Women Of Shakespeare: Desdemona - 'The Handkerchief!'

The next look in my utterly self indulgent series is for Desdemona, the unfortunate wife of Othello. Othello is sort of a quintessential tragic hero (although I know my lecturer would heartily disagree with that statement, he seems to hate the very concept of the tragic hero and his fatal flaw, and I get it, but this isn't an essay soooooo). Othello appears to be the only black man in Venice and is married to a very white woman (but still Italian, but would have been acted by a white man, so make of that what you will). Desdemona and Othello are happy and in love, but Othello is overcome with jealousy, relating to an incident with a handkerchief, and ends up suffocating Desdemona just before he finds out she's been completely faithful. Heart wrenching stuff.

My inspiration for this look came from the description of the handkerchief, which was said to be white with embroidered strawberries on it. Also I went pale skin, as Desdemona is supposed to be real white in comparison to her husband.

 For the skin I mixed Stargazers White Foundation with my typical foundation (currently Bourjois 123 Perfect in Vanilla). I skipped contouring as I wanted to look a little more youthful and innocent and went full on with the blush. I used Inglot eyeshadow in 382 with a big, fluffy brush and started with a light coat, drawing it up my cheek. I then used a smaller brush and applied a more concentrated colour on the apples of my cheeks. I wanted a fairly matte look, so I skipped out on the highlight.

For the eyes I started by Priming with Two Faced Shadow Insurance, I then used Inglot's 382 in the crease, extended to my temple and underneath the eye. I wanted it to be very soft and blended out. I then used the darkest shade in Inglot's 124 to darken the crease. Next, I smothered Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk over my lid, in the inner corner and on my waterline, blending out with my finger where appropriate. On the lid I applied X-Rated from Urban Decay's Vice 2 Palette and in the inner corner I set Milk with Inglot's 373. I then applied a very thin line of liquid liner on the upper and lower lid. Add a touch of mascara and small sections of false lashes on the upper and lower lash lines.

 For the brows I just brushed on concealer with a spooley, as I wanted this look to be quite theatrical (also to rev up the paleness).

I thought an ombre lip would fit the look quite happily, so that's what I did. I started by blending the foundation mix on my lips, I then used No 7 Lip Pencil in Blush to fill in my upper lip and the inner part of my lower lip, blending it out with my finger. I then used No 7 Lip Pencil in Plum to darken the inner parts of my lips. Next I applied Barry M Lipstick in 153 on my top lip and rolled my lips together to blend the colour on to my lower lip. To finish I applied a thin layer of clear lip gloss.

Et Voila. Here's me with a dress up apron from a Magenta costume (from Rocky Horror) which I'm pretending is a handkerchief. So, yeah.

I Did A Special Effects Make Up Course At The National Theatre

So, several months ago, my friend directed my attention to a course the National Theatre was doing for young people, teaching the basics of special effects make up for the stage. It consisted of four, three hour sessions costing £50 overall (which I considered a valuable investment, cos National Theatre).

It was run by Helen Casey, the deputy head of Wigs and Make up at the National Theatre, who totally worked on the make up in Frankenstein, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, which means I've met a lady who's met him, which is exciting for me, I'm sorry.

There was an application process, which was fairly simple and I assume there to make sure the people applying were serious. I got through (yay!), then had to deal with an arduous phone call where I was on hold for like half an hour, where I was then told the course was full and the guy hung up and then I had to ring again and be on hold again and say 'I have a booking reference, geez'. It wasn't fun. BUT, that's totally besides the point.

The course itself was totally amazing, I learnt a whole lot, everyone was really friendly, Helen is a total inspiration and I had a bloody great time.

Photo taken by Ellie Kurttz for the National Theatre, Youth Programme

Here's me with Helen, which I feel looks like the perfect promo shot, fake blood on my face and all.

