Get Dressed With Me For The Great Gatsby Party

Have you ever heard about The Great Gatsby Party? These festive parties have been going on all over the country to celebrate. Everything from the roaring 20s and named after the classic book The Great Gatsby. I recently attended The Great Gatsby party in Los Angeles and I had an amazing time. In this article I’ll share where I found my costume, my 20s inspired makeup, and more! Let’s get started.

Flapper Costume

I found an amazing gold and black v-neck Art Deco flapper dress on Amazon. The dress also included 1920’s accessories like earrings, fishnet stockings, stain gloves, feather headband , cigarette holder, brooch, pearl necklace and bracelet for around $56. Consider that it had everything I needed, I thought this was a great deal and convenient. 

Shoes

After a little research on the type of shoes that women wore in the Roaring 20s, I found a pair of black T-Strap Mid Heel Dress Pumps for $40 on Amazon. They didn’t have wide widith shoes so I went a half size up to accommodate my feet if they swelled while I was dancing.

One word of advice is to make sure that you break them in before the party. Unfortunately, I neglected to follow my own advice and had to wear them while doing my make-up to get used to them. The shoes ended up working out fine and were actually pretty comfortable and easy to walk in. 

Purse

I figured if I had to dress the part that I would go all the way, so I also purchased a 1920’s style gold rhinestone clutch evening bag purse, and I can definitely use this bag again for other parties during the holiday season. 

Makeup

To complete my Great Gatsby look the makeup had to be on point, so I went to Youtube and watched a few tutorials on the makeup that women used to wear in the 20s and how I can do a modern version of the same look. I decided to focus on a dark brown smokey eye and red lipstick. I have a complete tutorial that I will be posting on my Youtube channel in next few weeks to show you my take on 1920s makeup. Here is a quick breakdown of the products that I used to achieve my 1920 Flapper look. It took me about an hour to get ready. 

Primer and setting spray – M.A.C Studio Fix It Setting Spray. I recently have been starting my makeup routine with priming my face with Fix It Spray. It has done wonders in making sure that my makeup last longer.

Foundation – M.A.C Studio Fix Liquid Foundation in NC 44

Foundation Powder – M.A.C Studio Fix Foundation in NC 45

Lips – Wet and Wild in the color Cherry Frost. Side note: I’m not a fan of red lipstick but it only seemed fitting to wear red lipstick for this look and lined my lips with M.A.C. Cosmetics lip pencil in the color Cork. 

Eyes

For the Gatsby Era eye makeup is a stable of glamorous parties and mink stoles. I knew that I wanted a dramatic eye makeup but I didn’t want to look too vampire like the way silent movie actresses wore their makeup. If I was going to stay true to the role that I was playing but still look modern, I would need to use browns instead of the black eyeshadow that I intended to use. 

Eyeshadow Primer – M.A.C. Paint Pot Layin Low- I use this primer every day to give my eyeshadow something to hold onto. It’s a great base and doesn’t crease. 

Eyeshadow

False Eyelash were a must! I picked up a set of Demi Eyelashes from Duo. They were the perfect style for me. I did cut the lashes and placed them on the outer edge of my eyes.

Eye Liner – Loreal black pencil liner and layered with Elf liquid eyeliner. I wanted supper smokey eyes so I layered two eyeliners on top of each other. I smugged the pencil liner close to my lashline and added a thicker layer of liquid eyeliner over it. It might seem like over kill but I was very happy with the end result.

Eyebrows

For my eyebrows I used my go to BrowDuo and filled in my eyebrows. I went heavier than usual since I was wearing heavier makeup and used the dark brown shade on the outer corners of my eyebrows and the lighter brown shade in the center and middle to give the apperance of neatly shaped brows. 

Cheeks

I used an oldie but goodies blush which is by Merle Norman in the shade Pretty In Pink. In the 1920s women used a lot of rouge a.k.a.blush. In keeping with the style of that era I packed on the blush on the apples of my cheeks which gave some need life to my face. 

Wigs

Okay, I have to admit, I love a good wig. It makes life so much easier than spending hours doing your hair and putting excessive heat that damages your hair. I thought that this would be the easiest part of my look, but unfortunately I had a few mishaps with the wigs that I ordered off of Amazon. 

The first wig (or so I thought) was a deep finger wave style that was 12 inches. When it arrived it was actually a bundle that is used for weaves. Evidently I didn’t spend enough time reading the description.

 So I was forced to order another wig and I settled on a short finger wave bob wig. When it arrived it was not what I expected. The waves weren’t as defined as I wanted and the wig was cut in such a way that it didn’t look good on me. 

The wig also didn’t have clips in the right area and I was afraid that I might have a wig mishap at the party and I know all the tricks to keep a wig secured to your head. I eventually reached for a longer style wavy wig that I already had but rarely wore and that worked out fine for me. 

I enjoy wearing longer wigs that have more body to it and my wig was already washed and prepared for the public. So all I had to do was pop on my wig, spray the front lace down with Got to be Glue and hit the road!

The Party

The party was a hit! I was lucky enough to be in the VIP section and enjoyed delicious cocktails and music provided by one of my best guy friends, singer  Sergio Vellatti. The best part was the music and dancing. I ended up going to the party alone but I met some nice people that I didn’t feel alone. My number one advice is to make sure you wear comfortable dancing shoes because you’ll be dancing all night! 

If you enjoyed reading about my adventure then you must read Solo Self-Care Birthday Trip To The Grand Canyon.