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We know that the mob wife is hot right now: she’s sultry, sexy, draped in furs, and steeped in decadence. While nailing the clothing aesthetic is certainly fun, nailing down the makeup look is even more fun. Plus, the makeup look can help you fully embody the trendiness of the mob wife aesthetic without having to purchase additional clothes, a new fur coat, or statement jewelry pieces. You likely already have all the makeup products to pull off this look!
The mob wife is known for her loud, indulgent opulence. This is reflected in the ways she chooses to exaggerate her eyes: she usually opts for a bold smokey eye or an otherwise heavy-handed eyeliner. Importantly, she’s concerned with attracting your attention to her. We know she already does this through her stylistic choices, but eyeliner makes her look cohesive, intentional, and dramatic. Again, this is another trend that poses a kind of friction against the Clean Girl Aesthetic: here, eyeliner is a tool for dramatic expression, a way for the mob wife to catch your eye and assert her feminine mystique.
Another manifestation of the mob wife’s makeup routine--similar to that of the messy smokey eye--is a bold eyeshadow. It’s not bold in the sense of color; rather, it’s bold in its application and accentuation of the eyeliner. She opts for explosive neutrals, like coppers, dark browns, taupes, and golds. She picks her eyeshadow based on her eye color and shape so that her eyes appear larger and more intense. Importantly, she wants people to focus on her: her demeanor, her lifestyle, her eyes.
The mob wife has found the perfect shade of lipstick to loudly accentuate her eye look. She usually opts for dramatic, bold reds and she always over lines her lips. She is interested in curating a look that lends itself to plastic surgery trends, like lip filler, face lifts, buccal fat removal--but she doesn’t actually get the work done. Instead, she makes her makeup work for her. She loves accentuating her cupid’s bow and layering color combinations to make the dark reds pop. She usually prefers matte to glossy lipstick, as it adds a coveted classic flair.
Like her eye makeup and lips, the mob wife opts for a heavy blush. (By this point, you’re probably expecting our advice: the mob wife is extravagant, and her makeup reflects her commitment to her lavish lifestyle. A good rule of thumb: apply much more makeup than a “Clean Girl” would. Embrace the heavy-handed looks of your mother and grandmother. Think traditional glam for everyday wear--that’s the mob wife aesthetic.) She doesn’t necessarily want to look “girl-ish,” like she might with a Sabrina Carpenter-esque blush. Instead, she applies a rouge blush--a dark, sexy red, like wine. She is womanly: dainty to only a few, but tough and materialistic to most. The tint of her blush does a lot of work in our perception of her, much like the shade of her lipstick.
She’s bold. Not necessarily experimental, but heavy-handed. The mob wife applies a generous amount of dark contour to lift her cheekbones and sculpt her jawline. This is another call-back to the “copying-the-look-of-but-not-committing-to-plastic-surgery.” She wants the angles of her face to be sharp and cutting--much like her lifestyle and her mob-affiliated husband. The mob wife wants people to know she took time crafting and perfecting her makeup look; she doesn’t want to broadcast the impression of “minimalist” or “clean.”
Although it isn’t makeup, we find that jewelry does just as much work for your presentation as makeup. The mob wife is notoriously blinged out--a symbol of her husband’s escapades and her personal successes--so bedazzling yourself with a pair of cheap, chunky hoops could elevate your mob wife makeup look. The mob wife usually sticks to gold jewelry, but use what you already have. Additionally, if you can stack bracelets, layer necklaces, or wear multiple pairs of earrings, do so!
The mob wife aesthetic is all about an indulgence in the material, a celebration of the maximalist. Raid your closet for those 2016 palettes, take inspiration from your mom in the 80’s, and have fun!
