Contemporary Gothic Victorian Hair

Putting The Hair Into Rollers For The Look

Put the hair into a side parting, do it so that if allows the hair to fall to the side that has the most volume.

Put the hair into square sections that are not larger than the curling iron.

Take the hair in the tong and role the hair down.

Keep the tension on the hair strong.

When the hair is curled take it off the role and place it so that it sits next to the line on the parting.

Use Kirby grips to hold them in place until they have cooled.

Do 3 rolls onto the side of the hair with the most hair and 2 on the side of the hair with the littlest hair.

Add 1 or 2 rolls at the side of the face.

Start by pulling them away from the face but roll them towards the face.

At the crown of the head add 1 roll.

When going down the back of the head do a brick work design so that there are no gaps.

When creating a soft hair look using the curls, remove the kirby grips from each roll and using a paddle brush gently brush the hair whilst holding onto it.

Creating An Up Do With The Hair

Section off the top 3 curls of the hair.

Keep one of the 2 curls from the other side.

Taking the afro comb, run it through the hair.

Tease the top section of the back of the hair.

With the loose sections of hair at the front start pulling it back collecting other sections of loose hair so that there is a twist going around the back, pinning it in place with Kirby Grips using fine pins place them under the twist and go up.

Taking the 3 curls at the top release the bottom one and place it so that the curl looks flowing, allow it to fall naturally so that it looks natural.

Take the next two and do the same so that it starts to layer up putting the pins at the gravity point to make it the most secure.

Creating Curly Hair From The Same Hair

If this look is being done straight after curling remove the pins once cool and simply shake the head or vigorously run the fingers through it to add volume and body.

Dark Eyes and Lips

In this weeks lesson we were looking at and creating dark eyes and lips. We did this so that we could practise and learn the techniques as well as giving us ideas for our Claudia and Mrs Laderman looks. We first had a demonstration of how to create a dark eye and lip look. We then went away and tried to create a dark eye and lip look on our model. 

When creating a dark eye look it can be better if you use different shades of dark colours to give it more definition and depth. 

Make sure you blend your edges well to get rid of any harsh lines.

Apply your lighter colours to the inner areas and darker colours onto the outer edges focussing on the outer v and crease. 

When applying eyeliner ask your model if she has any preferences or apply the eyeliner of your choice making sure to cover any areas of skin that show through to make it more seamless. 

Apply a good coat of mascara, but curl the eyelashes before if you need to. 

When creating a dark lip outline the lips first to create a line to follow and stop the lipstick from bleeding over the edges. You could also fill in the lips with a liner to help the lipstick last longer. Apply the lip colour with a flat edge brush so that you can create a clean and neat line.

I liked creating this dark eyes and lips look. I think that it is a classic look and is a style that is a necessity to know when learning to become a make up artist. I wasn't happy with the make up that I created as I know that I can create better make up. I had an image that I was getting inspiration from and think that I tried to copy that too much rather doing a look that would suit my model. I also wasn't happy with the lips that I created as it was messy, and I know that I could create a neater look.

Creating Light Scarring With Moulds

Using a cotton bud apply pros-aide onto the mould that you are using, as well as the skin.

Once the pros-aide is dry it will go tacky and clear, place the mould and using your hands to press it into the skin. 

Using witch hazel you can blend the mould more easily into the skin. Using a cotton bud blend the mould into the skin. 

To get rid of the shine from the mould, and make it look more realistic, apply loose powder onto the blended in mould. 

Using a foundation that matches the skin tone apply it onto the mould. 

Using the red tones from the Kryolan Supra Colour Palette apply them onto the mould to make it look more realistic. After this apply some wound filler to make it look even more realistic. 

Apply some false blood onto the mould to add to the realism. 

