Alice McCall channels ‘60s beauty icons with layers of lashes
Twiggy, eat your heart out
People seem to be obsessed with reviving retro beauty trends at the moment: the ‘70s shag haircut; a brown lip à la the ‘90s; and bright, bold hair accessories that transport us straight back to the early noughties.
It’s no surprise then, that this trend of celebrating iconic beauty moments of the past has cropped up at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia. Specifically, on the runway at Alice McCall, with a striking beauty look created by Senior MAC Makeup Artist Nicole Thompson that harks back to the Teddy Girls of the swinging ‘60s.
Teetering between the wide-eyed mod-style of Twiggy and the laissez-faire attitude of Jane Birkin, the look combines layers of lashes and smoky eyeliner for a modern, softer twist on the iconic ‘60s style. Thompson explained the specificity of the look, saying they were going for “Teddy Girl – not ‘60s dolly… a bit more like ‘60s with a rock and roll twist – [as if] they’d seen a couple of hours wear.” As for the application, she explained: “the strokes of the makeup become different, it’s not as forced, the line is not as hard”.
In order to create the eye look, Thompson layered the wispy MAC 35 Lashes in black and brown to flatter each of the models’ individual features. “There’s a top lash, a bottom lash and individuals, if they need it. We adjusted it to each girl because not every girl will look good in that.” The layered effect creates a soft, round shape to the eyes; “what you get is a much softer look – it looks so much more natural – it just happens to look like she has the biggest lashes in the world. We didn’t want it to look too Twiggy and too spikey,” explained Thompson.
The eye look was polished off with the addition of MAC’s Eye Pencil in Coffee along the waterline. “If we went too dark or too black, it would become really costumey; we wanted to keep it a little lighter and a little bit more natural so we chose chocolate brown around the eyes.” This was then smoked out for a smudgy rock ’n’ roll vibe that reiterates the idea of rebelling against perfection. “Hard edges become really manicured and forced and it looks like you spent three hours doing the makeup; we wanted this to look way cooler than that – she doesn’t have time for perfection.”
Thompson explained that the choice to opt for a barely-there complexion was to ensure the focus remained on the eyes: “on the cheeks and face we’ve used [MAC] Face and Body Foundation, which is beautiful and sheer, and then we’ve just pressed in more coverage, only if they need it. We don’t want to ruin the skin with too much foundation because we’d just take away from the eye makeup, so we’ve done Face and Body, and a little bit of [MAC] Studio Finish Concealer.”
As for the lips, Thompson said, “we’ve nuded down the lip with a colour called Act Natural, which is a beautiful kind of dirty nude”. A brushed-up brow completed the look, reaffirming the undone intention of the eye makeup. “We wanted to have a bit of a wild brow, nothing too perfect with this – I think this makeup has had a good time – you know what I mean?”
Want to try this false lash look for yourself? Read up on our tips for applying false eyelashes like a pro.
What’s your favourite revived retro beauty trend? Let us know in the comments below.
Main Image Credit: Getty
Briar Clark got her start in the media industry in 2017, as an intern for Marie Claire and InStyle. Since then, her keen interest in fashion and beauty has landed her gigs as a Digital Content Producer and Beauty Editor with titles like Girlfriend, Refinery29, BEAUTYcrew and beautyheaven. She loves the way seemingly innocuous topics like skin care and style have the ability to put a smile on people’s faces or make them think about themselves a little differently. A big believer in self love and experimentation, Briar has made a point of becoming the Australian beauty industry’s unofficial guinea pig for unusual treatments and daring hair trends. When she’s not testing out the latest beauty launches, Briar is big on broadening her horizons, mostly in the form of food but she’s also partial to travelling to new destinations both near and far (and of course, allocating an extra bag to bring their best beauty offerings home with her).
