Bangtan Style: BTS “Young Forever” Makeup

Once again, apologies for the hiatus. I was in DC for a few days, fulfilling my tourist duties. But now I’m back home — and for quite some time, too — so I shouldn’t be disappearing anymore.

As for this post, it’s time to discuss some Korean pretty boy makeup.

Sorry in advance for the crappy pictures you’re about to see. Jin isn’t the most photogenic of people, but he’s the only one I had to work with.

Lol, just kidding ;P

No, but really: The pictures I took for this post are very low quality thanks to my phone camera apparently not functioning anymore in low lighting. Sigh. Whatever. I did the best I could with the brief amount of time I had in order to shoot the post, so just pretend like it’s 2005 and deal with it.

I’m so kind lol.

Anyway, click here for the previous post in the series. There will be no “next post” this time around because “Young Forever” is now officially over. If you’re interested at all in the next set of Bangtan Style I’ll be doing, feel free to click here for the first post in that (once it is up, of course).

Okay, let’s get started.

Bangtan Style: BTS “Young Forever” Makeup

So here is the makeup that all of the boys had on for the video, brought to you by two selfies from the lovely Jin, as I alluded to earlier.

It’s very, very neutral and surprisingly matte, which makes it a very easy look to both do and wear. It’s also a little autumnal, so it will be perfect as we start moving into late summer and early fall.

Wow. That kills me a little to say.

Anyway, here is my version:

Ughhhh. So many pixels TT

Sigh. Hopefully it’s not too awful for you to enjoy 😦

Now take a look below at all the specific products I used. (An explanation of what exactly I did with each them will follow.)

Products (moving clockwise from the Hourglass powder): Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light, Nars Dual-Intensity Eyeshadow in Himalia, Jelly Pong Pong Cosmetics All Over Glow Luminzer Gel, Ofra Banana Powder, Dr. Jart+ Premium BB Beauty Balm Multi-Action Skincare + Makeup SPF 45 in 01 Light-Medium, TONYMOLY Panda’s Dream Brightening Eye Base, Dior 5 Couleurs Couture Colour Eyeshadow Palette in 634 Golden Flower, Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Light2 Vanilla, Liberate Skin Pore Multi Trendsetter Sebum Clear Pore Mist, Makeup Geek blush in Soulmate, L’Oreal Voluminous Butterfly Mascara in Blackest Black 868, Bourjois Bronzing Powder in 52, Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer (Oil-Free), Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in 040 Soft Rose, Pixi Correction Concentrate Correction Concealer in Brightening Peach

It seems like a lot of products for an apparently natural look, I know. But I have really bad dark circles, so I have to bump up the amount of products I use in order to correct them.

#Struggles

Okay, explaining time! For basic skin:

Because it’s a neutral, natural, matte look, I stuck to my normal foundation routine, which always leads to a very nice no-makeup makeup appearance.

First up, I always use a pea-sized amount of my Smashbox primer, rub it around on my fingertips, then apply it directly to all areas of my face using small, gentle circles. In this case, I chose this particular primer because it not only keeps your makeup from budging all day long, but it also removes oil from your skin as you apply, making it the perfect start to a matte finish. And a nice bonus: The oil-free formula prevents extra grease from showing up on your face throughout the day, so you don’t have to worry about powdering or blotting or spraying or whatever in order to maintain your shine-free look.

I follow that with a bit of my Dr. Jart+ BB cream. I’m not a huge fan of this specific one, but it’s still not awful as foundations go. It’s just a little runnier than I like. The coverage, however, is still phenomenal, and it protects from sunburn like no other. So if you don’t mind thinner formulas, you’ll probably love this.

Anyway, to apply, I squeeze it onto my finger and then dot it onto all areas of my face, eventually blending it out using small-ish circular motions. I never use a brush to put on BB creams, mostly because brushes tend to absorb most of the product itself rather than actually applying it onto your face. I also feel like fingers just give a better finish. But if you prefer a brush, by all means, use a brush.

After foundation, I take care of my dark circles. I start with the Pixi concealer, using it as a brightening base and applying it in dabbing motions to my under eye with my finger. I follow that with a substantial swipe of Nars concealer near the end of my dark circles, blending it upward toward the lower eyelid using more fingers and gentle dabbing motions. Finally, I take the TONYMOLY eye brightener and dab it on everywhere under the eye, using the whiteness to try to distract from any darkness that may still be left.

