"The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery" - Francis Bacon



Freelance Makeup Artist shooting for the stars...

Sunday 15 September 2013

Never run with scissors...


Hey all!

Lots has been going on recently and I have a few really exciting makeup projects coming up so lots of prep going on (will blog about them all soon!) Sadly, as a result, my blog has taken a bit of a back seat... I woke up early this morning however, and decided it was finally time to do a look that I've had on my "makeup to do" list since, well, since I made painting my face an unusually regular habit, and share it with you all.

Today was the day that I became...Edward Scissorhands.


This is one of the few movies I remember watching as a child - and it it terrified me. Now though, I couldn't love Tim Burton's Scissorhanded loner any more if I tried. Johnny Depp is flawless as always and I love the whole message of the film (it actually featured on one of my uni course modules back in the day which I was overjoyed about!) The atmosphere, as with all Tim Burton films, is dark and obscure and the makeup is equally so, making it interesting and emotive - excellent for replicating!



The first thing I was sure to capture when trying this look was Edward's paleness. He's not actually human and has been hiding out in an abandoned mansion for goodness knows how long avoiding Vitamin D so it figures. I therefore started with a base of white creme paint all over my face and neck. My brows were still too prominent so I painted over them with white paint - concentrating on the ends more so. His eyes are sunken and drawn so I then used a grey/brown eyeshadow on the crease of the eye, circling around into the natural socket (where your bags would be) with a fluffy brush, blending out. Edward has a permanent sad, concerned look which is created by the shading that goes up from the eyes to the start of the eyebrows -giving the illusion of a furrowed brow.

I then used the same eyeshadow with a slightly larger fluffy brush to contour the face (Depp has a gorgeously chiselled face as we all know!) making the jawline and cheekbones stand out more. Once all blended out, I rolled some very small pieces of wax into sausage shapes and pressed onto the skin, mimicking where Edward's scars are. The one across the lip has a crevice in it so I used a metal spatula to drag a grove in it.

To make the scars look a little more 3D, I used a very fine brush to add a fine shadow along each, using the same eyeshadow once again. I then used a very light grey paint on the highest points along each scar to make them even more raised. I used the shadow once again on the lips, adding colour to the centre only.

To finish off, I back-combed my hair and added lots of hairspray, pinning back most and generally making it look bedraggled and messy and popped in some blackout lenses. Now...where are my leathers and horde of scissors....