For this shoot, I decided to start with colour correction makeup and then move into the fully contoured effect.
The colour correction makeup was applied thickly so it would photograph well. In reality, the makeup would be applied lighter than this. I also wanted the colours to be boldly placed on my skin, not necessarily in the right places.
During the process, I felt as though I was going to take part in some sort of warrior ritual! The amount of product on my face at the end of the session was amazing. The product was thickly covering my face.
The layers that were placed on the face were:-
colour correcting makeup
contouring makeup
face paint to darken contours
foundation
powder
bronzer
My eyes were made up with false lashes and an over-exaggerated eyeliner. I also used glue dots to position the eyebrows I made on the laser cutter.
The lips were coated in a gloss lip colour (which felt sticky and unpleasant). Each stage was photographed so that I could evaluate each stage for inclusion in the project.
The makeup looked much darker in person than it does in the images. This meant that more and more product needed to be applied in order for the effect to be seen in the finished images.
After the main makeup had been completed, I tied a piece of clear elastic around my face to emulate the work of Gareth Pugh (previous post). In the previous post, makeup artist Garland commented that the “look is (painfully) gorgeous”. I can totally agree with that. Placing the elastic in place is tricky as it is easy to disturb the makeup already on the face. For the effect to work well, the elastic needs to be really tight – I used a hair clip at the back of my head to pull it even tighter (and more painful). The effect was totally worth the pain though.
After the shoot, the makeup was removed. At this point, my skin decided that even the gentlest of cleaning products (hypoallergenic) was too much and reacted by being very sore and red. I also developed a severe reaction underneath my mouth to the purple colour concealer and have ended up with a steroid cream from the doctors.
Overall, the shoot was successful, with the intermediate images where the colour concealer and contouring makeup is still in lines are the most intriguing and effective.
REFERENCE
THOMPSON, RACHEL. 2016. “Designer creates extreme cheekbone contouring using stretched elastic”. Mashable [online]. Available at: https://mashable.com/2016/02/21/horror-show-contouring/#XqL4tC_OBuqT [accessed 10 March 2018].
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