The 1960’s gave the world some of the most fun and glamorous beauty looks; from kohl-lined doe eyes, to voluminous back combs, this decade was a brilliant time for beauty and is a fabulous era to turn to when considering your own wedding day beauty look.
The Mod fashion
The 60’s saw the rise of a vibrant, lively youth culture; TV, film and fashion all began turning their attention towards the young people of the day, and this was reflected in the fashions and beauty styles of the time.
Young women had disposable income to spend on fashion and makeup; bold makeup looks were popular, with colourful pastel shades lining the shelves – pale blues and greens were very popular shades for eyeshadows and lipsticks tended to be light baby pink or a natural maeve. Black and white was also a common beauty pairing, taking notes from the hues of some of the most popular fashion looks of the time; young women lined their eyes with dark kohl liner and layered their lids with stark white shadow; a beauty look made popular by the high-fashion model Twiggy.
Skin was made up, but still retained a fresh look, with a natural dewy finish and blushed cheeks. The 60’s makeup style mainly focused attention on bold eyes, with attention-grabbing eyeshadow and fluttering false lashes, as such the rest of the face was underplayed, with a focus on natural looking face makeup.
Full lips were also popular at the time; a look that can be easily replicated with the help of some highlighter dusted on your cupids bow (the arch of the top lip) and slightly overlining your lips with a natural shade of lipliner (make sure to fill in the rest of your lip colour, so that your overlined lips give the illusion of being completely natural).
Hair was backcombed into a voluminous beehive style; often worn down in waves, combed on top, with a side-swept fringe. Other women wore their hair backcombed into a disheveled up-do, take the glamorous hairstyle of Brigitte Bardot as an example.
Hippy style
While the 60’s were all about the glamour and style of mod fashion, this era also embraced a low key beauty and style look, thanks to the rise of the hippy movement. Hippy women and teeangers styled themselves in loose-fitting, flowing bohemian dresses for both style and freedom of movement, moving away from the structured, form-hugging looks that were also popular at the time.
For beauty, hippy women tended to go for the natural look; wearing their hair in it’s natural style, with minimal styling. For makeup, most women within this subculture chose not to wear any makeup at all. Hippy women were often seen with flowers in their hair; a bridal beauty look that is right on trend today.
Replicate this look
Glamour Daze sums up the glamorous 60’s beauty look as follows:
“The cat eye look for eyes of the 1950s disappeared and emphasis went back to lashes. Now with false eyelashes taking on a whole new popularity. The 1960s was the first ‘retro’ decade with styles in both clothes and makeup harkening back to the 1920s, however with a more waif like appearance. Lips were pale to help emphasize eyes.”
If you’re looking to replicate this gorgeous look in your own wedding makeup, you can’t go wrong with fluttering lashes, bold eye makeup and a nude lip.