Marilyn Monroe - Early on, Marilyn was told to perm and straighten her hair to better define her curls.
According to the author Pamela Keogh, Monroe had her hair bleached every three weeks with a roster of hairstylists including Pearl Porterfield (who also tended to Jean Harlow's pale blonde hair) and Kenneth Battelle.
Marilyn Monroe's hairstyle captured the world with tight tousled curls perfectly placed and created one of the most desired and seductive hairstyles of all time. Her signature-bleached-blonde hair color and retro waves were her most prominent features, which appealed to the masses and never went out of style.
In 1950, Norma purchased herself a bottle of peroxide dye before heading to a screen test. Entering her bathroom a natural curly-haired redhead, Norma emerged as the most iconic blonde of all time: Marilyn Monroe. Yep, you read right, Marilyn Monroe's natural hair colour is red.
Her favourite shade of blonde
According to Vogue, the author Pamela Keogh noted that Monroe had her hair bleached every three weeks and swore by dry shampoo— baby powder on her roots.
Apparently uninterested in harvesting her own hair (we really don't blame her), Monroe opted for a hair extension extension instead.
Cut Lashes in Half
To create the perfect eye shape, Marilyn cut her lashes in half. Then, she placed these half lashes towards the outer corners of the eye. This gives the eyes some extra glamour, but looks surprisingly natural.
Monroe's natural eye color was most likely to be blue, as recorded in her sister's autobiography (48) – “but our eyes were different … Norma Jeane's were blue like our mother's” – and on her autopsy report (49), in addition to Capote's description of her “blue-grey eyes” while wearing glasses (46).
To get her signature on-camera glow, Monroe would apply thick layers of Vaseline or white Nivea Creme under her makeup, while dermatologist Erno Laszlo kept her well stocked in his Phormula 3-9—a reparative botanical balm, specially created to heal a scar of hers—and Active Phelityl Cream, an all-purpose moisturizer.
Marilyn Monroe: Floris Rose Geranium
Like millions of other women, Monroe was a fan of Chanel No 5. However, in 2002, it was revealed that she also had a secret penchant for Floris Rose Geranium.
She was a natural blonde
Monroe, who joined her first modeling agency as a curly haired brunette, was dedicated to doing whatever it took to get noticed. She started lightening her hair in the mid-1940s and was instantly hooked.
Marilyn may have had a milky complexion, but every skin tone can benefit from avoiding the sun's harmful rays. “I'm personally opposed to a deep tan because I like to feel blonde all over,” Monroe reportedly once said.
Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson on June 1, 1926, at the Los Angeles General Hospital in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Gladys Pearl Baker (née Monroe; 1902–1984), was born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico to a poor Midwestern family who migrated to California at the turn of the century.
Monroe's famous sleepy bedroom eyes are actually a makeup trick, using eye shadow and white eyeliner to elongate the lower lash line to help eyes appear bigger and brighter.
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn's famous beauty mark was on her right cheek above her lip. She used to highlight the mole slightly with makeup. While she was alive and thriving in Hollywood, all the young girls and women of America went crazy following the beauty trends she set.
Marilyn Monroe
Early on, Marilyn was told to perm and straighten her hair to better define her curls.
The classic red shade Marilyn so often wore on her nails was revealed to be the Revlon colour 'Cherries a la Mode' which the brand has since sadly discontinued.
Marilyn Monroe's eye makeup
Marilyn was known for her sultry, sleepy-looking eyes that always made her look effortlessly sexy on and off the screen and it turns out, they were the result of a very clever hack.
Meet Norma Jeane, before the platinum blonde hair and red lips. With her platinum blonde hair and signature red lipstick, Marilyn Monroe easily had one of the most iconic looks of all time.
For the most part, Marilyn's hair was always cut in a short- to medium-length bob. The Marilyn look can be replicated on a variety of lengths, but a shorter cut will give you the tighter curl, more Marilyn than Veronica Lake's equally popular loose, peekaboo waves.
Monroe was recounting an anecdote for Time magazine in which she said she was constantly asked what she wore to bed. In response, she answered “Chanel No. 5.” The iconic perfume has been around since 1921, if you can believe it.
Monroe famously didn't wear clothes to bed, stating that pyjamas and “creepy nightgowns” disturbed her sleep. What she did wear, however, was five drops of Chanel No. 5, a perfume that she is also said to have added into her ice baths. “You know, they ask me questions,” she said in an interview.
A recent discovery from Chanel's archives has produced a never-before-heard sound clip of Marie Claire editor-in-chief Georges Belmont interviewing Monroe in 1960 for her film "Let's Make Love," whereupon she revealed that all she wears to bed is Chanel No. 5!