Every decade has its own style, and the 80s really had its own. From miniskirts to parachute pants and everything in between, the 80s saw a branching out to make things bigger and brighter. Makeup was no exception.
A Case Study, Cyndi Lauper
The picture to the right of 80s music and fashion queen, Cyndi Lauper, has a lot of great elements to point out, relating to makeup as well as 80s fashion in general. Notice the very heavy use of bright pink blush in combination with the heavy eyeliner and orange eye shadow. On the fashion side, she’s got the top over the shoulder thing going, lots of bangles and even a black lace fingerless glove on her right hand. On the hair side, she has the big, teased and off-to-one-side-do down pat.
The Eyes – A Closer Look
Here’s another totally awesome example of 80s makeup. She has perfect 80s hair, with the heavy eyes and blush that marks the 80s makeup look.
Getting Cheeky in the 80s
After the eyes, it was the liberal use of pink blush that gave us the perfect 80s face. Check out this gorgeous specimen of 80s-ness with her leather jacket, big hair, heavy eye makeup, and very rosy cheeks. You’ll notice in these pictures that the blush was meant to accentuate your cheek bones so it was applied more heavily just in front of the ears. It then ran along and just under the cheekbone to give the face lift and emphasis.
Men in Makeup
Even men (well, some men) got in on the act – Twisted Sister comes to mind. Really, lots of male rock stars got in on the makeup thing; check out Dead or Alive’s “Brand New Lover” video as a great example. Gender boundaries were pushed in the 80s as men wanted in on the makeup fun.
To sum it up, the 80s makeup bag contained a tube of paste-like cover-up, a bottle of heavy foundation, a pressed-powder compact, eye shadow (in a rainbow of luscious colors), a few eyeliner pencils (blue, purple, teal), a couple of blush compacts, an entire mascara collection and a bunch of bright lipsticks in shades of red, pink and orange.
Picture Sources:
Top Left – “The Complete Book of Makeup,” 1985.
Right – Submitted by Mira of Belgium