10 Step Mod Makeup Routine That Anyone Can Do
We may earn a commission if you click on a link, but at no extra cost to you. Read our disclosure policy for information.
My all-time favorite when it comes to makeup is always the 10 step mod makeup routine that anyone can do.
It’s one of the rare looks that can take you straight from the office to a party with no last-minute scrambling in the Uber and can give red lipstick a run for its money.
Maybe you can relate, especially if you’re like me running out the door already a good 40 minutes late for wherever I’m supposed to be.
A swipe of my favorite shade of nude and suddenly I’m 10% more prepared.
Contrary to popular belief, nude lipstick hasn’t been around for only the last decade.
It’s certainly made a comeback, but it had already gained massive popularity back in the ’60s.
Contents
10 Step Mod Makeup Routine That Anyone Can Do
That’s why we’ve created a tutorial of a 10 step mod makeup routine that anyone can do.
How It All Started
Mod. Not a word you hear very often.
Coined in the 1950s, mod stood for the term ‘modernist’ and it referred to modern jazz.
But when it comes to the 1960s, it would mean so much more than that.
It would be a word you used to describe yourself.
A word that screamed youth and rebellion, you could mean a lot of things when you said ‘mod’- a lifestyle, music or, most importantly, high-end fashion.
These factors ultimately convened into changing how people wore their make-up, ergo, more natural makeup styles transformed into bigger eyes and eyelashes for miles.
Mod marked the beginning of a lot of trends that have become staples today.
False eyelashes and nude lipstick, I’m looking at you.
But Why Mod?
How did the bright colors of the 1950s turn into heavy black and white eye makeup, a few years later? – Simple!
Baby boomers were coming of age then and they had three things that fashion needed- youth, disposable income, and an irrepressible streak of rebellion.
Enter London and with it Mary Quant.
After running a very successful fashion line, she turned to build a revolutionary cosmetic range, centered around the Mod fashion movement.
There was no turning back now. Make-up had changed forever.
Bold patterns were watered down into softer looks while dramatic eye make-up took center stage.
Heavy and almost geometric, the rules were simple when it came to eye definition- no blending.
Stores opened up in Carnaby Street and Kings Road, before making their way to the rest of the world.
The fashion industry had found the perfect customers and they were not about to let them down.
They designed and advertised for the youth and the youth came a-knocking, sporting short bobs and spouting feminism, ready to do what it takes to get it going with high fashion.
Music had a lot to do with it too.
Motown, pop, and psychedelic rock were blasting through the cities and everyone walked, talked, and acted like it.
Can you picture it?
A group of teenagers and young adults wearing fitted turtlenecks and miniskirts with dark, contrasting makeup, moving in sync with a loud, frenzied rock?
Where’s a time machine when you need one?
Icons like Twiggy and Peggy Moffit were the benchmarks when it came to mods and girls aspired to be like them.
Soon, other celebs joined in and one thing was clear, mod makeup was here to stay.
Read on to find out how you can retreat the mod look, in ten easy steps or less.
Jean Shrimpton – Classic 60s
Step 1: Start With a High Coverage Foundation
We’re going to go with a more done-up look for this one.
So this isn’t going to be a dewy look, it’s going to be on the heavier side.
Try the Nyx Can’t Stop Won’t Stop foundation.
Work your foundation into the skin, be thorough.
Step 2: Choose a Concealer
Pick one that is two steps lighter than your skin and apply it in a v-shape under your eyes.
Apply small amounts of concealer along the bridge of your nose as well as the tip and any other areas of your face that you might want to be highlighted.
The idea is to brighten the center of your face, something you’ll notice Jean Shrimpton did in most of her photos.
Don’t go overboard with this and blend well.
Your usual foundation brush should do the trick.
The only goal here is to blend well, so pick a brush you are comfortable blending with.
Step 3: We’re Going To Contour Now
Jean Shrimpton had a very chiseled, mature face.
Also, since your eyes are going to be round and big for this makeup look it’s a good idea to bring sharp contours into the look, to balance it out.
Brush a cool-toned contour under your cheekbones.
If you have trouble locating this, then suck your cheeks in.
You know, the famous fish-face.
Sweep the contour along this area, blending as you go.
Don’t forget to apply the contour under the jawline.
Remember, the right shade of contour is two shades darker than your skin tone or the shade of your foundation.
Do not forget about the nose contour.
Sweep your contour with a small, blending brush on either edge of your nose.
Make sure you do not put on too much or in thick lines.
It should resemble two fine lines on either side of the bridge of your nose.
Coming to the tip of your nose, draw two tiny lines with your contour brush from both sides.
This would essentially look like a tiny arrow pointing downwards towards your lips.
Now that you’ve tackled the bridge and tip of your nose, don’t forget to shade in the above inner corner of your eye, right under the start of your nose.
You can do this by drawing a short straight line right from the beginning of your eyebrows, down to a third of the length of your nose.
This is important as it’ll create the definition needed for the dramatic eye look we’re going for.
