Wicked鈥檚 Green Girl, The Lion King鈥檚 Scar, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Each of these shows and their respective characters call for complex and colorful make-up. But even if your face doesn鈥檛 need to go from human to Jellicle cat, every production on Broadway鈥攁nd every performer in that production鈥攔equires make-up design.
A designer uses make-up to communicate character and create the world of the show鈥攋ust as a costume designer does with clothing. There are certain products every performer should have鈥攚hether working in a show or attending auditions鈥攁s well as best practices every designer should follow.
Here, make-up designers like Michael Ward (The Lion King), Anne Ford-Coates (Frozen), J. Jarad Janas (Jagged Little Pill), Joe Dulude II (Wicked, Beetlejuice), Sarah Cimino (Moulin Rouge!), Millagros Medina-Cerdeira (Mean Girls), and make-up supervisor Geo Brian Hennings (Tina) share their best advice, favorite products, and more to help you maintain a healthy complexion and achieve professional results with make-up.
Best Practices
To make your show look stylish and professional: 鈥淭ry not to have too many ideas and styles. Let your characters live in the design world you create. The characters鈥� make-up should look unified.鈥� 鈥擬ichael Ward, hair and make-up design for The Lion King
To ensure consistency: 鈥淎lways look at your work from the front, middle, and back of the auditorium. Everyone pays for a ticket and it's our job to make sure that our work helps the performer to communicate with the entire audience鈥攏ot just the people in the expensive seats! Look for how the make-up helps and hinders the clarity of the face and adjust accordingly.鈥� 鈥擬ichael Ward
To avoid overdoing it: 鈥淧roper dressing room light is a huge help to everyone. Clean white light makes it easy to apply make-up; old, yellow dressing room lighting leads to poorly applied makeup. If your dressing rooms are poorly lit, invest in long-lasting LED bulbs.鈥� 鈥擜nne Ford-Coates, make-up designer for Frozen
To achieve superior design: 鈥淯nderstand the actor, their needs, and their face. Character comes second to the actor.鈥� 鈥�J. Jared Janas, make-up designer for Jagged Little Pill
Know your story: 鈥淜now the script, the music, the period, the production concept, the cast and the dramaturgy. You can鈥檛 create a world and tell a story and until you know all these things. Without this knowledge, you鈥檙e just decorating.鈥� 鈥擜nne Ford-Coates
Collaborate: 鈥淪tep one in the make-up design is talking with the costume designer to find out all you need to know about the show鈥攃oncept, specialty makeup, theme, look, etc.鈥� 鈥擩oe Dulude II, make-up designer for Beetlejuice and Wicked
Practice: 鈥淵ouTube is a great resource for discovering new techniques and products, but watching other people do make-up will only take you so far. You have to practice as much as you can鈥攐n as many different faces and skin tones as you can鈥攖o really develop a confident hand and solid technique.鈥� 鈥擲arah Cimino, make-up designer for Moulin Rouge!
