So it’s come to my attention since being off work, being bored brainless whilst suffering and trolling through facebook and con photos that some people haven’t got the hang of make up. Not like it’s totally a bad thing, only the past couple of years have I’ve seemed to grasped the ideas of what things do and how they work on my face.
Troll through my facebook and ask my friends they can tell you how i liked to use Miss Sporty Black Pencil Eyeliner on every part of my face D: STUPID GOTH SELF! But thankfully I’ve out grown that. Even my early few cosplays my make up was cringe worthy.
But what annoys me more is the people that haven’t grasped make up seem to always idolize up to the “make up gurus of youtube” and will argue: I WATCHED THIS TUTORIAL I KNOW BETTER THAN YOU. Yes some of them have good points but some people seem to forget that we all do not have the same face shape, eyelids or even the same skin tone for those make up tutorials to even work. *cough* Michelle Phan’s tutorials *cough*
What you actually need to do is the dreaded word RESEARCH. If you troll through my youtube historys you will find I look through a million different variants of the same colour pallets when it comes to eye make up. Why? Because I want to find someone with a similar eye type to myself so i can get the right sort of idea of how it could work on myself and then I go around and play with my contouring brushes and develop my own way of working it.
this picture is the best that google could find me to prove ladies are different.
so yes it’s great to see some ladies are trying to get the right idea with looking up make up but PLEASE for the love of god look at some one who has similar eye type to you when it comes to eye make up. I know how appealing the make up tutorials can be in the likes of magazines from Japan catered for cosplayers & lolitas. But if you are like me and not blessed with the hooded eyes and are a newbie when it comes to make up you will struggle.
If you are complete newbie and not born with hooded eyes I recommend out of the gurus Lauren Luke and literally hitting every recommend person that hits the side bar and find what you think is good. Sometimes I just type into youtube “purple eye shadow” and it’s likes Russian roulette at what I get and I find some absolutely wonderful and more suitable tutorials to myself by doing that. Also drag queen make up tutorials can be your best friends <3
Make up isn’t as simple as picking up an eyeliner and attacking your face with it when it comes to cosplay. It’s just like the actual process of making the costumes and props so:
THINK!
- What colour wig are you wearing?
- What colour is your outfit?
- What type of character am I playing?
- What age is your character?
These are the 4 questions I ask myself before I even hit my make up bag and drag myself a reference picture.
So far instance with my Nana Osaki I would answer this:
- Black
- Black & Some Tartan baby!
- I am punk singer who is goddamn fricken awesome! She is quite fiesty.
- 18
now I grab my reference picture.
Now before you think: I AM IN LUCK SHE HAS EYESHADOW ON ALREADY HUZZAH.
But wait before I speed off for my eye shadow lets look deeper. She has big black eyelashes on top and quite dense ones on the bottom. Her skin is quite pale. She has red lips and her eye shadow has some shading. She very clearly has eyeliner from top to bottom.
I usually whilst getting a reference up will look up similar make up techniques. This is what I did prior to my first time wearing Nana Osaki to Ayacon 2011. I then played around and around with the make up until I was perfectly happy.
So just like the actually costume before I make it I actually analysis what I will do to the face and I research on how to do it. Then I have a fun old time stuck with my little bathroom mirror and a range of different eyeshadows to play around with until I find the suitable ones.
Doing my Nana make up research and playing around took me awhile to find the perfect set up. However I did find it and I can tell you exactly what I used: Front Cover Eyeshadow. 3 Different Shades of Purple, 1 Shade of White (can tell you the names if needed). Illamasqua Liquid Eyeliner. Mac Kohl Eyeliner. Mac Lipstick which has now upgraded to Illamasqua. (not including foundation/primer/eyelashes)
I played with different eyeshadows for quite awhile from the cheap MUA range to Barry M until I tried out the Front Cover worked for me. So what I’m trying to tell you guys is research, play and have fun! Yes I probably sound like a make up snob but what I’m trying to get everyone to do is realize is make up is just as important as that nicely styled wig or beautifully tailored costume you are wearing.
Just because your character may not look at first hand like she or he wears make up it’s always best to add that little extra. Even with characters like Amu from Shugo Chara that I cosplayed last year, I added some hello kitty lipgloss, light coloured eyeshadow and the words tiniest amount of liquid eyeliner on the top of my lids to make myself to look younger. I believe i may of even added a tiny bit of glitter because I was cosplaying a magical girl, what would a magical girl be without her glitter!?!
So just with your costumes, be creative and be daring!
This is my brief and hopefully a little bit helpful insight in how I look into make up in cosplay. I am preparing to make my first video on eyebrows tomorrow depending on how well I actually am and as long as my speech stays in tact. I hope it helps at least one of you. I probably should of added pictures but considering most people who read this blog are people who have seen my Nana O costume so many goddamn times they probably don’t want to see it again.
So yeah hopefully a post will be coming tomorrow and it will be based on cosplay make up and eyebrows. BE PREPARED!
and if you do want a one to one assistance when it comes to eyeshadow leave me a post or twitter/fb me.
Sadly only have 3 days to spend out there due to holiday entitlement.
