I can’t recall the last time I was inspired by a show/movie for makeup! I don’t watch too many of either, though, so that’s probably why!
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All the time! I love seeing old movies in the theatres (Cinema Studies major here!) and always like to try to do my makeup like the leading lady just for some fun inspiration. Recently I did Donna Reed inspired makeup for It’s A Wonderful Life, Shelley Duvall inspired makeup for The Shining, Grace Kelly inspired makeup for Rear Window…. etc. It’s often pretty natural, since women in movies are rarely full-on glam, but I still have fun with it. 🙂
Timely question – just the other night I made a few comments about a few actresses’ makeup that I saw on TV. I can’t recall any one show in particular, but I have been noticing actresses’ makeup (or seemingly lack thereof), lately. The better I am getting with my own techniques and the little that Iknow about ‘behind the scenes’ makeup tricks, the more I find myself looking out for and analyzing makeup on the big screen.
Other than some really cool MTV videos from the 80’s, no, not really. Got lots of inspiration from those back in the day, though. Ahhh, the 80’s, when one could learn some wild makeup skills while watching Boy George, Grace Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Sioxie Sioux, Joan Jett, etc.! And they *actually* had MUSIC back then.
Yes, the 80’s, my generation where Madonna inspired my makeup look to Duran Duran haircuts. Oh, and the TV show Dallas had me rocking lot of eye makeup during my teen years
Nancy, we must be close in age. I immediately thought of Genie Francis as Laura on General Hospital. Back in the 80s we were glued to the screen. Now I work, lol.
I can’t say that I’ve been inspired by the complete look but I love Audrey Hepburn’s lipstick color in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Her entire look through the movie was a natural (with fake lashes!) look with focus on the eyes and I love it.
I remember that I first started to use red and reddish browns in my crease and for blending when I saw it on Nicole Scherzinger on X-Factor pretty much every show and loved it so much!
Hmm, I can’t think of any either! I love period films but replicating those looks in real life would be odd. I have to say that Adrian Lyne’s remake of Lolita is visually stunning and the makeup and hair is just spot on – exactly what I imagined reading the book. The slightly smudged red lipstick that Lolita wears, in the way young girls often do to look a little more grown up, juxtaposed with her hair in pigtails or braided around her head is incredibly striking. The way the film is shot is just so beautiful in general, as is Nabokov’s writing. There’s a tension between that and the subject matter, which is dark and at times uncomfortable to witness. The Kubrick version of Lolita is actually terrible, imo. The 1997 version isn’t well known unfortunately but I highly recommend getting hold of it! Often I find the atmosphere of the film more inspiring than the costumes and makeup. I think Vertigo is a fascinating film in the context of beauty as well – many of Hitchcock’s films are but Vertigo especially. At the risk of over simplifying it, it’s a film about a man’s obsession with recreating a woman he barely knew but became fascinated by. Every detail – the exact shade of platinum blonde, the makeup and nail polish, and so on – is scrutinised obsessively over by the James Stewart characte. Kim Novak is breathtakingly beautiful of course.
Actually I do think that the makeup in some of Hitchcock’s films has been inspirational to me. The almond coral pink nails and lips of Tippi Hedren in The Birds for example – Lisa Eldridge did an interesting tutorial recreating that look some years ago.
Great question!
I was inspired to a neutral eyes/red lips combo by the show Conviction the other day 🙂
I was thinking the same! I like the makeup and wardrobe styling of the main character Hayes (I think is her name). It’s very close to my personal style. I don’t wear a red lip to work, but saw her on the show and I was inspired.
None that I can think of on a ongoing basis but, like so many, I never tire of seeing Audrey Hepburn’s films though her makeup in most of them is so subdued that it’s not really inspirational. However, there is one episode of MI5 (a British “spy” series) where one of the main characters, Ros, looks so fantastic. It’s clearly been shot in summer and her skin is bronzed looking (she’s blonde so it’s both very noticeable and very natural looking) and I love her eyeshadow in one particular scene which I’ve actually watched in slow motion, trying to figure out what shade or shades she’s wearing on her eyes. Nuts, hunh?
I love that show and will have to rewatch now for the make up. I’m glad it was Ros and not that other one that drives me crackers!
