Makeup, Hair and Styling for Final Scene (Second Look)

She - Makeup and Hair

Previous Practice

Final makeup and hair.

I decided to dress the model in her styling before starting the hair or makeup as the dress was the dominating aspect to portray her grown confidence. Looking back at my last practice of this makeup look made me think it looked too theatrical with the white lips and blanked out eye. I had previously wanted to include one blind eye in every look to reflect the lasting effects of discrimination; however I now think this will look too staged and it will be a dominating factor in each makeup look when I was the focus to be more on the other aspects. I therefore decided to not give my model a blind eye and give her a more natural look. I still wanted to include the white aspects to give her a bright, innocent and youthful look; however I wanted it to look less theatrical and more subtle. I think the makeup look I had done in my practice would have looked too overdone with the hair and styling put together.

I kept the model's skin from the previous shoot and added white eyeshadow under the eyes and on the other high points of her face to accentuate her features and add an ethereal touch, as I had done in my practice. I gave her an extremely light contour, again to keep her looking fresh and youthful. I added a generous amount of highlighter to the high points of her face, including her inner corners and brow bone, so an elegant glow. I added the white eye brows and white eye lashes; however I didn't add white to her lower or upper lash line as I thought it looked too heavy. Also instead of adding white eye shadow all over her eye lids, I added a hint of contour in the crease for a more flattering look. I think the biggest change was adding a nude, glossy lip instead of the white lips because they complement the natural glowing skin instead of making it look too overdone and dramatic. 

I am really pleased with how the makeup turned out because the model looks alternative, with the white eyelashes and eyebrows, but still beautiful and elegant, with the glowing skin and glossy nude lips. 

Final makeup and hair, side view.

I kept the model's hair the same as in the last practice apart from I didn't spray the hair white because I thought it would look too overdone with the white makeup and white styling. The strips of leather in the hair match perfectly with the dress as I bought it from the same shop. I wanted the bottom part of the hair to be slicked back, with fly aways, to contrast with the messiness of of the mohawk. To improve the hair look I would have tried to make the side parts look more seamless, with the hairs all going in one direction; however it still looks smooth and sleek and I don't think the slight gap in the hair will be visible on camera. After practicing this look so many times I found it quick and simple to add the mohawk neatly down the centre of her head; however we had problems when she did a dance move that was sharp because sometimes the clips would come out. After this happened a couple of times I stepped in to make sure the mohawk was securely in place and it didn't happen again.


She - Styling

I had a fitting with the model the night before the shoot to check everything fit correctly because my designer, Zhane, had only finished making the two pieces that evening, even though I had given her over a month to create it. The skirt fit perfectly because Zhane had put belt holes around the skirt so I was able to adjust the belt to fit my model's waist. The skirt was slightly longer than my model's leg length; however I liked that I could play with this length in the dance and didn't want it to awkwardly hang before reaching the floor. I was concerned the belt would be a slightly different shade of white/cream; however I took the leatherette fabric out when I was buying the belt to make sure they blended into each other seamlessly.

I considered having the model wear a nude bra underneath the top; however I think this would have disrupted the aesthetic and made it look unprofessional. When my model took her bra off she felt very uncomfortable because the top was so loose on her, so every time she moved the fabric came away from her body to show her nippled. I therefore had to tighten the waist and some of the straps across her body to make them sit flatter against the body and hold the model's boobs in place. I pinned them whilst the top was on the model to make sure it fit perfectly and then sewed them into place. The model looked and felt more comfortable, but to make her even more secure I used double sided tape to stick all the strips of material to her body.

I experimented with putting white pants underneath; however it didn't work because the leatherette is slightly off white and the pants did not match well, making it look messy. I therefore chose nude high waisted pants to go underneath the skirt because it made the outfit look more high fashion, less wearable and more daring, to reflect her new sense of rebellion. The nude underwear also emphasised the caged skirt as it didn't interrupt the pattern, as apposed to the white pants which covered the caged design in that area.

I was extremely happy with how this outfit looked because it oozed confidence and rebellion and, after some adjustments, fit her perfectly.


Society Members - Makeup and Hair

I had only planned to use one member of society to accept She; however after Sebastiane said he liked the use of young and old I decided to include the older model and find styling, makeup and hair for her the night before the shoot.

I had practised this hair and makeup look on myself but had not tested it on my model as she travelled from London to make the shoot just for this day. I had planned the looks so I only had to add the makeup the models had on in the clips before to save time, although this was easy as the previous makeup was so natural. The dark khaki eye shadow blended out with a medium matte brown shade in the crease for a sultry, smokey look. I didn't put any on the lower lash line because I thought that would make it look too glamorous and make her eyes look smaller. Some of this eye shadow fell onto the cheeks so I had to remove that makeup with a makeup wipe and touch up the concealer; this worked successfully in perfecting the under eye area. I added a nude lipstick to give the lips subtle definition so they didn't look washed out on camera. 

I used a tail comb and gel to slick the model's hair up into a high ponytail but left the fringe out. I used a smoothing serum on the fringe to give it a smooth and neat look to complement the sleek hair. My model's hair was slightly dry and frizzy so I straightened the ends and added a smoothing serum to add moisture and give a slick, glossy finish. To improve on this hair look I could have taken more time to make the sides of the hair look more seamless as there are a couple of small partings in the hair, showing her scalp. The mesh that I tied round the hair was easily tucked under the hairband so I didn't have to use the card structure. The hair looked taught and sleek, reflecting society's restrictive hold, and the makeup gave her definition but didn't look too heavy so I am happy with the overall look. 

I was not able to practice this makeup look before the shoot because I had only planned to add this model the night before; however I knew I wanted to mirror the other society member's makeup so I kept her makeup the same as in the previous clips but added some brown eyeliner to her top lash line to add some definition to the eyes. I was concerned that if I added too much eye shadow to this model her eyes would look heavy and tired so I only added a touch of brown for some natural definition. I added the same nude lip to add some definition. The images above wash the model out, making her makeup look less noticeable; however in person and in the footage her eyes look more defined. My model's hair was short so I decided to keep it in the same style as before because I thought if I slicked it back she would look too severe. I felt very panicked when making these changes; however I am happy that my model looks different from the previous scene, but still natural and age appropriate.


Society Members - Styling

Sebastiane said he was concerned the leotard put the model too much in a dance context so I added these fishnet high waisted shorts to break the outfit down and give it a more avant-garde, grungy feel. The leotard fit the model well and to create the shorts I cut some fishnet tights to the length I wanted. The khaki on the eyes ties in the khaki in the outfit for a monochromatic look. 

I decided to use khaki for this model as well to link the two models together as members of society. I found a khaki turtle neck crop top with long sleeves which I thought mirrored the other model's styling; however my model looked slightly frumpy and uncomfortable showing her stomach. I therefore added a similar colour khaki green top underneath for a more flattering look. I paired this with some stone coloured jeans to continue the neutral tones of the previous styling. I considered having the model wear black trousers to mirror the other model's shorts; however her legs would get lost in the black background so she wore lighter trousers to make sure her movements were visible. I am thankful I could find some khaki styling so last minute as Louise would not have been able to postpone the shoot. I will have a look at the footage to clarify whether all the styling works in unison.