My job can be a heap of fun, in fact, I often feel a bit of a fraud when I say it’s my job. After all how many people are lucky enough to make their living out of their passion? Not that many I would imagine. I thought I would take a few minutes out of my schedule to say how much I loved working with two very young clients at our Dressing Service recently. The basic brief was to help develop a more dramatic look yet at the same time not go to over the top. As an experiment, we carried out the traditional eye-brow blocking technique on one eye and a face-tape lift on the other just to show/is the difference. For those interested that comprised of:
Face-Tape lifting
I used one set of the Art Harding lifts applying them to just above the natural eyebrow and along the opposite jaw-line. I strongly favour this technique mainly because it’s quick and if carried out correctly really opens the eyes up and makes a major difference. We do have a video on this technique if you require some in-depth/visual explanation on how to carry it out.
Eye-Brow Blocking
Whilst this is a widely practised technique I really don’t like it – The main reason is no matter how good you are at it the finish always cracks and you end up apply quite a bit of glitter to mask this effect. However, if you take your time you can get an acceptable finish. Over the years I have tried almost all the possible combinations of products. The best by far is using cine-wax to hold the hairs down followed by sealing with HD Pro Gum
I have always found that to establish a more dramatic look one needs to apply pigmented or iridescent eyeshadow shades as they truly pop. A little word of caution they can be a little random when applying them and make sure you have used an eyeshadow primer beforehand to ensure they stick well. I was asked if I had to select a single eye product what would it be? That’s simple it is Glamour Sparks, Noble I just LOVE IT! It is a VERY fine glitter that goes on perfectly every time and has got me out of trouble so often. There were a couple of other techniques we worked on notably:
Eyelash Stacking
So many Drag Queens have fantastic, detailed and sassy eyes. One of the things to try and do is to stack the eyelashes so effectively you are wearing two sets one on top of the other. You have to take your time I always do it in position. Firstly I apply the lower/long set as close to the inside of the eye as possible. The second set is set on top of the first but as far to the outside of the eye as possible. I always select a more sweeping set for the outer part of the eye if possible. Once in position apply as many coats of mascara as possible to blend everything together. I prefer to use Amazing Shine numbers 38 and 47 to get the right look.
As you can see from the two photographs we have here both the girls look striking without being too over the top. I was a great afternoon of swooping tips and tricks. We have such a great mixture of clients at our Dressing Service literally from 18 to 88 (the oldest to date), everyone one has individual qualities and as the saying goes you are never too old to realise your dreams. A Dressing Service is a good place to visit for many reasons. It should be a place that you can discover which styles of wigs are best suited to your face shape and the look you are trying to achieve, Working with the make-up artist you should be able to arrive at a look that you will be comfortable with and often amazed by. Our one piece of advice is ALWAYS to ask around and see if you can get advise/comments from people who have visited the service to get their honest opinions after all it is your day and you want it to be as special as possible.
