Halloween Ideas: Kat Von D Makeup

I love Halloween, but am pretty lazy when it comes to the costume department. Instead of elaborate costumes, I like doing dress up's that focus on makeup. Not only do they tend to be cheaper, they are generally more comfortable and don't rely on wearing something  too hot, cold, or embarrassing!

Here is a Kat Von D look I did a few years ago. I just copied her typical makeup look (albeit with a heavy hand) and covered my arms with temporary tattoos found at a dollar store.

I won't go through the basic makeup as this photo is several years old and I can't exactly remember all the products I used, but I will show you how to recreate the star tattoos she has on her cheekbones and temples. Apply your star tattoos after you have completed the basic makeup.

First draw 1 - 2 stars on an approximately 1" x 1" piece of masking or green painters tape (you won't want to use clear tape as it can rip easily.) Using an Exacto knife and a cutting mat, carefully cut out your drawing, and peel it away using the tip of the Exacto knife. 

Then stick the tape to your skin, and with a small brush, apply a medium thick layer of MAC Blacktrack Fluid line to the stencil, making sure to work the product into the corners of the stencil, overlapping slightly onto the tape to ensure you get crisp edges.  Allow the liner to dry for at least 30 seconds then slowly peel the tape away and repeat.

To make the tattoos seem even more convincing, once you are finished applying them, lightly brush them over with setting powder and highlighter. Having a thin layer of makeup on top of them will make them look as if they are truly part of your skin!

What is your Halloween costume this year?

J

Halloween 2012: Rosie the Riveter

My Halloween costume this year was Rosie the Riveter, specifically the iconic poster above. The poster was used during World War II when women worked in factories while the men were at war. It was a significant moment in feminist history, when women proved themselves capable of doing what was traditionally a man's job. Rosie represents the thousands of women who worked assembly lines, getting their hands dirty and supporting the war effort.

The poster has endured, even though Norman Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post cover pre-dates it. 

In actuality, these images were used as propaganda, to entice women into the workforce and when the war ended, they were expected to go back to more traditional female roles. 

Still, Rosie the Riveter endures as a feminist icon and she is a popular Halloween costume. 

Here's my interpretation:

Self-portrait (that's my iPhone with it's Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock case tucked behind my arm)

I wore jeans, boots, a dark blue denim button-up shirt and a red handkerchief for my hair. I styled my hair in a bit of a pompadour, which is more 1950s than 1940s, admittedly, but some tutorials you can find online show a pomp and it's easier than trying to create curls in my hair.

Obviously, as a factory worker, Rosie wouldn't be wearing a lot of makeup, but women did wear some makeup even in doing hard labour. And in the poster, Rosie is clearly wearing eye makeup and lipstick. In the 1940s, eyeshadow colours tended to be neutral although an army green was popular. Women would wear red lipstick for evening and softer pink-red or orange-red for daytime. The focus was on the eyes and lips. 

For my look, I kept it simple. Natural skin, a bit of olive shadow in the crease, a thin liquid eyeliner line, mascara, slight contour in the cheeks and berry-red lips.

What I used:

To give me a perfect, natural complexion:

Garnier BB cream buffed into my skin with a foundation brush.

MAC Studio Fix Concealer in applied to undereye area in on any blemishes.

MAC powder in NC15 to set.

On my eyes:

Urban Decay eye primer.

MAC Vanilla eyeshadow on my eyelid and on my browbone.

MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack in a very thin line along my upper lashline, flicked out slightly at the end.

mascara on my upper lashes.

Laura Mercier Scheherazade eyeshadow (golden green) swept very lightly through my crease.  

For my elegant 1940s eyebrows: 

Using MAC Sketch eyeshadow I lightly filled in my eyebrows where there are gaps and extended the brow slightly. 

For a subtle flush:

MAC Stunner blush very lightly on the apples of my cheeks.

On my lips:

Lipstick Queen by Poppy lipstick in Saint Eden (watermelon pink).

Rosie the Riveter is a fairly simple and fun costume. It's not skimpy, it's sexy and badass. I felt tough and got to give little history lessons to everyone who asked who I was dressed as (No, I'm not a TV character.)

What was your Halloween costume?

A Clockwork Orange Hallowe'en FOTD

I love Hallowe'en. It's always a bit of a challenge to come up with a costume and to get all the components together for it, but it's so much fun to play dress-up even for just a few hours. 