Creating Estella

This week I created my version of Estella. I designed my look to be very natural, pretty and simple as within my look I wanted to highlight her youth and beauty. I also wanted to keep the make up realistic to the time period, so it was therefore very minimal. I really enjoyed this informal assessment because it was nice to create a pretty look. So far in this unit and course there has been little chance to create a beauty look. Overall I liked the look that I created because I think that it was simple so conveyed her youth but was pretty which showed off her beauty which is a strong theme throughout the novel of Great Expectations. I think it was a pretty look as it accentuated the natural features of my model. I don't think I would change the way that I did the make up too much I think it looked fresh and natural and suited Estella's character well. I also liked the hair look, like the make up, it was simple and was a very traditional Victorian style. I think I executed the style well. I have previously struggled with creating neat sections, so in the assessment I made sure that I spent more time in trying to make them neat. I think that I did this well, however after looking back at the photos I think that in some areas it could have been more tidy, the middle parting was also slightly wonky and did not go back in a straight line. If I did it again I would make this line more straight. I would also tidy up the bun at the back, I was pleased with the overall shape, but however I think it could have been neater as there was a large bump at the top of the bun which I believe could have been made smaller. I think in the technical part of the assessment I improved on my practise look, however in the assessment I was keen to make the top of the hair as smooth as possible, as that was a very important look in the Victorian era, so I used hair spray. Although it did the job I think I used too much so it almost ended up looking greasy. In the practise I did not do this and think it looked better, if I did it again I would leave out the hairspray or use less. The images below are of the Estella look that I created.

Miss Havisham Continuity

This week was the continuity assessment of my Miss Havisham look. I had to recreate the original look that I carried out a few weeks ago and try to make it exactly the same. The aim of this assessment was continuity, this is am important skill, and something that I need to practise if I want to be a make up artist. In some film and television productions scenes can be shot on a different day, but the make up, hair, styling and props all needs to be same, other wise it will be distracting for the audience and distract from the story or point to the film or television show.

In the previous assessment I had made notes on things that I thought was important when carrying out my timed assessment therefore going in I was confident that I was able to carry out the look well. As well as the notes I also took step by step images, of the stages of the look, in the first assessment which I printed out and could therefore refer to throughout the second assessment. I had also practised a lot so this also added to my confidence. During the assessment I began in the same way by starting with the hair. I made sure I referred to my notes so that I had the same amount of curls and figure of eight twists. Overall I was pleased with the look of the hair style, I think that it looked very similar to the original look, so I was pleased with the way that it turned out. In the images the placement of the hair is slightly different, which does alter the overall effect of the look, which I am slightly disappointed with. When creating the make up look I also started off doing exactly the same way, always referring to the notes and images that I took in the original assessment. I was pleased with the way the make up turned out I do believe it looks similar. It was difficult to create the dry lip effect as I was creating it using duo lash adhesive, this means that I had to create the dry lips effect from scratch each time meaning that it was difficult to create them exactly the same. Due to this I spent the most  time on this and focused on the images that I took of the lips previously. I was pleased with the way that they turned out and do believe that they look similar. Overall I think that the whole look does look similar I believe that the eye make up does look slightly darker in the first assessment image, however I think this could be due to the lighting, as there is more shadow. I was also concerned in the second assessment that the colour of the hair was not as white and looked very dissimilar. However after looking at the images side by side I can see that there is not a huge amount of difference.

I thought this was a good assessment and I enjoyed creating the look again, I thought it was challenging but interesting as it highlighted the importance of attention to detail as well as writing, and taking visual notes.

Assessment 1

Assessment 2

Creating Burns

When creating a burn you can use Gelatine from the supermarket or you can use Jellac Latex.

For this look I used Gelafix Skin

Tools:

A pin
Spatula
Supra colour palette
Foundation palette
Translucent powder

You will need to melt the Gelafix in a microwave. You only need to do this for a few seconds.

Once it is melted and cool enough to be comfortable on the skin, using a spatula apply it to the skin in a patting motion.

To help blend it into the skin you can use warm water to smooth it out and more blend able.

Once the gelafix is dry you can powder over it with translucent powder.

After this you can use the supra colour palette to add colour to the burn.

Use reds and brown colours to make it look more realistic. You can also use reference pictures of real burns so you can have a look that you are trying to achieve.

Once you have got the desired colours you can go over it with a cream foundation on a sponge to make it blend more seamlessly into the skin.

