70s makeup: Style and characteristics

In the wonderful 70's, the social revolution that had started in the 60's continued and gave rise, to not only one, but to several top trends both in fashion and makeup. These trends continue to influence us today, so if you want to soak up the 70s makeup look, don't miss out on today's article!

HISTORY OF MAKEUP FROM THE 70S

Women's freedom and the feminist movement were growing stronger and stronger, changing and influencing many aspects of life including, of course, the new makeup fashion. Natural, but feminine looks were the new fashion in beauty, as well as many other new trends.

The 70s was not characterised by a single trend, but rather by several that came together , creating a new style in fashion.

The hippie style of the 60s continued in this decade, with very natural looks in beauty, as well as funky, punk or glam rock. This time was characterised by colour, excess and shine.

Farrah Fawcett became a beauty icon for millions of women, (and men), around the world. Her fresh, relaxed and casual style, which was very natural, set a trend for women and thousands of young people, who imitated her vintage looks on a daily basis.

If there was a makeup trend that stood out above the others, undoubtedly, it is the disco style. Influenced by films such as “Saturday Night Fever”, 70s glam and disco makeup was characterised by being much more striking, with the use of bright colours and silver or gold tones; accentuated lips and very shiny skin. One of the greatest stars was the singer, Donna Summer.

CHARACTERISTICS OF 70s MAKEUP

As you can see, with the confluence of many trends, it's difficult to define a single style of makeup as a reference to this time, so we are going to highlight a few of the top styles and looks and guidelines to follow to recreate a natural makeup style or a more glam 70s disco style to use at night.

FACE

The most popular beauty trend was to show off tanned skin. The use of self-tanners spread like wildfire and these makeup products were used both day and night.

CHEEKS

Just enough blush was applied creating a natural look, pink and nude tones were top of the list of blushes that were 'in'. for an evening look makeup was much more pronounced using more product and products of a less natural style. Blush was then applied in a well-defined thick line that went from the cheeks right up to the temples. Earthy or pinky tones were the best to highlight the cheekbones for this 70s glam makeup

EYES

As the punk trend resurfaced, smokey eyeshadow came back in, giving a defined makeup look, lengthening and enhancing the eye area. This consisted of dark eyeshadow on the upper eyelid and blending the eyeshadow outwards, following the line from the eye lashes to the outer edge of the eye brow.

If you don't like dark eyeshadow tones because they narrow your eyes, apply light makeup shades in pink and finish with a touch of shine with silver or gold. The ideal look to be the centre of attention at any party!

If you don't have so much time for to do your makeup we suggest you try another 70s makeup style: apply a black eyeliner product on the upper eyelid along the eye lash line making it quite thick.

Whichever eye makeup you choose, there is one product you can't ignore if you want a seventies look: well defined lashes. mascara should be used, a lot of mascara! or opt to use the famous false lashes that became popular in 70s makeup.

EYEBROWS

As for the eyebrows, the finer the better. They were often super defined, curved and slightly raised. As it is a very characteristic shape and can be recreated with an eyebrow pencil; If your brows are quite thick and you don't want to loose them, try to comb them into shape and apply a wax type beauty product to fix the hair in place.

LIPS

For 70s disco style makeup striking and darker tones such as red were most frequently used though on a daily basis women generally applied lipstick in lighter and more neutral nude tones.

The key to achieving 70s lips however, is to outline them with a much darker tone than lipstick.

We hope that these tricks will encourage you to recreate a smoking 70s makeup style. As you can see, many of these techniques are still used today, so it shouldn't be too difficult!