Best 70s Makeup Ideas
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- Bottom Line Up Front
- How I Chose These Ideas
- My Favorite 70s Makeup Ideas
- Serious Twiggy Love
- Disco Sparkles
- Groovy Pride
- Classic 70s
- Subtle 70s
- Flower Power
- Natural 70s
- Divine Worship
- Psychedelic 70s Eyeshadow
- 70s Spring and Summer
- Serious Vintage
- Spring and Space 70s Art
- Pastel Blue Eyeshadow
- 70s Natural and Stylish
- Glamorous Mod
- FAQs
- Best 70s Makeup Ideas: Bottom Line
Makeup trends come and go…and then they come back into the forefront decades later! We’re seeing this with 70s-era makeup. The 70s are one of my favorite time periods–after all, I’m a big fan of 70s-era rock music! But the 70s consisted of many movements, from the hippy movement to disco fever.
Because of this, it should be no surprise that the 70s brought on many makeup looks. While many women chose to rock natural makeup, other glamorous trends emerged in the 70s.
Are you thinking about bringing back the 70s to your makeup routine? Here are the best 70s makeup ideas that I could find on Instagram.
Bottom Line Up Front
I love all the mod looks the best, but the first one inspired by Twiggy is my favorite. It’s a combination of the mod classy and polished look, with some intense color to make the look pop.
I looked at the model’s other 70s makeup looks, and you can take so much inspiration from her alone. But there are so many other looks here that I love. I suggest going through all these posts to discover your favorite 70s makeup inspiration!
How I Chose These Ideas
The 70s brought on so many looks. The disco trend inspired many people to rock bright colors, while the mod look emphasized bold eyeliner and lashes. Here are some factors I considered when choosing these ideas.
70s Trends
It should be no surprise that I first considered trending makeup looks in the 70s. Many of the styles from the 60s bled into the 70s, while other movements welcomed new styles. Here are some key 70s trends and the makeup looks they inspired:
- Hippy: natural makeup look, with rosy cheeks, glossy lips, and healthy, glowing skin
- Psychedelic: takes the hippy trend to new levels with pastel colors and crazy effects
- Mod: a high-fashion trend that started in the 60s but continued in the 70s, characterized by bold lashes and winged liner
- Disco: everything is bright, colorful, and sparkly!
Makeup Products
When I look at makeup ideas on Instagram, I always see which products the models use. There are many products today that weren’t available during the 70s, so I tried to prioritize models that use similar products from that era. This results in a more realistic look.
Here are some key products to use:
- Liquid and powder foundation
- Blush and highlighter (powder formula)
- Mascara
- Eye shadow (liquid and powder)
- Liquid eyeliner
- Lip gloss/balm
- Lipstick (no long-wear or matte formulas)
Colors and Effects
Certain colors were more popular than others. I tried to find makeup looks that used these colors:
- Rose pink
- Pastel pink
- Peach
- Sapphire blue
- Pastel blue
- Teal
- Chocolate brown
- Rich green
Some makeup colors are classic and were prominent in the 70s. These include black mascara and eyeliner, smoky eyeshadow, and sheer lip gloss.
My Favorite 70s Makeup Ideas
All these makeup looks are stunning and ones that I would totally pull off! If you need some 70s makeup inspiration, here are the best ones I found on Instagram!
Serious Twiggy Love
If you’re looking for the ultimate mod look, I suggest using this one as inspiration. Her crazy winged and fishtail liner surrounds a pastel green that was super trendy, with fluffy upper and lower lashes. Finished with a dewy complexion, rosy cheeks, beige lips, and faux freckles, this model looks like she walked out of a British 70s fashion magazine. Credit: @beatsbylizzie.
Disco Sparkles
The model’s eyeshadow is so bright and sparkly, it reminds me of a disco ball! If you’re looking for a 70s look that looks like something from a Bee Gee’s video, I suggest using this makeup as your inspiration. Like the previous look, she has fishtail liner but uses a unique gray/purple color for the top instead of black. This makes her liner subtler and blends in with her sparkly gray eyeshadow better.
