3 Retro Beauty How-Tos Inspired by Mad Men
It’s that time agin! Our Mad Men love affair is about to start all over again with Sunday’s Season 7 Premiere! One of the most talked about and sought after things on the show (besides Jon Hamm) is our favorite leading ladies’ amazing hair and makeup. EVERY ep, their hair-to-toe style takes you back to the ’60s and gives you inspo for 2014. We hear ya and in honor of the beginning of the final season, we decided to make our mark in the ever-trending world of Mad Men beauty. Here are three looks inspired by three of the main gals: Peggy, Megan and Betty (yes, our resident redhead Cecelia wasn’t around this week to lend her locks for Joan — finale time, girl ;). We modernized the Mad Women’s hairstyles and played up their truly timeless makeup for you to get the look at-home. Cue the theme music — mad men are going to be falling in your path.
Peggy’s 9 to 5 (+ Beyond!) All-Natural Look
First up, our very own Roxy is channeling her inner Peggy Olson with a natural face, dramatic brows and a nude lip that screams spunk and determination. Just like our gal Peg!
1. Apply an exact match of foundation to start off with that fresh base. Laura Mercier Illuminating Tinted Moisturizer is a fave around here.
2. Apply a light brightening concealer — Maybelline Cover Stick is what we went with.
3. Bronzer is a must, but be sure to do this subtly. We want to accentuate the natural depth and contouring that you would have — but no Kim K drama is necessary. (We used Physicians Formula Bronzer!)
4. For blush, just go with whatever is natural. You can test this by pinching your wrist. Whatever shade of pink, peachy etc shows up, that is what you should use. Apply very lightly (we went with NARS Orgasm!) and blend, blend, blend.
5. Cover your entire lid, brow bone, and inner corner of your eyes with a slightly shimmery highlight color like MAC Nylon Shadow.
6. Really spend some time defining your brows with a brow brush and powder that is slightly darker than your actual hair color. Benefit Brows A Go Go is our go-to palette for brows.
7. Put on your favorite mauve-nude lipstick like MAC Mauve it Over.
8. Curl your lashes and apply a coat of your favorite mascara (we used Maybelline Colossal Volume Mascara on Roxy) to seal the deal.
Yup, long-haired ladies, you can fake a bob, which is exactly what we did for Miss Roxy’s hair. Inspired by Peggy’s side swept pomp bob, here are the steps to a favorite hair hack of ours:
1. Using a curling iron with a larger size barrel (think 1 1/2″+), place loose curls all throughout your hair.
2. Back comb the entire crown of your hair.
3. Flip your hair over in a dramatic side part, smoothing it gently so you do not lose that precious volume.
4. Pull your hair into a low pony and twist it so that you can pin it under to recreate the faux bob. So cool!
5. Bobby pins are a girl’s best friend then and now — secure your ‘do with some to keep locks in place.
Now you’re ready for that meeting. Go toe-to-toe with the Don or the Pete in your life. You’re the rockstar around here and we all know it.
Next, we have Kate aka the perfect gal at Brit HQ to be our real life brunette bombshell Megan with smoldering smokey eyes, heavy contouring and just-bitten, berry-stained lips.
Megan’s Hot Mod, Ponied-Up Perfection
1. Apply foundation for a more full coverage — we love Maybelline BB Cream.
2. Apply concealer like YSL Concealer underneath your eyes.
3. Bronze up with a slightly shimmery golden powder that brings a little drama. Maybelline Bronzer helped us nail Megan’s pronounced cheekbones.
4. Use a more orange-based blush on the apples of your cheeks, blending back into your hair line just above your contouring zone. Our girl Megan is not afraid of some color so we used NARS Taj Mahal.
5. Start off the smokey eyes by sweeping a shimmery, lighter color onto your brow bone, inner corner and center of your lid to highlight. We used MAC Vanilla.
6. Start to build that depth by adding a medium brown like MAC Wedge to the crease and outer corner of your eyes.
7. Finally, add a super dark black like MAC Velvet Black to the outer corners of your eyes and right below the lash line.
8. A dark eyeliner is a must. Apply to the outer corners of your lash line both on top and below — we went with Palladio Black Liner.
9. Mascara up!
10. Apply a berry lipstick like NARS Lipstick in Damage and blend with your finger to get that bitten, stained look.
11. Last, fill in your brows with a matching shadow and brow brush, like we did with our Benefit Smokin’ Eyes Palette.
Megan rocks a mod half-pony that is gorgeous, but maybe a little tough to do every day. We made a few adjustments to make it more ready to wear.
1. Curl 2″ sections of your hair and securing each with duck bill clips — the perfect base for any updo.
2. Pull out pins.
3. Back comb the bang section for the pomp volume.
4. Smooth back the hair.
5. Pin with bobby pins.
7. Pull up half of your hair into a pony and secure with an elastic.
8. Wrap a piece of hair around the elastic and secure with a bobby pin to hide the hair tie.
9. Separate the pony for height.
10. Spray the crap out of you hair with a strong hold hairspray. Hey, it was the late ’60s ;)
Babe alert! She had everyone in the office singin’ “Zou Bisou Bisou.”
Finally, we have our lovely Lisa warming up Betty’s icy, but babe-alicious look with porcelain skin, pink lips and her trademark cat eye.
Betty’s Banded Bouffant Meets Beach Waves
1. Apply a generous amount of foundation to get Betty’s perfectly even skin tone — we used Chanel Fluide.
2. We used CoverGirl Creame Concealer a shade lighter than normal for a brighter finish.
3. Set entire face with a translucent powder like our go-to from Laura Mercier.
4. Apply a peachy blush to the apple of your cheeks like beauty editor-approved NARS Orgasm.
5. Brush and define your brows with an eyebrow brush and a slightly darker powder than you would ordinarily use. We busted out Benefit Brows a Go Go for this and the next step.
6. Sweep a natural-hued creamy highlight shadow across your entire lid, brow bone and inner corner of your eyes.
7. Apply a medium brown shadow like MAC Wedge into the crease of your eyes smudging into the outer corners.
8. Draw on a dramatic cat eye using a liquid liner like Wet n Wild.
9. Line the waterline on your lower lash line with a cream liner to open your eyes that much more. We went with NYX Slim.
10. Apply a pink lipstick like MAC Snob. Use a lip brush for a more blended finish.
11. For this look, go big with lashes. Curl and coat with two layers of mascara making sure to get every last lash, root to tip.
12. Highlight your cheekbones for the luminous Betty-like finish. Benefit’s High Beam is a favorite in our makeup bags.
For this Valley of the Dolls-ed up, headband-ed ‘do, we took Betty’s look and made it a little more relaxed. Like Betty meets beach!
1. Slip a headband on, pulling all of your hair off of your face.
2. Curl large sections of hair away from your face. These aren’t perfect ringlets, they’re meant to fall into thicker curls and waves.
3. Back comb the hair that is behind the headband.
4. Smooth down the hair you back combed for the perfect bouffant.
Forget Betty’s pout and finish off the look with a smile!
Are you tuning in to the Season 7 premiere on Sunday? Which Mad Men Woman has your fave style?
