Make Up: A History – A 1960s, Audrey Hepburn-Inspired Tutorial!

Today’s tutorial will be a step-by-step guide to achieving a modern Audrey Hepburn Breakfast at Tiffany’s make up look! This tutorial requires winged eyeliner, so if you struggle with liquid eyeliner, I suggest taking a look at my two minute tutorial on how to get perfect flicked eyeliner!

The 1960s gave us The Beatles, Star Trek, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the bob haircut, beehive hairdos, mini skirts, Twiggy and mod fashion. For the first time since the war, youngsters had disposable income that could be spent on looking incredibly fashionable. Bold, geometric prints were all the rage and this extended to the popular use of graphic eye make up. British fashion icon Twiggy was iconic for her bold eye make up, and false eyelashes on both the top and the bottom of the eye were extremely fashionable.

Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, Edie Sedgwick and Elizabeth Taylor were all famous for their bold, graphic flicked eyeliner. As a contrast to the famous red lips of the 1940s and 1950s, the 1960s focused on the eyes and paired bold eyes with nude lips. The crease of the eyelid and the socket line were often exaggerated, and in this tutorial I will show you how to achieve a modern 1960s look using a technique called the ‘cut crease’.

Now get the look!

1. Start by prepping your eyelids with foundation/concealer and also an eyeshadow primer. This will help the shadow go on smoothly and stay on.

2. Using an eyeliner pencil, draw a line just above the crease of your eyelid. Use small strokes and pull the eye taut to prevent drag.

3. Using an angled brush, go over the line with a dark eyeshadow. The eyeshadows you use need to be in the same colour family. So if you proceed with a dark brown shadow, the rest of the eyeshadows you apply should be lighter shades of brown or bronze etc.

4. Using an eyeshadow brush, blend the shadow upwards. I used Benefit Cosmetic’s Big Beautiful Eyes palette.

5. Taking another lighter shade, keep blending upwards.

6. Next, take a fluffy blending brush and add a lighter shadow (such as white, cream or light gold) and blend on the brow bone.

7. Using a flat eyeshadow brush, add a light (white or gold) shadow to your eyelid. Be careful to stay under the brown eyeshadow and keep the lines clean.

8. Add your eyeliner along the top lash line. Click here for my quick tutorial on how to get perfect liquid/gel eyeliner.

9. Take a white eyeliner pencil and line your waterline. This makes your eyes look big and doll-like!

10. Now using a flat eyeshadow brush, blend some dark eyeshadow underneath your bottom eyelashes. 

11. Add false eyelashes and mascara! Here, I used the Eyelure Katy Perry eyelashes in ‘Oh! Honey’.

12. Add foundation, and highlighter to your cheekbones for a dewy, glamourous look. Blend a peachy blusher upwards from under your cheekbones, and add a darker bronzer if you wish to contour. I highly recommend Lush Cosmetics ‘Feeling Younger’ skin tint. It is an absolutely amazing highlighter!

13. Prep lips with a lip scrub (I wear by Bubblegum lip scrub by Lush Cosmetics) and add a creamy nude lipstick. I used GOSH Cosmetics lipstick in Cappuccino.

The 1960s hair was all about height! I created a beehive-style pony tail using a hair insert.

Section the front section of your hair off, from ear to ear. Backcomb/tease this front section of hair, and add the hair insert behind it – at the crown of your head. Then smooth back your front section of hair over it, and pin down. Then tie the rest of your hair into a low ponytail.