Cleanse and prepare skin. Apply cleanser then moisturizer all over your face and neck. Optionally apply makeup primer all over face and neck. This is very important as stage makeup is much thicker and less breathable than everyday makeup. Cleansing will make sure that no bacteria or sweat is trapped under the makeup, and the moisturizer will prevent the makeup from excessively drying your skin through hours of wear, both of these will help prevent breakouts and irritation. The optional primer can help the makeup stick to your skin better.
Cover face and neck with base color makeup. Apply base foundation shade all over your face and neck with a makeup sponge. The base shade will be a color between your highlight and contour shade, and should match your skin tone or be one shade darker than your skin tone, depending on the lighting for the show.
Highlight your face. Highlight every area of your face that light would naturally rest on with a makeup brush: above the eyebrows, center of the forehead, above the cheekbones, the bridge of your nose, your chin, and above your jawline.
Contour your face. Contour every area of your face that would naturally have shadows with a makeup brush - top of the forehead, sides of the nose, under the cheekbones, the top of your chin, and under the jawline. (Left image is feminine contour, right image is masculine contour) The contour shade should be significantly darker than the base foundation color. To emphasize a feature, use wider, sharper lines. To downplay a feature, use smoother lines close to the feature (Ex. nose contour).
Touch up and blend base makeup. This is the most important step for stage makeup in a large theatre. Blend your contours and highlights with a makeup sponge so they transition semi-smoothly. You don’t want harsh defined lines, but you don’t want the separation between the colors to be lost. The purpose of contour and highlight is to bring structure back to the face when stage lights wash out the features, so the highlighted and contoured sections should still be clearly visible after blending. This is also the step to touch up sections that need to be lighter or darker.
Add blush or bronzer to bring life back to your face. Apply cream blush or bronzer to base makeup with a tool of your choice. Apply to cheeks between highlight and contour, and anywhere else on the face as directed by the costume designer. Usually (though not always, refer to your costume designer) blush is used for feminine characters and bronzer is used for masculine characters. Apply more than you would in everyday makeup.
Add identifying character marks if any (moles, scars, etc.). Apply any identifying character marks at this point. Moles, scars, birthmarks, etc. The highlight, contour, and blush shades applied with brushes are usually sufficient to achieve this. Defer to costume designer.
Emphasize your eyebrows. Apply makeup to brows and brush makeup through your brows with a spoolie (a spiral or straight wire brush used to apply makeup to eyelashes or brows, Ex. mascara wand). Brows should be darker than your hair or wig so they are not washed out by the lights. Sometimes your contour shade can be used for this.
Set face makeup with translucent setting powder. Apply translucent setting powder all over the face and neck with a powder puff or fluffy brush. Focus powder on highlighted areas. This will reduce shine from the lights and allow your face to be seen without reflection. It will also help keep your makeup from melting under the hot stage lights.
Add eyeshadow. Apply eyeshadow around the eyes with a brush. Lighter shade should be used on the lid and on the brow bone under the brow. Darker shade should be used in the crease and on the lower lash line.
Add eyeliner (optional plus mascara). Use an eyeliner of your choice to line your upper and lower lash line. (Left image is feminine eyeliner, right image is masculine eyeliner, however, both styles can vary drastically or even reverse depending on the role). Style will be determined by the costume designer. Feminine characters usually add mascara on upper and lower lashes at this step.
Add Lipstick. Finally, apply a matte lipstick. Feminine characters typically use a bright red (left image), masculine characters typically use a pink or brown (right image).
Confirm application effectiveness with the director and costume designer. They will tell you if there is anything that should be changed. It's best to do this in stages - first, test just the base, highlight, and contour (as these steps are the most important in the makeup effect), then test the full application. Remember, you'll look crazy from up close, but you'll look fantastic on stage.
Comments
0 comment