Retouching on Victorian fashions in makeup – unpainted ladies

As women didn’t wear a lot of makeup during the Victorian era since it was seen as indecent. A ‘peaches and cream’ complexion was most desired for women. Cherry red lips, sparkling eyes with soft eyelashes were most popular. Women believed if you were naturally like this it was a gift from God.

The ideal beauty during the Victorian era was to have fair skin, people with tanned skin would have been less wealthy as they most likely would have caught the sun from working outside.

I also began working on my Estella mood board on Pinterest to gather more images of inspiration. Here is a painting of an unknown Victorian lady which I think represents the ideal beauty during this time.

The overall look of this lady in the painting on the right is very natural and elegant; I want to use props more for my Estella to create a mood for my final images. As the final images of Estella will be shot using black and white photography I want to concentrate on colour and texture a lot. As we are using black and white photography to create our Estella looks I will be using some colours on the face and hair that would not have been used during the Victorian era, however they will be used to create effect for the black and white image.

Here is also a link to my Estella mood board

http://www.pinterest.com/shaannny/estella/

Reference

Compacts and cosmetics by Madeleine Marsh p.21

[online] found on pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/pin/454582156110032127/ [last accessed 19.3.14]