Figure 6.3 Foundation Comparison Chart by Mary Erickson and Suzanne Patterson
Industry Standards: KRYOLAN Dermacolor, Ben Nye, Joe Blasco.
Under-eye concealers come in stick, cream, or pot, as well as liquid. Look for concealers that are creamy in texture, with light to medium pigment. Remember that the skin around the eye is delicate, so the products you use to conceal around the eye area should be, too. If the product is too thick or uses a heavy pigment, you will have to work too hard to blend, irritating the thin skin tissue. Choose a concealer one shade lighter than the foundation that you are working with, and one that has moisturizing properties. A stick concealer offers more coverage but is more difficult to blend, so it can be hard on the skin around the eyes. To avoid irritation and to keep the stick sanitary, do not apply the stick directly to the skin. Do not powder under the eyes (Figure 6.4).
Figure 6.4 Derma Color Palette
Industry Standards: Paula Dorf, Iman, Kanebo, LORAC, Touche Éclat (YSL), Valorie, smashbox, AmazingConcealer.
Highlights and Contours
Throughout the makeup world, you'll get different opinions on if or when you should apply the theory of highlights and contours. As lighting and film stock have evolved, so has makeup. Back in the day, Makeup Artists would “blank out” the face to start with a blank canvas, and use the tools of highlight and contour to literally paint the preferred features back in. Today, this technique of “blanking out” the face is rarely used, but there will be a moment in your career when you will need to apply it—a drag makeup, for example. Today, Makeup Artists use highlights and contours in a subtle way, without blanking out the features of the face first. We create dimension and highlight features, but with a realistic touch or aesthetic. Sometimes a Makeup Artist is using the technique of highlight and contour without really knowing it. Examples include applying a lighter color under the eyebrow (highlight), or adding a touch of shade under the cheekbone to sculpt out more definition (contour).
What are highlights and contours, or highlights versus shading? Highlights are lighter colors that are applied to any area the Makeup Artist wants to stand out. Contours are darker colors that are applied to any area the Makeup Artist wants to sink or set back. Although the face has shape and depth, there are certain lighting situations that can turn the face flat. The greater a three-dimensional effect achieved by the Makeup Artist, the better the makeup will be. That said, there is nothing worse than an overdone look when the director has requested a no-makeup look.
With blending, you can create beautiful, flawless makeup using highlights and contours with no one being able to see the makeup. There are many Makeup Artists who either highlight or contour, but not both. Think about it. If you apply a lighter shade, for example, on the top of the cheekbone, you will automatically create a sink or shadow right below there for your contour. The same can be said of the opposite. If you apply a contour or shade, for example, in the temple area, you will create highlights on the top cheekbone and outer upper brow bone. We'll go into more detail with the charts on what colors work well for both highlights and contours. In the long run, it is important for a Makeup Artist to learn facial structure and to recognize the importance of where light and dark fall on the features of the face.
Forward planes catch the light. Recessed planes recede.
—Gerd Mairandres, Wigmaster, San Francisco Opera
Highlights
The correct colors to use for highlights are important. If the highlight color is too light or too heavily applied for all media (film, TV, HD, print, and theater), your work will be seen as heavy-handed. Highlights in off-whites, cream, pinks, gold, yellows, or any color that is a few degrees lighter than the skin tone that you are working on will work best—except pure white, which in most situations is too harsh. Remember what you learned in Chapter 3—that white mixed with another color is a tint, so you can be as creative as you want to be.
Contours
Shades of darker makeup from blushers to pigments can be used depending on what type of makeup you are creating. Good colors are brownish pinks, reds, grays, oranges, and again any shade that is a few degrees darker than the skin tone you are working on. You should never use pure black to contour. Remember, if you go back to Chapter 3, you'll see six examples of mixing color to get neutral darks, and color pigments to make browns.
Blending
Blending is the art of applying makeup using your tools to achieve a smooth, seamless finish with no visible line or hard edge. A skillful balance of strong or not-so-strong colors can be blended together without seams to create contrasts or dramatic effects. In painting as well as in theatrical makeup, the technique of chiaroscuro is used to create a bold contrast between light and dark. Chiaroscuro, an Italian term literally meaning “light–dark,” originated as a term for a type of Renaissance drawing on colored paper. The artist worked from the base tone toward light and dark. It is also a term used in makeup to refer to blending from light to dark for a three-dimensional, seamless effect. It is very helpful for all applications of makeup to learn chiaroscuro. You use subtle gradations of color in light and dark shades to enhance the delineation of character for dramatic effect. Remember to blend to the end.
Any makeup can be bold as long as it is well blended.
—Gerd Mairandres, Wigmaster, San Francisco Opera
Note: Chiaroscuro is also a term used in cinematography to indicate extreme low-key lighting to create distance areas of light and darkness in film, especially black-and-white film.
