Stage Makeup Tips/Tricks/Secrets

[Caricar]

Hello my beautiful laydees.

So I'm just learning all about stage makeup right now, though I've always been a fanatic, and wanted to poll you all about your biggest tips,tricks and/or secrets to great stage makeup that you all have..whether it's creating a perfect black line around the eyes, or contouring, or whatever.

I'd be really interested in hearing them.

As for me, Rimmel Sun Shimmer is my secret. It is the most unbelievable non-permanent tanner cream out there and creates a non streaky, bronzed glow. I mix it in with moisturizer lotion to tone down the pigment. It does NOT come off during sweating or dancing, and washes off in the shower. I use it for all my fun nights out with the girls too. It's often sold out in drugstores here in Calgary, because people have discovered how fantastic this stuff is! (And trust me, I've tried almost ever self tanner & bronzer out there on the market!)

And for the perfect eyeliner, I find Revlon Colour Stay black eye liner (crayon) is unbelievable, smooth and really easy to get an accurate line - I go under the eye, follow the angle of the lower lid up & out away from the eye, then draw another line following the upperlid, following that lid's angle up and out away from the eye, then fill in the gap between the two lines. Never fails!

 

[jannine]

I found a great cream foundation. Evens out the skin tone.cover bruises (I broke my nose a month ago) scars etc. Its called Cover FX, and its waterproof. I love it.

be blessed

 

[miriam]

I use a highlighter pen after I've applied my color to "lift" any shadows on the face. It's really great for performances because it helps to prevent weird shadows in photos. The one I'm currently using is Mary Kay.

 

[samsied]

Have you read any of Kevyn Aucoin's books. I have one called "Making Faces" and have in the past borrowed another called "Face Forward" from the local library.

These books are fabulous and are packed with tips and ideas that can be used in a performance setting and lots of photos. A couple of times I have tried to copy looks directly from these books by following the step-by-step instrucions. (I say tried because even though I am fairly competent with makeup basics I am no makeup artist!).

 

[Didi]

Kevin Aucoin's Face Forward is excellent, I agree. Plus, it's fun to look at as art, too. Great coffee table book.

 

[Safran]

I can't really recommend any brands, but can share a few tips.
* when applying foundtion, use a bit darker shade for the sides of your nose (not on the nose itself, but more on the "face" side)
* when you'll be dancing under bright lights, it is more sensible to use the white-grey-black sheme. The lights will "eat up" all the colours anyways.
* when you use white colour under your eyebrows it is smarter to use a matte colour A glossy one can end up reflecting on photos really odd.

 

[samsied]

Nice ideas! My biggest challenge is eye makeup--I am good at applying and blending the rest. I had a couple of makeup lessons with Mac makeup artists and both suggested doing the eye makeup first so it is easy to remove any mistakes without removing your other makeup. This is so opposite what I would naturally do but when I do follow this advice my makeup does look better.

Another eye makeup tip I learned: If you have trouble making a clean line with liquid eyeliner (and other eyeliners), it can help if you prop your elbow on a table/counter so your arm doesn't shake.

 

[charity]

white-grey-black, you say, hmmm, cause i'm thinking mime.

or goth, GOD FORBID.

this highlighter pen, where do you get that? and how do you pick the right shade?

 

[miriam]

Most of the department store brands carry a highlighter pen, and I think I've even seen one or two in drug stores, but I'm not sure.

The ones I've seen have about 4-5 ranges and then you'd pick the one around your general skin tone. It's easy when you actually see the colors, hard to explain. lol

 

[charity]

well i found something which i thought might be the same thing, its a shimmer stick...AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHh...its glitter in some greasy glue...

oh and a...bronzer, i watched videos on how to put it on, cannot do it. i look like i walked down the stairs on my face.

shimmer sticks, looks adolescent...tack-ee or i'm putting it on wrong.

eyelasher curler, hrmph, thank you very much, half of the eyelashes are gone now...it was a dollar at big lots, perhaps i did something wrong...this is why i dont wear mascara, i will wear it for a month and after that month my eyelashes will be nearly all gone. how is that you wonder...well i rub my eyes cause they feel heavy with that stuff on, and that causes the top lashes to get twisted in the bottom ones and then to untwist them you have to twist them and that just rips them out...and now i am bald and have to wait a month for them to return to little spikey protrusions.

oh and blush forget about it...cant find a right shade if my life depended on it. same wiht lipstick...i suck...i guess what i'm trying to say is i spent 40 dollars on make-up, accessories and a bag, and every thing was WRONG...except for the carmex

am i alone in this make-up conundrum?

