Why I wear makeup.

So I wear makeup almost every day, and whilst I make no judgements as to whether you do or don't, I thought I'd show you the difference it makes to my face. This is pretty much my standard daily routine broken down into each step. It probably takes about 7-8 mins to do this without having to stop to take pics obviously.

1: Liquid foundation base. I use Rimmel Match Perfection in 100 Ivory as I'm rather pale naturally.

2: Concealer and Highlighter. I use Rimmel Match Perfection in 010 Ivory under my eyes, around the darker tones around my mouth and nose, such as my fulcrum.

3: Pressed Powder. I use Rimmel Stay Matte in 001 Transparent, applied everywhere (especially under my eyes) with a thickish brush. I don't mind the 'made up' look, for me, I'm happy for people to know I wear makeup. 

4: Blusher. I'm using Boots Natural Collection in Rosey Glow, applied with the fattest brush I have to just under my cheekbones and under the edge of my jaw, tapering down onto my neck. 

5: Highlighting eyeshadow.  I'm using my Lumier Eyes Shadow Compact in its palest shade. Kind of hard to see on this pic but it's on my brow bone under my eyebrows and in the inner corner of my eye near the tear duct.  It's a pale, shimmery cream colour.

6: Eyeshadow. I'm using the same compact as before. Colours applied with my finger are a russet and a darker chocolate brown, mostly to the outer edge of my eyelid. 

7: Liquid Eyeliner. I'm using YSL's Shocking Eyeliner Effet Faux Oils in 1 Black. For me, more than anything else, is where you need to invest in a good one. Mostly I can use anything on my skin, but this has great staying power and precision of application.

8: Mascara. I'm using Rimmel's 100% Waterproof in 002 Brown Black. Personally I like to interchange the colour of my eyeliner with brown too, it just slightly softens the look, knocking it back a little. 

9: Lip Stuff. This is a daytime look for me so I'm wearing a very subtle dab of Maybelline Super Stay 14hr Lipstick in 560 Continuous Cranberry, applied lightly and smudged with a finger with a top of Maybelline's Super Stay 24hr Conditioning Gloss on the top for a little softness, as the lippy can feel a bit dry.

10. The finished look. Or rather, half of it! I can appreciate my personal style is quite doll-like at times, but for me, makeup reflects how I either feel I look, or improves how I feel. Not wearing makeup for me, is like having forgotten to brush my hear or my teeth, it's not the end of the world if you don't do it, but you feel better for it. 

Over time, I've come to realise I have a bit of rosacia on my cheeks and chin, so I'd prefer my face to match the paleness of the rest of my body, though obviously working outside has slightly altered my level of care to the time I take on it. I've had to ensure I wear waterproof mascara being out in downpours all day at times. I probably wear less or paler eye shadows these days and as my skin is getting older, moisturising beforehand is fairly essential, and how I apply eyeliner has adjusted as my eyelids loose elasticity.

Cheap eyeshadows are getting less forgiving and are starting to crease and my skins pores are more obvious. But this is how I see myself, so for me, makeup will always be a big part of my life. I find the application mostly soothing and transformative in a positive way. Some days I wish I had different features or better skin, but ultimately I enjoy being in my skin and the things I can do to it. 

Halloween 2015 Treetops Facepainting

Just a little post to list a few pics I snapped of my work colleagues as we appeared to the general public last Halloween (I realise I'm only posting this in February..). 

Apologies for my delay in posting on time, and no time for pics as I went, so here are some of this finished results - all of this was boshed out in about 90mins I think.

Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a close up snap of Stu as a pirate and Jack's overly wide bloody grin. May update if I find any at a later time. Still lots of fun freestyling to be had!

Halloween 2015 makeup commission

So I was asked by a handsome local DJ to do his makeup for his Halloween night gig like this image he'd found:

Having looked into this extremely detailed piece I discovered it was a makeup test photo, designed to show what spectacular things it can do. 

Clearly I was very intimidated given this was done by professionals, with a vast array of fancy makeup and time on their side...

I (an amateur) had to replicate it as much as possible in about 45mins, on a busy man, with Snazaroo facepaints...

So this is how Dave normally looks:

A rather happy chap who is painted very seriously, stern skull face biz.

Needless to say, I'm still quite pleased overall, given those factors. It's very much a humble nod to. There was no time or assistance to take pics as I painted and as he had to rush off, there was no time to snap any then, but I managed to find the following pics of him throughout the night, taken by various people I'm afraid I don't know (I claim no copyright, I just wanted to show my painting efforts):

Obviously by the time these were taken, more than a few hours eating, drinking and dancing have taken its toll, but the overall effect is there. Unfortunately I couldn't find any pics in colour that showed the washes/tones that got whiter in bonier places. 

Deatbeats Gig Make-up: House of Vans Party, London

So this project was born out of need to produce gig makeup for my samba punk drumming band for a comic-book themed private party we'd been booked to play at the House of Vans venue in London.

Concept: Sin City/comic 2D/Frank Miller/Greyscale

So the closest source image I wanted to base it on was this:

But a little bit less Roy Lichtenstein..

So I'd had to freestyle a last minute template for the dot work, so it would appear more uniform, from some back-to-backed coloured stationary stickers (or rather, their edges, not the dots themselves.) swiped from work due to forgetting the one I'd made earlier...as I'm a doofus.

Also in another dramatic turn of events, our coach driver, it transpired much later, had suffered a heart attack on his way to get us, so in waiting for so long, we managed to rustle a couple of vans up and drove ourselves, but that meant significantly less time in doing everyone's makeup. Therefore the method had to be adjusted and simplified to be done in half the time so it's a little slapdash - but all things considered I managed to turn out a few good ones with the help of a team I bullied into helping (the stars!!).