For the first session we had to do allergy tests of all the products we'd be using, so we couldn't apply any make up. So Helen took the opportunity to talk about various plays she'd worked on, and the practical issues of some of the make up. She started with showing clips from some plays performed at the National Theatre- Frankenstein, Antigone, King Lear and another play that I can't for the life of me remember the title of. For Frankenstein - her most recent project - she told us about the issues she had of keeping all the make up on, considering the play begins with the monster squirming around on the floor (which is actually an amazing piece of physical acting). She talked about actors sweating off make up, fake blood congealing, and fake vomit not tasting nice enough. She also told us her best recipe for fake vomit (orange juice, granola, and lemon curd). She then gave some advice about creating looks for certain characters and things to bear in mind, such as the time period, if any physical feature is mentioned in the actual script, age of the character, their lifestyle (health, class, if they're fashionable, etc) and then some more practical things to bear in mind such as quick changes and wounds inflicted in the script. It was fascinating. She finished with talking about observing real life injuries, and brought out her book of photos she has printed out of various wounds. It was pretty disgusting, but very important so as to be able to make your work look accurate. It's important to look at the original source, rather than another artist's work.

The next week we started with bruises and black eyes. The main thing you'll need to do this is Kryolan's 4 Colour SFX Wheel (the one for bruises), it has a purple, a yellowy tan colour, a yellow-green and a dark black-blue. One of the main things we're were told was to avoid our work looking like a pizza, as in too much, too symmetrical and too round. We were told to focus on a single, collision point, and then work from there. So I focused on the cheekbone, considering that's the bit that sticks out and is therefore more likely to be hit. I applied this with a mixture of different sized sponges (with varying sized holes) and my fingers. It was strange not using brushes, but it certainly works better not to with this kind of make up, considering you don't want it to look too neat, which I feel using brushes would do. 

This is what the lady photographed above did on me, grazed knuckles, presumably from punching a wall. She used the same Kryolan colour wheel, GM Problood and GM Wound Filler and also applied it with different sized sponges. The wound filler is this weird jelly like substance that's a dark reddy-purple, which is pretty hard to apply, but looks really good (and by that I mean really disgusting, but life like). It mostly is there to mimic congealed blood in wounds, but also works really well as a colour to be sponged on various wounds.

In the same session we also did cuts, where we had to use colour and tone to mimic depth in lieu of actual texture. These photographed a bit brighter than what it looked like in real life (I promise the blue didn't look that blue, it looked more black) and also, stage lights flatten colours a little, so brighter is better, so it will stand out on a stage. For this I used the same Kryolan colour wheel, fake blood and wound filler. As well as using sponges, I also used coffee stirrers (those slender wooden sticks you get in all coffee shops, weird, I know). I started by sketching out the shape of the cuts with a coffee stirrer and the dark blue from the Kryolan wheel. I then used the pale browny-yellow from the wheel to blend around the cuts, leaving a gap so there is a pale rim around them, making the cut look like it has more depth. I then piled on the wound filler, using a stick, making sure it looks like it's in the middle of a wound. Then I went back to the dark blue, with the stick, and applied the colour in the centre to add depth. I then poured in the fake blood, letting it naturally run down my arm, I then used a large-holed sponge to spread the blood about, making it real messy and gross.

In session three we started playing with gelatin, and boy is it fun. I used the vegetarian kind (being that I'm trying to cut down on meat, I felt this should count), and this was actually a good choice because it had a thicker texture, meaning that I could do some different things. The normal gelatin had a thinner texture and took longer to dry (which I observed from the other people using it). It did create a cool, crinkly texture that the vegetarian stuff didn't, though. You start with about four or five spoonfuls of boiling water to one spoonful of gelatin. You stir until it's nice and thick. I then just applied the gelatin to my hand using a plastic spoon and my fingers. I did a thin layer all over the back of the hand and fingers and then created thicker layers on the knuckles and where I wanted the cut to be. I then used the other end of the spoon to create the grooves, going right down to my skin. I then blasted a hair dryer at my hand for quite a while to dry it. I then used the dark blue from the Kryolan wheel to add darkness to the bottom of the grooves and also in the existing cracks of my fingers. I then globbed in the wound filler and then dribbled in some fake blood, letting it sink below the gelatin and seep into the surrounding area. I then used the Kryolan wheel to add extra detail to the surrounding areas and my fingers. I then applied some glycerine with a cotton bud to some areas to make it look like the skin is seeping delicious, delicious pus.