 

[Moon]

Hi Charity,

I kind of suck at applying make-up too. (I never do it except for performance, and sometimes with Chritmas or so). I have a pale skin so it was hard for me to find a right shade of lipstick. In the end I just decided to let go off all shame, I went to a store where they sell also more affordable make-up, and just picked some shades and applyed them on my lips facing a mirror, in the store! And I eventually picked one that more or less looks like my natural lip colour, only a little darker.
For eye-shadow, I just bought a cheap set with 10 different colours or so, and I applied different shades at home till I knew what I liked best. Once you know thich shades look good on you, you can buy similar shades of better quality (= more expensive) make-up

Do you wear make-up in everyday life? If not, it could be you just have to get used to the look of yourself wearing make-up, because you're so used to looking natural. But on the same time, other people might barely notice the difference! For example, when I apply make-up for performance, I have the feeling everyone can see how different I look and they look strangely at me, but it's just me thinking that! Also, I'm used to wearing nail polish on my toe nails every day. When my nails are clean, I think my feet look extremely weird, but other people often don't even notice that there's nothing on them!

 

[janaki]

I use a battery operated heated eyelash curler. It is fabulous!!!

Eye makeup is the hardest of all. For a stage go for very long fake lashes and line top and botton of the eye with white pencil. Another tip is to only wear red lipstick for the stage.

 

[miriam]

I stay away from shimmer sticks... my sister had one maybe like 6 years ago and it always looked HORRIBLE on me. The highlighter pens are more like a much lighter version of concealer (but definately not as heavy).

Are you using the right brush with the bronzer and tapping off the excess powder before you apply? You need one of those big brushes, or else it's harder to put on without showing streaks. If you have issues finding a blush you like, you can actually just stick to bronzer and for stage, just add a bit more around the apples of your cheeks and blend out.

For lipstick, I suggest doing what Moon did and picking a color that's almost neutral but a bit darker. A neutral lipliner and lip gloss can work nicely too for daily wear.

Can you return the makeup to the store and exchange it for things you'd actually use? A lot of places have a return policy for cosmetics in case you buy something and then find it's the wrong color.

I know makeup can be really frustrating, but you'll get it!

 

[adiemus]

Does anyone know of any on-line tutorials on good bellydance makeup? I found one on stage makeup (Straight Makeup) but I'm not sure that I'd wear this unless I was quite a long way from the audience... but it does look good under lights.

 

[Aniseteph]

Thanks Adiemus. I need all the make up tutorials I can get , bad stuff happens when I try to do dramatic make up.

There's a nice smokey eye instruction here (not stage make up though) Lime Crime make-up tutorials

And Bellydance by Anthea (Kawakib, Atesh) - Stage Makeup for Dancers doesn't show how, but illustrates just how mad you have to go with the lippy. :shok:

 

[charity]

nope cant return it. i think my make-up for my first hafla was terrible.

but moon might be right i might not be used to the look of make-up on my face. cause if i wear eyeshadow its brown, and if i wear eyeliner its also brown, and if i do mascara, its...(sigh) brown. and every time i attempt something it feels a bit rainbow bright to me.

my cousin tells me, that i look better without it, but i having a feeling she just says that because she doesnt wear it and doesnt want to wait on my pokey butt to put it on.

i'm going to get one of those big things of different eyeshadow colors and just try them all. its a very good idea.

and as far as the bronzer brush, yea, i'm just re-using an old blush brush. i really am a tightwad when it comes to the "unnecessaries".

plus i think that i bought the wrong kind of bronzer. it has the glimmers in it. seems that once those glittery pieces get on your skin its hard to smooth them out, if you know what i mean.

i suppose these things are made for the teenagers, everything has to glitter and sparkle. on an adult, i just cant manage it in a tasteful way.

i see people with the ideal make-up, but...i thinks its an art.

next payday, i'm going to the spa and getting a make-up session. and go to a hair consultation. thats my other on-going stuggle of trial and error, mostly error.

 

[adiemus]

I went to a makeup place called Minifies which is in Christchurch (ya got to visit!!) and they gave me a tutorial on day makeup, they also do stage makeup - so I may give them a call and see what they say! If I do I'll post some pictures of the process. Do any of the professionals have any advice?

 

[Sara]

There's a good eye makeup tutorial here...

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

 

[adiemus]

Thanks Sara!

 

[Reen.Blom]

What I do is buy a makeup lot on ebay- I go to the store and look at the brands and the colours i would love to try, then I read revies online to see if that specific line gets ok reviews. then I order an array of colours from ebay! It would cost the same as buying 1-2 items from a shop and I got 6-10 mixed shades. I tried them all on, took pictures and decided the ones I liked!(Sometimes you get on ebay what is marked as 'tester' but unused). So I keep 1 or 2 items and the rest makes FABULOUS gifts to friends...LOL

I am in love with L'oreal kissproof lipstick! Maxfactor peels off my lips in 30 seconds!