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Kit Show and Tell: Face Atelier

Old habits die hard sometimes.  I love RCMA but it has lately been taking a back burner since I got a few Face Atelier (FA) foundations.

I rarely wear makeup personally.  I do a better job making up your face than I do my own.  When I do wear makeup I want it to look clean and natural to the point you wonder if I'm wearing anything at all.  FA - you are now the foundation I personally turn to for this.

My personal regimen for this is to wash my face with a Clarisonic, apply face lotion, shake the FA (it's silicone based with a built in primer so you need to shake it to distribute it) and apply a squirt to my face with my fingers.  It's lightweight, has no smell, no SPF, covers hyper-pigmentation, redness, tired eyes, and makes my face glow.  Put on a lip stain and mascara - I'm done in less than 5 minutes.


FA also has a pro program.  You would need to submit a minimum of 2 portfolio pictures and a published credit or L.O.R.  If you're buying for your kit, just remember the primary skin tones of your market and that you can mix and match - that's what the number system is for.  The Zero Minus, Zero Plus, and Heat I would recommend tacking on to your order as they are great for extreme highlighting/shading and for darker skin tones. Also the glass containers give you more bang for your buck.  I buy these and depot into plastic jars as I need and takes up less room in my kit.

I'm also loving it on all ages and skin tones right now (depending on the lighting/medium/event). It's not worth using on oily skin however.  I've used it on teenage models to women in their 40s.  It even covered up beard tone! I found that it's a bit too reflective with a strobe hitting the face but that was also the first time I used it on a shoot.  I now use a primer underneath and powder well.  I still use my beauty blender with it though it also works very well with brushes and fingers.

Want to buy a bottle for yourself but have no idea what color number you are?  FA has testers for $1 with about 3-5 full faces worth of foundation (depending on how much you'd use) with which you'd be able to find your perfect match in no time.  Try their lip putty too - it helps smooth your lips texture and prevent color bleeding around the edges of your lips.  Your state may also have a store that carries it.

Finished spread: Fantastics

Yay!  The vampire spread is out!  Many thanks to Shannon for calling me on this.

Face Off

In case you haven't heard, there's a new reality show coming that is about makeup and makeup artists.  Face Off  (SyFy 1/26/2011) focuses on the FX side of the business with contestants creating characters each week to make it to the finish line and win 100K

According to Michael Westmore's article "Face First" in Makeup Artist Magazine #88, "Contestants will be tested on their application abilities, knowledge of materials, and lab experience.  They will be asked to create hybrid animal species, tattoo designs, body painting designs, an aliens on a newly discovered planet, and a horrifying villain."  From there it will follow a standard talent reality format with a quick challenge to test how well artists think on their feet, presenting the main challenge with judging on construction, application, and creativity.  There will also be unexpected switches, prosthetics will have their physical merits tested, and even though it's a little bit implied - someone will possibly be in disguise for a challenge. Many of the challenges are the same thing artists would face on the job, you just have anyone with cable or internet tv watching you do it right or make a mistake.

Host:
McKenzie Westmore

Judges:
Glen Hetrick
Ve Neill
Patrick Tatopoulos


Show contestants are:
Megan Areford
Marcel Banks
Samantha Cobb
Tom Devlin
Sergio Guerra
Kayla "Jo" Holland
Gage Hubbard
Frank Ippolito
Jessica Kramer
Connor McCullagh
Anthony Pepe
Tate Steinsiek

I have to admit that a show like this has been long overdue.  The last reality show we had about our business was Blush.  It didn't focus on prosthetics and the episodes I was able to catch focused on the drama between the artists, the crazy makeup challenges (the food challenge in particular), and the obligatory product placement (even though you saw a few MUFE flash palettes and RCMA palettes).  For reasons unknown the show hasn't shot another season since it ended in 2008.

I always hoped for a running-shop-show-scenario filming the goings on of an FX shop's day ins and outs.  But the confidentiality surrounding movies, tv shows, commercials, etc it's very unlikely that there will be such a format.  The good thing about Face Off is that more people will know about our industry and may inspire to hire us or inspire people to enter this career field.  It may create unrealistic expectations about our line of work and how "fast" things can be done (think of the amazing makeup sequence for Mrs. Doubtfire).  Hard to say until it airs but I hope it does well enough for SyFy to think about doing a 2nd season.

Finished Spread: Evan Gunville

The new issue of Fantastics came out this morning from the shoot I worked on back in October.  You can check out the spread by clicking the cover below.

Character makeup

I have proof that I don't do just beauty makeup!  This past Friday I did a fashion shoot (photos coming on the 29th) incorporating some FX work and on Saturday I did a short student film doing cuts, bumps, bruises, and bullet wounds.

Both were quite fun and fulfilling for me.  The fashion shoot was probably the best mens grooming I've ever done (hard to tell in the photo but he has some lovely highlight and shadow).  The film shoot gave me the opportunity to use some prosaid transfers from BAPO FX.  In the photo I used a small cut on the nose with the rest being painted with Skin Illustrator.  I have to admit I love the transfers - the coloring was good and the edges were perfect.  It was a total treat to use them and I look forward to using them again when the opportunity arises again.

Until then, have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas from FORD RBA!