1920s

The 20s research

Before the 1920’s “nice girls” did not wear makeup, it was known as “paint”. This was different from
face creams as these products were intended to improve the skin, not mask it the way “paint” did.

At first beauty products were not about changing looks but about enhancing natural beauty
(Evolution of makeup). In the 20s beauty and cosmetic lines became big business. Helen Rubinstein
and Elizabeth Arden worked alongside chemists to make some of the first sunblocks. Elizabeth Arden
started to create powders that were tinted to give a sun-kissed glow,  she made liquid rouge, eyeshadow
andlipsticks, choice of makeup in the 20s was limited and never matched natural skin tones. Women had
never been taught to apply makeup so the effect was often ghastly. Makeup improved and progressed
during this decade and it became a 52 million dollar industry. (vintage Dancer)

Popular lipsticks for the decade were Raspberry-red for most of the 20s and rose-red by the late 20s,
these also became available in a compact due to their popularity. Lipstick had been around in metal
tubes since 1915, ladies enjoyed being able to carry their lipstick with them and touch up when needed.
Ladies in the 20s used a matte red for their lips, eyes smudged kohl rims. Kohl was used as eye shadow
cream which became more available later in the decade. Dark grays were favorite but woman chose
shades that matched the eye colour. Eyebrows were shaped thin and curved with a slight downwards p
oint at the inner eye, only brown or black pencil for the eye was available until later in the decade.
(vintage beauty parlour).

As Max factor quotes “You are not born glamorous, glamor is created”. Coco Chanel popularized a now
classic look in the 20s; dark eyes, red lipstick and suntan. The silver screen played a great part in the
1920s and magazines like photography discussed the virtues of beauty and what was acceptable or
not in the world of cosmetics. Women wanted to look like the film stars of the day from hair to make up.
Stars like Clara Bow and Josephine Baker made the “flapper” look very popular (The story of makeup)
cupid's-bow lips were a popular look for “flapper” girls in the 1920s (Period makeup) and strong dark
eyes.

A Lot of the big makeup brands are still around from the this decade and still known designer names ie; Coco Chanel and Elizabeth Arden are still worldwide leaders in the cosmetic industry. Beautiful packaging that started in the 20s is still around today. Ladies like to be able to carry lipsticks around in their handbags and still like to copy new techniques to apply makeup or still copy the stars of today. Also magazines play a major part in advertising and images to sell makeup products.

Bugsy Malone film.
Set in the 1920s just before the wall street crash when there was a rich, thriving economy where flappers and dancing played a big part in society is a gangster comedy musical was created in 1976. tallulah portrays a strong feminine identity. She is seductive and she is a well-lusted character. Tallulah is very confident and reflects the way woman were viewed by the gangsters in the 1920s.

The film is set in New York City and is based on events from the prohibition era in NYC and Chicago. As the film is a comedy. However, machine guns are substituted with 'splurge' guns in order to meet the comedy element of the musical. The film set is mainly orientated around a speakeasy belonging to 'Fat Sam'. Tallulah is Fat Sams girlfriend and the singer who performers at the speakeasy. despite this, she is flirty with Bugsy Malone and attempts to kiss him. this reflects the mischievous side to her nature.

Moodboard 

Character profile 

THE BASICS

Name   Tallulah (Second name unknown)
Age      (unknown)
Place of birth    New york city
Current location   New york city
Occupation     Speakeasy star - Singer/Dancer
Class     Wealthy

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

• Eye color  Blue
• Hair style  Short typical, 20s style
• Build     Childs body, small and slim

What's their preferred outfit?   Very dressy, classy and sparkily 

What accessories are ALWAYS associated with them?  Her red lipstcik

Do they have any distinguishing “tics” and mannerisms?  Flirtatious 

How do they walk?  Confident, powerful and very flirtatious.

SPEECH AND COMMUNICATION

How do they talk?  Slow and sexy. Very directed to catch peoples attention.

What's the style of their speech? Quite informal using words like "comin" instead of coming. 

Posture: Casual as she dances and walks arund while singing. she leans on the walls and on the piano while talking to people.

How much eye contact that they like to make? She is very direct with eye contact looking straight into inderviduyals eyes while singing to them. 

What's their catchphrase?  "I dont say where im going, or where im comin from"

Describe their smile?   Very flirty and cute 

Makeup plan

1. First of all, I will start by cleaning the face to make sure we have a clean base to start.
2. I will then block out the eyebrows using Ben Nye scar wax and a spatula making sure to cover all the eyebrows by smoothing the wax along the eyebrow in the same direction. A technique that may help me may be to use vaseline on my finger to help smooth the wrinkles out making sure to only use a small about as a large amount may lift the product.
3. I will then apply foundation all over the face using a sponge to get a flawless finish. Then use some lighter concealer under the eyes and on any imperfections on the face and blend them in with a clean new sponge. 
4. Then, I will draw natural curve eyebrow shape on the face just above the blocked out eyebrows. Making to sure to use the original 1920s images as a reference in order to make them as accurate as possible. 
5. Next, I will apply the eye shadow applying the brown base and blending it close to the nose like the 20s trends also did. Then apply some darker brown eyeshadow to the center of the eyelid. Make sure to blend the brown eyeshadow under the eyes. Then I will add mascara.
6. I will then apply some contour to the cheeks and forehead to make the face look smaller and more childlike as the film has child actors. 
7. Add red lip liner and red lipstick to the inner bit of the lips to make them look smaller. 
8. Lastly, do the hair by slicking it all back and creating a low bun. Then use small pieces of hair from around the face and barrel curl them with my fingers and apply them with pros-aid.

Review

I fell as this is experimentation work it went very well however if I did this makeup again there would be some things I would modify. For example for the hair, I used pros-aide to glue the hair curls to the face. This made it stick well. However, the model struggled to get them off and it hurt her head when ripping it off. Therefore next time I would change the pros-aid to vaseline. This way the hair will stick to the face without leaving the model in pain. Another thing I would change would be the eyes. Doing more research into the 1920s makeup I discovered that Brown was quite a popular shade. Therefore, next time I would use brown eyeshadows to create this look with just a pop of blue to make the eyes stand out. On this piece, I think the shape and positioning of the eyes went very well and I will use this technique again. 

Another thing that went very well as the eyebrows. I used Syn wax and powder to cover the brows and uses Dip brow to draw them on again. This product worked very well and is a similar consistency to what they would have had in the 1920s so I will be using this again.

The last thing I would change about this makeup is the lips and I feel they don't show the era very well as this was not an as popular trend as others. I would also apply a gloss to the lips to make them stand out and look more prominent.