Step 4: Time To Set Your Base
Add some setting powder to the highlighted areas of your face (the areas you put the concealer on).
Try the Revlon Photoready Translucent Finisher.
Sweep bronze over the contoured areas of your face so that these settings too.
Highlight! Sweep a little highlighter on the tops of your cheekbones.
Don’t go overboard with this one, we aren’t going for a dewy, moisturized look with this one.
We’re going to focus on being as matte about this as possible.
Step 5: Blush
This is optional, you can skip this.
Sweep this one along the apples of your cheeks for good measure.
Step 6: And Now, The Eyes
Try the Too Faced Natural lust palette.
This palette is super pigmented which is a must for this look.
Make sure your eyes are primed before you start with the eyeshadows.
So we’re talking concealer and setting powder here.
That’s going to be the canvas you start with.
Now that that’s done, sweep a pearly white eyeshadow all over your eyelid.
Make sure it’s bright and even.
Don’t forget the inner corner of your eyes.
Invest in a good blending brush.
This makes a giant difference.
Now for the crease, go for a combination of yellow gold and dingy green.
Work this well into the crease.
Blend slightly, so that the line blurs but not so much that it completely merges in with the base eyeshadow.
We’re going to create a definition here and set the stage for the exaggerated crease line that we’ll draw in later.
Now draw a line from the outward corner of your eye, upwards to meet the eye-crease.
Use the same two colors.
This is going to open up your eyes while giving it a more elongated look at the same time.
Sweep the green color under your lower lash line as well.
Step 7: The Main Course
The iconic crease line – black and grey are going to be our main shades here and we’ll go heavier on the inner and outer corners of the eye.
Alternate between the colors as you work on the crease and go back and forth along this line.
Now take a bronze shade of eyeshadow and blend above the black and then come back down and touch up the crease with more black, to create more depth.
This is going to create a smoldering effect.
This line will be quite sharp, you can go in with a pencil too if doing this with just an eyeshadow is difficult.
The more defined the better, so don’t hold back.
It’s time to line up those eyes – be very very careful when you’re doing this.
This is going to look a lot like a wing, but not quite.
Just like you did with the shadow, draw a small line with your liner, move upwards till you meet your crease.
This mark will be slightly outward but not too much.
Just follow the natural shape of your eye.
Just like you would have done with a neat, defined wing.
Do not leave any part of your eye out, line all of it closely, starting from the inner corner of your eye.
Your look is going to come together at this point and your eyes are going to look oh so dramatic now.
Step 8: Dot Your Lower Lash Line
Do not draw a single line on your lower lash line, break it up into smaller segments so what you’ll have now is a dotted line on your lower lash line.
Step 9: Time To Get Your Lashes On
Line a thin layer of eyelash glue on your fake eyelashes and carefully place it above your top lash line.
Apply your mascara to blend these two sets of lashes in.
Too faced better than sex is an iconic favorite, but you can even use any brand really as long as it does the job.
Don’t forget about your lower lash line.
They need mascara too.
Step 10: The Last Step, Do The Lips
Line your lip with a nude lip liner, go for a peachy nude here, nothing too dark.
The idea here is to go easy on the lips so that the focus is on the eyes.
Fill in with your favorite nude lipstick but it should be very underrated like I said, you don’t want to draw attention away from the eyes you worked so hard on.
Fill in your eyebrows and do not pencil it in too much as mod demands for the eyebrows to be thick and natural.
Spritz on setting spray and you’re good to go!
That concludes the mod makeup look inspired by Jean Shrimpton.
Of course, if you want to do it right you can recreate her hair and the clothing as well.
So, for the hair you’d have to go for a short bob, reaching to inches below your chin with bangs that reach below your eyebrows.
This rounder hairstyle will look great and it will go with your chiseled, contoured face.
Put on a mid-length black dress and you’re all set.
Twiggy – Classic 60s Look
Step 1: Prep
Prep your skin with moisturizer.
Put on a full coverage foundation.
Blend well.
The steps for this are the same when you’re building a base.
This look is going to be more eccentric but it’s going to be simpler in terms of what you’re going to have to do in terms of getting there.
To build your base, prep your eyes and lips.
Always, always contour.
Done? – Now we move on to the freckles.
Step 2: Drawing The Freckles
Take a thin brush, thin enough for you to be able to draw tiny dots on your face that will pass off as freckles.
You can use the sharper edge of your eyebrow brush, these brushes usually tend to have slanted edges.
This would be perfect.
Next dip into your eyeshadow or eyebrow powder.
Either will work but a long-lasting eyebrow palette like Benefit Ka-Brow would work best.
The application that comes with this would be great too but you can make do with other products too.
Draw tiny dots all over your cheek, starting from a little further down from the eyes.
The intensity depends on you, you can draw deeper more frequent spots or lighter and more sparse.
No rules here, have fun with it.
Pat over your skin once you’re done to give it a natural look.
Step 3: Eyebrows
Just like with the previous makeup look, we’re going to make sure the eyebrows have a very natural look.
