Beard application.

As part of our assignment we have to create a tramp look so part of our hairdressing module we had to apply a beard to the face using crepe hair. We applied the hair with matte spirit gum so there wouldn't be a shine seen through the beard as this would make it look unnatural.

 These are the tools I used to start creating the beard. Beards are never one colour so I mixed black, grey and ginger together as most of my research showed most people have ginger in their beards. My tramp will be aged but also with stress and the environmental factors a homeless tramp will be going quite grey.

 Bit by bit I put more hair together and seperated it to make sure all the colours blended and there wasn't a big clump of one colour to make it look fake.

 This is after I have used the majority of the crepe hair and have a reasonable size of hair to create the beard. As you can see it is blended together with colours.

Then we sectioned it into 4 clumps that would be used on different parts of the face and so they are workable sizes. Then we went onto the application.

This skin has to be clean and dry with no sign of oil so that the beard can stick to the spirit gum propely. Then start from under the chin waiting for the spirit gum to get tacky and then holding the hair in place with a tail of a comb of brush.

These are images of my progression throughout the application. There is a way the beard has to placed to make it look natural. It first has to start at the bottom and work your way to the top and be in a certain direction.

This was how the application finished. After this stage you can cut it into a shape. I chose to give it the shortest of trims that didn't make a difference as I really liked my outcome and thought it looked shabby and old. I twisted the moustache to give it it's shape and that is definately my favourite part.

I enjoyed the application and thought it was good fun just a lengthy process. It is also messy and sticky but that's where all the fun lies.
I did like how my beard turned out and thought it was a good attempt for my first. It does get a bit stressful especially when the hair doesn't want to stick or the spirit gum dries up when you are taking to long to get a section of crepe hair to apply.
For my first attempt and never doing anything like this before there's not a lot I didn't like about my beard. I just think I need to improve on my timings and maybe try out different styles when I next have a go at the application.
Maybe I need to be more careful with the removal as it does get messy and the bond off is an oily product that does like to drip everywhere so it is a good tip to gown the model(which you should always do) and also to hold tissue on the face when taking off the beard. I found out this is also a lengthy process and an itchy one too with the beard rubbing on the face.
But all good fun nonetheless.

Theatre Makeup.

This is my first attempt at doing a normal theatre make up. In this make up you have to enhance everything to make sure it will stand out on stage and the stage lights won’t drown out the colour on the actor/actress’ face.

To achieve this look I had to use a foundation that was a shade darker. The medium I have used is a grease paint because it will stay on longer during a production. I have also used a darker colour to use to contour the face. Up close this looks stupid and awful however from far away the makeup stands out and is visible from the back seat of the theatre. To make the eyes pop and look bigger and brighter I have put white eyeliner on the water line and below that put a black line which I used water based face paints to do this. On the top lid I have done a line by the lash line but have not joined this to the line on the lower lash line otherwise the eyes would not achieve the wider look. Like black and white photographic make up everything has to be enhanced so that eye shadow on the eye socket was applied thicker and darker just not too dark.

My model had dark hair as it was but I have done the eyebrows black to once again enhance them.

The red lips was to just overall pull the make up together and give it its final look.

Overall, it looks a bit stupid but that’s just because it is a close up makeup. I would improve by maybe blending the makeup up into the hairline as there is a clear line where her hair line is and natural face colour to the makeup I have applied. Usually in a theatre show there would be a wig covering this.

I do like this attempt because it looks completely and from a far the I think I achieved the look I was going for.

Colour corrective makeup.

This shows my attempt at colour corrective makeup. I tried to take in as much information as I could on this lesson as I have always struggled to do this.
My client had lot of freckles but a great complexion. She also had a good skin tone so there was not alot of colour corrective to do on this particular model.
Even though she didn't really  have any dark circles under eyes but thought I would try to have a practice at the makeup. This turned out to be disasterous and I put far too much makeup on the under eye weighing it down and making her now look like she had dark circles that weren't there in the first place. I did put myself down a bit about this and I thought it was worse than it was. I was then reassured by my tutor that it wasn't as bad as I was making out.
But the make up wasn't all bad. I had good coverage and think I applied the makeup well(minus the eyes). I would definately like to have a good with someone with dark circles and see what I can do with my makeup then. I also need to purchase a colour corrective makeup palette/kit.
After doing this makeup I then went on to turn the make up into a day makeup which I was very proud of. I think I blended the eyes well and definately achieved the look I was going for.

