Victorian hair styles - Estelle and Miss Havisham - Late 1800s

in the 1870's fringes came in fashion, the body of the hairstyle was up higher than previously in the century. 
Hair styles were much smoother at the sides and often featured adornments like bows and flowers. 

How to create a typical late 18th century style:
- Start with a centre parting (Use the mirror!)
- Section off the front section, narrowing towards the ears

- Take a horse shoe shape in to a high ponytail at the back of the head

- Take the ponytail in small section and tong, making sure to tuck the ends in
- Back comb these sections a little, use your fingers to turn in to little twists and pin down

- Ringlet the rest of the hair beneath, holding the tong horizontally at first and twisting to curl the hair vertically
- Play around with the curls and pin around the original ponytail area in a pretty manner

- With the front sections, take sections and from the bottom and tong as normal. incorporate these in to the back sections using pins

- with the two or three top sections by the parting, tong them horizontally and then brush through to create waves.

- To age the hair, you can use dry shampoo all over. 

Cuts, scratches, bruises and the perfect black eye

Black Eye

 You will need:

- Supra Colour palette or a Kryolan bruise palette

Think about:

How was the bruise created? How old is it?

Build up the bruise using tones of yellow, purple, brown and even blue.

Remember to blend seamlessly.

Wounds

You will need:

- Cinewax/Plasto

- Spirit gum

- Sealer

- Fake blood/puss/dirt

-Collodion (used for old cuts and scars)

- Tuplast can be used for gashes

- Mould the cinewax on the back of your hand to warm it up for a butter like texture

- Roll the wax in to a sausage shape

-Place it on to the skin and mould so the edges are seamless

- Cut the wax down the middle

- Use a pin to play around the gash

- Add sealer or latex on top with a cotton bud

- Cleanser and moisturiser can be used to help mould the wound

- Use a mixture of foundations, colours, blood, dirt and wound filler to add depth to the wound

Old scarring

To create the effect of an old scar:

- Apply derma shield to the skin first

- Apply Collodion to the area and then pinch the skin together to make a crease

- Dry with a hairdryer on a cool setting 

Theatrical Aging

Practical: Theatrical Aging

When you consider working for film, television and performing arts as a make up artist there are elements of special effects you will be need to know how to complete. for example..cuts, bruising, ill complexion, old age. 

Today I will be outlining my work in theatrical ageing. Theatrical ageing is an exaggerated way of making a perfumer look elderly to the extent that it could be seen from the back of an audience of theatre. This type of make up is not subtle and would not be suitable for film or television work. 

Items you will commonly need:
- Black Stipple Sponges
- Fine Orange stipple sponges
- Supra Colour Palette
- Old Age Stipple (Always patch test)
- Barrier foam (to protect the skin)
- Hair spray (Kryolan is most cost effective)

If you are using grease based products, which I did, then moisturise the skin first.

To apply theatrical ageing:
- Tie all hair off the face 
- Apply a light natural foundation base to the face including the lips, a shade lighter than you would normally go for
- Ask your model to hold facial expressions to reveal natural crease lines
- Whilst your model holds these faces, using a fine angled brush paint lines in to these creases using a mid brown or grey tone
- Gradually build these lines up
- Add some contouring to areas where the face naturally goes in i.e the cheekbones and around the eyes
- Using your thumb gently smudge these lines to give them more of a natural look
- Using your supra colour palette, mix a tiny amount of yellow in to white and brush through the eyebrows using a clean mascara wand.
Important note: white alone can often come out slightly blue on camera!
- using a mixture of red supra colour with a tiny amount of blue, stipple on to the cheeks lightly to give the impression of broken veins 
- If you want to give the impression of decay, apply some coloured tooth enamel to the teeth using a baby bud. to remove, use a baby bud dipped in mentholated spirit to wipe away. 

I am really pleased with my attempt at theatrical ageing, above. I feel like it actually looks quite convincing. However if this was intended for the theatre or a live performance, the effect would need to be further emphasised as people on the back rows would not be able to see as well and the effects would be lost. I think the eyebrows brushed with the white supra colour actually bring the whole looks together and finish it off very genuinely. I equally feel like I've mixed together a very natural tone of brown that suits my models complexion. 

How to Crepe the skin

- Apply Barrier shield to the skin to protect the skin more sensitivity or staining

- Stretch the area of skin out so it appears super smooth and wrinkle free

- whilst stretched out, apply old age stipple using a sponge making sure to stipple it on to the skin to avoid any harsh lines

- Using a hairdryer on its cool setting, move the air over the area of skin constantly moving to avoid pooling the liquid

- Allow to completely dry

- Once dried, release the skin to reveal the bunching of the skin and the allusion of wrinkles

Early Victorian Hairstyles

Practical: Early Victorian Hairstyle

During my seminar this week I tried my hand at creating two typical victorian hairstyles, one early period and one mid period. 

My intended style is like the one seen in this portrait of Miss Agnes Strickland, date unknown, featuring a mid height knot, centre parting and tight 'drop curls' on either side of the head. 

Portrait of Agnes Strickland
http://tinyurl.com/pu5973n

This is how I created the style: 

1. Begin by sectioning the hair. draw a line down the centre of the head using the nose a judgment point to create a centre parting. from the back to just behind the ear, section off and clip out of the way. Repeat on each side. 

2. Take the loose hair at the back of the head, tie into a ponytail using a hairband in a medium to ugh position. Twist the hair and coil around itself then secure with bobby pins. Use Hairspray to avoid any fly away hairs. 

3. Taking long thing sections, starting at the front of the head, curl section of hair approximately an inch wide inwards towards the face. trying to tuck the ends in to create a nice neat curl. When you have released the curl from the tong, do not separate with your fingers.

I think to improve this look and make it look more traditional, the curls needed to be tighter and more structured. On the side view you can see little pieces out of place and falling away. I also thing my curls needed to start further down nearer the ears and the hair needed to be smoother to the head at the top. I also feel that although the parting is very straight, its not central and thus makes it look a little modernised which wasn't what i was intending. 

I moved on from this to create a slightly later, mid century victorian style that incorporated a plait. The Process for this was the same, I just brushed out the curls and left my sectioning as it was. 

1. Taking all the loose hair from one side, pull it forward towards the face and plait conventionally. 

2. Holding the plait flat against the face, loop it so some of the ear can be seen and secure at the nape of the neck or incorporate in to the knot with bobby pins. 

My first attempt at this looked a bit sloppy and didn't seem to sit right when I tried to incorporate it in to the rest of the style. 

My second attempt however looked much better and seemed to look a lot more traditional than the first attempt. I had managed to rectify this by starting my plaiting further down the hair just by the ear.