As some of you probably already know, I love all things vintage, and as someone who makes and writes films, I think I have a tendency towards dressing up and the dramatic. I’ve always loved the 20’s look, but being someone with curves, I find that the era is not so friendly to my body shape, as far as the gorgeous dresses go. But the hats, gloves and make up, I can certainly channel.

In this post, I wanted to borrow the look, rather than create the whole outfit, but the make up look is 20’s all the way. There’s nothing subtle about this era, so it’s one for the days you’re feeling bold and playful. Eyes are dark, wide and smokey, and lips are deep red and pouty.

To create this look, I used what you see here. Diorskin Forever in 020, for flawless skin. I recommend a primer underneath foundation (or Le Blanc De Chanel, which I always use). For lips you want a really dark red with a little berry too it. A blackcurrant or wine red shade is great. This one is Loreal Infallible Matte in 407 Smoke Me Up. For eyes, I used Borjois Smoky Stories Quad Eyeshadow Palette in 09 Grey-zy In Love, though as you can see below, I didn’t use any of the gold shade at all. (Pictured here is my Egyptian goddess Bast cat statue from The British Museum, and these earrings from Zaful.com. They were crazy cheap!)

Here you can see how it turned out in colour.

My eye shadow didn’t turn out as perfectly as I planned, but I liked it. The 20’s shape uses a dark shade, dark grey or black over the entire lid, and then a lighter but still dark shade up to the brow. The artistry is all in creating a dark, intense eye but with a rounded, open shape (no feline shapes here!). Mascara is a must with this look. It really helps. The tutorial that I used and found the most helpful was this one by Zabrena on YouTube HERE. She’s all about the historical accuracy.

For the lips, I took a red lip liner (mine is by Rimmel, not pictured) and lined my lips, following the bow shape at the top but lining inside my lip line by a margin on the outside corners at top and bottom to create the pouty 20’s shape. I then filled it in with the berry lipstick shade from Loreal pictured above with a lip brush. In person, my lips looked huge, pouty and dramatic, but in the pictures they look a bit more, well, reasonable.

So there you go, a fun vintage look that you can try out if you like. For a different kind of look, you might like THIS post, about styling a top different ways, with a great discount code for 15% off at one of my favourite online bargain stores.