By “the other one”, do you mean Jo? Ros once referred to her as “death by mascara” and it always makes me laugh to think of that quite apt description. It was in the episode where she goes to work for Alexis Menal, some corporate raider/wunderkind and she ends up having to go to bed with him once her cover is blown. I’m not a “bronzer” type person but her skin looks so great and her eyeshadow (not easy to see and pin down) is really nice. Most of the time, they all look considerably more “un-made-up” (except for Jo and her mascara overdose) but in that scene, because Ros was dressed for a fund-raiser, she is more made up. She was one of my favourites. I was sad that she had to get “blowed up” because I really liked the character and how fearless she was.
Such a brilliant show, I’m going to have to rewatch it over the holiday season! It was actually Zoe, little ole insipid Zoe who annoyed the hell out of me. All the other women were so strong and she needed a jolly good kick up the backside! Plus her non make up game was shocking for a decent looking woman!
Actually, not nuts at all! I own Revlon’s Pink in the Afternoon because that is supposedly the color she wore in the car in Bfast at Tiffany’s. It looks HORRENDOUS on me, but I own it anyway. 🙂
On Gray’s Anatomy (don’t even ask why I still watch that), the character Amelia…I think they do a beautiful job with her blush. It’s the perfect placement and perfect bit of flush on her porcelain skin. My coloring is much different, but I do think about how it looks on her and what my version would be. Not sure I hit it yet, but TF Wicked with the proper brush is getting close. 🙂
Linda, have you ever seen Charade (Audrey and Cary Grant…Paris…bliss). For years, I thought it was a Hitchcock film but it’s not but it could be. That film and The Nun’s Story are probably my 2 favourite Hepburn films.
I have seen them all! She and Cary…can’t beat that combo. I thought it was Hitchcock too. Surprised to hear it isn’t.
Sabrina is probably my favorite movie of all time for sentimental reasons. I saw it first as an adolescent, and you know how those kinds of love stories can sweep you up at that age. Sabrina coming back from Paris so cosmopolitan, beautiful, and refined — that did it for me. I think it gave me the first glimpse of womanhood in which I saw myself. 🙂
Claire Underwood in House of Cards
I’m with you. Claire Underwood is stunning with her sense of style. Severe, very edited, very chic and in control at all times. Very little jewelry if any at all. And what a figure! She earns it though. Her look firmly communicates “I am no one to be trifled with.”
Right on with Claire! She’s got the whole package going on. I’m not at all wowed by Elizabeth’s makeup in Madame Secretary, but I absolutely do channel her looks for work. (Minus the 3-inch heels. I used to, but don’t do that anymore. 🙂 I’d kill myself.)
It’s funny that you should mention that. I just re-watched the Thomas crown affair with Rene Russo and I’ve been wearing glossy beige lipstick ever since. I’m obsessed, and it’s the time of year that red seems more appropriate!
Not me, but my mother. Her brows looked like those of the actresses at that time. “Giant, All About Eve, Cat on a Tin a Roof, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Mildred Pierce, the list goes on…” Liz Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Rita Hayworth, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford….
Here I go again channeling Audrey Hepburn…Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ Holly Golightly.
Also back in the day it was Dynasty. Currently I am inspired by Once Upon a Time. Regina has similar coloring to mine, so it works.
I definitely do watch TV but i don’t think the makeup on Criminal Minds, CSI, Law & Order, Homeland, etc, is inspiring – except of the victims’ dead bodies, maybe! 😉
Exactly. I was going to say, I hope not, bec those shows and investigation discovery 24/7/365 are my usual tv fare. It’d be a full-on Guy Bourdain nars (2014? Xmas) assault, which is very unpopular with this crowd! ST I channel Dietrich /Blue Angel, London 60s movies, like Blow Up…with Mary Quant/Biba type looks….some others. Must say I love 30s-40s reds and S.t. Check retro/historical m/u for correct blush placement. Yeah, if I start with the besame red hot red, that I call Doris day red, the whole look comes out 50s. Probably not intentionally, but from memory and association.
I love ID! You never know what types of characters you’ll see on their shows.
