Several months ago, I became part again of Entity Theatre in Munich, which is a semi-professional, anglophone theatre company here in my hometown. I had been with them before between about 2004-2006, which is when I left to study and work in Switzerland for a while.
I came back for their production of The Memory of Water, an interesting drama about three sisters on the eve of their mother's funeral and the way their memories have shaped their existences.
I was part of our makeup team duo and did the designs for the characters. Lately, I've been working more and more as a freelance makeup artist and I kind of consider this part of those gigs.
On premiere night, I decided to do a special makeup look for the cast and crew, sort of my way to get people smiling and telling them to break a leg. As long-time readers of this blog will know, doing some special makeup for a special occasion is nothing new for me.
So the first night, I came with this.
I'm a big fan of doing some accent work in the middle of the lower lashline (you know, stuff like dots, special liners, etc) because I find that it does ... something ... to the face that makes it look really interesting.
So I decided to go with a glittery, stylised "trail of tears" using Lit Cosmetics' Clearly Liquid Glitter Base (the BEST glitter adhesive ever) and their glitter in the colour Caiman. I loved it and people seemed a bit mesmerised. Strike!!
But then on the second night, things started getting away from me. I was feeling .... inspired! I couldn't stop thinking about variations of blue and how difficult using blue is for anyone who does makeup. It's a finnicky colour which can look amazing but more often than not, ends up looking clownish.
But hell, I was on a roll and decided to do another special look for the Entity cast and crew. It had totally worked the night before - everyone was curious about the makeup and it put a lot of people in an even better mood - so why not go for a repeat?
I ended up with this, which turned out to be one of my two favourite looks of the entire run of the show.
This may be a good time to stress that all the looks were done using makeup products, no face paint or theatre makeup in sight.
This was done mainly with waterproof liners, creaseless cream shadows and a symphony of blues. The dots were achieved using Lit Cosmetics' Clearly Liquid Glitter Base as a foiling medium and a pigment.
I would wear this - in a million colour variations - again in a heartbeat.
Then came the next night and in keeping with the blue/water theme I was riffing off of, I got to thinking about a thunderstorm. Which turned into this...
For those born after 1990, no, this is not a reference to Harry Potter. It's an homage to David Bowie and eighties makeup.
On opening night the following week (we had a six-shows-run), I decided to go with yet another variation on the water theme and took inspiration from my favourite line in the entire play. I went icy cold!
The lips were achieved using a mix of OCC Lip Tars (in particular the one in Pris - a sparkling silver white) and blue lipsticks and eyeliners. I have to admit that they didn't stand the test of time very well. I had to reapply sparkly lipgloss after about three hours and the ombré effect didn't look quite as good after that. Oh well!
I'm sad that once again, the pictures weren't able to capture all the glittery goodness going on in the rest of the look. On top of the blue blush and contour, I had sprinkled a frosty white glitter, which went up to the temples too. I really did look like there were ice crystals sparkling on my face. Well, at least we have our memories of it!
And on the closing night, I went for something I'd never done before. I did a bit of actual painting on my face, taking a cue from our wonderful poster which featured a painting by Isidora Romani (www.inkaboutit.de).
Again, all done with actual makeup! And a good solid hour doing crazy faces in the mirror.
Now you might be saying: "Anna, you said you did 6 shows, where is the sixth blue look?" The truth is, there isn't one. After look number four I was a bit tapped out with the blues. So the fifth look actually became something completely different and is also part of my two favourites of the run.
It'll come up here in a few days, in a separate post.
Stay beautiful, inside and out,
Anna
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