Hey guys, it's Mi-Anne, and this is Beauty With Mi.
You might notice we're in a little bit of a different location.
That is because today's episode is not an ordinary one.
I've been thinking about adopting the beauty routines of iconic women throughout history
for some time now, the first of which is Marilyn Monroe.
Marilyn Monroe has been the object of constant fascination for over half a century now, but
I'll be honest when I say that I didn't really know much about her
before I started researching this video.
I thought of Marilyn as nothing more than a beacon of old Hollywood glamour, but I'll
tell you right now that I was so wrong.
I decided to adopt her routine and try it out for myself, but I first had to figure
out what Marilyn's approach to beauty was.
I talked to a couple of people, the first of which are the folks over at Erno Laszlo.
Erno Laszlo was a Hungarian dermatologist known for his bespoke treatments and products.
Hollywood elite like Audrey Hepburn, Jackie O, and of course, Marilyn Monroe were all
loyal patients.
Sadly, the Erno Laszlo Institute is no longer open, but the brand partners with an NYC salon
called JE'DERM, and I spoke with Kristy Watson, the Chief Marketing Director at Erno Laszlo,
to learn more about what Marilyn would've done on the day-to-day.
I was reading this...
It's amazing.
prescription, and it's crazy how much detail he goes into.
He had a morning ritual, he had an evening ritual if you were going out,
he had an evening ritual for when you came home.
He was customizing products for her.
She had her appendix removed and she had a big scar on her stomach, so he produced, it's
known today as phormula 3-9, but Marilyn Monroe's formulation was phormula 3-7.
It feels to me like she really trusted the doctor with her skin.
So, in addition to obviously following this very strict routine, Marilyn also came in
to the Erno Laszlo Institute.
What kind of treatments would she undergo?
She probably got a full-on treatment facial.
The double-cleanse probably happened.
He definitely did high frequency, which we have photos doing.
Again, the doctor was really ahead of his time.
He believed in, you know, inner-beauty, empowering women, so by understanding you as a person
and you know, what keeps you up at night, what your concerns are...
We have a quote from Marilyn stated, that says, "Dr. Erno Laszlo not only soothed my
skin, he soothed my soul."
Do you think she was really insecure about her skin?
I think she was insecure as a person.
Like, forget skincare.
The woman had eleven foster families, so we all know how that could actually really play
on your psyche a little bit.
Yeah, I think the question I'm grappling with on Marilyn and her approach to beauty is whether
or not she actually did find joy in it.
It is kind of this paradoxical thing where...
Yes, she did, but she was still like, riddled with insecurity.
We ask this question a lot in the brand.
Does Marilyn empower women?
Her approach on life, her approach... or does Marilyn make them sad?
But, she's iconic.
Clearly, Marilyn had a complex relationship with beauty, one that's not unlike what many
of us have today.
Is it a mask?
Is a confidence-booster?
Or is it both?
I couldn't do this story justice without learning more about Marilyn herself, so I called Dr.
Lois Banner, a professor emerita at the University of Southern California and the
author of Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox, a biography on the star.
She has become an icon; it has a lot to do with her early death.
It has a lot to do with the number of photos that were taken of her.
There were literally thousands of photos taken.
Death at an early age... that generally makes an icon in American culture.
They're frozen in time, and they're beauty remains.
Now, she was considering cosmetic surgery again before she died.
And she did get it once before?
A couple of things.
First of all, they pushed her hairline back with electrolysis.
They did that to all the major stars.
She had a bump on her nose.
They never entirely got rid of it.
She and her makeup artists, especially Whitey Snyder, they spent a great deal of time covering
that bump up on her nose because they hadn't gotten it off.
And the third thing that was done to her was that they put some kind of plate
in her lower jaw that...
Oh, yeah, yeah.
That would bring her chin up, but that wasn't completely successful either.
She spent hours before the mirror and with massage artists trying to keep the double
chin from showing.
Whitey Snyder said she knew many makeup tricks that not even the best makeup artists knew.
When she first came to Hollywood, she'd hung out with the makeup artists – them and the
publicists – when she was still just in her early twenties and in Hollywood.
She went to them to find out what she ought to do with herself, and they told her.
And she liked to put on a masquerade, so when she was in good shape, she'd take great care
with the makeup she was wearing.
Mostly, the commentators say she was perfect, and she had many flaws, many...
That's why she's so fascinating.
In her way, she was a real woman with an unbelievable ambition.