The Burn I Created

Miss Havisham Hair Practise

I decided to practise hair look so I could make sure I was fully prepared for the assessment. This was good as I could make slight changes and make my design even clearer in my mind and have the knowledge of knowing exactly what I was doing. I separated the hair into two layers, I divided the bottom sections and wrapped them round pins in a figure of 8 motion. I then ran the straightener over the sections. After all the sections were wrapped and cooled I released them. I combed it through so that it would become larger and also backcombed it to give it more volume. Once this was done I let the top section down and curled it away from the face. I like how the look turned out and thought that the hair look good and turned out how I had envisaged. I think that the effect of the curly hair over the frizzy hair turned out well as to me it looked as though she had started to get ready for her wedding day but had however paused and never resumed, leaving it to get messier over time. For the assessment I will add dry shampoo to the hair to make the hair look white, I also intend to make the eyebrows white so that I make them match. 

Miss Havisham Make Up Practise

This week I began to practise my Miss Havisham make up design on my model. This was my first time practising my make up look so through out the process I was able to make changes to suit the design. I began by applying a light base to the skin, I did not want it to be very pale, as I am concentrating on the earlier scenes in the book where she was not at her palest. I was careful to blend the colour down the neck and onto the ears as to make the look seamless. After applying the base I created a darker shade, using my supra colour palette, to create dark under eye bags. I also applied the same colours onto the eyelids as during Pip's first encounter with her he describes her as having, 'dark eyes'. After standing back and looking in the mirror at my model I realised that the look could have been darker. I therefore added a grey colour on to the lids, I had not previously intended to do this but I think it helped to look slightly darker but not too much.  I however did not go too far with the darkness as I didn't want to make my model look completely hideous. I also added a small amount of black supra colour on the lashes as I wanted to darken the lashes but not make them any longer. I liked the effect that this gave however there was a trouble with transferring onto the lid and below the eye whenever my model looked up or blinked, so for the timed assessment I will use mascara but will be careful to not create any length.

After the application of the base I applied duo lash glue to the lips so that I could create dry lip effect. I liked how this effect turned out as I had previously struggled with it. I added a pink effect onto most of the lip area but added a deeper red colour into the areas that looked the most dry this added to the effect of making it look more raw. Once I stood back and looked at the lips I realised that I think they looked too pink and look more like a lipstick, I therefore added a concealer to the outer edges of the lips so make them look less healthy. For the timed assessment I must remember to be careful about the amount of pink I apply to the lips. I also added more red onto the darker areas to make it a bit more intense.

I decided to add a dark colour into the contours of face and focussed under the cheeks to make my model look more hollow. I was careful to buff the edges away but keep the hollows dark. I didn't want to bring the colour too far onto the cheeks as I didn't want to give the cheeks any colour. As true to my design I did not apply any blusher as I was not trying to make my model look too fresh. Once I took a picture of my design I decided that the face looked to clean and looked a bit too pretty, although I did not want to make my model look to unclean I thought I needed to add more to put across the lack of care that Miss Havisham had for herself. I therefore added some darker patches onto the skin to make it look more distressed.

When designing the brows I wanted to keep them dark and thin, but slightly unruly as I didn't want to keep my model looking to groomed. However I decided that they looked to neat and straight and also dark for a Miss Havisham style look. I therefore decided to extend the brow further down towards the eye, and then ran a small amount of white supra colour through the brows on a mascara wand. For the timed assessment I will need to make sure that the colour of the brows matches that of the hair.

I am pleased of my overall look that I have created so far. I will be however practising again so I can completely finalise the look and in my mind be perfectly clear with what look I am creating. I am worried about the continuity side of the assessment so I will be taking pictures step by step of any make up that I carry out during the first assessment and I will also be making notes of anything that I feel is important for the continuity side of it. I may also bring in pots with me so any colours that I mix together, that I may not recreate again, I can make a larger quantity of the colour and store it for the second part of the assessment.

The Original Look

The Look After Changes 

The Look After Changes

Creating Late Victorian Hair

Equipment Used:

Pin Tail Comb
Hair Elastics
Kirby Grips
Paddle Brush
Curling Iron
Dry Shampoo

Comb the hair and divide it into a centre parting.

Split the hair into two sections at the front, dividing down towards the hair. Clip these sections of hair up and out of the way.