I probably could of gone darker on the eyes and maybe added some eyeliner to finish the look off as well as some lipstick. Some nude or natural would of been good just to tie all the make up together.

Blowdrying the hair

This is a photograph from after I blow dried Issy's hair.
Our task was to wet the hair and wash it using shampoo and conditioner and then to dry it off using two techniques; finger drying and blowdrying. This was my first attempt for this module even though I have done this in the past on my college course.
After washing my clients hair with a shampoo and conditioner that suited her medium hair and using massage movements such as effleurage and petrissage, I wrapped her head in a towl and sat her down in front of a mirror. I then smoothed the cuticle of her hair down with the towel whilst trying to rinse out some of the excess water on the hair.
Afterwards, I started to finger dry the hair with the hairdryer pointing downwards to make sure the cuticle stayed smooth. I could then carry on to the blow dry the hair once I had got the hair to be damp through fingerdrying.
I then went on to section the hair into four different sections. Taking piece by piece from the 2 back sections I started to blow dry the hair using my rotary brushes. I carried on this movement onto all 4 sections and completely drying the hair. My client didn't want her hair straight so I put a bit of a curl into it at the bottom.

I have done blowdrying in the past but it was nice to revisit it and do it on an actual model as I am more used to doing it on a training head which doesn't have as nice a hair as the real human but also you don't have to be as gentle with them so you aren't learning how to do it properly. I came to realise I am not as confident as I thought I was when it came to blowdrying especially on a real person.
I kept finding myself banging my brush on her head and on the odd occasion I banged my hair dryer on her head when trying to pick up a section of hair to dry. This made me feel really bad and unprofessional but worried I had hurt her. I also think I need to add a bit more volume to the roots of her hair near the parting as it looked a bit flat compared to the rest of her hair which had volume.
However, I was pretty proud of the outcome overall. I think I did an alright job blow drying her hair and kept it looking and feeling smooth.

I think that blowdrying is a good styling technique to add volume and straighten the hair. It's not as harsh as other techniques that use extreme heat such as straighteners and it's an easy look to achieve.

I am looking forward to having a second and third attempt to see my improvements and confidence boost hopefully.

Dead makeup.

 This my my dead make up I did in my sfx class on the second week.
This makeup is based on what you would do if you were on a TV or film set doing a makeup for a dead person. The idea is to eliminate any redness from the face as that what gives it the 'alive' look. Also, with a dead body all the blood settles with gravity so the veins and capillaries would not be sticking out of the face or even be visible on the surface unless the dead body had been lying on the face for a long period of time.
This was my first attempt at the makeup. Overall, I think I could have done this make up a lot better. To make it better for photographic reasons would be to take the dead body look onto the neck and ears. As you can see my client has very pink ears which is very 'lively'.  

Whilst doing the makeup we were told not to blend it as it isn't a pretty fashion makeup and I struggled not to do that, especiall on the eyes. This made a massive impact on the overall makeup and I would definatey try and change this on my next attempt.
Looking back on the photos I can see that there is still a bit of red in her face. Next time I will have to use more green to counteract the red in her face.
One of the things I am mildly happy with, is the lips. These give the 'dead' effect with how blue they are. I did this by using green on them and then going over the top with a blue.
To improve next time I think I need to use more green on the face so I can get a better coverage ontop without red coming through and to work on my brush strokes.

Lots of catching up to do...

So I haven't been on here in a few weeks. Busy catching up with work after being on holiday and now it's time to get updating on here.

My work Station

This is a shot of how I set my makeup up before an application. This is mainly for fashion makeup a rather than special fx which varies depending on the look I am trying to achieve.
However, this is pretty much how I set up for every normal makeup treatment I do.
I try to make everything look organised, so I have everything in sections; from all my foundations together to all my lip products and all my eye products all together so everything is easier to find.
Also, it is important to have couch and bed roll down as not all work tops or tables will be sanitised.