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.

My five favourite products

My five favourite products are the things I tend to use for everyday make-up, they all have a lovely finish and the prices aren't too high! First of all I have invisible eyebrows! So I'm drawing them in every day, which i love because i can change my eyebrows to suit what I'm wearing. To do my eyebrows I always use Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in shade Dark Brown. It's great to fill in any spots with less hair and makes your eyebrows look fuller.

After using the Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil I ALWAYS go over it lightly with Avons matte brown eyeshadow palette. It has a good variety of shades and is great at softening the appearance of your eyebrows if you want to stop them looking too harsh. Be sure to use an small angled brush to apply the eyeshadow onto your brow it is easy to control and will help you create the desired shape.

I use Maxfactor Liquid Illusion Foundation (in shade Golden) it works great on my skin. I totally love it. It's a compressed foundation and is creamy, so it is easy to move around on the skin before it drys. It gives off a really natural appearance and a smooth lightweight feel with good coverage.

I have another small Avon brown eyeshadow palette which I also really like. It's great for natural eyes and the shades make your eyes pop, especially if your eyes are blue! And it has a very pretty subtle shimmer to it. 

For my lashes my favourite mascara is Max-factor Masterpiece Max Mascara. Its great for volume, you don't have to apply many layers to achieve thick lashes. And the wand separates each lash evenly, fanning out the lashes.

Go have a try of these products and see for yourselves, I'm sure you'll like them as much as I do!

My Style Icons

Lady Gaga's bold fashion statements through her outfits, hair and make-up demonstrate what can be achieved when being more adventurous. I like how she pushes the boundaries of fashion, creating her own iconic looks which inspire many. I admire her courage for example when she wore the controversial meat dress at the MTV Music Awards. I like how she doesn't style herself on comfort or practicality but instead it's purely about the fashion statement she is making.

My other fashion icon is Twiggy. I loved the heavy eye make-up of the early sixties. I like the bold black eye liner, painting lower lashes onto the cheeks, while the rest of the make-up is very natural and minimal. The short cropped bob is also admirable, and along with the make-up this led to an era where hair and make-up became just as an important expression of style as the clothes!

Special Effects

I am really enjoying Special Effects. We have been working on recreating different types of Burns and getting used to using the different products. I have had an off day were one of my more advanced burns didn't achieve the look I was going for, however I'll just keep practising and finding where I am going wrong. I have also created some bruises and cuts, which I am quite pleased with. Here are some examples of my work. Enjoy!