My Style Icon, Audrey Hepburn

Hello Lovelies! Today I'm doing something a little different, and bringing you an Audrey Hepburn inspired makeup look. For those of you who haven't heard, House of Fraser are holding a competition to find their own Beauty Ambassador who will win £1000 of makeup, be invited to events and write content for House of Fraser (find the full details here). They asked bloggers to talk about their style icon, and create a makeup look inspired by them. It's an amazing opportunity, so definitely get involved if you can! 

And of course if you haven't guessed already my style icon is Audrey Hepburn. Really she's much more than a style icon to me. For as long as I can remember I've loved everything about her. At first I was obsessed with her sense of style, and her timeless beauty but as I grew older I realised that there was much more to her then that. Audrey had this infectious kindness. For the last five years of her life, she worked as Unicef's Goodwill Ambassador travelling to several countries, to help with aid there. Not only was she kind, but intelligent too - she was fluent in six languages, English, Dutch, Spanish, French, German and Italian. I could gush all day about what I admire about Audrey, but you can pretty much sum it up in this extract from her favourite poem, by Sam Levenson:

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone.

Top (from left to right): Audrey in, Roman Holiday 1953, Sabrina 1954, Love In The Afternoon 1957, Funny Face 1957

Bottom: Audrey in, Breakfast At Tiffany's 1961, Charade 1963, Paris When It Sizzles 1964, How To Steal A Million 1966

What I love about Audrey's style is that it's timeless. From early on in her career she'd figured out what suited her - simple silhouettes, often in just one colour. Her makeup was also about making the most of her features. She had two main makeup looks, her bold big lip and brow in the 50's and a much subtle lip and brow in the 60's. In both looks there was a heavy emphasis on her eyes, as she had the most lovely doe eyes and naturally thick eyebrows. What I really like about Audrey's makeup was that it wasn't about creating features that weren't there, but rather embracing and emphasising what she naturally had. 

For today's look, I'm going to be doing Breakfast at Tiffany's inspired makeup as I absolutely adore her in that film - Who doesn't want to be in Holly Golightly's shoes and go for breakfast at Tiffany's? Holly is just such a fun, quirky and vulnerable character that it's hard not to love her - and she's played incredibly by Audrey. Her look in the film varied only slightly between scenes, becoming slightly more formal in the evening looks but really her makeup look was consistently fresh and classic throughout the film. 

For the base I created a very natural look. Audrey had a very fresh face, and actually wore little foundation at all, so for this look you want to make sure your foundation doesn't look too heavy. To help create this fresh look, I used Soap&Glory's Translucent BB Cream to smooth out my pores, and also give my skin sun protection (it has SPF 25). Next I used my trusty Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum Foundation, which helps to give me a really clear and light base for the rest of my makeup. If you have problem skin like me (prone to acne, redness and dry patches) then I would definitely recommend this! To fully achieve a flawless complexion, I also used my Bourjois Healthy Mix concealer to get rid of any imperfections. If you need powder, you can also apply that but try to keep a natural glow and not apply too much!

Audrey didn't wear much face makeup. She was blessed with naturally high cheekbones, so she didn't need any contouring at all. Instead she went for a very fresh peachy blusher. To recreate this look, I used the Bobbi Brown Blusher in Pastel Peach as it's a lovely peachy colour and has a nice natural matte finish. For this look you don't want to add any bronzer or contour your face, as it takes away from Audrey's signature fresh and radiant skin look. 

Audrey's makeup is definitely all about the eyes. Believe it or not, Audrey Hepburn's makeup artist Wally Westmore used to separate each of her eyelashes with a sewing pin to make sure they'd show up dramatically on camera, yes really. For today's look I'm not going to be attempting that (because I don't fancy ending up in A&E...), instead I'm using mascara and my trusty Eyeko Eye Lash Curlers. After I curled my lashes, I used Benefit's Roller Lash to add even more curl, and then used Maxfactor's False Lash Effect to give my lashes real volume. Ideally I'd be using fake lashes to create this look, but I wanted to do something that's achievable for everyone and can be incorporated into any everyday look.

On the lids, Audrey didn't wear much colour at all and instead went for a very subtle greyish colour for her evening looks. In her day looks she actually didn't wear any eye shadow, which really shows how fresh and natural her look is. To re-create this I used Reveal (second on the top row) from my Mua 5th Birthday Palette, all over my lid, which is perfect as it's lovely shimmery grey that gives your eyes a nice subtle glow. To add a little definition to my eyelids, I used Chino (third on bottom row) across my socket line to really emphasise my eye sockets. With this step I made sure to really blend Chino in, to achieve as natural of a look as possible.

Audrey is famous for her cat-eye, and to recreate this look, I used my favourite eyeliner. I'm using Soap&Glory's Supercat Eyeliner because it's very easy to apply, and can create both thick and thin lines. With Supercat I drew on a thick line (but not too thick), with a small flick on the outer corner of each eye. I wanted to create a line that was thick but not too bold, as you really want to emphasise the eyes but not to overpower them.

For brows, Audrey opted for a natural look. Her brows were still defined, but a much more natural brown and definitely didn't look drawn on at all. As someone with very light and undefined eyebrows, I used Soap&Glory's Archery Brow Filling Pencil and Brush to draw them in a little, filling in the gaps where my eyebrows fade out but if you naturally have defined eyebrows, you can skip this step!

Finally, you want to choose a lovely lip colour. You could drive yourself crazy trying to find the exact shade Audrey was wearing, trust me I did, but to achieve her look just choose a light pinky/peach colour and you'll be on the right track.  Personally I went for Revlon Matte Lipstick in Smoked Peach, as it was the closest I could find to Audrey's lipstick colour and is just so pretty!

And there you have it - the finished look! What I've learnt from doing this post is that I may stare at pictures of Audrey and wish I had her eyes, and her perfect cheekbones, her flawless complexion etc... but Audrey's look was about embracing what makes your face beautiful. And really at the end of  the day if I've learnt anything from Audrey, it's to be beautiful person on the inside because that's what really matters. 

Thank you for reading lovelies! Let me know who your style icon is in the comment section below and have a lovely Sunday. Oh and don't forget to check out House Of Fraser's beauty page where you can buy some of the makeup featured in this post!

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