Beauty Sightings and Inspiration: Burlesque

Let's get one thing straight: I absolutely hate this movie. I think it was a glossy, predictable, trope-tacular Christina Aguilera vehicle that let her overrated hog-calling steamroll across some truly talented people (Stanley Tucci and Cher, to name a few), leaving an embarrassment of a film in its wake. But, uh...the makeup is pretty. It's really pretty. And we all know I'm a sucker for pretty makeup, especially if three of the main features are red lipsticks, winged eyeliner, and bucketloads of highlighter.

FYI, there are some beauty breakdowns for Burlesque available on Makeup411.com. Here's one for Christina and one for Cher. I refuse to refer to them by their fictional names because Aguilera is a dreadful actress who played a blatant Mary Sue and Cher is so far beyond this trash.

OPI nail polishes on Christina's dresser back home, and I think there's some handcream, too.

Cher holding an exceptionally 90s-esque gloss: frosty and taupe!

A purse exploding to reveal another OPI polish and what I'm 75% sure is a NYX lip gloss.

One of the Sue Devitt Eye Intensifier pencils! I'm pretty sure that brand is defunct now, which is a real shame; they had some beautiful products.

That big, white tube of what is most likely body cream and that bottle full of translucent orange liquid pops up on almost every vanity in this movie. Anybody recognize them?

An Estee Lauder lipliner.

Smashbox brushes appear to be a favorite in this movie! I only took this one shot, but trust me, there are plenty more; the Smashbox blush brush looks particularly popular.

A quick vanity shot.

Christina's makeup. That powder in the middle is definitely Smashbox, and I think the red gloss is either Smashbox or NARS--anybody want to confirm?

And now the inspiration photos! Burlesque gets a lot of comparisons to Showgirls, and while I think the latter is far less trite and, honestly, a bit more watchable, I have to say that it's a fair comparison as far as makeup goes. We're dealing with characters who perform in over-the-top shows, so the makeup is going to be suited to that. The makeup in Burlesque is a bit more finessed, though, probably because this is a film made after the advent of HD: you can't be anything less than perfect as a makeup artist if you want your clients to look good.

 

Swatches: Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream and Becca Radiant Skin Satin Finish Foundation

I sure do take my good, sweet time when it comes to foundation swatches, don't I? My apologies; I should've had these up months ago. Hopefully, they're still helpful! And if it makes you feel better, neither product has a shade match for me.

As per usual, there's a shot with flash/artificial light (top) and a shot in filtered daylight (bottom).

Up first is the Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream. Sorry about the slightly meager, sloppy swatches; the samples were pretty tiny. I swatched these on my inner arm, which is roughly N5, so I'd guesstimate that the lightest shade--Fair--is about NW15-20. All of these shades seem to have incredibly pink/red undertones.

This is the Becca Radiant Skin Satin Finish foundation, which I've actually tried in Shell. I swatched these on the top of my arm (so yeah, sorry about those arm hairs...), which is about N15 right now. Based on that you'd think Shell would work for me...but it's far more yellow than it looks. When I tried it on my face, it looked downright GREEN, and I washed it off after all of 15 minutes. Porcelain is uber-pink, but quite fair. I'd guesstimate that Porcelain is about NW10 (which very strong pink undertones) and Shell is around NC15 (which very strong golden-yellow undertones). Buff and Buttercup are almost identical in shade depth; the major difference appears to be the undertone.

Also, the Becca samples were super-generous, so huzzah! :)