Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual: For Everyone from Beginner to Pro (41 page)

High-Definition Television

High-definition television is extremely unforgiving. (It definitely wasn’t invented by a woman over twenty years old.) It conveys very sharp contrast with great detail. The makeup you apply has to be both fluid and perfectly blended. Foundation that is not correctly applied will look like it’s melting off the face. Remember two words:
coverage
and
blending
.

Always check makeup in the monitor to see how it reads with lighting.

Blemishes need to be expertly covered.

FILM

Directors, lighting, and scripts dictate what style of makeup needs to be done. Communicate with everyone involved, ask lots of questions, and do lots of testing. The real makeup challenge, when working on films, is maintaining continuity. Scenes are often shot out of sequence, and part of a makeup artist’s job is to make sure the character looks the same in each scene. It can be a slow process, so always have a digital camera and a notebook handy to keep track of the shots. Lighting and style dictate what the makeup should look like.

NINE MEMORABLE WOMEN

These women are all icons and their looks have inspired many makeup artists to recreate them either in movies or editorial work. Whether it’s a direct period piece or just an element — these are the looks that inspire editors and photographers.

Brigitte Bardot
Light foundation and blush, extra pale lips, and classic medium-thick eyeliner.

Audrey Hepburn
Her look was all about the strong squared-off brow, a matte powdery face, and natural colors.

Catherine Deneuve
Sexy kitten, smoky eyes, and medium lips.

Ali McGraw
The icon of the natural American look. Brown eyeshadow, simple dark brown liner, naturally strong brow, clean skin, tawny cheek, and nude lip.

Sophia Loren
Classic Italian, sexy yet understated. Her strong features don’t need a lot. Strong brows, medium lips, clean black eyeliner, and a little blush.

Marilyn Monroe
Her makeup was all about a sexy face. Strong brows, white eyelids, smoky contour, false eyelashes, and strong eyeliner, often with a red lip – classic 50s.

Lena Horne
40s glamour – burgundy lips, eyes lined on top, shadow artfully applied, strong brow, and visible black false eyelashes.

Elizabeth Taylor
Whether playing the title role in
Cleopatra
or Martha in
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
, she always had her violet eyes rimmed with black shadow, eyeliner, and lashes.

Grace Kelly
A Hollywood princess: classic blonde and “Ralph Laurenesque” at a black-tie ball.

MAKEUP for FASHION SHOWS

Working as a makeup artist at a fashion show is similar in many ways to doing the makeup for a theatrical production. Just as theatrical makeup has to represent the vision of the director or the playwright,
the final look you see on the runway is a collaboration between the designer, the makeup artist, the hairstylist, and the model.
As fashion shows have increasingly become a media circus, with television cameras and photographers recording every aspect of the event both on the runway and backstage, the makeup artist’s role has become even more important. It is not enough to make a model look beautiful; a makeup artist must be able to speak about the designer’s vision and the current style trends.

Working with models is like working with a blank canvas. You can experiment and try things that would probably look horrible on a real woman but look great on the runway or in a photo. I do believe that if the model likes her look, the shoot will go better. I have had to apologize for creating a severe look that the model hates but is required by the designer or photographer.
All of these situations take confidence, patience, communication, and a willingness to take risks.