More about Products
Eye Shadow
Cream Shadow: Cream eye shadows are used alone or with other eye-shadow products. They can come in tubes, pots, wands, and compacts. Cream eye shadows can have a dewy, glossy, or frosty appearance, depending on the product. Some are formulated to be waterproof or water resistant.
Cream to Powder: Cream eye shadow that dries to a powder finish. Can be worn alone or layered.
Gel: Found most often in pots, gel products are used as eye shadow or eyeliner. They are quick drying, easy-glide application, and long lasting. They can be used in combination with other eye shadow products. Gels also come in glosses that dry to a shine that gives the eye shadow an appearance of being wet.
Liquid: Liquid eye shadow generally comes in a tube, usually with a wand or brush attached.
Loose Powder: Comes in jars. It can be used wet or dry. Products are highly concentrated with color. They can be used alone or layered in combination with other eye products. They are messy—the loose powder tends to “float” everywhere. If using, do the eyes first, foundation last, to prevent shadow from dropping onto the foundation.
Pencils or Pens: Are highly pigmented, frosty or sheer. Some formulas are waterproof or water resistant in small or large pencil form. You will need special sharpeners for these.
Pressed Powder: Are usually in compact or drop-in disks to customize your eye-shadow palette. It can be used wet or dry.
Waterproof Eye Shadow Products: Are usually found in jars, tubes, or pencil form. They contain a polymer ingredient. They are formulated to not crease or fade.
Eyeliner
Cake: Applied with a brush that is damp. Cake eyeliner is great for smudging. Cake products usually come in compacts or jars, and are creams or powder formulas.
Gel: Used like a liquid or cake, but is easier to apply. It is long lasting. Gel is applied with a brush and usually found in jars.
Liquid: Adds drama to your look, and a must for many “period” looks. It is applied with a brush and is quick drying, but needs a very steady hand. “Painters” work well with liquids.
Loose Powder: Highly pigmented powder that can be used wet or dry. Use a sealer on top for longer wear. Loose powder can be messy.
Pencils: Easy application and blending. They can be formulated in waterproof and water-resistant products, and come in frost, kohl, and matte, with either a fine point or thick.
Sealers: Products used to protect any eye shad
ow or eyeliner from smudging, smearing, or lifting. Sealers are usually found in liquid form, and can be mixed with eye shadow (or product) in the application (think watercolors).
Mascara
Cake: Is applied with an eyelash brush or small fan brush. Cake mascara and a fan brush gives you a thorough coat on the lashes, with no “clumps,” and works great to get the base of the lashes, particularly on light or blonde lashes.
Clear: Comes in tubes and is applied like regular mascara. It gives a nice sheen to the lashes, and helps to show off definition and length in the “Natural Look.”
Fillers: Are found alone or combined into the mascara formula. They thicken and lengthen. They are usually made out of nylon fibers.
Top Coats: Applied to the eyelashes after mascara, they are used to add sheen and vibrancy to the lashes. They can also be used as a sealer for the mascara.
Primers: Act as moisturizers for the eye, and also prepare the lashes for mascara. They are helpful in creating a longer look and in protecting the eyelashes from mascara. Remember to apply first, before mascara.
Tinted: Colored mascara, usually in tubes.
Waterproof: Smudgeproof, creaseproof, and quick drying. You must have correct mascara remover in order to take off waterproof mascara. Primers can be used first, for ease of removal.
Blushers
Cream Blush: Can be highly pigmented. It can be used alone or with other products. Formulas come in cream to powder finish. Cream blushes come in jars, compacts, sticks, and liquids.
Pressed Powder: Can be used alone or in combination with creams. It comes in a wide range of textures and formulas in compact form. It is great for “on-set” touch-ups because it is pressed and not loose.
Loose Powder: Comes in a wide range of textures and formulas. It can be used alone or in combination.
Tints and Gels: Found in creams, gels, moisturizers, and liquids. Tints and gels are sheer translucent in color. Many are made to be an “all-in-one” product for cheeks and lips. Some are water resistant and oil free. They can be used alone or combined.
Eyebrows
Cake: Powder form, pressed or loose, and come in jars, compacts, and pencil form. They are the easiest and most natural way to define a brow. Cake eyebrow definer is most often used with a stiff eye brush. It can be wet or dry.
Gels: Usually transparent, but are available in tints. Gels can be used alone or after brow color has been applied. They dry quickly, are often waterproof, and hold the brow shape in place.
Pencils: Eyebrow pencils have an extra-hard point for drawing, shaping, and filling in brows. They are very pigmented, and come in assorted colors, and can be used in combination with other brow products.
Thickening: Eyebrow thickeners are like mascaras for the eyebrows. They have hairlike fibers that are suspended in the formula to add volume and coverage to the brows.
Wax: Used to shape, enhance, or fill the brow while holding the brow shape. It comes in different colors and can be combined with other products.
Lipstick
Cream: Contains moisturizing properties and is highly pigmented. Cream lipsticks go on smooth, and some contain sun protection and vitamins. They come in matte, shine, and frost formulas.
