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.

Cyborg Make Up - For When You Want Your Exterior to Reflect Your Cold, Hard Heart

So, this is my friend Zoe. She is stunning and I swear to God hew face is just a dream to put make up on. She's has lots of lid space for me to play with, plus full lips and great bone structure - she makes my job easy. So whenever I can get my hands on her face for make up purposes, I do. I always end up doing something extreme and a tad weird, because she's not going to go out with it and it's my time to have some fun.

This time around I did cyborg make up. I can't tell you why, probably something to do with my love of doing fake tears. Liquid metal tears seemed like a fun thing to do, so I built the look around that concept.

 For the face I used Bourjois 123 Perfect Foundation in Light Vanilla, I contoured and highlighted with Sleek's Contouring and Blush Palette in Light. For the brows I initially brushed some concealer through them to lighten the hairs, I then covered the brows in Collection Glam Crystals liner in Hustle. For the Lips I patted Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick in 01 in the centre and blended it towards the edges.

I used Urban Decay's Vice 2 Palette for the eyes. In the crease I used Rewind, which I then darkened with Lovesick. On the lid I used a base of Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk which I then pressed Shellshock over. I used Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Black Bean on the waterline which I set with a black eye shadow. I then used a Bourjois Liquid Liner to create a cat eye. The lashes are Fever Lashes, which can be bought at Smiffy's (which is where I got them).

 For the tears I used a small brush and Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick in 01. Using a lipstick gives a shinier texture than a shadow, it also has a more translucent consistency if blended enough which worked well for what I wanted. I wanted the red to be a bit like the flesh being burned away by the molten metal tears. I then used Shellshock - previously mentioned - over the red to create the molten tears. I then covered the tears with clear gloss to make them look more liquid-y.

 For the Metal Panel in her forehead used gel liner to outline the area I wanted, I then filled it in with Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, which I then set with Shellshock. I then used the gel to add more lines and some dots to look like bolts. I then used Collection Glam Crystals Liner in Dancing Queen for the red lines and Madness from the Vice 2 Palette for the blue lines.

I then proceeded to take a billion photos because Zoe kept pulling silly faces. To be fair to her though, I did just do this to her face.