Not everyone is born with Audrey Hepburn's eyes or magnificent bone structure, or her diminutive frame. And while we may never look like Audrey, there are beauty tips and tricks to be learnt from the clever makeup artists of Old Hollywood to bring out the best of our features and bestow on us some of her grace and beauty. I've chosen to use mainly my favorites from Benefit Cosmetics for ease of ordering. You may have roughly equivalent products already, so you can pick and choose and patch your makeup arsenal in the categories where you have vacancy.
1. Prime the Canvas
Audrey's skin always looked fresh, young, clean, and dewy. On a clean face, use a makeup primer that will ensure makeup base going on flawlessly and staying fresh throughout the day. Recommended: Benefit "That Gal" brightening brightening face primer.
2. Apply a makeup base in the lightest tone suitable for your skin. For an Audrey Hepburn look, you don't want anything too heavy, you want to look naturally perfect. Recommended:
Benefit "non fiction", a medium coverage foundation that Benefit calls "the 'no makeup' liquid foundation."
3. Concealer. On imperfections, dark undereyes, etc. Use a creme cake cover-up such as
Dermablend Cover Creme or
Benefit Boi-ing, as close to the color of your makeup base as possible.
4. Translucent powder. Light dusting of powder to set makeup base and concealer. Loose powder preferable.
Recommended:
Boots No7 Perfect Light Loose Powder in Translucent.
5. Eyebrows. Audrey Hepburn brows are tricky, no question. The image above shows how even Audrey's makeup artists had to augment her natural brow to achieve the look. My suggestion is to practice the brow a few times before starting any of the other makeup, so you get it just right. You want quite a thick brow almost straight with not much arch. The arch gets drawn in on the top. To achieve this look, I recommend
Benefit "brow zings" — it has a colored brow wax to make your eyebrow look thicker, and a setting powder in a complementing shade to fill in the brow and set the wax. Quite the miracle product. Make sure to choose a shade darker than your natural brow.
6. False eyelashes. While Audrey's eyelashes were naturally dark and luxurious, in nearly all the photos we love of her, believe it or not, her lashes are augmented. The trick is to not have the fake lashes be obvious. Use individual lashes to supplement your own, particularly at the outside corner of the eye. You can get them at any drugstore. These take lots of practice, so don't lose heart.
Audrey Hepburn Eyes
7. Eyeliner. Start with a dark brown liquid liner and line the top lid with a thin line all the way from the inside corner to the outside corner. At the outside corner, widen light slightly and angle upwards. We're trying to emphasize an almond shape. Next, with a dark brown kohl / pencil liner, smudge gently under bottom lashes. If you're doing day makeup, use very little on bottom — for a nighttime look, start all the way from the inside corner of the eyes. Take care not to let bottom and top liner meet too closely— this will make the eye seem smaller and closed. If you're doing a photo shoot, I recommed lining the inside of the lower eyelid with a white pencil to make eyes appear larger (see picture below). Recommended:
Benefit Mr. Frosty
8. Eye Shadow. For a lighter daytime look, use a tender pink shadow on lids and contour it in the crease and corner of the lid with a taupe shadow. For a smokier or evening look, deepen the shadow color to a dark brown on the lid and expand subtly beyond crease, blending/fading outward. For this, I'd recommend Benefit's "
Big Beautiful Eyes" which includes the Boi-ing concealer and a booklet "How-to."
TIP: Before applying eyeshadow, dust a generous amount of translucent powder under the eye — that way if any shadow falls under the eye during application, you can easily brush it off.
9. Blush. For Audrey Hepburn's youthful rosy cheeks, but blusher right on the apple of the cheek and blend gently upwards and outwards. For an Audrey look, the best product is Benefit's
Benetint. With the brush, draw a few small lines on the cheek and blend with your fingers to get that sweet glow. If liquid blusher isn't your thing, you can of course use a powder or mousse blush. I would stay away from the stick and cream blushers for an Audrey look, because the blush should be very tender, not obvious.
10. Highlight. To add that preternatural sheen that Audrey always seemed to have, use a highlighter on the top of your cheekbone, blending outward in a line. I recommend Benefit "
High Beam", but you can also get a little bit of sheen by swiping your lighter eyeshadow above the cheekbone. Just be careful not to get too shiny. Subtle is always the keyword with the Audrey look.
11. Lipstick. This of course will depend greatly on the shape and size of your own mouth, but these are the points you want to keep in mind.
A) Liner. Line your lips. In Audrey's case the liner was applied a little on the outside of her natural lipline to make her lips appear fuller. The upper lip should be lined to exceed the lower lip in width, and make sure to draw a very defined "Cupid's Bow". Use liner to color the whole of the mouth to keep lipstick in place. Recommended:
Benefit lip sketching pencil in Mercy.
B) Lipstick. Audrey's shades were usually not very bright, and most often there was little or no gloss involved. Similarly, avoid pearlescent colors if possible, and choose a matte cream one. Apply with lipbrush initially; touchups on the go can be done with stick. Suggestion:
MAC Lipstick, in Polished Up.
12. Powder. A final dusting of powder to set all the makeup, either translucent or alternately
Benefit dandelion.
13. Mascara. To open up the eyes further, use a curling mascara. Recommended:
Benefit get bent lash. It not only curls but lengthens and does not clump easily.
End Result:
These are said to have been Audrey's own beauty tips:
1) For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
2) For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
3) For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
4) For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.
5) For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
6) People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
7) Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
8) The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.
9) The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode, but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows.
10) The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.
The Glam Guide
