Makeup Inspiration for Editorial Shoot

When I was first designing this editorial shoot I thought I wanted the makeup to represent a strong and confident women that isn't afraid to look different from everyone else, so I was going to do a dramatic makeup look, possibly using unique colours. However because this is an editorial I didn't want to limit myself with a semi-wearable makeup look so I decided to do something more abstract. The message of my editorial is to not let what other people think or say stop you from being who you want to be. I am going to include a hand trying to grab and possible suffocate the model into conforming with society, but then I want my model to show herself taking control of this. I therefore decided to look into war paint. I want the war paint to represent all the women and men around the world who are fighting against discrimination against people who look different. I didn't want my model to be wearing the khaki camouflage print on the face because I thought it was too obvious and cliche, so I thought Indonesian tribal makeup would be more fun and striking. 

Traditional Indonesian Tribal Makeup

The images below of traditional tribal makeup are from Papua New Guinea, which is part of Indonesia. They are all images from the Goroka show, held once a year, which is one of the most well-known tribal gatherings and cultural events in Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea is one of the most diverse countries culturally on earth so there are many different tribes and hundreds of different languages. The show gives each tribe a chance to show off their music, dance, culture and tribal rituals. 

Each tribe has a different way of doing makeup; however they all use bright colours and thick paints. The most popular colours seem to be red, yellow and white as these are the most used colours which may be because red and yellow are in their flag. The tribal makeup isn't particularly flattering as it is not used to show beauty, but to just represent their tribe. The makeup isn't neatly done and the product they use looks very thick and cracks when they move. Sometimes the makeup is applied all over the face, so a colour is put all over the face and then patterns in different colours are painted on top; whereas sometimes the skin is left bare and then coloured patterns are drawn on top. I don't think I will apply the coloured makeup all over the face because I think it takes too much of the human aspect away and I still want my model to have some beauty about her. The makeup always seems to be even on both sides so I will need to keep my design symmetrical. The shapes drawn on the face look quite random and not very neat; however I want to keep my design looking relatively neat to make the model look very in control and polished. All the makeup looks have a very small colour scheme which I like because some designs are very complicated so keeping the colour scheme small keeps it from looking messy. 

Many tribes included head pieces with feathers from birds such as pigeons, parrots and other exotic birds. Many people from the tribes wear shells round their neck as a sign of prosperity as shells were traditionally used in exchange for money. 

1
WILLAERT, R., 2011. Tribal face paints in Papua New Guinea [viewed 3rd April 2016]. 
Available from: http://triggerpit.com/2011/06/12/tribal-face-paints-papua-new-guinea-37-pics/

2
WILLAERT, R., 2011. Tribal face paints in Papua New Guinea [viewed 3rd April 2016]. 

Available from: http://triggerpit.com/2011/06/12/tribal-face-paints-papua-new-guinea-37-pics/

3
WILLAERT, R., 2011. Tribal face paints in Papua New Guinea [viewed 3rd April 2016]. 

Available from: http://triggerpit.com/2011/06/12/tribal-face-paints-papua-new-guinea-37-pics/

4
NELSON, J. Goroka [viewed 3rd April 2016]. 
Available from: http://www.beforethey.com/tribe/goroka

Contemporary Tribal Makeup Inspiration

5
WORLUFODAY. Alien Makeup [viewed 3rd April 2016]. 
Available from: http://www.worldufoday.com/alien-makeup/

I was inspired by this beautiful, yet striking makeup look because I could see the tribal influences, like the symmetrical shapes and shell necklace; however the blending in-between the shapes make it look more current. The blending of colour in-between the shapes almost makes them look three-dimensional, as if they are coming off the skin, which makes the makeup look more artistic. I love the colour scheme because it could represent the orange/brown of the dessert sand and the blue water they dream of having. I like that the shapes have been outlined with black or the brown because it makes them look sharper and more defined, giving a more polished look. I like that the bright white contrasts against the darker browns and blacks because it makes everything more dramatic and stand out. I like how all the shapes around the eyes create a sexy, elongated look because they are so drawn out, almost like exaggerated wing liners. I like that the white line down the nose and the white curves on either side act as a dramatic nose contour to balance out the cheek contour because it gives a strong and fierce look. I also like that the eyes have been kept very dark, possibly to show the determination and strength through her eyes. I like that the tribal themed makeup have only been kept on the top half of her face, even though most tribal makeup covers the whole face, because it is so detailed so I think it would look messy over the whole face. I will consider this when designing my own makeup looks. 

