Twenties Silver Screen
Smudged kohl and a tiny cupid's bow. 5 steps, roughly 14 minutes, rated moderate.
Drag to compare
Twenties makeup was built for black-and-white film, which means it was designed entirely around contrast. Pale skin, very dark eyes, and a small dark mouth.
The signature is the cupid's bow lip, drawn deliberately smaller than the natural lip line, which is the opposite of every lip trend since.
What you will need
- A light, matte base
- A soft black kohl pencil
- A deep brown or plum shadow
- A thin brow pencil
- A deep berry or brick lipstick
- A small lip brush
No specific brands. Any version of each will behave the same way.
Pale, matte, and slightly sculpted
Keep the base light and completely matte, then add a soft grey-brown under the cheekbone for a hollowed, cinematic look.
This is the one era where a cool, slightly under-warm base is correct rather than a mistake.
Tip
Skip warm bronzer here. A cool contour under the bone is what creates the silver-screen shadow.
A thin, downward-tapering brow
Draw a slim brow with a long, low taper toward the temple rather than a high arch, using light feathered strokes.
Conceal along the top edge to slim your natural shape instead of removing hair.
Tip
The twenties brow sloped gently downward. Resist the urge to lift the tail; the droop is the period detail.
Round, smudged kohl
Ring the eye with soft black kohl on both the upper and lower lash line, then smudge it outward into a soft, rounded halo.
Add a deep brown or plum through the crease and blend upward so the eye looks recessed and shadowy.
Tip
Round, not winged. The elongated cat eye belongs to a later decade; the twenties eye was deliberately circular.
Draw the cupid's bow small
With a lip brush, draw a pronounced heart shape on the upper lip that stops well inside your natural corners.
Fill the lower lip in a matching rounded shape, again staying inside the natural edge so the mouth reads as small and defined.
Tip
Conceal your natural lip edge first. You cannot draw a smaller mouth on top of a visible larger one.
A deep, matte berry
Fill with a deep berry, brick or true red in a matte or satin finish and blot so it stains rather than shines.
Add a soft rosy blush placed round and high on the apples to finish the doll-like proportion.
Tip
Blot, powder through a tissue, then reapply. Matte, stained lips are what the period actually looked like.
See it on your own face first.
Two minutes of questions, one optional photo, and this look gets rendered onto your own colouring before you spend anything.
Common questions
In a softened version, yes. Keep the pronounced cupid's bow but do not pull the corners in as far, and you get a defined vintage mouth that still looks modern.
Kohl on both lash lines plus a deep shadow blended in a full circle. It was built for film, where contrast disappeared unless it was overdone.
No. Conceal along the top edge to slim the shape and draw a gentle downward taper. Nothing needs to be plucked.