Comparing My Final Design with the Makeup in Elizabeth: The Golden Age

The film, Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), was visually beautiful. 34 people made up the make-up department and 58 people made up the costume department and you can see why! Cate Blanchett, who played Elizabeth I, had many outfit changes, but the makeup always stayed roughly the same, just more or less dramatic. Here I will compare my final makeup design with the makeup looks from the film.

My Modern Elizabethan Makeup Design.

Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age.
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These makeup designs look very different, but you can see that I have taken inspiration from the Elizabethan makeup and given it a modern twist. The rosy lip colour is very similar in both makeup looks, but hers is slightly darker, more defined and glossier. I kept the skin around the eyes very white and smooth, just like Cate Blanchett's makeup in the film, but I gave the rest of the face more texture to show what I think the makeup would have actually looked like in person. In both makeup looks the eyebrows have not been blocked out, but just lightened in colour. She may have had her eyebrows bleached or they could have been naturally fair, but my eyebrows are very dark naturally, so I coated mine in white super colour. We both have very bare eyes, with no definition of colour added. Her eyelashes don't look as white as mine because they may have been her natural eyelashes or bleached; but I had to coat mine in white super colour because they were so dark, giving a much more dramatic look. Cate looks like she has got a strong contour in this image but that is just down to the lighting, not the makeup. She has a soft rosy coloured blush on the apples of her cheeks. I have used roughly the same colour, but have just positioned it differently. It was very popular to have a big forehead in the Elizabethan era, however I decided to contour my forehead because in today's society a lot of women contour their foreheads to make them look smaller. My look is a lot more dramatic and abstract than the makeup used in the film, but, as you can see, I have taken much of my inspiration from the Elizabethan era.

My Partner's Design

My partner, Charlotte, gave me a face chart of what she wanted the makeup to look like and we worked through creating the look together. She wanted the eyebrows to be blocked out, but unfortunately we did not have the right materials to do this, so we just added white super colour to them instead. Below is how we created the look.

Step by step:

1. I first mixed some foundation with some white skin base to get the right foundation shade. I then mixed some concealers together to get a light and brightening shade and put it under the eyes.
2. I next powdered the face with some translucent powder to set the base and get rid of any shine.
3. I contoured the cheekbones, sides of the forehead, under the chin and also down both sides of the nose with a light contour shade.

4. I put some eyelid primer, Urban Decay Primer Potion, on the eyelids and powdered them well.
5. I put some white eyeshadow, fennel, to the lids and blended it out with a light taupe, white pepper.
6. I next added some grey, caraway, into the crease and blended it up very close to the eyebrows.
7. I added some black eyeshadow, black pepper, to the crease and under the lash line to smoke the look out.
8. I deepened the black with the Urban Decay colour, creep, and took it up high up to the brows and under the lash line.

 9. I added a coat of black mascara to the top and bottom eyelashes.

10. I brushed some white super colour through her eyebrows to lighten them up and give them more of a blocked out effect.

11. I next applied a red lip using the red lip mix by Mac.

12. I finally added some jewels onto the centre of the lips with some eyelash glue.

The Final Look

My partner was happy with how the design came out and she said that this is how she envisioned it to look. It was a shame that we didn't get to block out her eyebrows, but I will make sure we do next time. I am happy with how blended the eyeshadow looks and I like the shape. I found it difficult to get right up to the lash line to cover up her fair eyelashes without getting mascara on the eyelid, but when I did I just wiped it off with a cotton bud. I personally think the look needs more of a contour or more colour of her cheeks because I think her face looks a bit flat. I did mention this to my partner, but she liked it how it was. I think I need to practice getting the outline of the red lip even and sharp because they look a bit wonky in these images. My partner said that she thought the red jewels looked too big, which I agree with, so she will look into getting some smaller ones. 

Thickness of Flour and Water Mixture

Below is an image and a video showing how thick I want the flour and water mixture to be.

My Partner Trying Out My Design

Attempt 1

This was my partner's, Charlotte Coles, try attempt at doing my makeup design and I am really happy with the results! She followed my instructions really well and when I asked her to change something, she would instantly. 

We were talking through the look in detail so she did not complete this look in 1hr 10 (time limit), however I think that this could be sped up if she was more confident with what she was doing. I love the cracking around the lips and chin because there is so much red colour showing through and there are so many tiny cracks. I prefer the cracking around the lips,  to the cracking on the forehead and cheeks because they haven't got as many visible cracks so it just looks like a thick paste has been applied. To create these cracks on the forehead and cheeks I will need to full different facial expressions to help crack the mixture more to avoid this happening again. I also don't think that the eyebrows are textured or white enough, so I will as Charlotte to add some translucent powder in layers with the white super colour to build up the colour and to make the eyebrows look more chunky and powdery. Charlotte noticed that she kept having to go in and touch up the eyebrows because she kept brushing them with doing other parts of the face, so she made a note to remember to keep checking and adjusting them. We noticed, when doing the lips, that she had applied the mixture over the lips, so next time she will try and avoid doing this. I will inform Charlotte and make sure that she makes these changes next time the makeup is applied.

