I'm, too sexy for my latex...

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Hey hey!

I ordered some more sfx (special effects) makeup stuff last week and this weekend they finally came. I got some gelatine mould and liquid latex which I've been meaning to get for ages now. I've been enjoying doing the looks I've done a lot but I thought it was about time I got a little more crazy with it (yes, believe it or not, it can).

What with the constant whisperings of how good the latest Walking Dead series is (really must watch), the arrival of my new liquid latex and the impending expiration of my white-out contact lenses, I decided this weekend would be the perfect time to create my first zombie! (As per usual, if you're a scaredy cat, perhaps you should quit reading/scrolling now)...

I started this pretty late on Sunday evening and had no real plan of how I wanted it to go or even end up looking besides "gut-wrenchingly gruesome" so it was a bit of trial and error. I made sure my face was super clean and then, to be honest, just slapped on the liquid latex sporadically around my face. It dries pretty quickly if you apply thin layers so I blotted it with my finger tips to give that mottled, textured skin effect. The great thing with this stuff is you can peel away at it and layer it up as much as you want - if you're anything like me and loved picking dried PVA glue off of your fingers back in art class at school, you'd find great pleasure in this...

After I was happy with the textures and torn gashed effects I flicked on some white Grimas face powder (also new and great) and then used a light grey/brown eyeshadow in what was to be the crevices (yum!) to add some depth and make it look like there were holes and tears in my skin. I used my white eyeliner all around my lash line and into my waterline and then used the same dark shadow in the natural hollows of my eyes and up to my brow bone. I went over this with black paint, staying away from the lash line.

I then mixed a deep brown red colour and added this to the what would be the deepest crevices to really add dimension and give the illusion that my skin was mouldy and peeling off. I added some more of this colour around my hairline, cheekbones and over my brows with a sponge to make it look more natural (well, you know what I mean, natural for a zombie!). I added crease lines in the bridge of my nose between my eyes and above to give a snarly look.

I finished this off by adding deep red face paint and then fake blood, concentrating on the mouth area, common in zombies as if they have been feasting on flesh, obviously... I pressed this right into the peeled parts of latex to make it look even more like my skin was torn, picking at it all the time. I completed the look with my white-out contacts and skipped off downstairs to share with my gorgeous loving family...Mwuahahahaa *throws head back in villain-style manor*...I was told I needed to moisturise more...

Chars for reading/persevering!
JLM x

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Petal to the metal...

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Hi guys!

Though I've had same super kind positive feedback for my horrifically horrific looks of late, I have also had a couple of request to do something a little more tame/"pretty" next. So to avoid an intervention and to remind my friends and family that I'm still the Disney loving freak they once knew and loved and I haven't quote become a sadistic sally just yet, I thought of the girliest thing I could do - flowers...

I decided to do a super girly inspired look and use the gorgeous vintage floral print of Cath Kidston as inspiration. I love all of these prints and would happily have a house covered in them so, why not my face!?

There isn't really too much in the way of technique for this look - it was mainly a chance to practice my painting skills - flash back to blazers, braces and general nerdiness... no, I haven't changed much since school...

I sponged on some white cream paint lightly all over my face to even out the base and for the colours to stand out more (please ignore my neck, in hindsight I should have put white on this too!) I mixed a number of pale pinks, greens and very light grey, painting the main body of the flowers and leaves with the lightest tones, layering up with red and darker colours to add detail, shadow and light. I kept working on the flowers with my finest brushes adding detail until I was happy and voila! I considered wondering into a Cath Kidston store but I realised I would look a little like a crazy person....and I'm not sure where my nearest branch is...

I now have full reign to dive head first back into the gruesome stuff..hurrah!! JLM x

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It's important to floss

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Hellooo!

Okay - I really hope no one reading this is heavily pregnant, has a heart condition or is a total wuss because this is the scariest look I've done yet! The warning sign is there so I can't be sued...

