Kevyn Aucoin (1962 - 2002) was a well-loved celebrity makeup artist. During the 1980s and 1990s, he worked with many of the most talented photographers, the best publications and brands and with some of the biggest names in the industry. At a time when makeup artists stayed mostly behind-the-scenes, Kevyn put a spotlight on himself, and in extension, all make-up artists.
Kevyn's three makeup books became New York Times bestsellers: The Art of Makeup (1996), Making Faces (1999) and Face Forward (2001). He worked with celebrities Gwyneth Paltrow, Janet Jackson, Cher, Tori Amos, Cindy Crawford, Winona Ryder, Drew Barrymore, Sophia Loren, Isabella Rossellini, Liza Minelli, Madonna, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez and Barbara Streisand, among others.
His techniques and his passion for enhancing the beauty in every face were inspiring, and his books stand as both classics and a snapshot of the late 90s/early 00s. He and his books inspired me to wear makeup and to do makeup.
Here are some photos from photo shoots my mom and friends and I did back in the mid-90s featuring Kevyn-inspired makeup and characters.
It's been a long time since I recreated any of the looks in Kevyn's books, I thought it might be an interesting project for Beauty Squared. This is my first attempt at doing one of Kevyn's looks - from Making Faces.
I have one bone of contention about Kevyn's books. Often the instructions do not completely match the photographs. Steps that are on the face in the photo are missing from the accompanying instructions. Shade descriptions in the instructions don't always match what can be seen in the photo. The photoshopping that's been done to the photos can be misleading as well. For instance, Kevyn often writes "Use light concealer only where needed." It could be that this is exactly what he did for the look, but in the photos, the skin has that photoshopped perfection. In order to successfully recreate the look, you need to use foundation for some of these looks or have access to Photoshop.
The look featured in this post is Lisa Marie Presley as "The Swinger":
With her carefully applied eyeliner, precise eyebrows, and light, glossy lips, this Sixties "cool cat" could be seen dancing the Frug or the Pony at the "grooviest" club in town, at a backyard barbecue or serving fondue for a ranch-style house full of guests. Very Mary Tyler Moore à la Laura Petrie. Showing amazing versatility, Lisa Marie Presley made an easy transition from her earlier incarnation as The Bombshell, to this crowd-pleasing party girl. With her hair pulled back in a tight, springy ponytail and wearing a flirtatious smile, her congenial gaze seems to say "Twister, anyone?".
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| Lisa Marie Presley as The Swinger in Making Faces. |
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| The Swinger step-by-step instructions |
To achieve this look, I followed the instructions as exactly as I could, looking to the photo only for eyeshadow and eyebrow placement/shape, and for hair inspiration.
Steps where what I did varied from Kevyn's instructions:
Instead of light concealer where needed as Kevyn suggests, I applied MAC's Select Cover-Up (NW20) as a foundation, over most of my face. I used MAC Pro Longwear Concealer (NW20) under my eyes.
Instead of using an eyebrow pencil, I used two eyeshadows (MAC Wedge and MAC Embark) and an angle brush to fill in and thicken my brows.
Kevyn says to use a "light, neutral brown cream eyeshadow" all over the lid. I do not own a light, neutral brown cream eyeshadow, so I used MAC Satin Taupe, which is a shimmery brown-taupe powder eyeshadow. In the photo of Lisa Marie, there's clearly a dark brown shade used to accentuate her crease, and because that was typical in the 1960s, I used a dark brown eyeshadow (Sleek's Bark from the I-Divine Au Natural palette) on my crease.
It also appears that Kevyn applied the eyeshadow quite high on Lisa Marie's eyes, much higher than I did. There's no mention in the instructions about a highlighting shade on the eyes, though the photo appears to show one. I opted to use one (MAC Shroom eyeshadow) very lightly on my browbone.
The instructions say to use a pale pink powder blush and for the lips: a light flesh-toned lip pencil to define and fill-in the lip area before applying a pale, cool-toned pink lipgloss. In the photo, Lisa Marie is clearly not wearing a pale pink blush and pale, cool-toned pink lipgloss. Her lips appear monochromatic with her eyes, brows, cheeks and hair. She looks great, but it's misleading for the instructions to not match the photo. On me, I used a pale pink blussh (Marc Jacobs Beauty Blush in Obsessed) and a nude peach-toned lip pencil (Smashbox's Smashing Muse) with a cool pink lipgloss (MAC Cremesheen Glass in Partial to Pink) on top.
Lisa Marie appears to be wearing false lashes on her top lashes (possibly on the bottom as well) in the photo, but Kevyn's instructions do not mention them. He says to apply a thick coat of black mascara to the top and bottom lashes, and that's it. That is what I did.
Photos!
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| Wow my eyebrows look uneven! I must have had one eyebrow arched for all these photos. |
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| I don't own a turtleneck, so I opted to wear a chevron-print sweater with a high neck for this look. |
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| Posing with booze - how classy! |
What I achieved isn't quite as dramatic as Lisa Marie's look, but it's a flattering, not-overly dramatic look that doesn't scream 1960s, but teases at it. I'd definitely wear this look again.
List of the products I used:
MAC Select Cover-Up (NW20) - as foundation.
MAC Pro Longwear Concealer (NW20) - as concealer.
Pari Mineral Glow loose powder - for setting.
MAC Wedge and Embark eyeshadows - for the brows (filling in and thickening).
MAC Blacktrack Fluidline gel eyeliner - for eyeliner (definition and drama).
Sleek I-Divine Au Natural eyeshadow in Bark - for the crease colour (definition).
MAC Satin Taupe eyeshadow - for the lid colour (colour and sheen).
MAC Shroom eyeshadow - for add a highlight to the browbone.
Shu Uemura eyelash curler - for curling the lashes.
L'Oreal Paris Voluminous Mascara in Black - to thicken, lengthen and enhance the lashes.
Marc Jacobs Beauty Shameless Bold Blush in Obsessed - to add a touch of colour to the cheeks.
Smashbox Sheer Lipliner in Smashing Muse - to define and fill in the lip.
MAC Cremesheen Gloss in Partial to Pink - for colour, sheen and gloss on the lips.
C.
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