Her eyelashes aren’t as fluffy, which is great if you’re not going for the mod look. With rosy cheeks and natural-colored glossy lips, this is the perfect disco makeup. Credit: @itsbeautybybrit.
Groovy Pride
With Pride season underway, I suggest this rainbow look if you want to try something different. Her eyes are truly what stands out here.
I especially love how the model features rainbow flower petals under her eyes and matching earrings. The best part? This look isn’t terribly hard to accomplish. Just buy black and rainbow-colored eyeliners, and draw the petals under your eyes.
Pastel colors were really popular in the 70s, so the pastel yellow surrounded by fishtail liner works for the groovy and psychedelic looks. Finished with rosy and highlighted cheeks, glossy lips, and fluffy mascara and brows, anyone can get creative with a psychedelic pride makeup look like this one! Credit: @makeupbylourose.
Classic 70s
There were so many trends in the 70s, and it can be hard to choose one you want to imitate. If you’re still unsure, I suggest choosing this classic 70s makeup look.
This model’s makeup represents many of the popular trends during the time period, such as intense smoky eyes, black eyeliner, rosy cheeks, and beige lipstick. This is a timeless look that will work for nearly every occasion. I especially love how it transitions from day to night, so you can rock this look to the office and at happy hour. Credit: @theaamakeup_.
Subtle 70s
One of the biggest trends from the 60s and 70s was the hippy movement, where people rejected materialistic ideals and kept things basic. This included a beauty routine, where hippy women kept their beauty regimen simple.
You can still achieve this subtle hippy look and still rock awesome makeup. Take this model as inspiration. This is a super easy look that anyone can do, even if you don’t have much experience with makeup. It’s also a good look if you’re running late and need quick makeup.
She mainly draws attention to the eyes with fluffy mascara and light-colored eyeshadow. Just run a light gray over your lids (can use a darker one in the outer corner of the eye for emphasis, as she did), and run some mascara over your lashes (or use false lashes if you prefer).
Her pink blush is very intense, but It still looks natural. All you need is some powder blush, an angled brush, and running swiftly upward on the cheekbones. Finished with simple lip gloss or chapstick, this is a great middle-ground between the natural hippy look and the intense disco trend. Credit: @divinemokeira
Flower Power
If you’re looking for something creative, I think this look is adorable! The lime green eyeshadow looks so intense with her black fishtail eyeliner and fluffy lashes. If you can draw the bottom lashes, all power to you! But if not, just use some really good mascara on your bottom lashes. The pink blush and freckles make her look ready for spring. She finishes with some beige gloss on her lips–and don’t forget the daisy hair accents! Credit: @all_makeup_beauty.
Natural 70s
As I said, the natural look was popular in the hippy movement. Looking at this model’s makeup reminds me of Woodstock and how people were more focused on having fun and enjoying great music, as opposed to their appearance. This look is so effortless yet beautiful, and anyone can pull it off.
This model uses some core makeup looks of the decade, such as fluffy mascara and natural-colored glossy lips. Her blush is barely-there, a baby pink that matches perfectly with her pale complexion. Her brows aren’t overdone–all you need is a pencil or powder to fill them in, and you’re set! Credit: @kaysvintagevanity.
Divine Worship
While this look isn’t typical 70s, I had to include it because it reminds me so much of Divine, the iconic actress who’s credited as being one of the frontrunners of the drag movement. Pink Flamingos was released in the 70s, so it seems fitting to include this here.
Divine’s makeup was always outrageous, and she looked more like a costumed character than anything else. That’s how I see this makeup look. The model’s face is painted white, with different designs in various colors. I especially love the light blue lightning bolt and purple heart on the lips. She doesn’t wear intense eyeshadow like Divine, but her graphic black eyeliner is sharp enough to pull her whole look together. One cheek has an orb of orange blush, which I think is adorable.
