I have never been much of a makeup person. I didn't start wearing mascara until I was 16 (I'm not entirely sure as to the reason why, maybe I was willful or lazy or just had some mental block up against it . . .and believe me it was for no "free women from oppression" or other feministic reasons, the reasons were more personal, I'm sure. But who wants to delve into that right now? Not me). Anyway, and since then, I do wear it but I've basically found things that work and stuck with them. Not in a I'm still wearing the hot pink lipstick I wore at me high school graduation in 93 way, but in a "oh I woke up and I'm naturally gorgeous this way" way. Well Winter semester 2011 represented me shooting out of makeup comfort zone in TMA 267: aka Beginning Makeup Design (I kid you not. It's required. I know, I am in fact in the best program in the whole of BYU's campus). But believe you me, it was not all a frolic in a field of bouton d'or, no m'am. It was some rigorous stuff but along the way I discovered some things: 1.putting foundation on makes my freckles go away and I've decided I don't like that sensation. "Time to take my individuality away" I'd say as I got the foundation out (yes, I'm very charming sometimes, aren't I?) 2. I look good in red lipstick. Who'd a thunk. And I secretly loved wearing it. 3. My absolute favorite part of makeup design: grossies and gories or what I call ouchies and owies. I tell you what, there is nothing more gratifying in this whole wide makeup world than making a convincing cut or chemical burn. I was ruined to all other forms of makeup design after being introduced to the world of wounds. I imagined every other design being created out of a series of cuts or burns. I pined for the day I could once again show my mad icky skills. That day came when we received the final project. We had to choose a character and design the makeup for it. The grossest-faced character I could think of was the Phantom of the Opera, sans his mask. I really don't like that show, or the Phantom but I would sacrifice that if I could do something gross. Oh and it was gross. Take a look:
I mean come on! Pretty fantastic, yes? It's putty, liquid latex and toilet paper. All painted and vaselined. The more I look at it, the more delight I get from it. I know, right? Every once and a while I'd turn to my two friends int he class and ask: icky? Usually there was a slight yelp followed by a "good work." What can I say? We all have our special talents. I think one thing that draws me to the ouchies and owies is the fact it doesn't take tons of precision. It's all about playing around with the color and texture. In some odd maybe twisted way, it helped me get all in touch with my inner child.

I latexed over the whole design so my face basically came off in one chunky piece. Gross, but funny. I must admit that when I show these pictures and the viewers get the shivers, I feel gratified. I've done my grossies job.

Even I have to admit that this is pretty gag-reflex inducing. Especially the fact that on the side you can see where the latex pulled hairs out of my head. But this is the Phantom's skin post-mortem. I showed someone this picture and they said "Ahh! I thought it was a piece of bacon!" That's almost a nastier notion than what it really is. Can you imagine gluing bacon to your face. C'est berk ca!