Here's a little added something, a photo of what the gelatin looked like after I peeled it off my hand. Pretty gross.

Another technique we were told was to add breakfast cereal to the gelatin for texture, as if you can eat something, it's not likely to irritate the skin. For this rash, I mixed crushed rice crispies into the gelatin. I just spread a thin layer over my arm, the cereal providing the the gross globules and the gelatin making the skin looked cracked and as if it's peeling. I then used a sponge, the colour wheel and wound filler for the colour.

I then used thin layers of the gelatin, building them up and drying them to create these blisters. Again using the colour wheel to add depth.

For this burn (?), I just wanted to experiment what a really thick layer of gelatin would look like. I think this turned out pretty cool. I'm also not sure if the redness on my arm is make up or my skin reacting to the heat of the hair dryer - worked though.

 Photo taken by Ellie Kurttz for the National Theatre, Youth Programme

The last week we were told to do a large character-esque project, as they had arranged for a professional photographer to photograph our work for portfolios. They also had a set up, so that we could see what our work looked like under stage lighting, and also on camera, as they had a live feed from a camera being projected on a wall. This is what was done on my face by a lovely Estonian woman (who I did my piece on). I'll do a separate post on what my final project was. As a side note, how pensive do I look here, I'm deep, man, so deep.

 Photo taken by Ellie Kurttz for the National Theatre, Youth Programme

Here's said woman drying the gelatin on my face.

 Photo taken by Ellie Kurttz for the National Theatre, Youth Programme

And us and Helen, with another perfect promo shot, look at how much fun we look like we're having (we were having lots of fun).

Look out for the post on my final project, I'll write it at some point, depending on how much reading I have to do for Uni.

Women From Shakespeare - A Series Of Make Up Looks Stemming From Procrastination

So, I decided to do a series of make up looks inspired by the women in Shakespeare's plays (and possibly poetry depending on what I feel like - dark lady make up, anyone?). This originated from me trying to plan a Shakespeare essay whilst having a shower, ending up in me thinking that wouldn't it be a great idea if I did Shakespeare themed make up. That essay did get written (never mind that it was finished at 7 in the morning), and some make up looks were done.

The obvious start for me was Ophelia. Hamlet is the Shakespeare play, others may be incredibly famous, but Hamlet is the big one. Also Millais painted her that one time (I'm partial to Pre-Raphaelite art). So, Ophelia's a bit of a big deal. The painting is of her death, drowned in a river, surrounded by flowers. I decided that this was what I wanted to portray, because you can't do Shakespeare without being a little morbid (Titus Andronicus, anyone?).

Starting with the skin, you want to make it pale and corpse-like, being that we are doing the make up of a dead character. I started with Stargazer's White Foundation, mixing it with a little of my normal foundation. The consistency of this foundation isn't the best, so use something like a stippling brush to apply it (or other things good at blending, such as a sponge). Then use a medium brown eye shadow (or a contour powder) to further deepen the depths of your faces - below the cheekbones, under the chin, under the lower lip, the sides of the nose, the temples, under the eyes and the corners of your mouth. No blush is needed, for obvious reasons. I did my brows quite full, for a youthful effect.

For the eyes I wanted to emphasize the size and shape, much like the eyes painted by Millais. I started by priming my eyes with Two Faced Shadow Insurance. I then took a small angled brush and a medium brown eyeshadow - Cork by Mac - drawing a line just above my crease, following the line into the nose to make the eyes appear a little larger and flicking out at the other end. I darkened this line with a darker brown - 329 by Inglot - and then blended the line a little with a clean blending brush. I used this same shadow under the eye, winging the line out under the tear duct, again making the eye appear larger. I then used Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk all over the lid, the inner corner and the waterline, blending out with my finger. On the lid I used Honeycomb from Sleek's Au Naturel palette and I used Nougat from the same palette in the inner corner. I then used a Bourjois liquid liner to do a fine line on the upper lid with a small flick. Next, apply mascara, making sure it is quite defined and doll like for the lower lashes. I then applied eylure lashes - I can't remember which, but something with volume that gets longer in the outer corners.