Her eyebrows are what screamed Divine for me. Divine always had those sharp, arched eyebrows. While the model’s eyebrows here are a little different, they’re still one of the standout features of her look. Credit: @gabydizitti.
Psychedelic 70s Eyeshadow
The 70s were a time for creativity and psychedelic looks emerged during this time period. If you want to go a step further with your makeup, expand your creativity to new horizons. This look is the perfect example.
With hot pink eyeshadow, a multi-colored heart design in the inner corner, and a design around the brow bone, this is one to try when you would rather use your face as an art canvas. It looks like the model used liquid liner for the designs, but you can use a pencil liner for more control. The simple mascara and brow bring the artwork together. Credit: @powderblush.
70s Spring and Summer
I’m writing this during spring now when the weather is warming up. Soon, we’ll be in summer, where it’s so hot. While we all welcome the warmth, wearing lots of makeup when it’s hot is the worst. But since the weather is so nice, we want to be out, look great, and have fun! Finding a balance between a rockstar makeup look without going overboard seems impossible. Fortunately, we can look to 70s trends to find that middle ground.
This look is the perfect example. The model is really only rocking pastel purple eyeshadow and pink lips. I love the monochromatic pastel look–it’s so chic yet subtle. The pink and purple colors also match without looking too loud, which is hard to pull off. Plus, you don’t need a lot of products! All you need is a light purple eyeshadow, baby pink lipstick, and a little bit of eyeliner, mascara, and foundation to complete the look. Credit: @daizyplanet.
Serious Vintage
While the model edited this photo to make it look super vintage, you can see the basics of her retro makeup style. Peach and burnt orange were popular colors in the 70s; I can’t tell which shade the model used here, but you can do a close imitation by using either shade for your eyeshadow and lipstick. Apply this color eyeshadow to the upper and lower lids. Finish with mascara, and some eyebrow pencil or powder, and your simple 70s look is done! Credit: @pbnjemmy.
Spring and Space 70s Art
Flowers are a staple of 70s art. Since it’s springtime, it’s the perfect time to rock this look! I especially love the art the model did. Her eyes look like a combination of flowers and space, with stars and nebula accents. It’s a cool spring-meets-space look that I haven’t seen before. She’s not wearing any eyeshadow, the artwork is the standout feature of her eyes. The rest of her makeup look is very subtle, with simple mascara, peach blush, and burnt red/orange lip gloss. Credit: @massounne.
Pastel Blue Eyeshadow
Pastel blue was one of the biggest color trends in the 70s, especially pastel blue eyeshadow. The model here rocks the blue eyeshadow look perfectly.
I always loved pastel blue eyeshadow; it’s a colorful way to make your eyes look bigger and wider. This shade of blue also looks amazing on everyone. Plus, this is an easy look if you want to add more color to your makeup routine. All you need is a single shade of pastel or light blue.
I was into this look for the longest time, and I would always buy the eyeshadow singles from either Sephora Collection or Urban Decay for the most intensely pigmented colors. To finish this look, you just need some subtle black eyeliner and mascara, eyebrow filler (hers look more intense like she used a pomade, but you can use any eyebrow product you want), peach blush, and some tinted gloss. Credit: @be_but_little_she_is_fierce.
70s Natural and Stylish
I love the natural makeup look, but I don’t rock neutral colors often. That’s because they can be pretty boring, especially when I want to go out during the weekend. But you can take a stylish approach to the 70s no-makeup look, and this model is the perfect example.
First, let’s focus on how simple her look is. You only need one, maybe two eyeshadow colors at the most, and you can use literally any Naked Palette or dupe for her look. The color she’s wearing reminds me of the Urban Decay eyeshadow color Tease, which is a medium-toned taupe. Different shades of brown were trending in the 70s, though chocolate brown was a bigger trend than taupe. Still, colors like taupe and beige were within the 70s neutral trends, and you can add chocolate brown if you want more definition.
