Elasticizer, cranberry lips and cornflower blonde: CBK's elusive beauty routine
90s minimalism meets bohemian messiness
Hi <3
I had something else planned for today’s newsletter but I spent all of last night thinking about those images of CBK and John John for the upcoming Ryan Murphy series, American Love Story. The comments section is TEA — I agree that the styling and HMU are so, so wrong. The sad, empty Birkin is also sacrilegious.
For ref:
But that’s not the point of this newsletter. Instead, I thought I’d recreate my Olsen Twin beauty lore but for the icon that is Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy. She is the no-makeup makeup blueprint and a personal beauty icon of mine. She’s refined but raw, timeless but modern, and always looked exactly like herself, whether walking her dog or walking down the aisle. She was true to her personal taste in a beauty sense; if anything her aesthetic was at odds with her era. Small things changed — the intensity of her blonde, the thinness of her eyebrows — but she was always gorgeous Carolyn. I loved that she managed to seamlessly blend elegance with a bohemian nonchalence. It was, and always will be, perfect.
The intel, below.
The general vibe: clean, raw, minimal, ethereal, fragile…
CBK was not a classic beauty but she was magnetic; a league of her own. She was into fresh skin — no obvious makeup — almost bare eyes, pencil thin brows (that she often over-plucked) and the occasional red lip. Her face was elegant and angular — that nose — it was fragile and exotic all at once (she had an Italian background, after all). And we can’t forget the slightly haunted look in her eyes, especially in the later years :(
Her hair always looked air-dried, either tousled to one side, worn a little wild, pulled back into a pony with an headband, or twisted into a low chignon.
Her specific shade of blonde
CBK’s blonde is a topic all in itself. When she was younger it was darker, but as she became the CBK we all know, the colour was cool, surfy even, with undetectable highlights. It was an “interesting, beautiful, cornflower, buttery blonde” according to her colourist Brad Johns. In Once Upon A Time, it’s quoted, “[her hair] was the exact colour of Carolyn’s third-grade locks,” described by Johns as “hair colour that looks natural, like a child’s hair after a day at the beach.”
Haircare — Phillip Kingsley
According to internet lore, she loved Phillip Kingsley Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner, and the very cult Elasticizer: a deep-conditioning treatment that added elasticity and shine to her hair. She was also a fan of the Kiehl’s Creme with Silk Groom.
The C.O. Bigelow Headband…
Carolyn was known for her flat-band tortoiseshell headbands from C.O. Bigelow in (an apothecary-type pharmacy in Greenwich Village). The NYT also reported that the wide band she wore (see above) was by Charles Wahba from Zitomer pharmacy.
I think you can still buy the exact C.O. Bigelow headbands in stores, too…
This is also a close match that you can shop online — it’s kind of expensive but looks like the right ‘tortoise’ and is only .5 cm wider than CBKs.
Those eyebrows…
CBK had fuller Italian brows in her college years, but later plucked them into fine arches. Again in Once Upon A Time, it was partly because she was adjusting into what believed a Kennedy wife should look like. I also think the thin brow was very much aligned with her sense of style: refined, classic, nothing over-the-top, attention-grabbing or superfluous.
CBK’s signature cranberry lip
Carolyn was either almost exclusively bare-faced, or with a red lip. But not just any red. It was like a blue-based current colour. Not red red, not berry or burgundy — a very specific pomegranate-adjacent shade. Kind of like brick red, but with less orange.
According to lore, she wore Bobbi Brown Sheer Lipstick in Ruby (now known as Crushed Lip Colour in Ruby) and Face Stockholm Cranberry Veil Lipstick.
She also loved MAC Lip Pencil in Spice.
Matte, velvet, powdered skin
One thing about CBK is that she was never dewy nor glazed. Her preference was matte skin but in a soft-focused way (not flat or chalky). I’d describe it as ethereal… translucent, almost. Apparently, she loved MAC Studio Fix Powder and the Janet Sartin Foundation Compact +Loose Powder. Apparently, she also loved cream highlighter — Face Stockholm Radiance & Dignity.
I also love how sometimes during a public appearance, she would pair her red lip with a ghostly eyeshadow, almost like a shadow primer in lieu of an actual eye shadow (Bobbi Brown Bone).
Her lashes were always minimal — nothing overly obvious.
Utilitarian skincare — Kiehl’s, Janet Sartin
There isn’t a lot available about her skincare routine, but apparently CBK loved Janet Sartin and Kiehl’s. I think we can assume she likes gentle, simple, functional products suited for normal to oily complexions. Again, she seemed to like weightless, velvety skin — nothing heavy.
Egyptian Musk!
We know she wore Abdul Kareem Essential Oils Egyptian Musk.
This reddit thread on the fragrance is so good. It also seems like it’s almost impossible to find an authentic iteration for sale on the internet… I found this link, but the seller currently has none listed.
It’s described on The Strategist as clean, mellow and faintly soapy. The “white t shirt” of perfume. Essential oils are soft but cloying, and the animalic softness of musk probably just added to her subtle magnetism. Of course she was a one scent kind of woman, too…
RIP CBK. Let’s hope they fix the car crash of a series before it airs next year…
I hope you enjoyed! Anyone else I should profile?
Love this—buying that lipstick right now.
And her blonde was just so perfect. (I have to wonder though if her stylist meant “corn silk” since cornflower is blue?)
This is so astute — the Murphy pics are just not getting it, and you nailed why. I think folks who don’t know nyc may not get that she was a veerrrry downtown girl. Yes — a gorgeous blonde dating a Kennedy — but so different from Jackie O’s uptown world. And downtown chic was its own animal in the late 80s early 90s. Subtle and pretty ineffable.