Attempt 2

I am even happier with how Charlotte's second attempt came out! The fact that I pulled different facial expression really helped the mixture crack all over the face, and not just around the lips. We noticed that the white on top of the flour and water mixture was not white enough, so she added white super colour to any areas where she thought needed a bit of extra coverage. We noticed that the makeup under the chin stopped with quite a sharp line and I thought that it would look a lot better if it was blended out further down the neck. I have therefore let my partner know that I would like her to thin the product out as it goes down the neck. My partner did get some of the flour and water mixture on my lips, which I told her previously that I did not want, so she will try not to let that happen in the timed assessment. Charlotte felt very confident with this makeup look and feels prepared for the assessment. 

My Final Design: Step by Step

I wanted to create step by step instructions for my partner to follow in order to achieve my look exactly how I want it. I worked through this look with her so that I could explain every step and so that she could ask any questions if she was unsure of what to do. I took photos of my face along the way so that she can also have visual help.

Step by Step:

1. Apply an even layer of the red super colour all over the face, apart from where the white makeup will go around the eyes.
2. Powder all over the red super colour with the red powder blush from the blush palette.

3. Apply about 3 layers of the flour and water mixture all over the red base and take it down the neck. (Make sure that the layer is as even as possible, also make sure the mixture is blended over the red base to blend in with the clean skin.)

4. Whilst the mixture is drying, apply a thin, even layer of white skin base all around the eyes and where there is bare skin. (Leave a slight gap around the edges so that the red does not blend with the white.)

5. Take the white skin base all the way up to the lower lash line so no skin is showing through. Use a disposable mascara wand to brush white super colour through the eyebrows. Make sure you brush the eyebrows towards the middle and slightly upwards to give a very textured look. Coat the eyelashes in the white super colour.

6. Once the flour and water mixture has fully dried, apply a layer of white skin base all over the mixture, making sure to apply it on the neck and blend it out onto the chest. Apply white skin base all over and around the ears to blend them with the rest of the look. Use a big brush to do this to avoid getting too much white product in the cracks because you still want the red to be showing through. (Use a blow dryer to speed up the drying process if needed.)

7. Apply a second layer of white skin base to give a whiter finish and blend into the hair line and down the neck.

8. Contour the face with a mixture of the two pink colours in the blush palette. Contour under the cheekbones, either side of the forehead, under the chin and shade down either sides of the nose and blend into the bottom of the eyebrows. Apply this same powder colour to the lips. (Make sure all the contouring is of the same intensity.)

This is the final look!

Layering with Flour and Water

I was really happy with how the flour and water mixture tried quickly on the face and how much I liked the effect it gave! It worked really well when it was on clean skin so I needed to test it out and see if it worked when layered with the red base colour.

I first applied the red super colour onto the face, then I powdered the skin with a red powder. I then layered the mixture of water and flour all over the face until it was at the thickness that I wanted. After the layer dried, I lightly brushed over the mixture with some white skin base to give it a very white look.

I am so happy and excited by the results! They are exactly what I as hoping for! The skin looks thick and white and it is cracked all over which is how I wanted it to look. The red super colour is showing through the cracks, making it looks very painful looking and sore. I wanted this to look like what I think the Elizabethan makeup would have looked like in real life, as opposed to how Elizabeth tried to portray her makeup to look like. I am really happy with these results and I will be using this technique in my final design.

Mixing Flour and Water

I have been concerned with the amount of time the fullers earth has been taking to dry and do not think this would work with the limited time that we have in assessment; I therefore thought that I'd try using a different material to create a similar effect. I thought that mixing flour and water would work because it would dry on the face and crack and it is also white which makes it so much easier!

Mixture just applied to the face, still wet.

Mixture drying on face.

Dry mixture with layer of white skin base.

I am really happy with the thick, glopey and cracking texture that is created when I let the flour and water dry and then added the white skin base over the top. I especially love the area around the chin because more cracks have formed and the mixture looks a lot thicker. This mixture didn't take as long as the fullers earth to dry which is great because there will be more time to complete the look in the time given. I also think I prefer the outcome of this rather than the fullers earth because the fullers earth looks more like snake skin, whereas this looks more like bumpy skin. I am really happy with how this has turned out and am excited to see what it looks like when I add the red layer underneath!