I finally got some coloured contact lenses and was desperate to try them out. I loved how they really finished off the look and just wished I'd got them sooner to use in some of my earlier looks. I'd never put contacts in before so for me, that was probably scarier than the finished article! Luckily I'm fine touching my eyes so I got there in the end. I ordered white, black and red ones from FourEyez.com and I'm already excited to try more - they have a huge number of designs and my order came very quickly.

Back to the face. I saw a look very similar to this online and after my clown face with the super-sized toothy mouth freaked so many people out, I decided to try it again (Muwahahaaa!) I love the illusion it gives by concealing your real mouth, it completely transforms the human face by being so unnatural, and I love anything that is able to do that.

I started by putting my white cream paint all over my face and neck to make my skin really pale. I used my white eyeliner to really whiten all of my eyes and also sketch the outline of the mouth. I followed the line of the top of my real lips but took the bottom much lower onto my chin to make it much larger and sketched in the teeth. I used "tease" from my Urban Decay Naked 2 palette and a fluffy brush in the crease of my eyes and underneath, avoiding going up to the lash line. I used this to heavily contour also, making a strong cheekbone line, adding around my hairline and making my nose much harsher/slimmer by brushing along the sides and blending out. I added a touch of bright red/pink shadow to the underneath to add another dimension too. I outlined the brows with a black eyeliner, making them just thicker than my own with a point on the start and arch, extending them much further down at the ends and then filled them in with black paint.

I spent the most time on the mouth, filling in the centre with black paint, teeth with white and lips with a dark red. To keep the teeth super sharp, I used my finest brushes. It's easier to paint the teeth large than you would maybe like and then paint around with black. They always appear smaller once the black is added and it means you can go around them again to get a really straight line/good point and not worry too much about them becoming too small.

I finished the look by putting in my white-out lenses. This was a fairly simple makeup look to do but I was really impressed by how much it transformed my face. My mum had a sore throat the day after me doing this as she screamed so much when I showed her - mission accomplished ;)

If you are still reading and got this far, bravo for the bravery!

Until next time m'dears...! JLM x

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What a rip off...

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Good day!

I hope you all love blood, guts and gore as much as I do (not in a creepy murdery way, hopefully...) because today I decided that I hadn't made enough use of my fake blood and derma wax. And what better way to make use of it than by making part of my face look like it had been ripped!? An extremely genius and attractive thought, I know...

I love doing all sorts of movie/theatrical makeup looks (surprise!) but I can't deny that the gruesome ones really are the most fun. I'd seen a few special effects online where it looks like half of your mouth has been torn off and the teeth are therefore exposed. It's really effective and most importantly, pretty darn grim, so I decided to give it a go.

I had watched one technique where tissue and glue was used but I thought I'd use my derma wax to give the look of skin/flesh having been peeled away (plus the only glue I could find was super glue). I started by roughly sketching where the teeth would show with a white eyeliner, following the natural line of my jaw. I then rolled out balls of the wax into long sausage like pieces and placed them from the middle of my top and bottom lips and round the sketch to the back teeth. 

I moulded the edges to smooth out using moisturiser. I lifted the inner parts away from my skin to give the effect of skin peeling away and blended the outer wax edges into my skin more with some concealer. 

I painted in the teeth and mixed purply reds to fill in where the gums and flash would be. I added darker red where the wax joined my skin to give it greater depth and a 3D effect. I built this up a little, adding a red grey  in between the teeth and on the tips of the peeled away wax. I finished it off by piling on lots of yummy fake blood, dragging some above and below the wax and then just adding a bit more - you can never use enough fake blood apparently :)

Hope you like it and didn't stumble across this whilst eating...

Thanks for reading!

x

(p.s Here's another close-up, just in case you hadn't seen enough already - you're welcome...)

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Makeup memoir of a geisha...

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ヒスイ (Apparently that is Jade in Japanese - I sure hope it is. Apologies if it is anything offensive, do let me know if it is before I get my tattoo...)

