Pro Tip
Use a combination of brow pencils to shape, and brow powders to fill in or soften the pencil work. Follow over the completed brow with a cream or light-colored eye shadow to fade your work.
Find the brow shape by taking the handle of a makeup brush and laying the handle gently on the face vertically. Starting from the inner corner of the eye at the nose, point straight up toward the brow. The general rule is to start the brow at the inner corners of the eye (or one eye length between each eye). Next, with the brush handle vertical, gently place the handle on the outside of the iris with the handle going up to the brow. This is your highest point in the arch, or where the natural arch should be, and sometimes is not. Approximately a half-inch from the arch is where the brow should end. For the beginning brow artist, take a pencil and lightly mark any area of the brow that you feel needs shaping.
Start with the inside corner of the brow and use light, short feather strokes in an upward or 45-degree angle (depending on how the hair grows). Move along the brow in this way, filling and shaping where needed. Use different colors. Remember not to fill in too much, just where needed. If you are using the brow pencil and brow powder technique, add brow powder in a lighter shade, and go over or fill in areas that are too harsh from the pencil. You can use brow pencil alone or brow powders alone, depending on your hand and eye.
Brow sealers can be used to tame unruly brows. Apply after you have shaped the brow. Sealers can darken the brows, so adjust your work accordingly. Sealers can also start to flake over time, so check your brows!
Brows also need trimming (just like the hair on the head). Makeup Artists trim brows on a regular basis, particularly on men. Have a small trimmer on hand (Panasonic), small round-tipped scissors, and a small-toothed comb (a mustache comb or brow comb works). Keep everything clean, sanitary, and running well. Follow the manufacturer's directions for the care and cleaning of the trimmer. Comb the brow hair upward, with your scissors at an angle, trimming any hair that is too long. Work a little at a time until you have the desired results. It is better to make several passes during trimming than to cut too much in one pass.
Pro Tip
Facial-hair lighteners are used to lighten naturally dark brows. This process is good for continuity and looks. Lightening is a simple process, but not something you would do on the same day as shooting. This should be done several days before, or at least one day before, shooting. Always follow the manufacturer's directions on how to use a product.
Blush the cheeks and the lips with colors that work with the skin tone, costume, and situations. Placement depends on the individual features, character portrayal, and current trends. Experiment with different colors and placement on your models to see the effects of color, placement, and shapes on the cheeks and lips. Refer to Chapter 1, Shapes.
I very much depend on the Estée Lauder Smoothing Creme Concealer, using it under the foundation of every woman's makeup that I do, and some men's. It not only works beautifully on dark circles and blemishes, but also as a successful eyebrow cover when only a small portion of the brow needs to be blocked.
—Steven Horak
Glamour Makeup
Painted perfection, beautifully sculpted—use your imagination with color, boldness in application, and dramatic placement to create a stylized look that is glamourous. Depending on the design or look you want, start with blanking out the face with a flawless foundation that has complete coverage with correction. Re-create the desired features using beautifully sculpted contour and highlight. Add drama to the eyes and eyebrows with bold shapes and color. Consider painting in the eyebrows and using false eyelashes, with eyeliner to add to the drama. Make lips luscious with a full shape using lip pencils and lipstick; top with shine or gloss. Glamour makeup should be bold in application and color, and has to be well blended. You will be working with more makeup, both in color and texture. This look is “the full slap,” also known as “beat the face” (makeup slang for painted). You will need plenty of experimentation and practice in the beginning, so go for it, work it, but blend it and powder it (Figure 7.4).
Figure 7.4 Glam Eyes
(From Shutterstock)
False Eyelashes
Strip lashes, individual lashes, and exotic lashes are all great for bringing attention and beauty to the eyes. For subtlety in a beauty makeup, use individual lashes, which come in several lengths and styles. An alternative to individual lashes is a delicate strip lash in brown or black. For glamour, fantasy, stylistic, or theatrical productions, choose a heavier strip lash in black. Go for the flair and be as bold as the makeup design allows. Decorative or exotic lashes are wonderful in the right situations and designs.
Industry Standards: DUO eyelash adhesive (available in black and clear white), Andrea eyelashes, Ardell eyelashes. All are available in most drugstores.
Exotic/decorative/fantasy lashes: Elegant Lashes (www.eEyelash.com).
Before applying eyelashes, check for size. Always remove strip lashes from the tray working from the outside in to prevent damage to the strip. Without using any glue, place the strip or individual on the base of the lashes. How is the fit? Remove and trim any excess from the strip from the outside. With the individual, you are looking for length and style with the eye. This is the time to choose. After checking the fit and style, apply a thin line of glue to the strip lash. Never apply glue to the eye directly. An alternative is to put a small amount of glue onto your clean makeup palette or wax paper palette, and then apply a thin line onto the strip using a thin brush. This brush will become your glue brush. This works well with individual lashes. Always take care to avoid using too much glue, as you can glue the eye shut. Center the false-eyelash strip on the eye at the base of the lashes. With the eye closed, gently press the strip onto the base of the lashes. Have a slightly wet Q-tip ready in case you have glued the eye shut. If you do not wet the Q-tip, the cotton will stick to the glue. Application can be done with tweezers or hands, or a combination of hands, tweezers, and a soft glue brush for securing the false lashes to the base of the lashes. Successful application depends on your hands and steadiness.