Once again, this may seem excessive, but for this look, it’s very important to get a good skin base, for that’s basically what the entire look relies on: good skin.

Now for setting.

Normally, after concealer, I use Caudalie Eu de Beaute in order to set my foundation and powder. However, it leaves a rather radiant glow on the skin, so this time around, I opted for the facial spray you see above.

It has a powder in it that absorbs oil and leaves a very matte finish on the skin, so it’s perfect for achieving the rare matte-ness you see in the “Young Forever” MV. (I say rare only because looking sweaty and shiny is all the rage in Korean beauty right now.)

So once done with concealer, I give myself a few sprays of this, take a few swipes of the Banana Powder, and set the underneath of each eye. The yellow shade of the Banana Powder helps further remove any darkness the concealers didn’t take care of (which is always a lot for me). I follow it with a few swipes of Hourglass powder to set the rest of my face, then I use a bit more setting spray and continue on to contouring and blush.

To contour, I always use a pretty light powder or stick in order to avoid looking muddy or orange (because I’m pretty pale, so a lot of darker shades don’t look good on me). I always use a fairly small, dense brush in order to blend it out, too, that way it looks as natural as possible.

To apply, I suck in my cheeks and swipe the bronzer on, starting about 2 centimeters away from the corner of my mouth and moving slowly back toward my ear, blending it out in circular motions as I go. I gradually make my circles larger so that I fill in the shape of the indent between my check bone and jaw line with the bronzer. I’ve discovered that doing this gives the most natural contour.

After this is done, I place a very light amount of blush on the apples of my cheeks followed by highlighter on the bridge of my nose, cupid’s bow, top of my cheekbones, and temples. This is always just to add a little more depth to my face.

Now for the eyes (as well as a change in verb tense cause I’m no longer talking about a repetitive routine).

Shadow is always very difficult with BTS because they do the stereotypical Korean smoky eye that just doesn’t look good on me. But I still tried it anyway, for your sake.

To start, I took my Nars shadow and, using the tip of my finger, gently applied it to my lash line. I did not use a lot, for the guys are not wearing a lot in the video. After applying, I used the same finger to blend it out toward the corners of my eye, giving it that classic smoke.

Tip: When you’re doing this, make sure you follow the natural shape of your eye so it doesn’t look odd.

After that, I took the deep brown color in my Dior palette (for your reference, the darkest shade — since none of the colors have their own names *eye roll*) and, using the tip of my pinky finger, applied it as thinly as possible to the lash line, once again smudging it out toward the corners of my eyes to further create the smoky look. I used this instead of eyeliner so that the look would have depth while still remaining natural and light.

To finish, I applied just a small amount of mascara to my lashes. I wanted to keep it as natural and boyish as possible while still accentuating my eyes, but since I have very long lashes, this meant just a few touches of the brush here and there. Sad day, cause I love mascara 😦 Depending on your lashes, though, you may get the pleasure of using more. (Lucky 😦 )

Finally, I applied this beautiful, taupe-y rose color to my lips, a pretty accurate match to one used in the video.

Apply your lipstick however you like, but so it looks natural, stays all day, and doesn’t get on your teeth, I always dab it on my lips bit by bit, blotting gently with my fingers after each layer so it doesn’t look cakey or gross. This technique also allows you to gradually build up to the exact color you like, helpful if you don’t have an exact shade like Jin’s.

Now here are the brushes I used, just in case you’re curious:

From left to right: e.l.f. powder brush, Luxie 504 large angled brush, bodyography pro brow brush, Ulta blush brush, tarte contour brush? (not sure what that one is actually called)

This reminds me, though, to mention my eyebrows: I did nothing but brush them into shape. I didn’t pluck them, fill them, set them, whatever. If you feel the need to so with yours, then by all means, go for it. But I really never do much with mine, so I didn’t feel the need to do so here.

Now here are a few more looks at everything all together:

Full face:

 

Eyes:

h

Notice how light and near to the lash line everything is.

Lips:

 

 

And then I started modeling it a bit for fun, cause I liked the way it turned out and was very bored/sick of packing.

^Good lighting

^Bad lighting

But now you can actually see what it looks like in not-so-staged situations.

And that is all! Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions, please feel free to post them in the comment section below.

Once again, click here for the previous post in this series.

Until next time ❤