 To finish, apply a clear gloss all over the lid to give that just drowned feel. I used a bourjois gloss. I would heap quite a lot of product on the back of my hand and apply it with my finger. Make sure you do this last, because you will not be able to change anything after you've done this. It also feels gross and creases like a bitch, so skip this step if you don't want to deal with that. I then loaded some mascara on my lower lid, dipped a cotton bud in water, and pressed the wet cotton bud onto the globbed mascara to simulate tears. Gently pat away the water droplet as it hits the bottom of your cheek, so the tear looks a little nicer.

For the lips, purse them, so no product will reach the creases, and pat the white foundation over them, so they look all cracked and unpleasant. Then take a pale blue eye shadow, purse your lips again, and pat the colour in the centre of the lips, so you look like you've suffocated to death. I then got more lip gloss and used a small brush to simulate water flowing out of a mouth.

And the make up is done. To complete, wet your hair and carry around a selection of flowers. This could be a great Halloween costume for you, if, like me, all your friends are literature nerds.

Finis.

The Wonder of Sugar Skulls - A Totally Late, Somewhat Irrelevant Make Up Look

A couple of years ago I discovered the wonders of the sugar skulls. These amazing full face make up looks with a simple base look - that of a skull - and various designs and embellishments. All you need to do is google the term 'sugar skull make up' to get a plethora of incredible looks. Needless to say I was instantly inspired. So now, every Halloween - or Día de Muertos - I paint my face like a bright, beautiful skull.

This Blue Skull was the first I ever did. Blue is one of my favourite colours, and seemed suitably dark for a skull, so I chose to use it as my main theme. I started very simply, with only a little sparkle, and a very simple forehead design. This look was heavily inspired by the first google image I saw. I've branched out a little since then.

I believe I did this look a week after the Blue Skull. This incredibly creatively named Red Skull was my first try at branching out a little. I chose a different main colour and decided the design of hearts would give a cool effect. I promise you the little red sparkles surrounding my eyes were supposed to be hearts. Rather than having the petals surrounding the deep pits posing as my eyes, I decided to blend out the black with the red, creating an all around softer (more romantic?) look.

I did this look a year ago and am rather fond of it. Halloween is irrevocably tied up with Autumn and I felt that would be a rather lovely theme for a Sugar Skull. Autumn in a picture for me would be a golden leaved tree, so I used this in my look. Rather than the traditional petals surrounding the eyes, I decided to use Autumn leaves. And then I couldn't resist but to add some rhinestones, because, well, I really love rhinestones. The rest of this look is rather minimalist, which I feel works well (I could have been lazy, however).

And lastly we have the Jewelled Skull that I currently have on my face. I just wanted something utterly opulent. In the past I've done skulls with fairly natural themes, this year I wanted something utterly artificial. I also felt like playing around with doing full fledged teeth, rather than the simpler plain lines that look like stitches. For the actual skull features, I put in a little more effort, actually following the look of a skull, with the more prominent cheekbones and deeper temples. And more rhinestones, of course.

 As a little touch of advice for doing a look like this, an eye-liner pen is a massive help. I generally dislike eye-liner pens, they tend to be more grey than black, I can never get the sharp point I want, they dry out so quickly and in my experience, they really don't hug the lash line (I've tried three different brands and been heavily disappointed with all of them). Regardless, they're really great for this kind of look. You don't need too precise lines, but you want something a little more precise than a pencil (I realise a pencil can be precise, but it's a massive friggen pain). I've found liquid liner and gel liner a bit awkward too. Pen liners just make it so easy. I use the pen to sketch out the lines, I then fill it in with a pencil liner (typically a Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil, I use Black Bean), I then set this with a black eye shadow. Parfait.

Reworking Cheap False Lashes - For When The Student Loan Is Dwindling (Or You Feel Like Being Money Savvy)

So, cheap stuff is great, right? I mean, yeah it is. Being a student, money is always a problem, so being thrifty is important. I don't know that buying false lashes constitutes as thrifty, but I'll leave that up to you. I just can't not buy a pair of lashes that cost £1 (of which the Sultry and the black and purple lashes are), or in the case of the spotty lashes, not buy lashes that are that cool looking (hot damn). Lashes are typically around £5, which is fine, as, if you take care of them, they can last a good long while. And you do get what you pay for (in most cases). Mac lashes are £10 because they tend to be real hair, have light, almost invisible bands that are comfortable and look darn good. Now, you're not going to get this with £1 lashes, it's not gonna happen. The likelihood is that they will be synthetic, the band tough and uncomfortable and the shape just all wrong. And this is where this blog post comes in. Let me guide you sweet children.

