Sometimes I take my looks seriously, dry-brushing before a shower or using a hair mask, and I think to myself, Wow, I'm really serious about this whole beauty thing. Look out, world! I'm pretty great sometimes. Then, I read an article about some or other form of extreme Kardashian Kontouring and I remember that I'm just a small fish in a big beauty pond.
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Recently, I discovered that my childhood beauty icon, Audrey Hepburn (I wanted to be a lady), had a pretty intense beauty trick to make her eyelashes appear magical yet free of clumps. In fact, a lot of old-school Hollywood icons were rumored to have some pretty nifty beauty — read: bananas — tricks they did on the reg.
Audrey Hepburn
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The actress used to have her makeup artist, Alberto De Rossi, separate every single eyelash with a pin after every layer of mascara was applied so that her lashes, while thick and lengthy, wouldn't have any clumps in them (because embracing clumps in a newer trend). Tha's how she achieved that doe-eyed look.
I don't know about you, but I'm ok with a few clumps if it means that a pin doesn't come anywhere near my eyeball.
Mae West
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Apparently this isn't as unorthodox as I thought -- Many people followed suit --but the 1930s movie star is said to have began every day with an enema to rid her body of toxins and maintain her energy.
To each their own, but I think I'll rather be full of "toxins" ans sluggish than have to endure a daily enema.
Marilyn Monroe
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Famous for a lot of crazy shit, Marilyn Monroe is rumoured to have used 5 different lipsticksto contour her lips and make them looked fuller (Kylie Jenner, eat your heart out).
Of course this isn't the strangest thing this actress ever did: She allegedly put hormone cream all over her face (layered with Vaseline and other lotions) to look "blonde all over". This whitening technique eventually caused peach fuzz to grow all over her face and, while Hollywood execs insited that she shaved it off, she refused, claiming that it gave her face a "soft glow", without having to be photographed with special lenses.
Hey, I'd do anything to have blonder hair, so I get her quest for blonde... skin?
Joan Crawford
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The Hollywood legend used to chew gum in the belief that it tautened her jaw and removed toxins from below her chin (Do chins have many toxins? Is this a concern?). And, after every time she washed her face, she would splash it with ice cold water 25 times.
Marlene Dietrich
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Because contouring your cheekbones just doesn't cut it. Marlene Dietrich, achieved her sculpted look by using usrgical tape to pull her skin back, and hair pins to pull her hair tighter, giving her face a more lifted appearance. If that isn't extreme enough, its rumoured that she removed several molars to pronounced her cheekbones more.
I've had teeth pulled before, and I'd rather just not have any cheekbones whatsover, tbqh.
Rita Hayworth
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Born Margarita Carmen Cansino, Hayworth, unfortunately, had to undergo several procedures to fit into Hollywood's image of the time. She under went year long electrolysis to move her hairline an entire inch back and was said to have dyed her hair every three days to get rid of her black roots (imagine that I said something witty about erasing her Latin roots here).
Elizabeth Taylor
This one has actually caught on again in recent times: Liz used to shave her face to eliminate her dark peach fuzz and exfoliate at the same time, giving her a smooth, hairless foundation.
Would you try any of these? Have you tried any of them? What's the craziest beauty trick you've ever heard about?
By Christina