Halloween Characters

"IT" by Stephen King is so scary looking, I would love the opportunity to recreate him!

If I was to recreate this character I would first of all make a prosthetic face piece to develop the texture, wrinkles and damage done to one side of his face, the lower lip and also the round bumpy nose. Once I achieve that I would use white greasepaint on the face to create the white base and then black greasepaint to contour and make his cheek bones more prominent. Then i would compress it down with powder so it stays put!

I would then use darker shades of purple, brown and black to create the eerie shadows around one of his eyes and take it thinly through each wrinkle and crease to give the prosthetic piece on the face  for more depth. For the other eye I would use black eye liner around the other eye. I would also use eyeliner (preferably liquid) to draw on the sharp black eyebrow.

To achieve the red nose I would simply paint the prosthetic piece before applying it onto the face.

The mouth is quite smudged and messy looking, so I would paint on red greasepaint and smudge it with my finger over the lip line and into the creases round the mouth. I would then set this with powder and complete the mouth with a mouth piece to present the sharp stained teeth.

I would then use a lace front wig so it looks like IT's real hair and finish the character with red/yellow contact lenses to make it appear more scary!

"The Wizard Of Oz" is one of my favourite movies! I like the simplicity of the make-up for the "Witch of the West" it's easy to recreate, anyone could really do it.

I would use greasepaint for the entire face, it's good for shading and highlighting as it blends together easily. I would start with a green base then mix green with black to get a darker green to contour the cheeks this will make her features sharper and narrower her face.

I would also contour the temples and down either side of the nose to sharpen and elongate it. It's important to remember to shade below the jawline as well, this creates an edge and gives the character a very pointy chin. next to shading you should really have highlights to make it appear more realistic. In this case I'd say you don't really need to go to town with it as the make-up for this character is generally really basic. However, I would want to use yellow and create a stronger highlight on the apples of the cheek and down the centre of the nose.

If I still wasn't happy about the length of the nose and chin...I would want to use prosthetics for the nose and chin. I know this characters chin is pointy, I would still want it to be long and pointy but I would make it a bum chin. Don't ask me why!

I would compress everything down with powder and complete the look by painting in her bushy black eyebrows with gel eye liner.

The Corpse Bride is a cartoon but I would love to recreate the "Corpse Bride!" As someone already has below

First of all I would use body paint to paint any visible part of the body ( including the face) a pale blue. Once that has dried I would dust the entire body with white powder just to give a dusty appearance. I would then use and eyeshadow palette with various shades of blue, so I can mix to achieve a slightly darker shade of blue to contour the face, focusing mainly on the cheek bones (she is a corpse so must look gaunt).

For the eyes I would use white eyeliner in the water line and below the lower lash line to make the eyes larger. To achieve the sunken appearance of the eyes I would define the socket by using dark blue below and slightly above the brow bone.

For the eye brows I would use blue liquid eye liner, because the eye brows are quite defined to show her sadness.

I would apply separate lash extensions only on the lid to open up her eyes and exaggerate her femininity.

I would finish it off with a dark blue wig and touch up the lips very lightly with pale pink lipstick and dust it off with pale pink dust.

History of Wigs

Wigs date thousands of years back and have many uses. Some wigs are used to disguise baldness or visible illnesses, some are used as an inexpensive way of producing the appearance of hair, and some as an accessory, fashion statement, or even religious matters.

The Ancient Egyptians wore wigs to protect their heads from the sun. To keep the wigs in place they used  beeswax and resin.

In Japan and china some ancient entertainers used wigs as part of their costume and this tradition has carried on to the present day.

In the 16th and 17th Century wigs were actually used as a means to prevent head lice. Although they were still open to catch lice despite the wigs, it was a much easier way to get rid of them.

During the 18th century men began to wear powdered wigs and powdered natural hair and woman would wear supplemental hairpieces as it became an essential for full dress occasions.

Current uses for wigs are as follows, fancy dress, civil officials, film/theatre and television productions, cross dressers and some religious reasons.

Spot Control for Sensitive Skin

Nobody likes getting spots! But in some cases they just won't go away, this could be down to hormones, unclean skin, oily skin and sometimes even stress.

I suffered from a bad case of spots a while ago and it had been down to stress and tension. I was finishing my Highers in my last year at school and began stressing about my exams, so much so that my skin began to break out in bumpy spots that wouldn't come to a head and wouldn't go away. It made me so embarrassed and self conscious. I didn't have a clue how to get them away. I decided to try a product aimed at spots caused by stress, it  was called Visibly Clear Spot Stress Control Hydrating Spot Treatment by "Neutrogena". However after 2 weeks I still wasn't seeing any improvement and my skin did not feel hydrated in fact it began to get flaky and very dried out. I realised this was not a great product for my skin and knew I had to find something moisturising as well as to get rid of my spots.

My mum and I have similar skin, it's quite sensitive and needs a lot of moisturising. My mum told me about "Simple" which is a variety of products developed to improve and care for people with sensitive skin. I had a look and found the perfect products to improve and maintain my skin. I am currently still using these products and intend to continue as my skin has been a lot better since. These products are Simple Spotless Skin Anti-blemish Moisturiser which shows results straight away clearing up my spots and caring for my dry skin.