East Asian culture is beautiful, the detail in their clothing, architecture and art is so detailed. I've never had the pleasure of visiting, but it's definitely on my "places I have to go before I die" list. The "geisha" look is a globally recognised one and I had a fair few requests for it. I love the very elegant, classic geisha look (right) but I decided to exaggerate the separate elements and make it a little more dramatic. So here is my oriental inspired interpretation...

I started with cream makeup in white, sponging it all over my face, to the hairline and down onto my neck. I had to use my white face paint to go over my brows, disguising them as best possible. I then used black paint with a super fine brush to outline the new dramatic brows and line the top lash line, with an over-exaggerated winged look. I continued to fill in these "flicks" and took the line right into the inner corner and down towards my nose, giving that elegant oriental look. I filled in the brows, neatening the lines with some white paint and another fine brush. For the shadow, I used a really bright red/pink from my MUA palette, taking the powder from the inner corner right up to my natural brow and swept out towards my temples/hairline. I applied very light bright pink busher to my cheeks and red lipstick to the very centre of my lips, avoiding the outer corners. I finished it all off with some false lashes and a couple of upside-down paint brushes in my bun! :)

I liked how this came out (despite annoyingly not having any of the elegant, petite features of a Japanese woman - my features are a little too bulbous!) and would love to try another East Asian inspired look soon, perhaps with some more authentic head wear!

Thanks for reading :)
JLM x

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I'm blue da-buh-dee-da-buh-dy...etc etc

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What do you get if you punch a smurf in the nose?..

Enough of the silliness, in all honesty James Cameron's Avatar is an amazing movie. I was absolutely blown away when I first saw it. The special effects and just general message (very reminiscent of the epic "FernGully" which I was obsessed with as mini me!) are brilliant and I love the look and mood of the whole thing. I was umming and arring about what to do next this weekend and after the amazing feedback I'd had (after being retweeted by The Tate for my Lichtenstein piece!!) I know that I wanted to do something really challenging. Avatar had been on my list to do and after a couple of people requested it, I decided that last night was the night to give it a go...

I didn't research other interpretations/watch any tutorials for this one as I wanted to just do my very own take on the stunning still of Neytiri that I had from the film (below). So I sat down with my derma wax and blue face paint to see what I could do...

I began by moisturising my hands and massaging the wax to make it supple and into small sausage shapes before placing them down the sides of the rim of my nose and above in between my eyebrows. I moulded this to my face, smoothing out as much as I could and added more to build my nose up as seen on the Na'vi. Once I was happy with the height and width, I blended the outer edges with lots more moisturiser (I've found that this is the best way to get the wax just how you want it and by avoiding it getting stuck everywhere!).

I mixed blue and white to make a light blue base and covered my face and neck, adding another coat once dry so that none of my natural skin tone showed through. I then mixed an ever so slightly darker light blue and painted over my brows, along my lash lines, around my lips and then added the zebra-like print effect, starting on my forehead, taking them down onto my neck. I then mixed a more black-blue colour and used this to darken the eyes further and sponge around my hairline, using it to contour slightly, as it had been looking a little flat. To emphasise this more, I mixed a very pale blue and added this underneath my eyes/cheekbones, along the bridge of the nose and along some of the lines on my forehead which I think really helped the overall look.

I mixed a light purple colour and applied to the tip of the nose and on the lips and then used my finest brush to dot on the small bright white speckles. I added a coat of black mascara to finish.

This look took a good couple of hours but I really did enjoy doing it. Using the wax on my face as part of a whole piece is something I've never done before and it really gave it that edge. My main criticism is again the paint, as it started to crack by the end and didn't full mask the join of the wax to the skin so I'm going to be looking for maybe some creamy face paint that has a greater pigment and thicker/creamy consistency (If anyone has any recommendations, please do let me know!) If I spend more time on it I would concentrate on making the lines a little neater also but overall, I was pretty happy with the first attempt :)


Thanks for reading!
JLM x

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40's movie star mumma

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I don't know anyone who loves old movies more than my mum, so today I decided to transform her into a glamorous actress, right out of the 1940's.

