Makeup for Male Model

For the male model I wasn't sure about what kind of makeup look to do. I feel like some guys that wear makeup are very confident with their makeup skills and so wear obvious makeup, like smokey eyes and a bold lip; however men in films and on red carpets tend to wear more natural looking makeup. I wasn't sure which look I wanted to do, so I found too inspiration images to look at.

GRIFFITHS, S., 2014. Eurovision 2014: The ones to watch out for [viewed 26th March 2016]. 
Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27156985

The image above is of Conchita Wurst, also known as the bearded lady, who was Austria's 2014 Eurovision Song Contest entry. She wears a long brunette wig so give herself feminine, wavy hair and she wears very feminine makeup. Conchita wears makeup in a very obvious way, with bold smokey eyes and full coverage face makeup, making her look change her from a boy to a woman. This is a very unusual look and so not many people would be able to relate to it. I think this would be a very strong statement for Mac to put out an image with a transvestite with a beard because it is so controversial; however I don't think this kind of look would work well for an advert.

Face Chart 1

I took inspiration from Conchita Wurst's look when designing my first face chart. I didn't want the face makeup to look too heavy because I still wanted there to be some masculinity showing through. I contoured the face lightly with bronzer to give him some coloured to give a healthy look and then I added some blush to give a natural flush. I wanted to add some cream highlight to the high points of the face to give him a dewy complexion as I think it looks healthy and gives more dimension to the face. I wanted to keep the eye brows natural looking, only adding a tiny bit of product to sparse areas. I want to brush them upwards to make them look more full and bushy. I wanted to brush the beard hairs well to make the beard look groomed and then fill in any sparse areas with brown eye shadow or gel to make it look like beard hairs. I want the beard to look very sharp and clean to make him look well groomed. I wanted to give him a bronzy smokey eye to give his eyes a lot of definition and drama; however I think this will look too feminine. An advert is supposed to increase sales and make the consumer want to buy the new products. The consumer is supposed to be admirable of the person in the advert and therefore want to buy the possessions that they have, as if they are selling a lifestyle; however I don't think this would have the correct effect because of the low number of people that would be interested. I also think that if I used a more natural look for my male model, it would contrast more with the female models.

MINH, N., 2010. Makeup Tips from a Pro Part 2 - Photoshoot Makeup 
Application for Men and Women [viewed 26th March 2016]. 
Available from: http://fitlifestylemag.com/2010/11/makeup-tips-from-
a-pro-part-2-photoshoot-makeup-application-for-men-and-women/

The image above shows a male with more natural makeup on. I think this is the kind of makeup male actors would wear for appearances if they wanted to look very flawless, but still like themselves. I think this kind of makeup look would be more appropriate for my male model in my collage because it will give a bigger contrast with the female models and it will also reach a larger interested audience. I think it is becoming a lot more acceptable for men to wear natural makeup to help cover imperfections and so Mac would be targeting a new and growing audience. The male in the image above looks like he is wearing foundation and concealer and it looks like it has been set with powder as it looks quite matte. His facial hair may have been accentuated with some brown eye shadow to make it look fuller; however this has been kept quite natural. The male also looks suspiciously tanned so some fake tan may have been added to the look on his face and body. I have never done a makeup look like this before so I was eager to test it out for myself!

Face Chart 2

I wanted this makeup look to be more natural as I wanted the makeup look on the male to contrast with the female makeup. I decided to make the skin quite natural looking; however I do still want to apply foundation and concealer to give a flawless complexion. I wanted to give him a very healthy and dewy look so I want to apply a thin layer of foundation mixed with an illuminator to give a natural glow. I then want to conceal any imperfections including spots and under eye bags with concealer to give a flawless finish. I next wanted to contour the face with bronzer to give him definition and warmth, followed by blush to give him a natural flush and highlighter to give him a soft glow. I didn't want to add anything too dramatic on the face because I wanted to keep it relatively natural, so I didn't want the highlight to be glittery or the bronzer to be too dark. I then wanted to fill any sparse areas in the beard to make it look full and even. I want to use either a brown eye shadow or gel with a thin brush to replicate small hairs to give a natural look. I then only want to fill in the sparse areas of the eye brows to make them look more perfected; however I didn't want to fill them in too obviously. I am excited to try this makeup look out on my chosen model! 

