Yohji Yamamoto is one of my favorite designers. His models always look effortless, comfortable, sexy, and scary, but not in an overdone “I have four guns strapped to my boobs” kind of way. At his shows, the makeup is not traditionally “pretty”—it’s going more for weird, which I love.
One of my favorite looks from his recent shows is surprisingly easy to replicate at home. If the full face is a little over-the-top for you, you can do just one or two of these steps. Or you could do what I do and just go for the whole shebang! Life is short, you know?
What you’ll need:
- An eyebrow pencil.
- Eye shadow primer.
- Eye shadows in shimmery fuchsia, gold, and champagne. I like Urban Decay’s Woodstock, Baked, and Sin, but you can find similar colors at the drugstore.
- A blue lipstick.
- A bright pink lipstick.
- Some kind of base makeup. (I used Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer in Fair).
- Face powder.
- Black liquid eyeliner.
- An eye shadow brush for your base shade.
- A dome-shaped eye shadow brush designed for blending. I used Real Techniques Duo Fiber Eye Brush, which also happens to be my favorite eye brush EVER.
- A lip brush.
How to do it:
Step One:
Color in and shape your brows with your pencil. You don’t need to go crazy—just fill in any sparse places and define your arch.
Step Two:
Prime your eyelids to make sure your eye shadow stays in place and keeps looking vibrant all day.
Step Three:
Deposit the champagne-colored shadow all over your lid with an eye shadow brush. (Since this is mostly a base for the more eye-catching shades you’ll put on next, you can pick a color that’s similar to your skin tone and use that instead.)
Step Four:
Using your blending brush, place the pink shadow right above the top of your lid, leaving some room in between the color and your the eyebrows. I’ll show you more pictures for reference:
Apply it along three-quarters of your brow line, but leave the ends of your brows bare. Concentrate the color near your nose and the inner corners of your eyes, then blend it out.
Step Five:
Using the same brush you did for the first shadow, apply the gold-bronze color under your bottom lashes and at the inner corners of your eyes, blending it into the pink and champagne shades. This will unify all the shadows and make your eyes pop. (Imagine I said that with spirit fingers! *POP*)
Step Six:
Outline your lips in blue lipstick, using a lip brush for precision. You may want to exaggerate your cupid’s bow (the top points of your lips) like the Yohji makeup artists did that on the models at the show. Also, I think it makes you look like a boss.
Step Seven:
Fill in the blue outline with pink or purple lipstick. It’s OK if it’s a little messy, since it’ll blend into the blue anyway and create a cool ombré effect.
Step Eight:
Do your base makeup after your eyes and lips to combat eye fallout shadow and clean up your lip line. I just spot-concealed, but you can do whatever your normal routine is here.
Step Nine:
Set your base makeup with a finishing powder. I used one lighter than my skin because I wanted to be pale and dead-looking.
Step Ten:
Optional: Dot on a fake beauty mark using your liquid liner. The Yohji artists used a black pencil, but I decided to go with something less likely to smudge since I frequently facedesk and/or clutch my face dramatically while listening to Beyoncé.
Voilà! An iconic look to bring out for a party, or also just because. Looking like a space punk from the ’80s on an otherwise normal day is so much fun—people get so confused at all your G L A M O R. Have fun with color, friends!!! ♦