Get the hair at the back and divide it into an upper and lower section, creating a horseshoe shape parting between both sections.

Gather the top section and tie it up into a ponytail.

Divide the ponytail into three sections and curl each section into ringlets.

Gather the curled sections and pin them onto the top of the head, making them into little twists but with the end of the curl showing, this will act as a structure for the rest of the look.

With the lower section of the hair, divide it into small sections and create ringlets with a curling iron. Keep the handle of the curling iron tilted to the floor when creating the sections.

Once the back section is curled, finger comb them through to make the curls look looser. Pull the curls upward and pin them, using kirby grips, into the structure made previously with the curled ponytail. You can leave some of the ringlets looser once pinned so that they create a cascade effect down the back of the head.

With the front sections of hair, divide each side into two sections agin. Split it into a top and side section. With the top section wrap the hair around the barrel with the front of the barrel facing towards the face. Lay the curl on the top of the head, this will create a wave effect once combed out. Repeat this two more times, so on either side of the head you have three curls lying flat on top.

With the section of hair at the side of the head, split it into two and curl the hair away from the face with the handle of the curler facing the floor.

Take these two curls at the side and comb them through, then pull them up into the ringlets on the top of the head, making sure the sides are smooth.

With the top three curls take the bottom roll closest to the ear and pull it back more loosely into the curls, gather the two remaining curls and add them into the ringlets, creating a wave effect at the top.

I am creating these looks as they may be ultimately be used in my final Miss Havisham look, therefore I decided to add some dry shampoo to try and make the hair look grey. This is however optional.

The Hair With The Dry Shampoo In

 I enjoyed making this hairstyle as there were lots of elements and processes involved which made it interesting. I am considering using this hairstyle for either Estella or Miss Havisham, I am currently more swayed for doing it for my Estella design, as to me it may be too over done for the character of Miss Havisham. If I do create this for Estella I may consider adding accessories such as a ribbon to add an extra area of interest as well as a more feminine touch.

Creating Prosthetic Wounds

When creating wounds you can use Sini Wax, Plasto and moulding wax to create a realistic look. Before you put down the wax you can apply spirit gum underneath to make the skin tacky and help the wax stick better on the skin.

The Method To Creating A Wound:

Apply some wax onto the back of your hand this will make the wax softer and easier to mould and shape.

Roll the wax into a sausage shape and apply the wax onto the area where you want to have the wound.

Mould the edges of the wax into the skin, you can keep a tissue on hand with some cleanser to make the wax smoother.

Keep blending and moulding to make the edges of the wax so that they blend seamlessly into the skin.

Use a palette knife to cut the top of the sausage shape to act as the cut on the wound.

You can use a pin to rough up the edges to make the wound have more texture.

Use a baby bud and apply some latex to the wax, make sure the edges blend out onto the skin.

Use a hairdryer on the cool setting to dry the latex, dry it until it goes clear.

Use fingers and a sponge to blend out the fake blood onto the dry latex.

Make sure you apply lots of different colour to make the wound look more realistic.

You can add fibrous wound filler to give the wound more depth.

My Attempt At Creating A Wound:

I was quite pleased with how my work came out, I think that the wound does look quite realistic and gorry. I think that the fake blood which I applied could have been applied more carefully and not spread out so far onto the rest of the skin.

Before

After

Creating A Split Lip

Using Collodion can create realsitic looking split lip.

Here is the method of how to do it:

Apply a foam protector on to the area where you want the Collodion to be applied.

Get a spatula and carefully create a dent in to Collodion.

Dry with a hairdryer on the coolest setting.

You can apply another layer to build up the intensity you require.

Then apply the colour over the top.

Creating Old Scarring

To make old scarring you can use the product Tu Plast

Apply the Tu Plast to the area where you want to create your scar.

Use a hairdryer on the cool setting and dry the Tu Plast.

Powder once it is dry and apply colour to the scarring.

Creating The Perfect Black Eye

Tools Needed:

Supra Colour Palette
Small Flat Eyeshadow Brush

Take a yellow colour and apply to the area around the eye blend the edges into the skin.

Mix up a light brown colour.

Apply under the eye and blend it using your finger.

Build up the intensity you desire around the eye.