Tips and Tricks for Designers
To fix quick: 鈥淔alse lashes, which can be purchased at any drugstore or beauty supply and amplifies any character鈥檚 look with ease.鈥� 鈥擬illagros Medina-Cerdeira, make-up designer for Mean Girls
To make your makeup go farther: 鈥淎fter applying blush to the cheeks, run your blush brush over your entire eyelid. No need to add extra blush to the brush to do this. Just connect your eyes to your cheeks. The transformation is pretty amazing.鈥� 鈥擩. Jared Janas
To avoid looking sweaty: 鈥淪himmery makeup can make you look very sweaty on stage or on camera. I can鈥檛 wait for this trend to stop.鈥� 鈥擩. Jared Janas
To age: 鈥淚f you don't have the budget or recourses for prosthetics, highlighting and contouring is a great technique that allows you to change the face and to trick the eye into seeing a performer鈥檚 features differently from how they naturally appear.鈥� 鈥擲arah Cimino
To achieve special effects: 鈥淪imple blood and gore effects can be done quite well on a budget. Quick latex-based special effects, like the old trick of building scars and scrapes with tissue, look fantastically real with a little practice and are super cheap! You can also make your own stage blood with pantry staples that are cheap and deliver buckets of gore. There are plenty of recipes and tutorials online. But please always be sure to work safely. Talk to your actors about food and/or latex allergies. And, of course, stain test any homemade blood before you dump it on the costumes!鈥� 鈥擜nne Ford-Coates
Tips and Tricks for Performers
To look glam fast: 鈥淚f you want to look your best for an audition but don鈥檛 have a lot of time: Do a light layer of foundation and powder. Be generous with your mascara. (Sometimes a good application of mascara can make it look like you have a full eye make-up on.) Add a little color to the cheeks with either blush or bronzer. Put on a neutral lipstick that gives your lips just a hint of color. Lip stains are perfect for this. For guys, a good foundation and powder is all you need.鈥� 鈥擩oe Dulude II
To keep your skin healthy: 鈥�Dehydrated skin doesn鈥檛 take or hold make-up well. Actors need plenty of drinking water during rehearsals and performances to keep their skin hydrated. Also, don鈥檛 try to save money by sharing make-up. Always keep make-up and brushes sanitary.鈥� 鈥擜nne Ford-Coates
x2: 鈥淲hen showering, don鈥檛 let the water from the shower hit your face directly. This is especially important for actors on tours. The water is different in different cities. Sometimes it can contain minerals that could cause break outs. Apply your face wash, then take a damp face cloth, wring it out and wipe the cleanser away with that.鈥� 鈥擩oe Dulude II
To save money: 鈥淓ach performer should have an eyeliner that can serve as both an eyeliner and an eyebrow pencil. You must be able to see eyebrows, and an eyeliner helps wake up the face.鈥� 鈥擩. Jared Janas
Equip yourself
鈥淓very performer should have a basic kit of brushes which includes: powder, fan/contour, flat brush for eyelid, a pencil or small tapered brush for the crease, two angled brushes鈥攐ne for the eyebrow and one for eyeliner鈥攁nd a blush brush (not too large).鈥� 鈥擩oe Dulude II
鈥淓very performer should have a concealer that really matches their skin. Darkness around the eyes makes it hard to see expression and can add a decade from a distance.鈥� 鈥擜nne Ford-Coates
鈥淎 natural sponge and/or a stipple sponge is a must-have for dabbing (or marking with dots) make-up color to enhance shading and especially highlight. It鈥檚 a technique that can really help and it鈥檚 fast. It works with almost every type of makeup. You only need a tiny bit!鈥� 鈥擬ichael Ward
鈥淭he single most important item for any individual performer is a basic cream highlight and contour kit. The face tends to go flat under the lights. Having this enables a performer to define, enhance, and sculpt their face. It allows them to manipulate their facial structure and age as needed for the character, and can be used on other body parts.鈥� 鈥擬illagros Medina-Cerdeira
Best Products
鈥�Some great skincare lines that are good and won鈥檛 empty your wallet are Kiehl鈥檚 and Mario Badescu. If you want something a little bit more expensive but all natural and will last you a long time, check out B3 Balm.鈥� 鈥擩oe Dulude II
鈥淯se a primer before applying makeup and a fixer for after your makeup is done. Skindinavia has both of these. They also make an amazing makeup remover spray that, when sprayed on and wiped off with a make-up wipe, will remove your make-up quickly.鈥� 鈥擩oe Dulude II
鈥淕et a good eyeshadow palette containing four colors. For lighter skin tones: a light highlight, a medium brown, a dark brown, and a black. If you have darker skin, get a highlight (usually in a peach or mango color), two shades of brown (go for warmer shades rather than cooler ones鈥攖hose will tend to turn ashy), and a black. If you have these, you will be able to do almost any make-up plot given to you.鈥� 鈥擩oe Dulude II
鈥淏urt鈥檚 Bees Tinted Lip Shimmer and Nars Orgasm Blush. These two items can change your face in seconds and work on almost any skin tone.鈥� 鈥擩. Jared Janas
鈥淚 cannot live without my Beautyblender. This is a fast and efficient way to make sure your foundation is blended, and you don鈥檛 go through so much of it each time.鈥� 鈥擥eo Brian Hennings, hair and make-up supervisor at Tina
