Women Of Shakespeare - Juliet, Something Neutral For Once

So this look has been sitting on the back burner for a while, as you can tell from the colour of my hair. And by that I mean I wore this look Christmas shopping. I've been busy. Really busy actually, as I had my last of four exams today and I started my new job three weeks ago. It has been a seriously intense month and I am so happy to see its close. BUT, positives; I have a job and thus more money to buy make up and now I have a Summer to read books and paint my face, so upsides.

Juliet is possibly Shakespeare's most identifiable heroine. Most people I've met had to study Romeo and Juliet in school, those that didn't would be familiar with the story anyway - it's iconic. And Baz Lurhmann's film is pretty darn amazing, so there's that.

Juliet is a thirteen year old girl who's beauty puts the moon to shame, which, I personally feel, is hard to bring to life. However, I attempted it. Now, Romeo uses a whole lot of light metaphors when talking about Juliet; she is pale and glowing - so skin is a big deal with this look. With the rest of the look I wanted to look youthful, natural and girly. I take a pinch of salt when it comes to natural, and I'm not sorry about that.

First off the skin. I used Benefit's Porefessional to prime, because my pores are just horrible and this product disguises that. I then used my typical foundation, which is 123 perfect by Bourjois in Vanilla. I then contoured with Sleek's contour kit because I was going out and it makes my face look better. If I were not leaving the house, I would cut out the contour to make the face look rounder and more youthful. But with my face, even with contour, I'm getting that anyway. I then used Sleek's cream blush in OC. Now, highlighting. I used MUA's Shimmer Highlighter in Pink Shimmer, which I feel works well for this more girly look. I applied it to my cheekbones, my chin, my cupid's bow, the tip and bridge of my nose and above my brows because I wanted to glow brighter than the moon. I finished with Mac's Transparent Finishing Powder, because I have oily skin.

Now, eyes. I primed with Two Faced Shadow insurance to start, I then almost exclusively used the shadows from Sleek's Au Naturel palette, the only exception being Mac's Cork. I took a fine, angled brush with Cork and drew a line just above my crease and then winging it out at the end, dipping a little down to the outer corner to create that triangle shape. The colour will drag, so apply with short strokes that build upon each other. Doing the crease like this will make the eyes appear a little bigger. I then darkened this line with Bark from the Au Naturel palette using the same brush. Then take a clean blending brush to soften this line a little. I then took Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk and applied it all over my lid, inner corner and water line, blending it in with my finger. I then applied Honeycomb from the Sleek palette over the top of this, all over the lid. In in the inner corner I applied Nougat and blended it onto the lid, right up to the exaggerated crease.

 I then used Bourjois' Pinceau Liquid Liner to apply a very thin winged line, again, to make the eyes appear bigger. I applied a touch of Bark under the eye, using an angled brush and finished with mascara and some wispy false lashes (Demi-Wispies by Ardell if I remember correctly.

Then, to finish, the lips. I applied a red lip gloss by Barry M to the upper lip, I then rolled my lips together a little for the basis of the ombre on the lower lip. I then dabbed a little more colour on the centre, blending it out with my finger.

And here it is, a moderately natural look. The next look will not be, I glued down my eyebrows and everything for that one.

Women Of Shakespeare: Lavinia - My Final Project For My Special Effects Course

So, I'm finally getting around to making this post (uni work getting in the way, and all that). This is the look I did for the final session of the Special Effects Make Up Course I did at the National Theatre. It was suggested to us that we do character make up, and being the good English student I am, I decided to do a Shakespeare character. Now, this look stems from the fact I happened to be writing an essay on Titus Andronicus (my favourite play) and I thought, damn, that would be great inspiration for a special effects make up look, with all the horrible murders and everything.

I chose to portray Lavinia. She is the daughter of Titus, who in the middle of the play is savagely raped and mutilated - her hands and tongue being cut off. For the rest of the play she remains on stage as a constant, silent reminder of the savagery committed. It's potent. In adaptations of the play she if often shown spitting out blood after being discovered, visualising her mutilation. This was the starting point for my idea - I wanted blood all over her chin, real gross. I then had fun from there.

For this look I used Kryolan's 4 Colour SFX Wheel, GM Problood, GM Wound Filler and gelatin. 

After considering the obvious blood dripping out of the mouth, I wanted to add a little more narrative to the look. Lavinia has also been savagely raped and I wanted elements of that present in the look. I started with thinking that she would have a cracked lip, from being forcefully kissed, adding to the source of the blood. I then thought that I could put a cut and a bruise on her forehead, as if she had been thrown on the ground and her head hit a rock. To finish, I wanted to put some cold sore looking things around her mouth to imply sexually transmitted diseases. And thus, my Lavinia look was formed.

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

To start, I put some gelatin (the vegetarian kind) all over the bottom lip, using a coffee stirrer (a wooden stick-thingy) I created a groove in the middle of the lip. I then waited (and waited) for it to dry. I then used the dark blue in the Kryolan Colour wheel to darken said groove. I then filled it with wound filler.

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

I then followed similar steps to create a cut above one of her brows, again darkening it with the Kryolan Colour Wheel and filling it with wound filler. (Look at that coffee stirrer action).

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

I then mixed some crushed rice crispies in with my gelatin mix and applied it to one side of her mouth, globbing it all about making it look as gross as possible.

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

Next I used the Kryolan Wheel to add bruising to the cut forehead, starting with the purple, and blending out with the yellow. I then used a cotton bud to dribble in some fake blood.

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

I then sponged some colour on the gelatin next to the mouth using the wound filler. I used a large holed sponge to make it look patchier.

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

Next I mixed some fresh gelatin and put thin layer on the other side of her mouth to simulate boils. I waited for each layer to dry, then adding another until they looked suitably globular.

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

Next, I used the purple colour in the Kryolan Wheel to darken her temples, cheekbones and under her eyes to make her look all sick and tired.

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

Next I powdered over the gelatin that looked like a skin infection to make it look dry and cracking.

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

I then used the colour wheel to add shading to pussy boils (ewwww). I finished with the blood. Soooooo much blood. Hence the towel to catch all the excess. I literally just dribbled it out of the bottle, letting it flow where it may.

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

And this is the finished look, as photographed by the professional photographer that was brought in, Doesn't she look like a pretty lady?

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

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

I was really quite pleased with how this look came out, I think I encapsulated the look of Lavinia quite soundly. My advice? Don't piss off the Queen of the Goths, she'll make you pay.

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.

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.