After watching countless tutorials and interviewing Dr. Banner and Kristy, it was time to put
Marilyn's routine to the test.
Marilyn's skincare routine was intense, with different processes for morning, evening,
and going out.
Fortunately for me, a handful of the products she used are still available from the brand,
but sadly, many of them are not, so I did my best to mimic what I could.
According to Marilyn's original skincare prescription from Erno Laszlo, her cleansing routine started
with a basin of warm water, which she used to cleanse her skin using
cleansing oils and bar soaps.
She was instructed to make a lather with the soap, and cleanse her face, washing it off
with no less than 30 splashes of water.
Marilyn was all about dewy, glowy skin, and was known to use anything from Nivea face
cream, to Erno Laszlo's cream to Vaseline all over her face before foundation.
Marilyn must've had pretty dry skin because the products she used are really rich.
My favorite, though, was the bar soap, which was surprisingly gentle and hydrating and
didn't leave my skin feeling tight or dry.
Once my skin was prepped, I moved on to makeup.
Using bits and pieces from Banner's book as well as makeup artist Lisa Eldridge's book
"Face Paint," I tried my best to recreate a look that Marilyn and her makeup artist,
Allan "Whitey" Snyder, would've done.
I went for a more full-coverage foundation, one that still looks like skin,
but is able to cover effectively.
According to Dr. Banner, Marilyn had facial hair she would've wanted to obscure, so I
think a fuller-coverage foundation would've been her go-to.
Then, once my base was on, I followed Eldridge's lead and dusted a frosty white shadow all
over my lid and onto my brow bone.
Some taupe shadow was then buffed into the crease for definition.
Marilyn was the queen of sexy, sultry eye makeup, and fluttery eyelashes were a mainstay
in her look.
She wore half sets on the outer third of her eye to create an elongated shape, and followed
up with brown – not black – eyeliner in a slightly winged-out shape.
Now, here comes the tricky part.
According to Eldridge, to create the illusion of an intensely full upper lash line, Marilyn's
makeup artist, Snyder, would draw a faux shadow using brown eyeshadow
on the star's bottom lash line.
It took me a few tries, but I was really surprised at how real this looks, especially in photos.
The technique of tracing brown shadow on your lower lash line then extending it slightly
to create a shadow-like effect does make it look like your eyelashes are larger than life.
That wasn't the only trick Marilyn had up her sleeve, though.
After filling in my eyebrows, I went in with some matte contour powder, which Marilyn wore
under her cheekbones and down the sides of her nose.
Marilyn had a couple of plastic surgeries in her lifetime.
According to Dr. Banner, though, her nose surgery wasn't all that successful, so Marilyn
turned to contour powder to give her nose the illusion of a higher bridge, not unlike
the techniques makeup artists and their celebrity clients do today.
Once my face was contoured, I moved on to blush and highlighter.
I applied blush to the apples of my cheeks, a touch on my forehead, and my nose,
and then dusted some highlighter on the high points of my cheeks.
Then comes the fun part: Marilyn's iconic red lip.
But, Marilyn didn't just apply it straight from the bullet and call it a day.
She often traced her lip line with a slightly deeper red lip liner and layered lipstick
overtop to create the illusion of fuller and juicier lips.
Marilyn wore a number of different red shades in her lifetime, but Guerlain's Diabolique
was one of her favorites.
The shade still exists in the brand's KissKiss range, but under a different name: Red Insolence.
And there you have it: Marilyn's iconic look.
I finished it off with a bit of brown eyeliner to mimic Marilyn's iconic beauty mark, and
I was good to go.
Through the research for this video, I started to see just how much of an impact Marilyn
Monroe has had on the beauty industry.
Countless products are named after her, dozens of tutorials crowd the internet, and even
at Kristy's auction of Marilyn's belongings in '99, her makeup bag sold for
hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Marilyn was a true beauty girl at heart.
Her skincare and makeup knowledge alone proved that she was super ahead of her time, but
she wasn't without her insecurities.
Marilyn clearly had a complicated approach to beauty, and it's something
that I still grapple with to this day.
Ultimately, though, Marilyn Monroe was real, and she was just like you or I.
I'm reminded of something Banner told me during our conversation: that despite Marilyn's flaws,
she was one of the most courageous and ambitious women of her time.
And that is something we can all strive for.
Thanks so much for watching guys, let me know what other iconic beauty routines you think
I should try by commenting down below.
And click here to subscribe to Refinery29.
Click here to watch another video.
And add me on Instagram @mianne.chan!
Thank you!