My Secret Makeup Technique
Who can guess what is beneath all that red glitter that holds it together?
This is by far my favourite personal discovery as a makeup artist!
Up to this day I have not seen anyone else using this technique yet and I am so proud and happy to share it!
And, no…there is no photoshop on this image! :)
Photography Georgi Andinov
I have always wanted to do an editorial image with massive amount of glitter incorporated, but yet in a very specific cosmic and elegant way. I have done makeup with glitter on so many shoots and music videos, but have never felt fully satisfied with the application outcome on bigger parts of the body. Long story short, back in the beginning of 2017 I started sketching some beauty concept visions.
Then I began wondering how I can fix the glitter on the body. I wanted the glitter to be very photogenic (it looks way better in moving images) to stay put long enough, but to be easily removed, and moreover, I always had the condition of the skin in mind. I wanted to see the full capacity of the glitter, but not to harm the skin of the model, because glitter itself and gel- glue- sealer textures could be very aggressive and irritating for the skin during and afterwards.
So for a few days I worked hard, went out and tested on myself everything I could think of from my make up arsenal (sealers, oils, gels, paint, fixing liquids, even hairspray and so on), but still was not satisfied enough, either by the looks or by the feeling. I remember I sat down, focused on my sketch wondering what I might have missed out and honestly-really made a wish to the Universe that I would come up with something new and creative… And it happened, I finally had it!
I got up, went to the fridge, took out my bottle of fake blood, applied it on my hand, then glitter ot top, and that was it!
I know for someone it may not sound as a big deal, but for me it was a revelation and I think every makeup artist would understand me. I cannot imagine how I have not done it before or seen it anywhere else... Stage blood contains food grade ingredients to enable the harmless application on the skin, mucous membranes and in the mouth so it was absolutely ideal. It is sticky and the glitter sets very nicely. You can take it off with just warm water and the skin feels tender and soft. So, for this particular look, fake blood
met all my requirements and
was absolutely the perfect texture to use.
Both with the photographer- Georgi Andinov and I imagined a cosmic- space- like backdrop, but not a photoshopped print. We didn’t find any solution good enough to match our idea, so we decided to build it ourselves. Everything you see in the picture is absolutely handmade.
We needed total darkness around and we arranged and attached hundreds of Christmas lights on a very thick black fabric. The tricky part was that we wanted the backdrop to feel deep, endless and certainly not with a pattern. So we defused the lights unevenly with the help of a gaffer tape, did a test, then rearrange, defuse some more, test again…and by the end of the night we had it.
Then from Amica Magazine loved our idea and images, and asked us to shoot a beauty editorial.
When you browse through the photographs, you might be surprised to know that the stage blood is beneath all the colours of glitter- gold, pink and blue and made them all look amazing.
The whole editorial with credits, here.
Since then I use fake blood for beauty projects, not just for scars and wounds. Here are a few images from a fashion editorial we did for GRAZIA Magazine. On the close up shot, at first it appears that the model is with eyes opened, but look again…
The whole editorial with credits, here.
There are no rules in makeup art, or at least there shouldn’t be. You can try and use every product or tool however it suits your vision and comfort as long as you keep everything hygienic. A lot of the iconic images in the industry were made with not just beauty products and textures or not just as where and how they were supposed to be applied. Through makeup you can express yourselves, experiment and tell stories. So, go ahead, have fun and create!
“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working” - Pablo Picasso
Here, you can find all kinds of stage blood for internal, external use, different brands, effects, etc.