For the Ladies

This is a nice dramatic-but-sweet makeup look for stage for the ladies in a performance, and goes well in a commedia dell'arte play where nothing really is supposed to look all that natural. It's not strictly period but it harkens back to many different past eras. It was actually adapted from instructions for doing a Disney Princess Snow White look.

You need:

Foundation (either the same color or little lighter than the actress's skin)

Powder (either translucent or the same color as the foundation)

Dark pink blush

White eyeshadow

White eyeliner

Brow pencil, appropriate to hair color of the actress

Black liquid eyeliner

Red lipliner

Red lipstick

Two sets of great big false eyelashes, black, one for upper lids and one for lower

1. Apply the foundation as heavily as needed, covering up any flaws in the complexion.

2. Powder your face to set the foundation and to decrease shine.

3. Apply white eyeshadow over your eyelids and in the inner corners of your eyes.

4. Use the white eye pencil to color over your water-line (that is, the flesh behind your lower eyelashes, right against the eye.) This will make your eyes look larger by extending the amount of white.

5. Break out the liquid eyeliner and paint your whole lashline, top and bottom, extending the line outward into a cat-eye look. Paint in some additional eyelashes, both top and bottom.

6. Apply your false lashes. Use a full set on top, and a half set on the bottom (you may need to trim down a pair to get the half set for the bottom lids.)

7. Once the lashes are in place, color in your eyebrows with the brow pencil. Particularly try to emphasize the upper part of your eyebrow. Placing your eyebrows higher makes your eyes look bigger.

8. Line the lips and fill the area using the lipliner.

9. Apply lipstick.

10. Apply the blush -- I used a large kabuki brush for it. Make it a bit darker than you'd normally want for regular use.

BEFORE AND AFTER

NOTES ABOUT THIS MAKEUP

  • The original Disney Princess video that inspired this stated to use a sparkly or shimmery white eyeshadow. On stage we found this didn't work well, and instead used a matte white eyeshadow.

  • "Red" lipstick actually spans quite a variety of hues, and the best color for your actress will probably depend on the color of her costume.

  • Apply the blush high on the actresses face, especially if she's a little older than she's supposed to be playing -- placing the blush higher makes her cheeks and thereby entire face look higher.