 The Sultry Lashes are £1 at Primark, the Festival Lashes are £2 at Primark and the Black Eyelashes are £1 at Sainsbury's (Halloween is my darling).

 For these little improvements, you will simply needed some nail scissors (not the curved ones, that will only bring you pain) and a spooly to comb the lashes through at the end.

Also I recommend something to catch all the waste. As you can see, it is more than a little bit messy.

Firstly we have the Sultry Lashes, these are simple, light, but sort of really dull. And the edges are pokey, like, it hurt to wear these initially.

They add a little length and a little thickness, nothing dramatic.

My main issue is that they are a consistent length throughout, I prefer variation.

Start with trimming the lashes to fit your eyes. I always like going a little shorter than needed, as I prefer the inner edge to start a little way back from the inner corner - sort of just before the iris starts. Always cut from the outer edge - it's like false lashes 101 - mainly because you want the inner corner to be short and cutting it away will only leave longer strands.

I cut away two sprigs, as it were, of the lashes, leaving a more comfortable fit for my eyes.

I started by trimming the inner corners down, cutting the hairs into a v shape pointing upwards (as the picture shows, as I'm feeling my description is not all that helpful).

I then cut these same upward facing v's into the rest of the lashes, aiming to have it longer at the outer edge. This didn't really go to plan, so I made it more or a curved shape, just with added texture. To add the texture, I used the scissors perpendicular to the band, snipping swiftly and moderately randomly across the length. Sort of how a hair dresser stops the ends of your hair looking like a straight line. Be careful with this, less is more, as these lashes ended shorter than I initially intended. Alternative advice would be just to trim down the inner corner, to make it fit more easily with your own lashes.

To finish, comb through the lashes with a spooly to dislodge all the excess little hairs that have been chopped off.

The finished result.

 An all together more natural look. Although I wish I'd kept the outer edges a little longer.

These lashes would be great for everyday because they are so light and so subtle.

 Next up are these wonders from Sainsbury's. They're part of the Halloween stock, so they'll not be around for ever. It also means they are not the best.

 The band is thick, so to wear them effectively it's best to bend the lashes into a curve before applying them.

 Now, whilst these lashes are great, they are altogether too long for me to ever wear them. To the trimming!

 Again, start with trimming the outer edge to make the lashes fit you eyes. I cut off two bars of colour. (I promise this is the outer corner, the other lash did not have that skinny bit of black at the end).

 I forgot to take a photo of how much was cut off before I did the trimming. Sneak peak.

 Now, this is going to look waaaayyyy to short, I promise you it is not. These lashes are really long, so I needed to cut off a lot to make them wearable. Do the same action of cutting perpendicular to the band to create the v shape (I'm a fan of spiky lashes).

I wanted to keep the look of the original lashes by keeping the black bands shorter than the purple. I cut each section into a v, leaving the purple sections longer, but still having a graduation of length along the lashes.

 And the final result.

 The hairs are a lot thicker than the typical lashes (being cheap and synthetic and all), so these will never look natural, but I have a feeling that's not the look you would be going for anyway.

 I rather like how these lashes came out, I might even wear them on Halloween.

 And finally these beauties from Primark. They're a little pricier at £2, but I can manage because of all the pretty. Being feathers, they're soft, but delicate, so no tugging! I pulled a feather out, but lash glue repaired it swiftly and easily.

 Stupendous.

 The difficulties with these lashes is that they are so long I couldn't see the band to place it in the right place. The band is soft, however.

 To make the job of applying a little easier I trimmed a little off each end. Because of feathers being what they are, I could trim off quite a lot and not change the look of the lashes.

 See?

And these lashes are so pretty they need no other change.

And now to bed with me, it's 2:40 in the morning.