I’m not as bad as the ID obsessed woman in the channel ads, but might be her mother. I actually wrote a fan mail to one of tha narrators once, and in the process found out that one of my friends had been doing voice talent… Now is prob my favorite season…A Crime to Remember: they channel the time periods so well, and hell, I’m old enough to remember some of them! (Emmy winner.) Barbara Walters. Idk if Vanity Fair Confidential is coming back, or if it was replaced by people mag. For a m/u metaphor: there’s a bit of a brow difference between those shows and magazines. VFG is as good as their Crime writing. I think my new thing will be, for these retro shows, to put on a representative lippie for the period. I had pretty much forgotten about how prevalent smoking and drinking EVERYWHERE were, even though mad men certainly showed that.
Omg…Fear Thy Neighbor actually creeped me out, and I don’t scare easily. And there was one episode of Deadly Women, I think it was the first one, that was just horrifying. Some of these make me want to buy the books written about these crimes and read more. But the way some of these people look…it’s definitely a look.
I always go back to Audrey. Whether it be Sabrina (I think I watched that 20x as a young woman), Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Funny Face, Roman Holiday — you name it — Audrey began as my inspiration for classic/timeless makeup and fashion that I still love today.
not that much! i prefer magazines.
Not much makeup inspiration from TV and movies for me, the only inspo I pull from TV/movies/video games is for body painting.
I find myself more drawn to hair/hairstyles when I watch movies or tv. For makeup, I tend to love editorial or commercial looks. Most recently, I fell in love with Amanda Seyfried in the Givenchy ‘Live Irresistible’ perfume commercial. Her look is stunning!
I can’t think of any, but I keep trying to imitate the kind of bun Katharine Hepburn often wore as she got older, like in the films Madwoman of Chaillot/On Golden Pond. But my hair seems to be straighter than hers, I think I’d have to do some serious work with a curling iron, and maybe do some teasing, to get the same effect. I can make it pouf out and frame my face a bit by loosening my ponytail before pinning it down, but all my hair still twists when I wind/twist the ponytail to get it into a bun. Which is not a bad look, just different than what I was aiming for.
I used to be so distracted by Amy Poehler’s make up when I was watching Parks and Recreation that I wanted to pause the show constantly and try to figure out exactly what they did!
Not really, but I don’t watch a lot of TV or movies. In general, I love the classic 50s movies makeup, especially the classic pin up makeup a la Marilyn Monroe.
I actually thought of you when I was typing my comment. Watching Ink Master this season, there were a few female contestants with really great, offbeat style – all different yet all great. One of their makeup styles reminded me of you, really bright eyeshadows (peacock type combos) and dark or black lips, depending which week.
Cool! I haven’t seen the show. I’ll have to see whether I can find it.
As you would expect on Ink Master, a lot of Kat Von D type looks. Edgy yet pretty.
Can’t think of any. I will say, I couldn’t stop thinking about how great Jennifer Lawrence’s skin looked when I saw the trailer for Passengers.
Audrey Hepburn is my all time favorite, followed closely by Rita Hayworth (Cover Girl, Down to Earth). Rita Hayworth had most of her makeup looks done by Clay Campbell – a great makeup artist at that time. My mom admired both of them, so in a way I inherited a fascination with their style :).
I have been recently inspired by Marion Cotillard’s makeup in Allied – so glamorous, yet classy and wearable. I love Marion Cotillard’s style in general.
Yes, she is someone to look to. Beautiful!
I liked Cate Blanchet’s makeup in “Carol”. Beautiful!!
The Walking Dead…for Halloween!
No, not at all. I am not a big fan of television and movies either. I just wear makeup to what suits me.
Not recently for me, though I did have a good talk with my husband about how you can use makeup to make someone look younger on tv, as we were discussing the show Teen Wolf. My husband got into the show since he’s been deployed and asked me to watch it. I have been and I mentioned one of the girls makeup in the show. He’d actually picked up on it and said he was wondering why they were using those colors and what seemed to him odd makeup placement for her features. Basically they were trying to make her eyes look rounder and her cheeks higher as well as her mouth more narrow. Out of all the people on the show, she is the oldest person playing a teen so they were trying to make her look less developed than she was at the time. Once explained the color choices and the placement and how it related to sexual maturity, he was like that makes way more sense. He’d seen a picture of her in regular makeup that was age appropriate and said she looked totally different. Ah, the power of makeup!
