I posted a makeup look on my Instagram yesterday and asked people to guess who inspired it. I had some great guesses like Dita Von Teese, Anne Hathaway, Lily Collins, Debi Mazar, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Katie Jane Hughes. It was quite a classic look with strong brows, a small cat eye and full red lips. so it really could have been any of those people but it was in fact the beautiful Selena Quintanilla. For anyone who hasn't heard of Selena, she was a Mexican-American recording artist born in Texas and known as the "Queen of Tejano music". Tejano is a style of music originating in the Texas- Mexico border region.
Sadly Selena is probably most famous for her death. She was murdered in 1995 when she was just 23 years old by Yolanda Saldívar, the president of the Selena fan club who had also been managing one of her boutiques in San Antonio. Selena and her family suspected Saldívar was embezzling money from the fan club and boutique and on March 31st 1995, Selena met with Yolanda to discuss her suspicions. She shot Selena in the back and she later died in hospital. Yolanda Saldívar is currently serving a life sentence.
Selena's untimely death has overshadowed her career which was at its peak at the time she was murdered. She won a grammy in 1993 for best Mexican-American album and had recorded her first English language album, Dreaming of You, which she was hoping would be her crossover album for success in the US. It topped the Billboard charts in August of 1995 four months after her death. She was played by Jennifer Lopez in a 1997 film about her and there is a Netflix series based on her life due to be released this Summer.
There is so much more I could write about her incredible achievements from her short life but instead I'd encourage you to read about her yourself and listen to her music. She was so talented, her voice was incredible and she was by all accounts a wonderful woman who was taken from the world too soon.
As you can see Selena was also incredibly beautiful with a signature style and makeup look (she was compared to Madonna for her style). The other day I was inspired to create a makeup look based on the one she wore so often. Natural skin, bold early nineties brows, some slight definition of the eyes and a small cat eye with fluttery outer corner lashes and full red lips in a signature shade which was supposedly a shade called 'Brick' by Chanel which sadly has since been discontinued. It's pretty much a classic fifties Hollywood look but with a nineties twist with the shape of the brows and the lined lips. I wasn't trying to emulate her or look exactly like her at all. I just wanted to create my own modern version of her beautiful and glamorous, classic look that suited her so much.
I wanted to keep my skin looking quite natural and luminous so I used a combination of Glossier Futuredew and the No7 HydraLuminous foundation which is one of my favourite foundations I've ever used. I'm almost finished my second bottle of it and I will be definitely buying it again.
I used the Urban Decay Inked Brow on my eyebrows as I wanted to make them look darker and more groomed, not as bushy as they usually are. I tried to get as thin a shape as I could considering how big my eyebrows are at the moment. I then gave some soft definition to my eyelids with some matte eyeshadows and a thin line of Glossier Pro Tip as Selena's signature eye look usually had a very thin cat eye just to elongate her eyes. I added some mascara and a few individual eyelashes from Ardell at the very outer corners of my eyes for a more winged out look. It's a fairly simple and classic eye makeup that you could wear anywhere. You could use a thin angled brush and some black eyeshadow too if you aren't crazy about liquid liner.
Fenty Beauty 'Ma'damn', MAC 'Ruby Woo', Charlotte Tilbury 'Red Carpet Red', Lisa Eldridge 'Velvet Ribbon', Pat McGrath 'Elson', No7 'Brick'
No7 HydraLuminous Moisturising Foundation (Porcelain)
Fenty Beauty Match Stix Matte Skinstick (Amber)
Milk Makeup Matte Bronzer (Baked)
*IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer (Light/Ultra Fair)
*Urban Decay Inked Brow Longwear Brow Gel (Dark Drapes)
Glossier Boy Brow Grooming Pomade (Brown)
Kevyn Aucoin Eyelash Curler
*Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion
*Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics Palette (Slow, Nudie, Tempted and Faith) Out of stock but the Naked 2 Basics palette has ver similar shades
*Glossier Pro Tip Brush Point Liquid Eyeliner
Milk Makeup Kush Mascara
*bareMinerals bareSkin Complete Coverage Serum Concealer (Fair)
Glossier Cloud Paint (Dusk)
Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless Filter (Fair)
No7 Precision Lips Pencil (Fire)
Fenty Beauty Mattemoiselle Plush Lipstick (Ma'damn)
*IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores Powder
Pixi Glow Mist
Ardell Individuals Duralash Naturals Knot-Free Short
Duo Eyelash Adhesive Dark
To finish off my skin I did some light contouring and bronzing and a hint of a neutral blush as the main focus of Selena's makeup was always brows, eyes and lips. I lined my lips with two different liners, one true red and a darker red to contour my lips very slightly. I then applied the closest shade I had to Selena's signature red which is the shade Ma'damn from the Fenty Beauty Mattemoiselle Lipstick range. It was actually my first time using it and I loved how it felt and looked on my lips. I swatched some similar shades above so hopefully you can see how it compares to other red lipsticks. I brought the colour right to the edges of my lips and used a lip brush to get a precise line so that they looked as full possible without over lining them too much. I've done variations on the look for years and it's always one I come back to when I want to feel good about myself. I'd even go so far as to say it's probably my "signature" look too. I hope you like the look and that I did Selena's makeup justice. I wanted to add some details about her too rather than just referencing her makeup. Let me know what you think and whether you've heard of Selena.
Emma x
*PR Samples
**Glossier products are affiliate links, if you choose to shop via those links I will receive a small percentage of the sale but it won't cost you anything extra.
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