This year I attended a 'Heroes and Villains'-themed party. My costume was inspired by the 1971 movie A Clockwork Orange and specifically, the character of Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell).

The film tells the story of teenage Alex and his "droogs" (friends) in a future version of Britain. They wear all white, with braces, codpieces, black bowler hats and black boots. Each of the boys wear an item of makeup and Alex wears false eyelashes on his right eye, top and bottom. 

The film, based on the novel by Anthony Burgess has become a cult classic. It was written, produced and directed by the legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and won a number of accolades including four Academy Award nominations.

It's been one of my favourite films for a long time and it's a cool costume for Hallowe'en. Finding an all-white outfit after Labour Day was not easy, and I didn't end up wearing the codpiece or the suspenders but otherwise, I think I nailed it. 

The make-up was a bit of a challenge as well. In creating a female version of a male look was tough. I wanted to feminize the look as I wasn't trying to look like a man. I wanted to be a female version of Alex DeLarge. 

Here's how I achieved it.

I wanted to keep my skin looking fairly natural, so I applied concealer and powder where I needed it, as well as primer where needed to keep my look in place as long as possible.

Products used:

• Laura Mercier Oil-Free Tinted Moisturizer
• Bare Escentuals SPF 15 Foundation and Mineral Veil
• MAC Studio Sculpt Concealer
• Vasanti Liquid Cover

For the eyes, I used MAC's Tundra Shadestick all over both eyes, blended into the crease and slightly onto the browbone. I traced a line under my eyes as well.

MAC Shadestick in Tundra

With MAC Shadestick in Tundra

On top of that, I applied MAC Mineralize Eyeshadow in Family Silver to brighten the silvery effect.

MAC Mineralize Eyeshadow in Family Silver

With MAC Mineralize Eyeshadow in Family Silver

Next comes the lashes! I used MAC #7 lashes, both on my right eye. First I curled my lashes to provide a base for the falsies. 

*Note: these are MAC's best-selling lashes and they're awesome. They work well as bottom lash lashes as well as regular lashes. 

MAC #7 Lashes and Duo Adhesive

With MAC #7 lower lash applied

With MAC #7 top and bottom lashes applied.

With MAC #7 lashes applied on the right eye.

To further dramatize my right eye, I lined my water line with black eyeliner.

With black liner on my right eye waterline.

Next, mascara on both eyes. My lases are quite fair, so even though the falsies are so dramatic, I wanted to make sure my light lashes didn't take away from the look at all. I applied the darkest mascara I own, a sample size of Diorshow Black Out.

Dior Diorshow Black Out Mascara

With mascara applied to both eyes. 

To finish the look, I applied MAC Strada blush as cheek contour (below my cheekbones) and slightly onto the apples of my cheeks. I wanted my lips to be subtle and natural but slightly emphasized so I used Smashbox lipliner in Smashing Muse and Becca Cosmetics lipstick in Estella. I also brushed my eyebrows up for a somewhat rougher look and used clear mascara to keep them in place.

MAC Strada blush

Smashbox Sheer Lipliner in Smashing Muse

Becca Cosmetics Lipstick in Estella

Side view of the finished look.

In character!

The silver on my eyes is subtle enough yet gives the look a shine and futuristic feel as well as feminizing the look. It also ties my version to the 60's look of the film.

 My complete costume included: 

• white men's button-up shirt (thrifted)
• white skirt (American Apparel)
• white tights (American Apparel)
• black ankle boots with spats (Winners)
• black walking stick (Malabar)
• black bowler hat (H&M)

A. Hosking Photography

What was your Hallowe'en costume this year?

C.

1920s and 1930s Make-Up

This summer I was challenged to come up with two retro looks - one for a coworker who was attending a 1930s themed fashion event and one for myself, for a friend's 1920s themed party.

I have a soft spot for history and when we were taught the basics of beauty through the years in make-up school, I absorbed it like a sponge and have never forgotten it. I love Sam from PixiWoo for her retro make-up looks and used her videos in my research such as this one for the 1920s look (sorry about the size of this video!):



Make-up in the 1920s was very basic so women did what they could. As is the case now, what was in vogue was the faces of movies stars such as Clara Bow and Louise (LuLu) Brooks. 1920s make-up was inspired by silent film where the face was used in lieu of voices to express emotion and make-up had to stand out on B&W film. 