Not since watching old Audrey Hepburn films….she always looks just right
I recently did a photoshoot inspired by X-men Apocalypse
My favorite is Jean Grey so I did a Phoenix look also from the movie’s
soundtrack Like a Fire… I used the Urban decay Electric palette<3
I guess the big pageants like Miss America, USA and Universe.
Omg, yes. Especially reality, where I see what real people (sort of) are doing with their fashion and beauty. I just finished watching a season of Ink Master, and there were three female contestants who made it pretty far. I actually said out loud that I love the makeup these girls are wearing. Three different styles, but all beautiful.
Also, reading magazines, I see a lot of styles that are also on TV and in movies that inspire me. I mean, I have my basic style (bronze skin, pale lips. thick brows) that I usually stick to, but I like to try new things and I see a lot in entertainment that inspires me.
I loved the makeup in Mad Men and I continue to be inspired by American Horror Story –especially Lady Gaga as the Countess!!
Recently Penny Dreadful has inspired me so much. All the actresses are so pale, elegant, beautiful and luminous. I’ve been wearing my makeup very minimal and natural lately because of it and it’s nice that it’s given me the confidence to wear less of it.
I do fandom inspired looks all the time! I’d say at least half are inspired by books/tv/movies/rp.
I never have been, but the question makes me curious about other people’s answers.
Sometimes. I do pay special attention to makeup on anything I watch, and sometimes looks are featured that I want to try. After seeing such things, I do try to play around with things I have or order products to achieve the look.
Mad Men : )
Also, anything Marilyn and for a time, Reese Witherspoons Legally Blonde make up was my go-to for a while!
The Real! I watch it just to see the make up, hair and fashion of the four hosts! It’s always beautiful and current!!
No, not since high school which was truly eons ago. Really the only TV I see are hunting programs that hubby is watching and the Voice.
Mia Farrow from the Great Gatsby and Audrey Hepburn from Sabrina, simple elegant and timeless.
I’m enjoying the new show Timeless right now, and since every episode takes place in a different era, Abigail Spencer’s makeup is different all the time. It’s beautiful! Particularly the 1930s episode.
I also think the makeup on the British show Grantchester is lovely, and basically everything on Netflix’s The Crown is stunning.
Katniss’ gala look from the Hunger games.
“The Catch” is the show that started my obsession with gel eyeliners last year. The lead actress also has heavily hooded eyes like mine and she wore different colours of eyeliners (with false lashes, but I skipped that step) as her signature look.
There’s not really one single show or movie that influences/inspire any of my makeup styles. Sometimes I’ll notice a look that I like in a show or movie and then look up tutorials and such but that’s about the extent of it.
I tend to take inspiration from everything I see, so it’s natural that some film scenes and characters stick with me as well.
Carol, played by Cate Blanchett, is a character I often think of when doing my make-up. She’s got a Grace Kelly -esque look, but sexier, more mature and oozing confidence?
I also love Bond girls, both the modern and the period looks. Some of my favourites include Solitaire, May Day, Xenia Onatopp and Vesper Lynd.
I’m also fond of Tarantino’s women, the legendary Mia Wallace in Chanel Vamp, the crimson toe nails, the Inglourious Bastards scene where Shosanna applies her make-up before the big evening.
Twin Peaks is incredible with it’s lush and dreamy, yet wearable, 80’s-going-on-to-90’s make-up looks and outfits.
Not since the ’90’s and Beverly Hills 90210 lol.
The movie the Tourist with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie….there’s a scene where she’s attending a gala event wearing a magnificent black ball gown and incredible jewelry, but what stood out to me was her eye makeup done in a smoky eye and a deep orangey copper, gorgeous.
The Wedding Planner
Mad Men!! I even have the book the costume designer wrote and has a chapter about the makeup and exact products they use
Not really as I don’t watch much t.v. or follow the hype much on movie stars and such. I’d like to follow, observe and listen closer to family members and friends whom are blessed with immaculate style as well as skin. I like to share and exchange with them priducts and ideas. My mom and my sis in laws are a great examples, my daughter.