Beauty Crush: Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion
Many moons ago, a college film professor told me I reminded him of Catherine Deneuve's character in Repulsion. Stunned to be compared to Catherine Deneuve's character in anything, I thought to myself, "Wow, something I'm doing must be working."
Somehow I wasn't clued into the fact that he was talking not about my beauty routine—which, at the time, involved rousing myself at noon and haphazardly slapping on some tinted moisturizer to cover my tracks—but about a psychological resemblance occasioned by my final project, which was basically an arty, claustrophobic mess. When I saw the movie two years later, it all clicked into place. However, while Deneuve's character isn't one to emulate lifestyle-wise (for what it's worth, I've really been trying to get out more) her makeup look is still enviable.
Perversely, Polanski's films have always been a source of beauty inspiration—I've had both Mia Farrow's pixie cut from Rosemary's Baby and a rusty simulacrum of Sharon Tate's fiery locks in The Fearless Vampire Killers—but Repulsion is the one that sticks with me. Deneuve plays a young woman named Carol, who works, appropriately enough, in a beauty salon, though she surely ranks among the worst manicurists ever. She spends her free time barricaded in her apartment, locked in with her overactive imagination. As her madness escalates, though, her chic factor only seems to rise. Her look centers around what Zooey Deschanel once summarized as "bangs and eyes." Sachajuan volume powder should do you nicely for the hair; to re-create Deneuve's dramatic eyes, Hourglass Calligraphy Liner is a great start, not to mention the easiest liquid liner I've used. Lancome Hypnose Doll Lashes mascara delivers the necessary doe-eyed quotient. And vivid lipstick may be au courant right now, but Carol's look doesn't center around the lips. A touch of nude color like NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in Buenos Aires or Tarte LipSurgence in Buff is enough to complete the look. Rotting rabbit carcass and violent hallucinations not included.
Photos: Catherine Deneuve crawls across the apartment floor while filming a scene for 'Repulsion', 1965. (Top)
[Left to right] Sachajuan Volume Powder, Tarte Lip Surgence, Hourglass Calligraphy, NARS Buenos Aires Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil and Lancôme Hypnose Doll Lashes. Photos courtesy of Sachajuan | Tarte | Hourglass | NARS | Hypnose (Bottom)