Matte: Lipstick that is flat with no shine. It tends to be very pigmented. It is great for creating “period” looks. Matte lipsticks are long-wearing because they are so dense.
Frost: Comes in lipsticks, pots, gloss, and tints, with different levels of frost or glitter.
Gloss: Sheer formulas with high-gloss or wet look. Gloss lipsticks can be used alone or in combination as a top coat to the lips.
Treatments: Balms, conditioners, and treatment sticks for the lips. They are available with sun protection, natural plant extracts, vitamins, and moisturizing properties. They soothe dry lips and can come in tints. They may be used alone or in combination.
Lip Scrubs: Treatment products to exfoliate the lips (get rid of dry skin).
Lip Plumper: Contains ingredients for plumping the lip area. Sometimes there is a tingling sensation when applied.
Lip Wax: Wax formula used before lipstick application to fill in lines and wrinkles. Lip wax also preps the lips for lipstick.
Lip Liners: Come in pencil, pen, or stick form. They are used to reshape and enhance the lip line before lipstick application, and can be used alone with a lip moisturizer (like a tint) or in combination with all lip products.
References
Internet Resources
Frends Beauty Supply, www.frendsbeautysupply.com.
Naimies Beauty Center, www.naimies.com.
Nancy, T., Take Up Cosmetics, www.takeupmakeup.com.
Patterson, S., www.creativeartistryfx.com.
Sephora, www.sephora.com.
7. Beauty and Basics
At one time it was critical because of the nature of lighting and film technology, as well as theatrical custom, to eliminate as much detail of the actor's face as possible and to draw in, often almost cartoonishly, those features meant to be seen. As film stock and lighting became more forgiving, and “reality,” rather than “theatricality,” became the accepted convention, beauty makeup has, too, evolved to appreciate a more naturalistic aesthetic.
—Richard Dean
Your imagination and your knowledge of shapes, the body, color, and lighting enable you to paint with endless possibilities. In this chapter, we will start with the basic skills and makeup applications that a Makeup Artist uses every day. This is what you have been waiting for—it's time to do makeup. We wanted you to excel in the basics and principles of the previous chapters before moving on to makeup applications, advanced makeup, and makeup designs. This is why we started the book with the more technical aspects of makeup. In order to have the background needed to move forward and excel, you need to understand all the elements and aspects that affect your work. To make up the whole, you need all the parts. We will note “industry standards” throughout this chapter and the rest of the book for you to know and recognize. These are products that will be found in every makeup kit. Brand and name recognition are important to the industry. Once you know that a product works, photographs well, and does not cause skin irritation, you will rely on that product to always work for you when there is no time for discovery, experimenting, or testing. Industry standards are trusted and proven—they work. We will cover the testing of looks in Chapter 8, Design.
Within a single day, a Makeup Artist could do any number of different makeups—for example, a beauty makeup, cover an actor's tattoo, break a nose, apply a tan or sunburn, add 10 years to a character, apply a five o'clock shadow, or give the “homeless extra” the grime needed to sell the look. An “extra” is a background actor, sometimes referred to as a “background artist”; these actors play a supportive but integral role in filmmaking, and need to have the same attention to detail as a principal actor.
We have our own slang in the makeup world. Makeup Artists often refer to “a makeup” or “the makeup” when speaking or referring to a colleague. They are referring to the specific look that is being done: a character or makeup design. Example: “The makeup looks muddy.” “Muddy” is unclean, not blended well, uneven application (not good), and “the makeup” is the finished application of the artist.
It could also be a day about creating natural looks that seem organic without the assistance of makeup. You need to develop a subtle eye and hand for realistic looks. Believability to the eye is key. It is requested in all media, for all ages and genders, and is a frequent request by all directors, producers, and clients.
Understanding the many different interpretations of makeup is also important. What is natural to one person is over-made-up to another. In the beginning of your career, this is one of the more frustrating situations: unclear communication about the makeup. It is subjective and at times difficult to communicate what a look should be. With experience comes the ability to assess the situation and decipher what is being requested. There is also time during th
e prep phase of a job for understanding what is needed. Prep is the period prior to filming, shooting, or staging when you have initial design discussions, and may even “test the makeup looks” (see Chapter 8: Design).
Take any opportunity to hone your talents and skills for all skin tones and types. The more faces you do, the better you will be. A great opportunity is working “the line,” or “bull pen,” for a film or opera company. You are one of many Makeup Artists painting for the crowds, and you have little time to do it. This exposes you to many faces and corrective situations.
I take one summer job in NYC each year during my time off from the Met to hone my skills at cranking out full makeups in 10 to 15 minutes, recalling my early days on “the line” at the San Francisco Opera, where we were trained to complete a full makeup (on choristers and supers [supers are stage “extras”: non-singing background artists]) in 8 to 10 minutes.
The Makeup Artist Handbook Page 9