6
LOLS.ME. Halloween Makeup For Pretty Girls [viewed 3rd April 2016]. 
Available from: http://lols.me/halloween-makeup-for-pretty-girls_438.html

I love the use of feathers in this look to create a feather crown over the face. The Papua New Guinea tribe wear many feathers covering their head accessories using bright red and yellow feathers from exotic birds. I wanted to reflect this Indonesian culture in my makeup look and I was inspired to make my own feather head piece using similar bright feathers. I like that this feather crown is shaped round the eyes because it opens up the eyes and makes them look bigger. The feathers in the feather crown point outwards at the sides which is flattering as it elongates the face; however I think I would want my feather to go straight upwards because I want it to look more traditional and tribal. I like that the colours in the peacock feathers have been reflected in the colours in the makeup look because it keeps the colour scheme small and ties everything in. This makeup has been kept only on the upper half of the face again as I think it would have looked over done if the whole face was covered.

7

CATIE CREATIONS, 2015. Fantasy Warrior/Princess Makeup Tutorial [viewed 3rd April 2016]. 
Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TjX9eLQJ9I

I found this gorgeous look on YouTube and it included the exact colour scheme I wanted to include! I loved how the red faded into the yellow so seamlessly down the face because I wanted to use the Indonesian colour scheme however I didn't necessarily want to use only block colours. I like that there is a harsh line where the red stops because it looks very strong against the soft ombre effect to reflect the sharp edges of the shapes in the traditional tribal makeup. I like that the red to yellow colour scheme could represent the sun set, as it reflects the warm setting of the Indonesian desert. Some say that the sun setting is nature's way of reminding humanity about the forces of good and evil which could reflect the forces people can use on each other in a positive and negative way. I like the white details over the face in either dot shapes or triangles because it brightens up the look and gives it a more fun and playful feel; all these shapes are common of the traditional tribe makeup. I also like that the makeup has been taken down onto the chest because it doesn't look as much of a mask as if the makeup stopped below the neck.


Face Charts
When I was creating my face charts I tried to combine as many aspect from each research image as possible to create a unique and striking makeup look. I knew I didn't want to make the hair design anything dramatic so I wanted the makeup look to be the main focus, as it is a Mac editorial shoot after all!

Face Chart 1

I first created this face chart without including any feathers. I took most of my inspiration from the first contemporary makeup look because I liked how the shapes drawn round her face also acted as harsh contour lines, which I thought was really flattering. I therefore decided to draw a thin line down the middle of the nose and lines under both eyes with a point running along each side of the nose because they would act as highlighted areas. I decided to use white paint for this as it would bring those areas forward and then I decided to shade either side of the white line going down the nose to act as a nose contour; however I decided to make it very dramatic by using black. I then decided to continue the line from the nose over the lips as this was common of Indonesian tribal makeup. However I didn't think this would be very flattering as it would elongate the nose and make the lips look smaller. I like that I decided to blend with a red colour underneath the lines under the eyes and on either side of the lip stripe because it introduced another colour and I liked how it would make the shapes look almost three-dimensional. I didn't like how all the detail was in the middle of the face so I decided to also blend this red colour around her forehead and blend it into a yellow; the YouTube video makeup look inspired me to do this. I felt this would add warmth to the makeup look and it would reflect that the Indonesian tribes used to paint colour all over their faces. I added dark blue dots along any of the white areas as dots are traditionally very popular tribal makeup; however I felt they made the look too messy and fussy and I didn't like how random the blue colour was. I only used the blue colour because I thought it would contrast with the red and because it represented royalty; however I don't think the colour or the pattern complement the look.

Face Chart 2

I felt the previous makeup looks were slightly dark so I wanted to use the bright colour scheme that was popular with the Papua New Guinea tribes of yellow, red and black. I decided to experiment with feathers again but I wanted to fan then out slightly more and spread them further out across the eye brows to look more like the Indonesian headdresses. I decided to experiment with using brown colours instead of black because I didn't want the makeup to look so dark; however I think this face chart looks too much like an Indian makeup look as these colours are associated with Indian tribes. I like the simplicity of using a solid line down the nose and the same solid red colour on the lips because it looked tribe-like but also sophisticated in a way because there were no fussy dots or complicated colours. I decided to add yellow under the eyes because I felt it would brighten the eyes and then I added some brown elongated triangles under neath. I added these because I wanted them to reflect the feathers to balance out the weight on the face as I didn't want the lower part of the face to look empty. I was inspired to do this by image 6 because the creasing in her makeup almost looked like feathers and I liked how they framed the eyes. These brown spikes also almost look like eye exaggerated eye lashes, which are a predicted 2016 spring/summer trend, that would help open up the eyes. 

