Makeup Tips - Techniques

There are some basic tips and tricks that are universal with some kinds of makeup that will give you a look which signifies a certain attitude. Use these to your advantage. ;)

Eyes:
Eyes are great fun to change and play with. Altering the liner and shadow the tiniest bit can often give you a vaery dramatic change. Below are some diagrams of eyes showing what you can do in this respect, and how changing your eyeliner can change the mood of your look. Eyeliner and shadow in general draws attention to the eyes and will make them stand out. No liner can make eyes look smaller or older. Take note of the sketches next to the maketips for help.

To make eyes look closer together, use darker eyeshadow near the inner corner and a lighter, brighter shadow at the outer corner.

To make eyes look farther apart, put a darker shadow in the outer corner.

Eyeliner that has a tail extending from the corner of the eye and curves up makes eyes look happy or open.

Likewise, eyeliner/shadow that curves or comes down from the outer corner can make you look sad or even sick.

Oriental eyes can be done by drawing the liner up at the outer corner (like in the happy eyes), and by drawing the inner corner of the liner down. using a lighter/brighter eyeshadow on the eyelid can further the effect.

A more glamorous sultry look is to heavily line the eyes on both top and bottom, bringing the outer corner up from both the top and bottom so you get a thickened "wing".

To make you eyes look bigger, more open or rounded, outline the crease in your eyelid and put a bright/light eyeshadow on the upper lid below the crease.

To make you eyes look more intense, line the crease with dark eyeliner and blend that down onto the upper lid (or use a dark eyeshadow on the upper lid)and line the bottom lid from corner to corner.

For sunken eyes,add a dark shadow from the entire upper lid up to your eyebrow. For a more vampiric look, line the bottom lid or add a thin line of eyeshadow.

Sickly eyes are done by using dark eyeshadow on the upper lid and blending it until it disappears up towards the eyebrow. Use a little eyeshadow below your eye, where it tends to bag.
(red is a good color to put here for that look)

Tired or bloodshot eyes are done by lining them with
pink or red just below the eyelashes.

* No, these silly eyes aren't my drawings, I photocopies them from my class handouts. The darker areas are dark shadow, and the areas that are marked HL are for a lighter shadow color.

Designs around the eyes:

This part is up to your creativity. Some people prefer the smaller curlies at the corner,
others prefer to make thier designs extend onto their cheeks and forehead. I'm not going to limit
anyone by saying you can't draw intricate patterns all over your face. Experiment with what looks
good on you. Practice until you get good and comfortable with what you're doing.
People can't criticize your makeup nearly as much if you're doing it well.

Here's some tips for what the direction of line on your face can signify:

• Curves are sensual, and can signify being open or generous, or friendly.
  
• Diagonal lines, especially anger lines around eyes or the
  shape of the eyebrows have definite meanings:
  
• Lines going up at the outer ends (see pic) are indicative of anger, and evil.
  Lines that tilt down at the outer ends are convey a more sad or worried look.
  
• Straight lines can look rigid or sometimes formal
  
  

Tips for eyeshadow application:

blending is very easy with powder eyeshadow. Try blending colors into each other and seeing what kind of result you get. I have some cobalt blue liquid eyeshadow that I'm fond of. goes on liquid, dries like a powder and stays on well. takes a little getting used to in the application though. Eyeshadow that is applied with a damp sponge or brush will stay on better, and will give you a more controled effect for harder lines. get yourself a nice eyeshadow brush (theatre store or art supply store) or even grab some of those silly sponge applicator things. they work especially well with the wet technique.

Lips:

If you want to change you lip shape, it's as easy as pulling out your lipstick.
I recommend a brush also for severe shaping. here's what some lip shapes mean:

• The classic mouth has the nice curvy "cupid's bow" at the top lip, and is well balanced sizewise between upper and lower. Just look at any of the models in a typical fashion magazine and you'll see what I mean.
  
• Mouths with downward drooping corners and a fuller lower lip convey petulance.
  
• Downward drooping corners with thin lower lips can convey sorrow.
  
• A smaller, tighter mouth can convey vindictiveness or obstinacy.
  
• A straight, tightly closed mouth shows firmness, cruelty and wickedness.
  
• Large mouths with full lips convey sensuality.
  
• The "geisha mouth" with small round lips is good for a dramatic, well, geisha effect, and can also read as doll like. Enlarging the geisha mouth a tiny bit can give you the bee stung lips of the twenties.
  
  

Drawing your lips:

Making them larger simply means painting them that way. It's best to outline first and then fill in. play with the shapes of the points at the tops...make the rounder, flater, pointed. see what you like best. To achieve a smaller lip shape, like the geisha, spread some of your foundation onto your lips to cover the area you need and blend in around them so your lips blend in with your skin (purely using foundation on your lips can be an interesting look also). Now you are free to draw in the shape you desire. be sure to powder the foundation where your lipstick won't be!