Her eyeliner is also light, and her lashes look natural–no false lashes here. You also only need a light foundation and beige lipstick to pull off the rest of her look. Credit: @starr_clare.
Glamorous Mod
The mod look can be pretty bland, but this model glams it up! She combines the best of the 60s and 70s with graphic eyeliner and rich green eyeshadow (which was also a big color trend in the 70s). Her subtle peach blush and freckles are also so cute. Her drawn-in eyebrows also give this a more dramatic look, but with a nude lip to balance everything out. Credit: _cinnabuni_.
FAQs
Question: I’m not good at makeup! How do I do a 70s look?
Answer: If you’re not good at makeup, I tell everyone to have these products on hand: one or two eyeshadow colors (can also get a small palette), mascara, and one lipstick or gloss. Refer to any of the eyeshadow colors I recommended previously (blue and neutrals were popular choices for the time).
Start by applying your main eyeshadow color all over your lid and crease. If you want to define your eyes, add a second color (ideally darker) to the crease or outer corner of the eye.
Finish with a few coats of mascara on the upper and lower lid and swipe on your lipstick. Apply foundation and powder, if desired. Voila! You have a 70s makeup look you achieved in less than 10 minutes!
Question: I love disco makeup! How do I do it?
Answer: Good question! The disco look is actually easier to achieve than you may think.
First, start by selecting your eyeshadow shade. Fortunately, most disco looks only used one eyeshadow color, but it was always sparkly!
Take a fluffy eyeshadow brush and apply this one color to the lid and crease. The goal is to accentuate the eyes using color and glitter, so no need to define the eyes with multiple colors. You can use a brow highlight or concealer around the brows, but that’s optional.
Next, apply eyeshadow to the lower lid. You can either use this same shade or a darker color, whatever you prefer. Then, use lashes. You can either use fake lashes or mascara.
People wore false lashes in the 70s, but they were on the natural side. If you’re like me and don’t like wearing fake lashes, you can opt for mascara. Again, it’s whatever you prefer. No matter which product you use, apply either lashes or mascara to the lower lid.
You want your brows to pop, so go heavy with the bottom lashes. From here, apply the brow product of your choice. Naturally full brows were most common of the era, so you may only need a pencil or brow and spoolie to accentuate the fullness. But if you have thin brows, defined and arched brows were also popular in the disco movement.
Since disco makeup was meant to be seen, you can use mulberry, plum, or even brilliant red lipstick. But pastel colors were also popular, and I suggest using a light peach or pink if you want your eyes to steal the show. The rest of the face is very subtle. Use a natural-looking blush such as peach and apply it across the cheeks.
Question: I don’t want a natural lip with my 70s look! Which color lipstick should I wear?
Answer: I get it, you may love the 70s look but love your bright lipstick even more. While a natural lip was the big trend in the 70s, you can still wear lipstick. Actually, some 70s icons wore lipstick. Here are some colors to prioritize:
• Mulberry
• Plum
• Peach
• Cranberry
• Raspberry
Do you see what these colors have in common? They’re juicy, fruity colors! While pastel colors were the most popular, you can get away with some deeper fruity colors. For a more time-accurate look, stick with colored glosses, lip tints, and lipsticks with a shiny finish–matte lipsticks weren’t around back then.
Best 70s Makeup Ideas: Bottom Line
Out of all these 70s makeup looks, the mod-inspired ones are my favorite. I especially love the Twiggy-inspired look. Her makeup is so polished yet intense, especially her vivid green eyeshadow and sharp eyeliner. I actually looked at more of that model’s makeup, and she does so many stylish and chic 70s-inspired tutorials.
But the mod look isn’t the only trend from the 70s. From the disco to the hippy look, the 70s introduced many styles and trends. Plus, the first mod makeup look is pretty complex, and not everyone can pull it off. There are so many other 70s makeup styles that I suggest trying. I love all the Instagram 70s makeup posts that I included. Look through all of them to find the best look for you!
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