in with the same brown eyeshadow from the palette.
7. Apply a black liquid eyeliner on the lid as close as possible to the eyelashes line and draw it just a little bit downwards in the outer corner. I used my Eyeko Mini Skinny Liquid Eyliner which works great because of the fine tip.
8. The final touch for the eyes is to apply black mascara on the top and bottom lashes. I currently use the essence get big! volume boost mascara.
9. Add some rosy pink blush on the apple of your cheeks. My favorite is the Natasha Denona Golden Coral blush from the mini Blush & Glow duo.
10. The last touch is to apply a red lipstick and a clear gloss on top. I chose a lipstick with a satin finish, the Yves Rocher Oui A L’Amour lipstick, so I didn’t add the gloss. It’s not a true red, more of a warm red since it looks like she’s wearing something similar in the picture.

That was it for the makeup tutorial, it really wasn’t that hard and I think it’s a really simple and wearable look that anyone can recreate with some basic makeup products. I will try and choose a few more looks that are also easy to recreate and remember, makeup is just so much fun! Why not try something new from time to time?