Clara Bow

Louise Brooks

The flapper was the IT girls of the decade with her close cropped, bobbed hair, dropwaist dresses, long beaded necklaces or pearls and cloche hats.

Why so glum, Flapper girl? I covet your boots and adorable hair!

One of my favourite photos of all time.

Louise Brooks

1920s make-up basics:

• big, sad eyes
• low, straight, thin, dark brows
• pale, matte skin
• dark red, bow-shaped lips
• no blush

Me with my test flapper make-up

Me at the party
Taken by Beverly Wooding 

I have a face with strong features but I managed to get the 1920s look without too much difficulty.

Here's what I did:

I thinned my brows out as much as I was comfortable wearing (which wasn't anywhere near as thin or straight as they wore them in the 1920s) and used a dark brown powder to darken, lower and extend them. For my eyes, I used MAC's Smut eyeshadow in an oval shape but in the complete opposite way as I would normally apply it. Starting on my lid, I blended the colour up high in the crease and inner corner and worked it down at the outside of my eye to create a downturned, sad look. I smudged a soft line of Smut below my eyes, also pulling it down at the outer corner. To make my eyes appear larger I lined my lower waterline with Benefit EyeBright to make my eyes appear larger and added a little mascara, but not as much as I normally wear.

My base was as matte as I could make it (lots of powder) and I applied no blush or highlighter.

For my lips, I used MAC's Diva matte lipstick but first applied concealer to the each side of my mouth. The 1920s lip was known as the Bow, after Clara Bow and drawn well inside the natural lip line. Lip colours didn't bleed as quickly when done this way. I used a freshly sharpened lip pencil to draw the shape and then used a lip brush to apply the lipstick.

MAC Smut eyeshadow and MAC Diva matte lipstick

The 1930s look I gave my coworker Lindsay instruction for was inspired by this video from Helena Rubenstein and from Kevyn Aucoin's books. I think Marlene Dietrich was one of the most stunning women to grace the big screen and I have a huge retro girl-crush on her.

Can you see why?

Marlene Dietrich in The Scarlet Empress

Her face was the epitome of sculpted, otherworldly beauty with a good dose of androgyny as her face is almost handsome. She was in control of her own make-up and hair and worked mainly with directors, wardrobe stylists and technicians who knew how to make her look her very best onscreen.

Again, I went to PixiWoo for inspiration (sorry about the size of this video!):



Her high, thin, arched brows, sculpted bone structure, bedroom eyes and flawless skin were hallmarks of the 1930s look but it's easy just to focus on that face. Other beauties of the decade were:

Greta Garbo

Joan Crawford - look a brunette!

Joan Crawford again, this time as a blonde.

Carole Lombard (with Clark Gable)

The 1930s were softer in terms of hair and make-up than the 1920s. Advances had been made in beauty products, although they were still pretty basic. There had been huge advances in film though, in terms of lighting and cameras, so rather than the almost two-dimensional visuals of cinema in the 1920s, the 1930s gave us the beginning of Hollywood's Golden Age and the first of the incredibly glamourous movie stars.

This is another good video although it has no sound and the model has the perfect face for this type of make-up so it's easy to make her look like a 1930s film star.



The basics of the 1930s look:

• glamour
• shadow and highlight
• liquid eyeliner 
• high, thin, rounded eyebrows
• red lips
• sculpted cheekbones
• soft pink blush

I didn't do Lindsey's make-up but I gave her lots of instruction and here's what she did all on her own! She looks great! She also has a great face for this look - delicate features, a rounded face with short blonde hair to frame it. I don't know what products she used, but it appears she used a thin line of liquid eyeliner, a touch of blush and that fantastic red lipstick (it's MAC's Ruby Woo, she tells me).

Lindsey with her 1930s look.
Taken by Jonathan Loek and posted on BlogTO.

Another photo of Lindsey taken by photographer Claudia Hung can be seen here.

1930s make-up is much more flattering than the 1920s look but since both of these looks were meant for B&W photos and film, you can play with texture and modernize these both for today. Lindsey too didn't tweeze the life out of her eyebrows to get the perfect look but this is a look she could wear again on a night out.

Coincidentally it's been a summer for retro make-up looks - so much fun!!!

C.