Practising the Makeup Look

Equipment:
-Simple face cleanser
-Cotton pads
-Clean & Clear dual action moisturiser
-L'Oreal True Match foundation in 3.W and 1.W
-NARS Illuminator in Copacabana
-Real Techniques contour brush
-Cover Girl & Olay Simply Ageless concealer in 210
-Laura Mercier translucent powder
-Real Techniques setting brush
-Style Master fluffy concealer brush
-Bourjois Bronzing Primer
-Mac Cream Colour Base in Pearl
-Accessorize Cream Blush in Rose
-Disposable mascara wand
-Illamasqua small angled brush
-Illamasqua gel eyeliner in Infinity
-Vaseline
-Mac Russian Red lipstick

Step by step:

1. Cleanse the face with cotton pads and Simple face cleanser. 

2. Moisturise and hydrate the skin with Clean & Clear dual action moisturiser.

3. Mix L'Oreal True Match foundation in 3.W and 1.W on back of hand, to create a colour to match the models skin tone. Mix in some NARS illuminater copacabana into the foundation to give it a dewy finish. 

4. Blend this all over the face with the Real Techniques contour brush. Only use minimal product and a light hand to keep it natural. 

5. I next applied, Cover Girl & Olay SimplyAgeless concealer in 210 lightly underneath the eyes and on any other inperfections.

6. I set and mattified this with Laura Mercier translocent powder and Real Technique setting brush, under the eyes and round the nose. 

7. I took a Style Master fluffy concealer brush and Bourjois bronzing primer, and put that underneath the cheek bones, around the fore head and either side of the nose to contour and bronze the face. 

8. I next dabbed MAC's cream colour base in Pearl on the high points of the face. I then went over this with the NARS illuminater in copacabana, to intensify the dewy look. 

9. I took the Accessorize cream blush in rose, and likely dabbed this on the apples of the cheeks, with my fingers. 

10. I brushed through the eyebrows and facial hair with a diposible mascara wand. 
11. I took a small angled brush by Illamasqua and Illamasqua gel eyeliner in Infinity, and drew small strokes in the sparse areas of his facial hair. 
12. I applied some Vaseline to the lips and dabbed on the tiniest amount of Mac's Russian Red lipstick to give his lips some colour. 

I am happy with how the makeup turned out; however I don't think it looks natural enough. I like that I mixed the foundation with an illuminator because it gives a natural, fresh looking finish; however I think it would look better if I used a lighter foundation or mixed moisturiser in with the foundation to give an even more natural finish. I would then need to use concealer to cover up any imperfections showing through, like spots, as I think this is his biggest problem. I applied some highlighter to the his inner corners and on his eye lids to brighten the eyes; however I think this look too obvious and almost makes his eyes look like they're watering. I applied some lip balm and a touch of red lipstick to make his lips look moisturised and luscious, which I think worked well as it looks natural. The biggest difference between the before and after photo is his facial hair. I wanted to fill in the sparse areas of his facial hair but got a bit carried away! I wanted to use a brown eye shadow and a small angled brush; however I didn't find the eye shadow pigmented enough to make it look like lots of small hairs, so I decided to use a gel. I wanted to use a brown gel and a precise angled brush, but I only had a black gel eye liner available to me at that time so I used that. I really liked how it gave me a lot of precision and how I could create very sharp and thin lines so represent facial hairs. However I obviously didn't like how dramatic the hairs looked because they were black because it made it look very fake. I may try the same effect, but with a lighter hand and a brown colour. I will make sure not to get a warm toned brown as that will make his beard look ginger. I will need to research some videos on how professional makeup artists do male makeup looks.


Research in Male Grooming and Makeup Application

PIXIWOO, 2012. Male Grooming and Make-up [viewed 26th March 2016]. 

Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7TOUg9udfc

Face Chart 3

I searched some video tutorials on makeup artists creating a very natural makeup on men and found PixiWoo's very informative. Nicola Chapman does the makeup for this video. I noticed that she shaved the model's stubble off; however I want to keep the stubble on my model's face as I think it makes him look more manly and rugged and there will be a bigger contrast in my Mac collage. I noticed that she focused a lot on grooming the face which I hadn't really considered, like trimming the eye brows and plucking the eye brows. I will definitely keep these things in mind when practising the male makeup look again. Nicola also mentions that if your model has any hairs poking out from his nose then you should trim those with either trimmers or scissors to give a cleaner finish. I had said that my model's skin looked like he was wearing makeup so I will take Nicola's suggestion of adding moisturiser into the foundation to make it more sheer and natural looking. She reminds us to never forget to apply the same foundation on the ears as you want him to look very even and you don't want the ears to look red. She used an eye brows gel on the eye brows to make sure they stay looking well groomed, which is a step I think would improve my look. Another thing I will definitely keep in mind when doing the makeup again is the application of the bronzer. I applied bronzer where I would do on a female; however she says you apply it where ever the sun would naturally hit the face, meaning the forehead, tops of the cheek bones down the nose and on the chin.

Photoshoot

Equipment:
-Simple face cleanser
-Cotton pads
-Clean & Clear dual action moisturiser
-L'Oreal True Match foundation in 3.W and 1.W
-NARS Illuminator in Copacabana
-Real Techniques contour brush
-Cover Girl & Olay Simply Ageless concealer in 210
-Laura Mercier translucent powder
-Real Techniques setting brush
-Bourjois Bronzing Primer
-Scissors
-Disposable mascara wand
-Illamasqua small angled brush
-Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Dark Brown
-Vaseline
-Mac Russian Red lipstick

Step by step:

1. Cleanse the face with cotton pads and Simple face cleanser. 

2. Moisturise and hydrate the skin, with Clean & Clear dual action moisturiser.

3. Mix L'Oreal True Match foundation in 3.W and 1.W on back of hand, to create a colour to match the models skin tone. Mix in some NARS illuminator in copacabana and Clean & Clear dual action moisturiser into the foundation to give it a dewy, sheer consistency.  

4. Blend this all over the face, ears, eye lids and down the neck with the Real Techniques contour brush. Only use minimal product and a light hand to keep it natural. 

5. I next applied Cover Girl & Olay SimplyAgeless concealer in 210 lightly underneath the eyes and on any other imperfections., just dabbing it on these areas with my finger. 

6. I lightly set and mattified this with Laura Mercier translocent powder and Real Technique setting brush, under the eyes, round the nose and in the centre of the forehead. 
7. I took the Real Techniques Contour brush and Bourjois bronzing primer and applied that where the sun would naturally hit. I applied it on the tops of the cheek bones and on the apples of the cheeks, blending it backwards. I applied it down the centre of the nose, along the top of the forehead and on the chin to give an over all bronzed look.
8. I brushed through the eyebrows and facial hair with a diposible mascara wand. 
9. I brushed the eye brow hairs upwards and trimmed any long eye brow hairs with small scissors to make them look more groomed. 
10. I took a small angled brush by Illamasqua and Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Dark Brown, and drew small strokes in the sparse areas of his facial hair to look like small hairs. I tried to make this look as natural as possible. 
10. I applied some Vaseline to the lips and dabbed on the tiniest amount of Mac's Russian Red lipstick to give his lips some colour.

I am so happy with how the makeup look came out because it looks so natural! I really didn't like how my practice makeup look turned out because it was so obvious that he was wearing lots of makeup, whereas this look just makes him look very well groomed and put together. I think the placement of the bronzer made the biggest difference to the look because here I have placed the bronzer where the sun would naturally hit you so it looks very natural; whereas before I put the bronzer where you would to contour the face which left the face looking very pale and slightly gaunt. I only had to trim the eye brows slightly as they were already well groomed; however I did have to pluck some unwanted hairs to neaten them up slightly. I didn't want to make them look too perfect as I thought this would look too feminine. I didn't add any product to the eye brows because I thought they looked full enough and I didn't want to make them look too dark. I am so happy with how the facial hair looks because it looked so natural in person and in the final image. I didn't make the lines as perfect as before and I didn't join the moustache up with the beard because I thought it looked too fake. I also didn't like how dark it looked so I used a lighter colour product to give a more soft and natural look. I am really happy with how the skin came out because it looked so natural and light. I added moisturiser in with the foundation to make it more sheer and I really noticed the difference when applying it because it was so moisturising and light. I only applied the smallest amount of concealer under the eyes to brighten his eye bags and I blended it out with my finger to make it looks as natural as possible. Over all I am really happy with the makeup look and can't wait to incorporate it into my collage!