The Marilyn Monroe Look

[loveher]

I was wondering if anyone knew any tips to get that marilyn monroe look going on?! Im trying to create that affect for halloween. Any help would be great, thanks so much.

Loveher

 

[Flitcraft]

?Marilyn Monroe Look?????

Which MM look?
Fresh-faced Norma Jean?
Or glamorous Hollywood Star?

 

[scotrace]

I think I remember frm Mailer's Book

That she did her own makeup for films, and there were pros who couldn't figure out how she got the look she did. All very mysterious.
Or something.

 

[AllaboutEve]

What a great idea for Halloween. I think that it's fairly hard to get much technical info on exactly how she achieved the look she had, but I may be wrong. I have read that she used very, very pale foundation and powder almost completely white. Have a look at some of the Andre De Diennes (excuse spelling!) photographs most of these were taken when she was pretty young (late teens and early twenties) the good thing about these is that they are very close up and clear. You can definitely get a good look at how she shaped her lipstick from these if you look very closely you will see that she even put a bow in her bottom lip with pencil. For her eyes, these changed towards the end of her life and her liner became a lot heavier the Bert Stern photographs show her in heavy liner. Again the Diennes photographs are good for early eye make up. In her mid twenties she seemed to wear a silvery almost blue shadow at times over the top of the lid with a black eye liner flicked out ontop and a tiny bit of liner flicked out from the outside of the bottom lid too. There are also some amazing photos by Diennes of her with no make up at all. which gives you a good idea of what she was working from......(she looks like an angel) The platinum blonde may be easiest to get with a wig, but I suppose if you are feeling very brave you could try peroxide. It can really damage your hair if overused though (by the time Marilyn made The Misfits she was wearing a wig herself due to the damage she had done to her hair) I am certainly no expert....just a massive fan. Hope some of this helps. Try a google search for Andre de Diennes?

 

[loveher]

Thanks

I have been searching google images and finding ones that are close ups of her, and i have found them very useful! The look i was going for was naturally the glamourous one! I already have blonde hair, i cant go platinum though because i just dont think it would go that well with my complexion ! So far for make-up ive done a lot of shopping on benefitcosmetics.com. I think the hardest part im going to have is the eyes though..definitely the eyes!

 

[jitterbugdoll]

Two things to add--make sure you choose the correct eyebrow and lip shape. Marilyn was known for her slightly pointed, arched brows (and that point is a very 50s trademark in general) as well as a slightly pointed cupid's bow (again, the 1950s overdrawn mouth of choice.)

When I go for the Marilyn look (fresh-faced 50s), I apply foundation (don't go to pale, unless you blend well down the neck and chest), and a soft pink blush on the cheekbones (MAC Dame). For the eyes, I use a soft champagne shade, with a slightly deeper brown in the crease (MAC Brule/Omega). You can use liquid liner, but I actually get good results with a medium brown pencil liner. Start thin at the inner corner of the eye, gradually thickening the line and winging it slightly up and out at the edge. Lightly line underneath the eye, meeting that winged edge. Add a couple of coats of mascara and if you are brave, try out a set of false lashes. For the eyebrow, I use a pencil and with light, short strokes, fill in the brow and enhance the arch.

For the mouth, I line with a deep red lip liner (MAC Brick) and fill with a creamy red lipstick. I also like to use a deep burgundy-red shade of lip lacquer by MAC--Fanplastico. Revlon still makes several of its mid-50s shades--I think Certainly Red would be a good drugstore choice. Don't forget the beauty mark!

I brought this pic into the MAC counter one day last year, and left looking just like Marilyn (they used the colors I mentioned above). The effect was so uncanny that when I walked into a restaurant later on, a number of people came up to me to tell me so!

 

[Flitcraft]

Post some pics when you're done.
Love to see the results.
Don't forget MM's trademark beauty mark!

 

[Jessica]

Marilyn's Look

Shucks!! I wish I could have seen this post earlier. I could've helped you out since I work as a Marilyn Monroe tribute artist. Sorry I'm sooo late.

Kisses!!
Jessica

 

[Audrey Horne]

Here are some fairly close up shots that I found online:

 

[NicolettaRose]

I love her hair in the first one, anyone know how to get her hairstyles?

 

[Ms. McGraw]

It's a really handy book to have anyway, but in "Making Faces" by Kevyn Aucoin there is a "how to" on very Marilyn inspired make-up. It might be of use to you.

 

[Tigerlily]

I once read somewhere that she would put three different shades of red lipstick on. The darkest being on the outside, medium in the middle and the lightest last. Also, she would put this small little line with either brown or black eyeliner underneath the outer corner of her bottom lashes to create kind of a shadow effect and make her lashes look fuller. When I put on my make-up Marilyn style, I also use a light beige eyeshadow to put under my eyebrows to open up my eyes a bit. Hope that helped!
Edit: I forgot that for the eyelashes, if yours aren't long already you can use false ones to create that dreamy eyed look! She sometimes used them, too.

 

[Audrey Horne]

I love her hair in the first one, anyone know how to get her hairstyles?

There's a Marilyn Monroe tag on the livejournal Vintage Hair community:
http://community.livejournal.com/vintagehair/tag/marilyn+monroe

There are some pretty great styles on there.

 

[Sydney Loren]

I read that she used to put gold eyeshadow lightly over her eyeliner because it's supposed to give your eyes a little something special, which I have repeated and found that it works out pretty well.

 

[dhermann1]

Just looking at those images, I notice the very strong almost boomerang eyebrows, and of course the beauty mark on her left cheek.

 

[Audrey Horne]

There' a pretty good step by step description of her makeup here:
http://tinyurl.com/5qsxce

 

[Odalisque]

There' a pretty good step by step description of her makeup here:
http://tinyurl.com/5qsxce

What a great tutorial!
I'm so confused about the red dot thing, though. I have never seen this in an photos of Monroe. I wonder why it's supposed to brighten eyes?

 

[Audrey Horne]

What a great tutorial!
I'm so confused about the red dot thing, though. I have never seen this in an photos of Monroe. I wonder why it's supposed to brighten eyes?

Strange, I totally skipped over that part. It seems counterintuitive. Someone should try it and let us know

 

[jayem]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't her eyes blue? Maybe the red dot made blue eyes pop more since it's kind of the opposite shade. I'll try it and report back.

 

[maggiethespy]

We used to use the red-dot trick in our stage makeup when I was a ballet dancer. It keeps you from looking cross eyed from far away, and I suppose it helps on camera, too, especially the older cameras that don't have auto-correct and red-eye out functions. I'm sure it really helped back before Photoshop. There is probably another reason to do it, but we just didn't want to look cross-eyed from the mezzanine.