Removal of false eyelashes should always be done from the outside in. Pinch the outside of the false lash with your thumb and index finger, and gently pull in toward the nose. Clean off glue by pulling off the strip, and reshape it on a tray. You can get several days on the same actor with one pair of eyelashes if they are well cared for.
Pro Tip
Curl the eyelashes and apply mascara first. Apply false eyelashes. After the glue has set (one minute), “marry” the real lashes with the false-eyelash strip by combing more mascara to combine them.
Men and Children
Script, circumstances, and skin condition will dictate your choices with makeup for men and children. In most cases, you would not want to see any makeup. Healthy skin tone, definition, and believability to the eye are key. Spot painting is recommended for both. Additional definition to the eyes and eyebrows for men is noted in the section “Natural Makeup.”
Bronzers and tanning products are also recommended for men. Men's grooming should be addressed first before applying any sunblock or makeup. Check for nose hair, ear hair, unruly eyebrows that need trimming (unless the character calls for unruly), shaving mistakes, sideburns, and nails. It is always best to get all the trimming done in the makeup trailer. Use lip moisturizers that are not shiny. Try Chap Stick.
Talk about sunblock with the parent or guardian of the child. Has sunblock been applied? It is extremely rare to do a full makeup on a child. There might be spot painting of a mark, or sunblock might be needed for a child. Check for dry skin, dirty face and hands, dry lips, and scrapes and bruises. Use Chap Stick so the lips are not too shiny. Make it fun for them with flavored Chap Stick (Figure 7.5).
Figure 7.5 Man and Child
(From Shutterstock)
Body Makeup
Body makeup finishes and smoothes out the color of the skin. Even a sheer coat of body
makeup will give the skin a beautiful finish that photographs better than skin would if clean. It polishes the skin for a beautiful look. Usually opaque body makeup covers veins, stretch marks, age spots, and discolorations. Sometimes you are doing just the neck and hands; other times, full leg, back, and chest, on men, women, and occasionally children. Widely used in all media, liquids are favored for their finish and are formulated for the body. Most come in water-resistant, sweat-resistant formulas.
Industry Standards: Visiora, MAKE UP FOR EVER, M•A•C.
Start with applying sunblock first, if needed, and allow time to absorb. Know the area of the skin that is not covered by clothing. Place tissue in all openings of clothes to protect from makeup. Avoid applying body makeup where clothing is covering the skin. The costume department will appreciate your protecting the clothing.
You can apply body makeup directly to the skin with a sea sponge, large foundation brush, or your hands. If sheer coverage is needed, mix with body lotion. Check for even application and no lines of demarcation. Let dry. Gently press with tissue to remove excess. Powder with a “no-color” powder or translucent powder and large powder puff. Buff off excess powder with the puff. Allow time for drying before removing tissue from clothing.
Note: Body makeup using an airbrush is covered in Chapter 10.
Covering Tattoos
Tattoos are everywhere! You will cover millions of tattoos in your career for so many reasons, such as tattoos do not work with the character, the director does not like the real tattoo and wants something more appropriate for the situation, and so on.
There are several ways to cover tattoos. We will give you two to try.
Quick and Easy
This is the fast-and-dirty method, with no prep involved, working “out of your kit” (makeup slang for using what is in your kit—and Dermacolor should be). It is for those moments of necessity and no time. This method uses KRYOLAN's Dermacolor palette, an industry standard.
1. With a synthetic precut sponge, cover the tattoo completely with Dermacolor D red B (green). Apply the Dermacolor on the tattoo itself, and not on the area around it. You do not want too much overlap, just enough to cover the artwork. This is the first color to start canceling out the ink, and therefore needs complete coverage. Note: Some tattoos have a dimensional quality from the tattooing/scarring process. You will be able to camouflage the ink, but not the dimension. You need the help of lighting to camouflage dimension.
2. Stipple Dermacolor D31 (or D32, depending on ink colors) over the first layer of Dermacolor. This color prevents gray from bleeding up through the first color, and gives complete coverage. The gray comes from the blue and black ink.
3. Stipple the third layer of the appropriate Dermacolor to match skin tone, again giving complete coverage.
4. Powder with no-color powder and a powder puff or clean sponge.
5. Lightly mist with Ben Nye's Sealer, holding the spray 12 inches away from coverage when spraying. Do not over-spray!
Pro Tip
If the coverage looks good, but a bit dull or lifeless, take a dime-size amount of body lotion rubbed into the palms of your hands, and pat onto the coverage. This “brings life” to the skin by adding moisture back without affecting the makeup. Remember to pat—not rub—and use sparingly. In some cases, red needs to be stippled over the completed coverage to bring life back to the skin. This happens with the larger designs that you have to cover. Use a textured stipple sponge with red for this, and do so sparingly to break up the color.
Tattoo Cover-up Steps
By Christien Tinsley of Tinsley Transfers, Inc.
