Scar Experiments / Doll times again

Okay so it's long been time I finally did some scar experiments considering when I first purchased my rigid collodion and it's been a funny sort of day so here goes: The vague plan is just to freestyle some in different ways to show new scarring, old scarring etc and just to have a play around with a new type of 'material' to see what I can do with it.

1. Face bare of all makeup (listening to Metallica sing about scars fyi) for comparison.

2. Marked out a few rough scar lines with a black eyeliner:

3. First layer of rigid collodion (smells funny, kind of sweetish and I bit like nail varnish/pear drops). Starts to work within about 30 seconds.

4. Second layer starts to indent my skin a bit more, feels about as tight as a face mask but not terribly uncomfortable. It's slightly tingly as it dries but not painful to me. I would wonder how someone with more sensitive skin might fair..

5. Tried to layer in a bit of liquid latex for texture, but mostly it stuck strands of my hair to my head. 2nd an third layers starting to feel tighter, works better on my head and eye more so than my cheeks (strangely). The funny expression below is to show how tight and dramatic it's getting.

6. Unflattering upshot shows the indentations best. The headphones are also holding my hair back and yes, I'm still listening to Metallica!

7. Adding in a bit of reddish lipstick and smudging it along the lines of the forehead scar.

I also added some regular foundation and matt powder in my usual tones over the cheek scar and added some white eyeshadow to highlight the depth of the scar as it was just what I had to hand. I Did a bit too much on the eyes though, so it looks a bit 'garage doors'.

8. The best looking scar I think. Close up. Ignore the scuzzy looking texture of the liquid latex, it didn't really work the way I had in mind (to wrinkle the skin nearby) and note how much the rigid collodion moves the fine skin on my eyelid!

9. Added a ittle more red to the end of the existing black cheek scar and added more collodion thickly. Quite like the way it starts to buckle if I stretch out my jaw as it dries. Putting makeup over it looks well, quite shite really but I was kind of thinking it might age the scar along the healing process if it's no longer as freshly red and swollen. Perhaps a pink base would have worked better?

10. Well, couldn't just leave it looking normal now could I?! 

Transforming the rest of my face into a workable overall look which was vaguely like a broken doll.

11. Close up of a red-based scar work looking quite nice and fresh - like a scab.

12.  And some edited pics to finish.

In conclusion, I'm fairly happy with the overall result considering I was just using my usual makeup and quickly freestyling how it might work. The rigid collodion works pretty fast but does leave quite a shiny finish that was peeling up in places. I'm curious to try this again but using a water-based makeup as a base instead of it being straight on bare skin (pretty much) to see if it works in much the same way. 

I probably spent nearer an hour tinkering around and faffing about with the doll makeup look, but it really can be a quick process just to add onto normal skin. I wish I'd tried just adding the rigid collodion onto unmarked skin without pencilling on any sort of guide but I'll save that for my next plan (split face, using a large scar as the divide down the centre of my face).

I very foolishly just peeled off the bits of rigid collodion after wipes and cleanser failed to move it at all, which was easy but quite painful (like ripping off a well-stuck plaster) and am kicking myself for not trialling the Mastix remover. Lessons learned there!

Cheering myself up - channelling circus/doll/Bianca Del Rio

Okay, I'm full of cold and feeling guilty I've not done any makeup blogging in ages so this was a quick one just to have the transformation into something much faker and prettier than my slug self today.

Based on an inspirational pin found on Pinterest.

1. No makeup selfie (omg...) try to ignore the scabby red nose.

2. Base layer of white (hard to get smooth today due to a lack of patience and a mixture of dry, scaly and sore skin from my cold. I only partly blended it into my neck and ears, but took it up to the hairline. 

3. I reaaaally couldn't be arsed with false eyelashes or faking out my eyebrows so I thought, bugger it, just paint over the buggers. I took the black to about half way through my eyebrows and added flicks to the ends. It's all gone a bit Black Swan..

4. Adding in a fake bottom 'lash' and dusting the bits between with grey eyeshadow.

5. Eyebrow wonk catastrophe!

6. Makeup wipes got rid of it and started again, this time a bit thicker unfortunately but less lop sided! Maybe it's just my face...and the lights....and I'm feeling ill....ahh, fuck it!

7.Adding in some pink blush much lower down on my cheeks than usual, it seemed really heavy up close but comes out less so in the pics. I've also added in the fake lash lines and added yet more grey eyeshadow to in between. - note to self, don't be an idiot, do the lashes last in future. Dumbass...

8. If I could have been arsed, I'd probably either have added in a dot of colour to the middle of the black circle bits on the end of the 'lashes' or used dark sticker/bindi things, but..

9. No, no, no - NOW is the time for the awkward sticker sparkly shit... Oh why did I start this again?! 27 sparkles later I finally get a few in the right bits of my face..

10. Oh..I don't have a giant heart shaped gem to stick to me.. Umm, heart shaped button and some Mastix adhesive it is!

11. I added a little black eyeshadow to darken the grey used earlier and also to matify my eyelids which are prone to dissolving when using water based makeup. Finally for some lippy in a different shape to my lips and a black outline to tie it all together better and voila!