Face Chart 3

This was one of my favourite looks I created on my face charts. I was again inspired by the first contemporary makeup look I researched with the curved lines under the eyes coming in and shaping the sides of the nose because I thought it was flattering and it also reflected the British army stripes on the cheeks which I thought was fun, especially as the editorial is about going to war with people who discriminate. I wanted to give my model a matte red lip because it is a popular predicted 2016 spring/summer trend and it could represent how blood thirsty makeup lovers are for the freedom to express without the judgment of society. I wanted to continue the stripe theme by taking it down the centre of the lips in the same black and yellow colours. I decided on black for the stripes because it is a very strong and powerful colour and I was inspired by image 4 with the black shape and gold outline because I hadn't seen it before and it looked dramatic against the other bright colours on his face. I chose to do a line of dots underneath the lines because they are a very popular within tribal makeup, as seen in image 2 and 4, and they add a fun detail to the look. I was inspired to add feathers to my look initially by image 3 because bright red feathers were included in his headdress. I liked the change of texture and I wanted to include another traditional aspect to my look. I was then inspired to include this in my makeup look by contemporary image 6 because she stuck feather onto the face along the eye brows which I thought looked really striking. I wanted to stick with the yellow, red and black colour scheme, as seen in the Indonesian makeup looks above, so I chose to use these coloured feathers. I positioned them coming out from the centre of the eye brows, fanning out as I thought it would complement the fanning out of the eye lashes and it would give a pretty, feminine peacock look. I then decided to add shells in the middle of the feather to cover the joining of the feathers but also because shells were a sign of prosperity and I wanted my model to look very powerful and wealthy. I am concerned that the feathers may look too condensed into the middle and too low down, not giving a very flattering look, so I may spread them out further next time. 

I thought this face chart was going to be my chosen design until I tested it out! I didn't put any makeup on underneath the makeup design because I just wanted to quickly test it out to see if it would work and I wasn't happy with how it turned out at all! I used supra colour which had a very wet formula so it was difficult to make the colours meet without blending them together so if I did like this design and wanted to improve it I would use either eye liner of aqua colour as they dry so wouldn't mix as easily. I think that the black is far too dark and harsh and the black square coming out of the mouth looks like a tong. I don't like that there is not much definition around the eyes because they seem to disappear amongst the strong colours of the feathers and black face paint. I also don't like how low the feather headdress comes because it covers the eyes slightly, almost making her look timid which is not the look I'm going for. I think this makeup look would be accurate of what they would wear; however I don't like how it looks for a photoshoot. I think this makeup look looks sloppy and messy and I think I will need to come up with a makeup look that is more artistic and fashion suitable. The bottom line is, I don't think this makeup look would be suitable to represent Mac cosmetics. 

Face Chart 4 (Chosen Face Chart)

This is my chosen design. I was mainly inspired by the YouTube video I saw because I loved the beautiful ombre effect created down her face with the warm sunset colours of red to yellow. I really like that the colour scheme I wanted to use was included in this video as it made it easier for me to visualise what I wanted to create. I really liked how there was a straight line at the top of the design so I wanted to incorporate that; however I chose to do that by adding a feather crown. After experimenting with my feather crown in my previous makeup test I found that it was difficult to get a straight line just using feathers so I decided to attach a piece of black material along the bottom of the feathers to hide any feather stems, hold them together and create a neat straight line. I decided I want the feathers in this design to all face upwards because I wanted them to be closer to the traditional feather crowns that the Indonesian tribes wear, which went straight upwards and not out on an angle. I didn't think the eyes stood out enough in my previous makeup test so I will add dramatic fake eye lashes on the top lash line to make the eyes look more bold. I didn't want to add any winged eye liners or a smokey eye because I still wanted to keep it looking very tribe-inspired. I really liked how the girl in the YouTube video added white details of dots and triangles all round the face because it gave a pretty, feminine look; however I wanted to make mine stand out more so I added black to all my patterns. She added lots of patterns all over her face which I think look good on her; however because I am also adding a headdress I thought it would look too fussy and messy if I had that much going on so I decided to only add a couple of the white shapes. I was inspired to include shapes that were lines going down by image 1 from the stripes on his chin because I didn't want to add lots of fussy dots or any shapes that were too big, because of the last makeup look I tried. I am so happy with how this face chart turned out and I can't want to practice it!


Resources:

WILLAERT, R., 2011. Tribal face paints in Papua New Guinea [viewed 3rd April 2016]. 

Available from: http://triggerpit.com/2011/06/12/tribal-face-paints-papua-new-guinea-37-pics/

BRENN, M., 2016. What does the sunset symbolize? [viewed 3rd April 2016]. Available from: http://www.ask.com/world-view/sunset-symbolize-e922ead913f467e7