I have done the 1950's Hollywood glamour look, and from researching into the makeup of the earlier  decades of the twentieth century, many techniques/styles are pretty similar. One of the main distinctions between them though, are the hair styles, so for this look a added a quick updo to differentiate it.

I started by applying primer and Nars foundation all over the face, adding light Collection 2000 concealer to highlight (an amazing cheap concealer - highly recommend!) and blending before setting with Mac pressed powder. I then contoured the cheekbones, temples and hairline with Nars Laguna bronzer before adding Bourjois blusher in "Frosted Rose" and blended all with my large powder brush.

     


I used a light brown shadow to fill in and darken the brows and then added a similar shade to the outer corners of the eye. One of the main characteristics of this look is the back winged eyeliner so I added this with my Maybelline gel liner. I then added some black eyeshadow over this to darken further and get as close to the lash line as possible. I added a very light shadow underneath the brows and in the inner corner of the eyes. I lined the bottom waterline with white pencil and coated the lashes in lots of mascara. My mum has SUCH lovely long lashes so at first I didn't put any false lashes on, but to add that final touch of glamour, I decided to add these also. I finished the makeup with some rich red lipstick and a beauty spot.

For the hair, ideally I would have used a couple of rollers but I don't have any so I had to improvise and backcomb to add volume and then take two front sections and roll from the ends up, pinning to hold in place. I simply curled under the back hair and used some hairspray to keep in place.

This look really suits my mum and I thought she looked beautiful. I have a feeling I will be doing this again soon for her next evening out!

Thanks for letting me experiment on your face mumma! x

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Paint, powder and rock 'n' roll

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After joking about how my swirly black pattern ended up looking a bit like a face tattoo, I realised I hadn't considered trying out a "rocky" look (as in a fan of rock music, not Sylvester Stallone, may save that for another time though). I had done a couple of quite detailed makeup looks over the weekend so I decided this would be an ideal Sunday evening experiment that hopefully, wasn't too tricky...

For this I googled the standard "goth"/ "emo"/ "rock" images for inspiration and there are some really awesome styles out there. I'm hoping to try a really gothic look soon but chose to keep it relatively simple for my first trial and see how it went!

I used my lightest concealer as my foundation as this typical look is very pale skin with mostly black eyes and dark lips. I set this with a pale powder and used a slightly darker one to contour lightly where I would usually and blended with a large powder brush.

I then used black liquid eye liner to shape and fill in my brows. I made these longer and thicker than I would usually just to make them more drastic and gothic looking. I neatened the edges with a small blender brush and concealer. I then applied black khol liner to both the bottom and top waterlines and created a drastic flick on the outer corners with liquid eye liner. I took the tip of these flicks and drew a line diagonally across my lid right into the inner corner before filling in the resulting triangular shape completely in black. I extended the line down towards the bridge of my nose and then took the liquid eye liner underneath my eye, again extending the inner line down towards my nose, parallel to the line above (being careful to leave a slight gap between the two). I added two more smaller flicks on the outer corners and set it with black eye shadow. I added some metallic silver eye shadow to the inner corners and lightly above the thick liner and blended with a fluffy brush. I then applied plenty of very black mascara and added a pair of short thick false lashes too.

For the lips I used some face paint as I didn't quite have the right shade of lipstick. I mixed red and black for a burgundy colour, lining my lips with this and then mixing a lighter colour to fill in the rest before adding some purple tinted lip gloss.

I decided that to finish the look, I would try and add a couple of piercings - or rather, some paint to create what looked like piercings! For this I dotted two very small black circles to the left above my lip and then in the middle underneath my lips on my chin. I then added a small white/grey dot over (half) the top of the black dots to look like a silver stud with a shadow. To give them more of a realistic look, I used a darker concealer to paint a slight semi-circle around the dots and smudge a little to make it look as though my skin was slightly raised where the piercings are.

This was a really cool look and I was pretty ready to hit a gig of some sort once done. Perhaps I should make the piercings a permanent feature...what do you reckon!? :P

Thanks for reading! ♡

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More movie makeup...