It can be fun to use 2 lipstick colors to blend together, such as lining them with say, black and coloring the space within with red or pink, etc. yo9u can either blend the colors together some or leave a more severe line. Making the top lip one color and the bottom lip another can be fun also, but there's the risk of having them smear later on. if you are really worried about smearing, them either be reeeely careful of get yourself a lipstick sealer. Glitter lipstick is usually kind-of odd and doesn't seem to go on quite the way you want it to, I've found. So, instead, grab that pot of loose glitter, stick your finger in and dab away. I like to stick to just a few dabs on the center of the lower lip for a bit of sparkle. it draws attention to them too!

Eyebrows:

here's a theatre trick, which with some practice can be used to sculpt your eyebrows without plucking. this simple technique works best on eyebrows that aren't too bushy, but mine are pretty think and I've had good luck with this...so.....

you want to sculpt your eyebrows. Here's a technique called soaping. take a piece/bar of soap and dampen it with water. stroke the soap repeatedly over your eyebrow until the hairs are sticking together and lying flat against your face. Let the brow dry and gently comb them flat (if they aren't already) spreading the hairs out away from the brow. the flatter they get, the more easily you can cover them with makeup. Once they are dry, cover them with foundation or cream makeup (cream works best) in whatever color you are using for your makeup design. They may still show through some, depending on how thick and dark, but you can detract from this by heavying up the makeup surrounding the area for contrast after you are done with the brows. After you feel like they are well covered, powder over them throughly. Now you can draw in the eyebrow shape you want. A liquid might work better than a pencil over the flattened hairs. And yes, they will feel a little stiff and funny, you'll get used to it. Best of all, it all washes right off.

Can't find the color you want in the makeup you want?

Cleaning off your face:

I've stumbled home at 3am from a long night of dancing at a club, and all I want to do is drop off to sleep, but I've got makeup on and I don't want my pillow looking like a cosmetic fiesta. I'd tried soap and water, which works, but I had to scrub and sometimes not all of it would come off as easily as i want (especially the pesky glitter and eyeliner). In theatre, the easiest thing to do is get some cold cream. The stuff is kinda yucky, and you'll want to wash your face as normal afterwards, but trust me...it gets everything off with minimal scrubbing. it's cheap and you can find it as most drug stores. just rub some on your face...not too much, and tisue off the cold cream. you''l feel a bit greasy, which is why it's good to do a quick wash afterward.

Don't be afraid to experiment with your makeup designs. Look around for inspiration until you find some techniques that you like. Try doing some research on period makeup or makeup in other cultures. Even look at some of the haute couture fashion models. Masks are a good inspiration too. You can find some cool ideas to use if you just have an open mind. For instance, my most recent makeup explorations have been focusing on kabuki and chinese opera styles. They're fun, and dramatic, and something that you just don't see people doing. There's lots of untapped wells of design out there...it's just that even in the goth subculture there's still this pervading idea of "what is acceptable for us". I think it's bullshit, personally. It should be more like, how do I want to express myself? If you want intricate swirlies on half of your forehead, go for it!

Here's a design based on Kabuki makeup. I appear to have an asian makeup fetish...hmmm. Anyhow, note how much better it looks with my ears and neck covered in foundation. I used cake makeup for both designs.

Makeup based on Chinese opera makeup. Note that my neck and ears aren't white....looks silly doesn't it? That's why you need to cover any exposed part with foundation.

Granted, there are some makeup styles that are very overdone in the past, which you should probably stay away from, those being the crow and the "death" eye curly. Of course, when i got into goth, it was 3 years after the crow movie and i was the only female crow at the club i was going to, so even then it was a little trite. but, I was meticulous with my makeup and i learned how to dance well, so the flack I got some of in the beginning got overshadowed by the respect I earned later, and few people made fun of me.

Don't forget about using little things like stick on jewels and pieces of lace in your makeup either. Special little touches can sometimes make a more simple design stand out. Most of all, makeup should be fun and not so much of a chore or an obligation. It's fun to create your own "character". Don't be limited by the current opinions of the elite goths. They just aren't any fun. As a whole, our subculture needs to get creative and resourceful again if we intend to move forward. So get out there and play! If you come up with any cool designs, email me a pic and i'll put them up here.

Yes, the Crow makeup. Cliche yes, but I was very careful about how I did mine. I used clown white and powdered over it with baby powder,I shaded around my eyes with black eyeshadow, drew the lines with pencil eyeliner. Note that I included the scar over the nose.

Here's my corrective makeup design from class, done up a little vampy. I soaped my eyebrows and repainted them in. I also made my eyes look larger by putting a line of white under the lower lashes, then lining under it with black.

Here's a makeup design of mine on my friend Bethany. I used clown white, purple eyeshadow, and carefully cut bits of lace.

More makeup pics coming soon! Be sure to check back!

Back to DIY HOME