Best Stage Makeup Essientals

Adding fake warts and scars to a witch’s face makes her much more heinous then slapping some green eye shadow on her face. Adding a fake nose, which, when applied correctly actually looks quite real, can be even more effective. When someone is hurt in a play, it’s much more realistic to see blood pool out of their body than just see them fall to the floor. This can be achieved by using theatrical makeup that includes blood. Fake horns are a great effect for mystical creatures. When this type of body makeup is applied to actors, it makes them look inhuman.

How is this a theatrical makeup trick? We use the “younger” tricks to make people look as young as the character they are playing, up to 10 years younger; we use the “do not” list above to make someone look 10 or 20 years older than they actually are, or in the case of red-based like they were up all night, or crying. Lining the inner bottom lash line in light blue, using a little green and yellow shadow around the outer edge of the eye, and smudging a little red based violet in the lash line does wonders to make a character look like a battered wife.

To achieve the illusion of age, shadow Plane 1 and highlight 3, blending through Plane 2. Put a strong highlight on 3A, and shadow on the lower edge of 3B to give the appearance of sagging. All of Plane 3 may be shadowed and the eyelid (4) highlighted for “sunken” eyes. Wrinkles that fan out over 3B may be modeled like the forehead wrinkles, but with a finer brush. Normally, we put eyeshadow near the eyelashes on Plane 4, but don’t do that for an aged appearance. A little red around the edge of the eye gives the impression of tiredness or crying.