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I couldn't help but recreate this movie look at some point, it's so recognisable and having looked online, extremely popular with others doing the same. I tried to avoid doing it very early on just as I feared it was too predictable, but I decided today that I would just go for it. So here is my copy of The Swan Queen in Black Swan...

I started with a white base all over the face and neck onto the ears and into the hairline (I'm getting a little tired of my paint as it requires several layers in order to get a flawless look, by which point I can not move my face at all!) and then sketched on the winged eye makeup with a black khol liner. I copied the famous portrait of Natalie Portman for this, ensuring that it looked as similar as possible, going just up to and onto the brows and out towards my hairline. I then filled this all in with black paint.

Whilst this dried, I mixed red and black to create the plum lip colour. I painted this on to my lips, neatening up the edges with white paint before adding a touch of white onto the centre of my bottom lip and finishing off with a deep plum gloss.

I went back to the eyes which were now dry and neatened the edges/lines with more of the white paint and my super fine brush. I then swept on some white lines over my lids, in the inner corners and to the outer parts of each eye, creating the feathered look iconic to this character. Natalie has much stronger cheekbones than I do so I added some light grey eye shadow to emphasise mine with a fluffy brush and blended with a large powder brush.

I just wished I had the red contact lenses to really finish the look off! Another accessory to add to the list to get methinks...

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So, I got a face tattoo...

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Though I love recreating well-known characters and makeup looks from various eras etc, I've been wanting to try a few different things recently, looking more at generic patterns and textures and how you can apply them to the face. I've got quite a few in mind that I want to try and this was the first...

There really isn't too much to tell on this one re how I did it as it was mainly just me freehand with black face paint and my super fine brush...If I doodle I tend to draw eyes, hearts and these sorts of swirly flowery vine-like things (all the manly stuff) so it made sense to stick to what I knew best to start with!

I began by applying foundation and light concealer under my eyes, down the nose and in the area between my brows and blending together. I used "tease" from my Urban Decay "Naked 2 " palette and a fluffy blender brush to contour more drastically than I would usually on my cheekbones, down the side of my nose and around my hairline/temples. I then brushed this from the crease of my eye up, into my brows and then into the inner corners to the sides of the top of my nose. I left my lips nude and my eyes plain so that the focus would remain on the pattern (hence why I feel naked/look like a boy in this!)...

I then began painting the various vines down, curling them at the end. I built these up, adding more flicks, swirls and thickness, until I was happy with it. I took some pictures and decided that it would probably look better if I took the black right into my hairline and onto my scalp. This meant that the pattern blended into my face more and made it look almost like a tattoo.

I can't wait to try some more! Watch this space...

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Clowning around...

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And so, back to the gritty stuff! It's freaky but the gruesome looks are just so much more fun to do!

I'm pretty scared (like many) of clowns so I thought I would face my fears with this one. It was going to go either way - kill or cure - I'm still not a fan, but it's the longest I've ever looked at a clown so I think I'm on my way to not minding them so much. Needless to say, I won't be setting this as my screensaver any time soon..!

Again, I had done some research online to get some inspiration for this one. I liked (well, you know what I mean) the sharp teeth seen on Stephen King's iconic "It" clown so decided to mimic these. The stereotypical vertical lines down the centre of each eye are seen on clown and mime makeup and I just think it's super creepy. To add even more intensity I decided to add circles around my eyes and smudge onto the brow line to give a scary heavy brow and just a small red nose so that I didn't look quite as approachable as the child-friendly clowns you see with huge bulbous noses.

I started with a white base, covering the lids, lips and brows. I then used a black khol eyeliner to sketch the mouth, using my own upper and lower jaw as a guide. I then drew on the pointy teeth and the verticle lines above and below each eye before drawing on the circles, by following the natural hollows of my eyes.