Make the brown darker if you wish to make it look more bruised.

You can also add a small amount of black if you wish.

Focus the most amount of colour in the inner corner and blend outwards.

Dont bring the colour too high up onto the sides of the nose.

If you want to make it look more realistic look at some reference pictures of real black eyes to gain inspiration from.

The Black Eye I Created

The Black Eye I Created 

Creating Traditional Victorian Hair

In the beginning of the Victorian era the traditional hairstyle was a centre part with a high bun at the back of the head, connected to the front by two loop plaits either side of the face, or a bun with ringlets down, framing the face. The loop plait style was worn by Queen Victoria on her wedding day in 1840. This week I learnt how to create this look, here is the method if you want to too!

Comb through the hair to remove any knots, and style the hair into a centre parting.

From the top of the head make a new parting across the top to just behind each ear, this will leave you with hair at the front and hair at the back of the head.

Take the section of hair at the back of the head and comb it into a ponytail near the top of the head.

Section the ponytail into two and twist the two sections around each other into a twist, then wrap this around into the bun shape and secure onto the head just over halfway about the mid section of the head.  Low buns were not a traditional style in the Victorian era. If the hair that is being styled is long enough this ponytail can be plaited and then wrapped around. This was a traditional style that was often created as Victorian women rarely cut their hair.

Take the front two sections of the hair, either side of the parting and with small sections and a curling iron curl the sections with the handle of the barrel closest to the ground, always curling towards the front of the face. Depending how tight you want your curls you can leave them, or comb through them with your fingers.

You can leave your hair with curls at the front or like I did you can experiment and turn these sections into loop plaits.

If you decided to do the plaits, take the curls comb through them and sections them into three strands of hair.

Begin to plait them quite low down, level with the top of the ear. This will keep the top of the hair smooth.

Loop the plait down and round and connect it to the bun at  the back of the head using kirby grips.

Ageing The Hands

Ageing The Hands

Like I mentioned in a previous post it is important to age the hands along with the face to make the overall look seamless.

Method for ageing the hands using latex:

Apply a barrier to the skin before applying the base, such as the Kryolan Pro Shield Mousse.

Shake the latex before you pour it into a bowl, always make sure you re apply the lid to avoid spillages!

Stretch the skin on the hand and using a sponge stipple a layer of latex on the stretched skin.

Get a hairdryer, set to the cool setting, and dry the latex until it becomes more clear.

Apply more layers of latex drying between each application.

In the end you should have wrinkled looking skin!

If the latex does not match your skin you can always go over the top with make up.

Ageing The Face

In this weeks practical lesson were learning how to age the face and hands, this is an important skill for me to learn as I am interested in working in television and film in the future, and ageing is a crucial skill to know how to undertake.

When you work on any character you need to think about the script, the age of the person that is required, the stage of the ageing process that the person would be in and the background of the character, for example their class, job and types of food that they may eat.

It is also important to remember to age the hands along with the face, this is a large give away that the ageing is fake!

The method of how to age the skin:

Add a small amount of moisturiser to the skin, this will help to blend out the base layer and blend the lines added to make the wrinkles.

Apply a thin layer of foundation to the skin, you can adjust the colour to the look  that you want to achieve. I used the Kryolan Foundation Palette. Make sure you apply a small amount of foundation on to the lips also as well as bringing it down the neck.

Get your model or make yourself smile widely, frown heavily, this will show you where the natural lines of the face appear. Focus on the forehead, around the mouth and eyes.

Apply a brown coloured product into these lines, or mix green, yellow and red, with a small brush. For this make up I used the Kryolan Supra Colour Palette.

After the application of each line blend it slightly to soften them and make them more realistic.

You can also add some of the brown colour around the eyes to darken the area and make it look more aged.

To age the eyebrows run a white product through them using a disposable mascara wand.

You can also use a stippling sponge along with the brown colour to achieve the effect of broken veins on the cheeks. In the pictures below I did not do this.

If you want to age the teeth on your model you can use teeth tints, you can get these in a range of effects such as tobacco stained and decayed teeth. I also did not use these in the pictures below.

It is important to remember that you are putting in effects that make up is usually used to conceal!