In order to set up a tattoo cover-up, I first like to prep my workstation. Materials I have with me at all times when doing a tattoo-cover application are astringent to clean the skin, cotton pads, shavers (electric and razor), shaving cream, scissors, adhesive (Pros-Aide), latex sponges, tissue, spray bottle (water), no-color powder, powder puffs, Q-tips, 99-percent alcohol, brushes, sealer (Ben Nye's Final Seal), hand towels, isopropyl myristate, Super Solv lotion (body, hand, or face), antishine, Mac Crème Gloss Brilliance, tattoo palettes in flesh tones and primary colors; I use Skin Illustrator, Reel Color, W.M. CREATIONS, airbrush tattoo colors from Skin Illustrator, Derma Palettes, airbrush, and compressor (all items are industry standards).
No matter what approach you will take for tattoo cover-up application, you will commonly prep the skin by cleansing it with an astringent of your choice. Doing so removes dirt and oil, and slightly dries the skin for better adhesion of makeup and paint.
Depending on the size of the tattoo you are covering, you may choose to airbrush or paint it out using your makeup brushes. Either way, the colors you choose to use should remain the same. I like to think of this as though you were painting an opaque prosthetic (foam). The idea is to have a color that is not conducive to looking real, and it's attached to the skin. Your job is to make it imitate clean skin, and to blend by painting. When I say paint, I mean paint as though you have a blank canvas.
1. First, you need to start by blocking out all color of the tattoo. I like to go with a meaty red-orange color first. Paint the color solid over the whole tattoo, right to the edge, and then blend and feather it out only about a half-inch from the edge. This not only helps block out the blues and blacks used in most tattoos, but also gives you an undertone to your flesh colors.
2. Next, go in with a natural flesh tone that is about one shade lighter than the actor's own skin tone. Stipple this color over the surface—making sure it has solid coverage, but with variations of transparency.
3. Add yellows, blues, or greens to the skin to adjust the color by graying, cooling, or warming the painted area. This should give you the overall match you are looking for.
Details:
Lightly apply a hotter red to the surface already painted to bring out the effects of capillaries and natural blush colors found in the skin tones. Freckles and the occasional browning of the skin can tie the look all together.
Adjust the shade of your tattoo cover-up as you wrap around the body. Not every angle of the body has the same degree of warmth. When working on darker skin tones, you will be using reds and sometimes yellows.
4. After you are finished covering up the tattoo, a thin spray of sealer over the surface will help protect it. If your image is a little too shiny, add a little anti-shine over the surface. Try to avoid powders. Flesh-tone tattoo paints, lightly applied over the surface, can help. Use a silicone- or water-based product.
Note: Never put oils such as glycerin on top of your tattoo cover for a wet or sweaty look. This will break down the cover.
For on-set touch-ups, always have your paints and makeup colors with you in case you have to remove and reapply on set. For minor repairs, have premixed colors to match and fill in areas that have rubbed away.
For removal of tattoo cover, mix isopropyl myristate and Super Solv in a 50/50 solution. Warm the mixture to a temperature comfortable to the skin. Gently rub the remover with a powder puff in a circular motion on the area to be cleaned. Follow with a dampened hot hand towel to remove all solvent.
Five o'Clock Shadow
Painting or stippling in beard growth is done to show a “five o'clock” shadow or a few days growth without using any real hair glued onto the face. It is a basic, easy, fast technique that every Makeup Artists knows. It is sometimes requested at the last minute, on set, so always have your favorite stipple product and stipple sponges in your set bag. Skin Illustrator, StaColor, and Reel Color Products make the Makeup Artist's job a lot easier to achieve a lasting, water-resistant, beard stipple. These products are all activated by alcohol, are water and abrasion resistant, easy to use, clean off quickly, and do not rub off on clothing. They are great for doing so many different kinds of makeups that they are industry standards and invaluable for realistic effects and continuity. You should have all of their palettes in your makeup kit.
You will also be working with stipple sponges. Stipple sponges
are textured sponges, available in different gauges and density for different stippling effects. Orange stipple sponges are softer to the touch and more elastic. Black stipple sponges are coarse and much firmer than the orange ones. “Stipple” is also a term used for technique as well as to describe sponges and application. It is part of the makeup industry's vocabulary. An example of this terminology: When the Makeup Artist you are assisting says, “Stipple some color into his cheeks”—she or he is asking you to use the technique of stippling to add color to the cheeks with an up-and-down motion using a sponge or brush. It is not complete coverage, but rather varied and inconsistent. The up-and-down motion is done with a light touch, using the wrist in a tapping motion. This gives a realistic look that is not masklike. It is not complete coverage of color. There is an air quality to it that gives a variation of color and intensity that is organic. This technique is essential to create real-looking beard growth. You will use it often, and for many types of makeups. If you were to apply complete coverage for beard growth it would look comical and clownish.
Stipple technique is also used to fill in real beards to make them look fuller or appear to have more growth, for long-distance shots where you do not want to lay hair by hand, stunt doubles, and background artists who will not be shot in close up (Figure 7.6).
The Makeup Artist Handbook Page 12