I used some red and black to paint a small circle on the tip of my nose and then painted in the outlines of my (new) mouth to create the lips. I then used a fine brush to go over the sketched lines of the teeth and fill in the gaps inbetween. I thickened the lines around the eyes, adding extra black paint over my brows and taking it up slightly on the outer parts to give that snarly look and also added little diamond shapes under each vertical line on my cheeks. I used a liquid liner to line my lash lines to darken further. I then mixed some grey to shade around the eyes and used a sponge to blot this and make it look a bit more messy and textured. I finished it off by neatening the teeth with white paint and a fine brush and added a few light crease lines at the very corners of my mouth with a dark grey.

This is probably the scariest look I have done yet and I had so much fun doing it. Must order some fake blood next - I may have to think about issuing a parental guidance certificate for my blog soon!!

Anyone fancy a trip to the circus?? (:

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I can do "normal" too sometimes | Weekend wear...

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I've been spooking everyone out recently with my weird creations so I decided to do something a little more "generic" and write a quick post about my evening makeup from Friday night (yes, I do wear "normal" makeup too!) I tend to always do some form of smoky eye and because this was a friends birthday and we were heading out in über tanned, rhinestone sprinkled Essex, I paired some super dark eyes with some red lips. One of my biggest rules is to either go big on eyes OR on lips, never both, but for an ultra glam night out (particuarly in Essex!) I made an exception...

Currently I'm using L'oreal's new illuminating primer and Nars sheer glow foundation. I applied the primer before my foundation using a beauty blender which is my new favourite makeup bag addition! I have the Cosmopolitan one which you can pick up in Boots or Superdrug and I would strongly recommend picking one up. You can stipple your foundation on which means no brush strokes and it's great for covering blemishes gently and it just gives a flawless look.

I then apply some creamy concealer from Nars underneath my eyes and down the side of my nose to create a kind of triangle shape and blend this in. I cover any blemishes with this also and set it all with a loose powder. The concealer I have is quite light so acts a bit of a highlighter on the highest part of my cheeks under my eyes. To contour (add shape and definition) I use Laguna bronzer by Nars underneath my cheekbones from my ear to close to my mouth and around my hairline, down the sides of my nose and underneath my jawbone. I then add some sleek blusher to the apples of my cheeks and blend everything with a large soft brush (I love the Real Techniques large powder brush).

The base is now done so I then comb my brows and use a dark brown powder to define them, neatening and evening up both and giving a nice arched shape with a slanted liner brush. Using a small blender brush and some MAC concealer, I neaten up the edges of my brows and add more highlighting to underneath the arch.

I then move on to my eyes and cover the lids with a neutral natural eye shadow and then line my eyes with a black khol pencil. I take this right into the waterline and then blend. My favourite palettes at the moment are "Naked 2" by Urban Decay and Stila "In the light". Folding a cotton pad in half and placing underneath my lower lash (to prevent fall out), I dab on some Ebony from my Stila palette, right along the top and bottom lash lines. I make this slightly thicker on the outside corners of my eyes, taking it out to a wing and then into the crease of my eye about a third of the way along. I then take "busted" from the Naked 2 palette and blend the edges of the black, taking this over the entire lid up to the crease and also the outer bottom lash line. I take "gilded" from the Stila palette and dab it lightly onto the very centre of my lids to add a little gold shimmer and use "bootycall" from Naked 2 in the inner corners and under the arch of the brow. Taking a fluffy blender brush I blend all of this together.

I finish off my eyes with lots of L'oreal telescopic mascara in black, some black liquid liner to add extra definition on my lash line and some Katy Perry false lashes. To neaten up any edges, I use a cotton bud with some makeup remover and concealer on a brush as I did with the brows. To complete the look I used Revlon Colorburst lip gloss in "Fire" which gives a gorgeous rich colour and stays on without drying out your lips.

Now - back to the gruesome sadistic makeup...

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What are you staring at?

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I wasn't sure what look to do this weekend so I ended up improvising a bit! I was swaying more towards recreating one of Tim Burton's characters just because I love everything that he does and his films always look so atmospheric and fantastical. Edward Scissorhands was one of my favourite films when I was a child and I'm keen to trial the look but want to get some latex first to really do it justice (*note to self to order some today).