I also use their Simple Skin Quick Fix Cleansing Wipes, that are great! I use these wipes as I'm cleaning my face before applying the Moisturiser. They contain spot fighting ingredients such as Zinc and Chamomile and antibacterial goodness such as phytosphingosine  to  remove make-up and impurities within the skin. They also last long as the packet seals after every use so the other wipes won't dry out!

And the best thing about all their products is that they don't contain perfume or colour, therefore won't irritate the skin!

People with sensitive skin should use make-up that is gentle on the skin and contain healing properties for people who suffer from breakouts or blemishes. I'd say the most suitable would probably be Mineral cosmetics, that produce mineral foundations and mineral powders. There are loads of brands of mineral make-up that can be considered. These products contain Zinc oxides which are considered as healing properties for sensitive skin. Mineral make-up guarantees a natural glow and healthy skin.

I hope yous found my advice useful!

Fantasy Make-up

As an aspiring make-up artist I admire the imaginations behind the make-up used in Fantasy Movies. The creative imagination could go as far as it need be in order to produce a very extraordinary character.

In the recreation of Alice in Wonderland I love the make-up used to create the character of "The Mad Hatter"!

 The definition of the face and madness of the eyes is endearing and oozes the character personality at sight. If I was to recreate this character's make-up I would use greasepaint's to add the white and purple shades to the characters face. Greasepaint's are easy to blend together and I would then set this with powder.

For the green eyes I would use contact lenses and to open the eyes as above I would use white eyeliner to widen the eye, I would also use white mascara to open the eyes more, where as black mascara would close the eyes up slightly more.

For the eyebrows I would use pastiche and then to make make them stand up I would use clear mascara.

In order to achieve the hair I would add a wig appropriately.

Avatar is a wonderful movie, it's very magical and enticing! If I was to recreate an "Avatar" I would use Aqua colour, this is used for body painting and would achieve the all over blue tone and also add the detail, such as the darker blue stripes.

I would use prosthetics to create the shape of face and large pointy ears. I would paint over the ears with aqua colour to blend in with the character body painting, to make it appear realistic.

To widen the eyes, again I would use white eyeliner and apply it below the lower lash line to widen the eyes.

To achieve the sparkly, glowing dots on the skin I would use a glow in the dark body paint, and simply apply it over the aqua colour.

The Joker from "The Dark Knight" is another great character I would love to recreate.

To achieve the scaring on the cheeks I would use latex prosthetics and apply them to the cheeks. I would then use grease paints to apply the make-up he is wearing.

To achieve the deep wrinkles and creases in the skin I would make the character frown as I applied darker shades of greasepaint's into the creases to give them depth.

Finally, to create the long, dirty green hair I would use a wig and apply it appropriately.

History of Make-up

Make-up dates back thousands of years ago back to the Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Greeks and Romans. According to archaeological evidence the Egyptians and Romans began creating cosmetic products using dangerous matter like mercury and white lead. Egyptians had many ideas in order to produce make-up, such as kohl, which was used as an eyeliner.

It is made up of lead, copper, burned almonds, soot, and other ingredients.Egyptians thought that eye make-up could ward off evil spirits and even improve their eye sight. Poor people even went out their way to ensure they could wear eye make-up.

Furthermore, Chinese people began to produce some sort of make-up in order to represent social class. They used gum Arabic, gelatin, egg and beeswax to create a stain to put onto their finger nails. People with coloured nails represented a higher social class, while the lower class were forbidden to colour-stain their nails.

In Japan geisha made lipstick out of crushed safflower petals to define their lips, eyebrows and eyes. Bintsuke wax was also used by geisha as a makeup base.

So you see make-up dates back over as much as 6000 years ago, where many parts of the world began to create products and utensils in order to produce make-up for mythical, cultural reasons and even for identification!

First work experience

On Thursday myself and 4 other students from my course went to my old school (Rosshall Academy) to do the make-up for their fashion show. It wasn't themed so we were able to chose what make-up we wanted to do to compliment what the models were wearing! It was so nerve-racking but I enjoyed every minute of it, and to top it all off we got a little present afterwards as a thank you from the school's Parent Council.

Keeping in mind this was my first attempt at improvising make-up for a little fashion show, hope yous like it.

This week's work

This week I passed my assessment for Straight T.V Make-up. Was quite nervous as it's the first assessment I've done, but I'm happy with what I achieved. Next week I will be doing Straight Theatrical Make-up.

I also did a pre-assessment for Wigs. Nicolle was my model and she has short hair, I did find it a little harder working with short hair but got the hang of it eventually. It went well and I'm now ready to do the real assessment next week.

I also did a pre-assessment in Hairdressing for wash and blow-dry. Shona was my model and she was happy with the results. I was told to bring in a model next week to do my real assessment for wash, blow-dry and straighten and I'm looking forward to it as I really enjoy this class.

Last but not least, I did my pre-assessment on 3rd degree burns. I'm now ready for the assessment but I know I need to be careful when judging the colours I'm mixing, and test it before I apply it to the skin.