digital imologue

I like skeletons.  I have skull-motif everything.  If it comes in a bones version, I’ll take that one.  It’s no surprise, then, that one of my first major Halloween face-paint undertakings was skull makeup.

First I hit Google images for some guidance; quite often I’ve got no clue how to actually execute these brilliant ideas of mine.  I’ll admit it… I’m very ‘inspired by’.  Luckily, there’s the internet, just brimming with ideas to be pinched, mixed together and re-done.  There are some fantastic ideas out there… check out this and this and this!

So after a LOT of research, I pinched ideas from basically all of them and got busy.  I really liked the idea of vertebrae painted on the neck, and I wanted the teeth to be the main detail/feature.  Alewyn lent me his face to practice on:

…which I was pretty happy with.  Not bad for a first attempt.  Here’s my second attempt, on myself:

… and in negative, X-ray style.

I actually like Alewyn’s better.  No one recognised me, which was my secret goal, so still a good effort.  Here’s what I used to do it:

• basic black and white cream makeup (you can see the black tube in the top left-hand photo of the pictures of Alewyn.  It comes in every colour of the rainbow – plus an odd range of baby-shit browns and mustards – and you can buy it on eBay for a couple of bucks.  With the exception of the blue one, which flakes like f_ck, this makeup is pretty good.  Cheap, opaque, wears well without smudging/travelling, easily washes off.)

• MAC Paint Pot in Blackground around the eyes, as I didn’t trust the cream makeup not to crease;

• black and brown eyeliner to outline the teeth, and matte eyeshadows in medium brown, orange and yellow to discolour them (the brilliant white of the cream makeup was making my own choppers look rather beige in comparison.  Action had to be taken); and

• yes of course I’m wearing mascara.

Oooh, now I’m inspired to do another skull-face again soon.  These photos are from Halloween 2009 I think… so it’s long overdue.  Next time I’ll be using my newly-acquired Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation (Shade: SB01) which gives a good translucent ghost-pale.  Set with universal/colourless finishing powder so black and grey powder can be used to create hollows and shadows, make it a bit more 3D.

Since we’re here, here’s Agi and Paul, both with a quarter-face skull done by me for Halloween 2010.  Looking at this photo now I am going to guess (cos I can’t remember) that the black in the eye sockets and on the nose is MAC Paint Pot in Blackground, and the white is Snazaroo Clown White.  By the by, Clown White is more comfortable to wear and doesn’t flake as much as cream makeup, and you can build it up as you want it (you can see it extends down to the jawline on Agi, and is much more opaque from the teeth up where I’ve put on additional layers).  So for whitening up a bigger surface, I’d recommend it over cream makeup, even though it’s probably not as opaque even when it’s on nice and thick.  It’s just less likely to become dry/uncomfortable, and crack up.  Anyway, here they are:

… and from Halloween 2012, here’s my friend Joy looking amazing as a sugar-skull.  It wasn’t me that did the makeup, but I love her look; the cherry-red hair and white contacts, wow –

So there you have it, boys and girls.  Skeletal fun.  Stay tuned for further adventures in the underworld, this is one of my favourite faces to do so it won’t be the last you see here 🙂

Tags: face paint, Halloween, Illamasqua, MAC, makeup, skeleton, skull, Snazaroo, sugar skull