Gore Galore!

Halloween looming has me thinking about gruesome gore.

I honestly don't know how I would do my job without one very specific makeup product: 3rd Degree. Its not glamorous or gorgeous but it is indispensable. Two jars are filled with different components of a silicone material that, when mixed together, gives a couple of minutes of working time before it sets up. You can apply it directly to skin to sculpt a wound, wart or whatever. Or you can put it in a mold to create a quick prosthetic appliance.

Want a scar like Frankenstein? Just mix equal parts of jars A and B with a small spatula and sculpt it onto the skin until it looks like what you want it to look like. Once its dry, powder it and then color it up with whatever color best suits your Franken-hue. Going as Phantom? Smear it on to half of your face with a spatula as you would cake batter, let it dry and then powder it with blush. Almost instant burn! Need a gash? Apply the 3rd degree as you would for a scar and then slice it open with your spatula or sculpting tool. Fill the gash with some fresh scab and some liquid blood and you are ready to gross out small children!

Which reminds me: there are also a plethora of different blood colors and textures out there on the market. There are bright red liquid bloods which are great on the show when we want the blood to look fresh and vibrant in a shadowy set. Dark liquid blood is great for a slightly less cartoony look, especially if the light on set is bright or our SVU victim is slightly less fresh. There is also a great great product from K.D. called Drying Blood Jelly that goes on and drips like liquid blood but then dries to that crusty, crackly dark brown red. There are eye bloods and mouth bloods and the gooeyest of all are the thick gel bloods called scab blood. The brighter one is great for adding texture to fresh wounds and a darker version can be applied and then powdered over with a brownish powder to give that "healed scab" look. Gross!

Alcone Cosmetics in NYC and Frends Beauty Supply in Lala have all the above and more to add gore to your holiday. Happy tricks and treats!

Halloween!

In this gloomy October weather, I feel the impending specter of Halloween. People constantly say "You must be so popular on Halloween" or ask "is Halloween your favorite holiday?". It has me thinking how much my job is like Halloween every day. (BTW, people find me more useful at weddings and children's birthday parties and my favorite holiday is my birthday.)
Every day that I work I see people in weird costumes eating candy (from the craft service snack table). Some days I come in and do beauty makeups, corpses in various states of disrepair, tattoos and bruises, a clown and a mime.

But in the spirit of Halloween, I wanted to give out treats of tips! Want to look like Marie Antoinette but can't figure out how to get the paleness/mole right? Thinking of going as Heidi Montag post-op and need some believeable bruising? Need a horrible looking wound and don't know how to make it look gory in 3-D? Send me your ideas/questions and we can come up with fabulous creative ideas together!