Here's the results: (There was NO time to snap picks in the frantic rush to get the paint on ASAP)

I did Janes makeup (below, on the left)

Would like to revisit this one again with the band, but with significantly more time of course! I do think the concept was achieved nonetheless, though not to a standard I was happy with. Still, it's all a learning curve!

 

Floral gig/festival make up / spot/partial facepainting

So I was simply in the mood to facepaint one night a while back and my housemate Lou expressed an interest in being my volunteer, so we cracked a bottle of wine, put some tunes on and faffed about with some facepaint.

My starting concept was simply "Paisley" (the print, not the town)

I wanted to make sure it was colourful- complementary tones but with highlights, so I picked out a bunch of colours I thought I might use, which on retrospect were a tad too many, but it was fun and open still at this point, I didn't have a clear idea of what it would end up looking like, just a rough starting point; a curved teardrop shape around the eye.

So I began free-styling on my model and housemate Louise. Presented here in all her bare-faced glory (pretty much)

I had to keep tilting her head up as my light source was ceiling spotlights - rather than trying to affect a classic flattering pose, but still, win win I guess..

So the free-styling began:

It was interesting to see where the lines I painted lay on her face, particularly above or below the eyebrow, it looks re-contoured.

It helped a lot that Lou's eyebrows were so pale and fine when it comes to painting over them, I really will have to get a better method of covering thicker ones down!

At this point I couldn't help feel that it was missing some stronger tones but wanted to be car full with how much black I introduced. 

The answer was re-lining Lou's eyes.

And as she's a performer and partygoer that meant the finishing touch: glitter. Glitter Everywhere!

Think she was pretty chuffed with the overall result!

Given the talking, drinking wine and music-listening casual tone of this facepainting episode, I have to say it must've taken a good 45mins to do, but I think if I went back to do it again, could probably bosh it out in half the time?

Crimble Nebula Eye makeup

Just a wee one as I haven't posted in a while. Thought I'd try to upload a video as it wasn't worth many pics but alas it didn't work... Now my green hair has washed out/grown out so much I thought it kinda matches the nebula print on my new leggings. So once again my mother would be proud of my coordination skills. Legs, hair and eyes this time. 

El cheapy products used:

Maybelline Eye Studio in Chocolate Chic.

L.A. Colours in Sunshine (yellow)

Some old pale to mid green eyeshadow in two shades - no idea what brand anymore, possibly Rimmel.

StarGazer eye dust in no 33 (super emerald green)

Collection 2000 Dazzle Me! In Fairy Dust (lilac/purple)

YSL Shocking Eyeliner in black 

Rimmel's 100% waterproof mascara in Black.

StarGazer Glitter Shaker in white

Essentially the method is just a blend across the whole lid of the eye. This particular one went (from inside out): White->pale green->darker green->purple->brown->yellow.

Unfortunately it's quite easy for it to look like a bruise, so I toned down the purples with more green which helped. 

Then I added some extra loose white glitter and added a few adhesive bindi's to the inner corners and in the traditional '3rd eye' point on the head.

I may have added more yellow looking back at these now. I'm typing retrospectively. 

So yeah, pretty pleased but experimenting took a little while. Was sodding ages before I made it out! 😝

Norkina Commission

So one of those lovely festival ragdolls hired me for a new project on Friday night: to turn the lovely Jennie into the fairy lantern Norkina! 

So Norkina usually looks like this:

So you can see I had my work cut out for me!

Incidentally that's Jennie holding her up on the left!

Unfortunately as we were rather strapped for time it was somewhat difficult to take step by step pics as I went along so here's just a verbal breakdown of what happened:

1. Paint face, neck and ears white, ensuring it had a good solid base and was worked into the hairline a little. 

2. Loading yellow onto the same sponge I went over Jennie's nose and a little across her cheeks and upper lip to create a "central glow" effect that had a large ambient blur into the White, turning it a little creamier and warmer.

3. Mixing green and red on the back of my hand to a warm, dark tan/mid brown colour to match the willow being used in the costume, I painted circles n a goggle fashion around the eyes and 'spiked' petals out equally and outlined a huge spiky set of lips going from ear to ear. I also framed her face outline and painted a divided isosceles triangle over the top of her nose in the same patterns as Norkina's.

4. Really disliked the eyes/lips line work, and after further criticism from Jennie's daughter I agreed and wiped the lines away.

5. Repaired the White/yellow inner and went back to make smaller but similar markings to the eyes and lips, but this time I gradually made the eye "petals" get smaller as they came under the eye and whilst the mouth was still outsized, the lines were much smaller than before.

6. Added highlights and shadow lines in black on the edges of some of the brown to give more depth to the "willow". A few touches of gold glitter gel on the brows, head, cheeks and chin to catch in the light finished the face off.

7. Finished painting the remaining skin visible on chest, neck and shoulders adding it thicker over the collar bone, bust and shoulder blades for a little more depth and worked a little into the hair around the face and voila, it's time for the fairy to go to the party!

This paint only really worked due to the nature of the costume but I think we were both pleased with the overall effect!

On retrospect I think I shouldn't have joined the nose triangle lines to the top of the 'mask' but that's how lanterns are constructed. It would have made for a prettier but less acurate look overall. I would also have spent the time fixing the lines on adding more to Jennie's chest and neck and. Added a little more yellow there too, to blur the difference between costume and paint ideally, but it was an excellent learning curve for me and I think it all works. 

Such a fantastic and unique concept for the costume too!