That was the signature make-up look in the ’60s.
Don’t fill your eyebrows in too much.
Step 4: Eyeshadow
Now take a fine brush, and brown eyeshadow powder and start working on the eye-crease.
You could use a brown eye pencil since the idea is to draw a brown line, along the crease of your eye.
No blending – you should have a half-moon shape on your eyelid now.
Now go in with a bronze eye-shadow and start directly on top of the crease.
Blend in slightly with the brown line, remember to blend the brown line into the bronze layer and not the other way around.
You want to soften the look of the crease at this point, before going in the brown pencil again to refine the crease.
Erase any mistakes with a makeup wipe and once you have the final version drawn on the crease in brown, go in for one last time with a black liner.
The idea is to make this as vivid as possible and this is the perfect way to draw a cut-crease without messing up the rest of the look.
Go in one last time with a pearl white powder or pencil, fill in the rest of the lid.
Of course, if you have incredibly steady hands you can skip all of this and go right into the final cut-crease.
You have to make sure both sides are identical which is why it’s important to outline first.
Go ahead and draw a thin white stroke right under your lash line.
Step 5: Eyeliner
Line your eyes with a black liner.
Don’t go for a wing this time, you don’t want too many things going on at the same time here.
Draw tiny lines under your bottom lash you could keep these lines straight or curve them a little, anything goes.
Fill your lips in with something in a peachy color, we’re not going with nude for this one.
The lips are going to be glossy, a bit unusual for the ’60s.
Step 6: We’re Almost There – It’s Time For Lashes
Attach a thick pair of eyelashes and follow up with mascara.
This opens the eyes up you need to see it to believe it.
You can skip out on the eyelashes but the look would just be more accurate with a pair.
Step 7: Eyelashes
If you happen to have sensitive eyes, you could skip out on the mascara but you’d need a very good mascara to make up for that.
If going for false eyelashes, go for the ones by Anastasia Beverly Hills.
Try the LANCÔME Monsieur Big Mascara.
It lengthens and it’s great for sensitive eyes.
It’s an added plus if you wear contact lenses and don’t have good reactions to eyelash glue.
Think pink shimmery lips, dramatic eyeliner, and faint drawn on freckles.
It’s hard to go wrong with this one
That wraps up the makeup for this look.
To lock this down, go for a low side-parted bun and a pink mini-dress, something Twiggy was often seen in.
Colorful Mod- Jean Shrimpton Again
The beauty of the ’60s was the diversity that existed in the realms of fashion.
There were trends, there were rules but there was always someone who broke them.
So even though black and white was the anthem, mod style icons didn’t mind mixing it up now and then.
So this one is going to be floral and colorful and is an iconic Jean Shrimpton look that you may already know.
Base
Like always, go for a high coverage foundation for this look.
Mod hadn’t taken the dewy look under its wing until the very end of the ’60s, so we’re going to stay true to tradition here.
Layer concealer on in a v-shape under your eyes and everywhere else you want to draw attention to.
You’ll remember that Jean Shrimpton liked to draw attention to the center of her face, so feel free to do that.
She liked to layer concealer on her chin, jawline, the sides of her nose, and of course, under her eyes.
Contour
Just like we did in the first look, we’re going to make sure the contour is sharp as her face was very chiseled.
We’re going to focus on her nose especially as Jean had a very distinct nose.
It was button-like and sharp at the same time so make sure your contour starts right under your eyebrow.
Draw two small lines on the tip of your nose, making sure it points downwards.
This will make your nose look more pointed.
Eyebrows
Let’s get this out of the way before we get started on the eyeshadows.
Remember, Mod was all about the eyes, this makeup style did everything it could to draw attention to the eyes.
Eyes
Blend in the eye-crease with a coppery shade you could use Revlon Photoready Shadow + Sparkle but any pigmented eye-shadow will do.
Blend, but do not lose the line, the crease should still be very clear but a bit softer on the edges.
Following this, go in with a light purple eyeshadow.
I think the closest color to this look would be lilac.
You want to make sure that it’s pigmented but glide over your lids.
You don’t want the color to deepen by building up.
It’s important to remember that this look is floral and needs to have fun, breezy colors in it.
At this point, you should have your look halfway done with copper above the crease and lilac below, separated by a soft brown crease.
Go in with your liner and this time we’re going to draw a beautiful, longwing, starting right from the inner corner of your eye.
This iconic look has a sharper tip on the inner corner so extend your liner by a little.
Sweep your lower lash line with copper eyeshadow and blend downwards.
Put on your eyelashes and you’re good to go.
Wear this look with tumbling curls, or go all out with a flower crown on your head as Jean did.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it, three iconic looks.
I hope you have fun recreating these looks following our 10 step mod makeup routine that anyone can do tutorial.
Whether it’s Halloween or just an evening out when you want to shake things up, it’s hard to go wrong with Mod.
And when in doubt, ask yourself, what would Twiggy do?
Which look is your favorite? – Leave your thoughts in the comments below.