      

I had then started looking at some of the Sally from "A Nightmare Before Christmas" makeup looks online which, being another Tim Burton masterpiece, is a brilliant look to try and mimic. I decided I would save this for when I had a little more time and just do a similar spooky doll-like look. It turned out that I got a little carried away and could have just done the Sally look after all, but I like to think this was inspired by it anyway!

I had seen a few different takes of the "creepy doll" online (one example above) and also used some of these techniques for the look. I took different traits from the various executions to make my own one and this was the outcome. It's a really creepy look so I had fun jumping out at my family!

I started by applying a base of white paint (after moisturising/priming) all over my face to the hairline and down my neck. This paint (Grimas) is good but it doesn't go on very evenly and can actually dry too quickly. It's very reasonably priced so is great for the money but I think I'm going to invest in a more expensive brand soon (any recommendations welcome!). I then added even more white to completely cover my eyebrows so I could draw on some new, higher ones to give that exaggerated, non-human quality. I sketched these brows on with a khol black eyeliner and also sketched the outline of the lips (similar to those seen on the Queen of Heart in Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" above) and the stitches coming from them up towards the ear (seen on Sally in "A Nightmare Before Christmas" also above). I did this horizontally across the base of my neck and also followed the natural hollows under my eyes to create the new lower lash line. This is a great way of enlarging your eyes which is perfect for creating that staring doll-like effect.

I went over these sketched lines with a fine brush and some black paint and added some baby pink blushes to my cheeks. I painted my lips (the area drawn out) with a deep red and added some contouring to my cheeks with a very light grey. I then drew on some lashes to the new lower lash line drawn and then dotted on some freckles. To finish the look I stuck on some super-sized false lashes to both the top and new bottom lower lash lines and tied my hair into high bunches (flashback to being 6!)

I was amazed at how such simple effects like these can completely change your face and was freaked out by how much this didn't look like me when I looked in the mirror. I will definitely be using these techniques in more looks going forward and will be experimenting with new ones... so many possibilities!

(Caption: Jade was curious about how her blind date would go and hoped that she hadn't put too much blush on...)

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It's no joke..

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So, yesterday I officially "launched" Jade Louise Makeup blog on Facebook and Twitter and I've been so overwhelmed by all of the lovely comments and by the number of people spreading the word that I couldn't help but try a new creation this evening to share. I was so hyped by the positivity, that I quite literally decided to paint a smile on my face...

Okay...so it doesn't quite scream "I'm the happiest girl alive", but I've had this in my mind to recreate for ages now and decided today was the day!

This look is so simple yet so effective. I used just three colours to achieve it.

The other great thing about this is that it's meant to look imperfect and undefined so its incredibly hard to go wrong. The more bedraggled it comes out, the better!

I threw on the white base with a large brush, leaving space around the eyes and some lines on the forehead. I then went straight to the black and followed the natural hollows of my eyes, taking the top line right up to and slightly over the brows. To get that intense black look I use my trusty MAC "smoulder" eye khol pencil and went along my waterline and right into the inner corners of the eye. I used my finer brush to blur and rough the outer edges of the circles and drag a few fine lines above the brow, to the nose and out towards the side of my face to give the creased, running makeup look that is seen on Heath.

I used this same technique on other areas of my face such as the lines from the nose to the mouth and on my philtrum (that's one for the pub quiz!) which I then blotted with a damp sponge to blur and blend in to look more natural and give grey tones for texture. I added the dark red to my top and bottom lip - though hardly any on the top lip - and took the brush line up at a 45 degree angle to the tops of my cheekbones. I then used the same blotting/sponging technique to blur and smudge this in, taking it down onto my chin to look like it has been smudged by being rubbed.

To finish this I continued to blot and smudge everything, defining the lines with some more bright white and grey to provide a more 3D effect.

There are a lot of interpretations of this "Joker" look online and I can see why. It's amazingly quick and effective and it really spooked me out looking at it! So here is my take on this incredible makeup to pay homage to this epic film and absolutely awesome actor, Heath Ledger...RIP x

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