High Definition: Beach Bombshell

ColumnWant to have an iconic summer look beachside? Follow these tips.

Sun-bleached blondes with beach tousled hair, smoldering black eyes and pouty nude lips captured a time in the ’60s when curvy women in bikinis lit up movie screens. Over the decades, Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Schiffer have been inspirational icons for this playfully seductive summer look – one that will never go out of style.
GUESS’s Spring 2011 campaign reignited the part of me that would love to go wild with a box of peroxide, a teasing comb and a kohl pencil. Like most things that inspire me, this is a pretty unrealistic look for anyone who wants to do more than sing songs with choreographed dance moves on the beach. The reality is that much black eyeliner would protect from sun glare, but would be a nightmare as soon as one drop of salty water hit.  If you plan to stay dry and want to have some fun with your makeup recreating yourself as a ’60s beach bombshell, here’s the how-to.

Black out

To start you’ll need a black eye pencil, black liquid eyeliner, black eyeshadow, a tube of black mascara, and an eye contour brush.

Green product suggestions:

Living Nature Eye Pencil in Midnight

Lavera Liquid Eyeliner (vegan)

Alima Pure Satin Matte Eyeliner (to be used as eyeshadow) in Black (vegan)

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Brush #004 (vegan)

Pro tip: Put foundation on after eyeshadow so you can easily clean off any powder that may have dropped onto your face.

1. Line the upper and lower lashes of your eye with the black eye pencil. This doesn’t need to be precise but it does need to be thick and dense.  You may have to go over it a couple of times to get the right intensity.

2. Take your eye contour brush and begin buffing the edges of the lines to diffuse them up into the crease for the upper lid.  For the lower lid, pull the liner with the brush down to about the place where the ends of your lower lashes touch. On most people that’s about ¼ of an inch.

Pro tip: Do not connect the inner corners of the eyes with black and leave the water line free of liner to give a more wide-eyed effect.

3. Use the brush and go more heavily into the crease of the upper lid with black eyeshadow using a windshield wiper motion using very rounded strokes. Leave a fair amount of space between the shadow and the brow bone. Everyone’s eyes are different, so for some it maybe 1/8 of an inch and for others almost 1/2. Concentrate the color on the outer edges of the eyes. Make sure that the edges aren’t pointy, rather soft and arching. Follow with just a touch of shadow underneath the eye following the rounded curve. Keep the application a bit lighter here.

4. Curl your lashes.  A lot.

5. Whip out that black liquid liner and make a thick line across the top lashes. Then paint on a thick, but slightly thinner line underneath.  If you are feeling very deft, make the lines a little bit thicker towards the outer corners of the eye as you go.  Remember not to connect the inner corners with liner because it will shut down the eye and make it look more punk rather than 60’s.

Pro tip: If you mess up your liner use a pointy cotton squab dampened with a touch of water to quickly “erase” your mistake.

6. Layer on the mascara. This look has nothing to do with restraint. If you need to use half a tube on both upper and lower lashes then do it! Clumpy and pointy work here.

A bold brow

Is anyone getting tired of hearing me say that bold brows are the way to go for pretty much every look? This look really needs it and it’s what is most modern. Naturally groomed and less manicured brows add a great frame to the eye and structure to the face. Need a quick tutorial on that, check out this video.

Don’t touch those freckles!

If you are blessed to have a freckly face or even a freckle-less face, don’t cover it with a pile of foundation.  Let your skin show through and only conceal the tiniest bits where necessary.  The key to this look is really keeping things raw, rough and textured.  Use a tinted moisturizer with SPF to help even skin tone, protect and allow the skin texture to still be seen.  Try Josie Maran Tinted Moisturizer SPF 30.

Light lips

To balance such a heavy eye, a very nude lip is the way to go.  There’s nothing overly skilled about this part.  Just slap on some lip color and you are set! Ecco Bella makes a great natural, vegan lip color called Almond that should do the trick.

Alright beach babes, get out their and show ‘em how glamorous your summer style can be!

Editor’s note: Got a celebrity look you’d like to copy or a trend you’d like to see incorporating healthy, non-toxic makeup? Send your questions to High Definition columnist Kristen Arnett at beauty@ecosalon.com

New York City based Kristen Arnett is an internationally renowned makeup artist and founder of the Green Beauty Team, styling high profile celebrities and runway models as well as a sought after beauty expert, educator and teacher for other makeup artists.

Image: Ellen Von Unwerth for GUESS Inc.