12. Fix my hair a little better, add a sparkly tiny hat and dick about with some filters for a final effect:

Kit used: Snazaroo facepaints in black and white, grey and black eyeshadows, pink blusher, silver sparkly bindis, hot pink lipstick, Mastix adhesive. 2 types of sponges and 3 brushes of differing widths. All in all, took maybe 30-45mins. 

Hardest bit was not blowing/touching/scratching my nose! Bloody colds..

On retrospect, some falsies would have finished it all off, but as I say, this was an impromptu quick makeup idea that might work for an upcoming party!

Eyebrow test #1: glue sticks

So apparently drag queens use bog standard glue sticks to make those bushy man brows lie flat and smooooooooth - really?! Well only one way to find out! Cue test number one with a pack of 4 little glue sticks bought at the cheapy shop up t'road - plus they have Cinderella on em (Disney's patron saint of transformations no less!)

Here's what I tried:

1. A few swipes the wrong way and a few the right way on each eyebrow:

No bad.. Goes pretty smooth to start with. This could bode well..

2. Adding another layer and smoothed with my fingers, adding a little powder to add texture like the tutorial I skipped through mentioned:

Lying quite flat but a bit gritty..

3. I must've skipped taking a photo of this bit as I used a butter knife to apply a thicker layer of glue on.

4. Left eyebrow has layer of concealer over it, right brow looking as no 3 should have.

The hair texture is coming through and I'm struggling not to peel at the edges which are starting to curl away from my skin with the layers of glue underneath.

5. Bugger it! I'll add MORE concealer, MORE foundation and powder those things back to the Stone Age! Hahaha!!!

Oh no wait, it looks rubbish..cloggy, peeling and without full cover. Not an entire failure - this could work on stage - i.e. from metres away, but it doesn't stand up under close scrutiny.

Still I may as well have some fun with it..

6. Picking an evil eyebrow type:

This is tough - I couldn't decide so thought I'd trial one of each..

7. Presenting a fierce straight line with smudgy blending out. 

The outer bit looks much better than the inner bit. Maybe this is why a lot of queens seem to use part of their own brows - that tufty start has peeled like an orange!

8. Hokay! Evil eyebrow no 2: 

Thicker, angled brows with classic drag-style lid shading and a little Clockwork Orange style liner to balance the bottom.

As you can see the glue leaves a shinier finish that's not as smooth as I like. Maybe adding 2 thick layers would help?

But it peeled off really easily at least - without pulling hairs out either:

..at least no more so than taking off a peeling face mask.

Alienspiration

Though I've just treated myself to some more supplies that will help my next project from the Dick Smith's book I'm working through, I'm still on a bit of a makeup roll and wanted to do something else in the interim that was as colourful as the drag attempt, but on a different setting. So I went to space!

Well, no I didn't, (having had insufficient colours to try the lion I had in mind) I fancied trying a fruity alien  and googled myself silly. The picture I found (Anastasija Potjomkina created this futuristic alien geisha look on model Iska Ithil using Sugarpill Love+, Lumi and Darling.) was on a Pinterest page, but my palette needed to be darker due to the kit I had.

The end result was a little Starlight Express-meets-Metropolis, but I wanted to try some shading techniques using card (as I don't have any surgical tape) with a combination of paint and powder. 

Kit used: 

Inspirational pic found: (I'm fairly certain this uses a lot of airbrushing)

1. Starting with the usual clean and neutral face mugshot:

2. Cover everything inc. collar area in a layer of Snazaroo Clown White:

3. Having cut out a rough curve from an old cinema ticket, I stippled on some (possibly Sky) blue  Snazaroo paint with a sponge curving down roughly from the corner of my eye..

 

..though it didn't sit quite right on my face so I curved it up further.

4. Extending the blue up and round to include shading across the top of my brow and down the line of my throat, jawline and creating the shadows in my collar bone. At this point I'd also exaggerated my collar bone with more white painted on and smudged in with my fingers:

5. Not wanting my existing eyebrows to be red, I extended the blue upwards to include my brows and using the other side of the card, painted lines for new 'eyebrows' above, a fruity circle thing on my chin and 'gills':

6. Using my hot pink loose eyeshadow - and being very careful to blow off the excess - I filled in more of the eyebrows near the temple and brought it down to my lids, then shaded either side of my nose and filled in part of the chin circle:

7. Using a short, thick brush I shaded the edge of my jaw and down the centre of my throat, before adding a doll-like spot to each cheek and an upside-down triangle under my eyes to continue the line of the brow tapering down:

8. Lastly I mixed a little black to the red and went over the corners of my 'eyebrows' and the edge of my chin circle before filling in the lips with blue and edging the upper lip in red:

9. I dug out a wig to complete the look and voila:

Time taken: approx 90 mins (though as my housemates came to chuckle/ogle I got caught up yapping)

Review:

Though I'm pleased with the stippling use on top of a card 'barrier' which creates a more solid line that makes things easier, using one paint on top of another tends to wipe or dilute the first layer a little. Even letting it dry and adding powder between.

Using a hot pink powder on top really let the colours pop, though it was fraught with spilling danger which I had to correct a few times as a big brush wouldn't always remove it. I'm not sure what it is about necks that means the colour never seems to blend as smoothly in the creases. Perhaps that's just unavoidable when you're painting yourself?

Mostly the thing I've noticed here is the lopsidedness of certain lines i need to work harder on and what works on my face might not always translate compared to the inspirational pic I tried to copy from.