By: Chris Stead and Rachael Carlton

So, you’d like to make yourself up, but you’re tired of drawing spiderwebs all over your

face with that worn-out Wet ‘N’ Wild eyeliner pencil. In other words, you’re looking to

graduate to a more adult goth look. With a few suggestions and a few guidelines, you too

can look great and up-to-date! Lets go over some basic makeup ground rules first:

1. Wash your face! Although this seems silly and a little trivial, makeup will not stay

   put, nor will it look as good if your face is covered in oils from the day. Plus you will

   be doing yourself a favor in the long run. Your skin will thank you for the ritualistic

   cleansing prior to application. Use a cleanser that has no additives and is not harsh. For

   acne, treat with Witch Hazel, not a harsh astringent. For normal or dry skin use a

   moisturizer prior to applying makeup. If your skin is oily then do not.

2. />Conceal your blemishes. Rachael recommends that you use Clinique concealer. If you have

   dark circles under your eyes, or red spots on your face, then use matte green eyeshadow or

   yellow, and blend with your concealer to neutralize the color on your face.

3. />Use foundation. Guy or girl, if you want to look your gothy best, you have to set a good

   foundation, so use it! Generally you don’t want to use a color that is more than 3 shades

   lighter than your natural skin tone. You can blend your foundation with water to prevent

   clumping, then blot with a napkin.

4. Powder your chest. Girls, if you are wearing a low-cut shirt, then be sure to

   moisturize and powder your chest so you look nice and uniform you don’t want to end up

   looking like a mime from hell. Now we’re ready to start putting on makeup.

The 40′s Look:

If you are looking for the Elizabeth Taylor gone goth, or the pinup girl then this is the

look for you! Here is the way you achieve the 40′s look:

1. />First apply a metallic eyeshadow over the entire top lid, at the corner and slightly

   underneath. Preferably use a cream color.

2. In the crease of the upper lid apply a darker brown color and blend at the outer part of

   the lid, and apply a little to the bottom lid.

3. On the top lid use a light color like gold or cream over everything that is already

   there. Line the upper fairly heavily with black. Line the lower lid lightly with black.
   

   />

4. When applying the eye shadow, you want to make it dark but not BLACK. In fact, the only

   thing black you want to use on your whole face is the eyeliner and mascara. I know that

   this goes against the Goth code of ‘my black is blacker than your black’ but if you want to

   be able to pull off the look than avoid black eye shadow and lipstick. The 1940’s were all

   about the ‘peaches and cream’ look for women. All we want to do is take that look and turn

   it more ‘night time chic’.

5. Use black mascara on eyelashes.
6. Curl your lashes.
7. Once your lashes are curled, apply black mascara again. For best results, start the

   brush near the base of the lashes and brush in two or three times, then brush outward.
   

   />

8. />Apply a light pink blush under the cheekbones.
9. Line the lips with bright red lip liner, then fill the lips in with the same liner.
   />
10. Apply bright red lipstick on top of the lip liner. The liner will hold the color better

    through the night, saving you from needing to reapply.

11. The 1940’s were all about highlighting the lips natural color. When looking for a red

    lipstick, the more ‘fire engine’ it is, the better. DO NOT fall prey to that evil color

    that is ‘hot red’ it will take your ‘40’s couture style and make it look like a poor kid on

    kool-aid who got into his momma’s make up drawer! Save your self… test the color on the back

    of your hand first!

12. />Finally line lips with black to taste.

Other things you can do are apply glitter around the eyes and you can also “cat eye” the

eyeliner.

The modern look:

If you want a more modern, striking appearance, then go for this style. This is definitely

one you won’t want to wear to the office, but it will make an impression at the club.

1. />Line the eyes in black eyeliner. Use liquid on the top lid and pencil on the bottom

   lid.

2. While lining the eyes also line them “kohl.” The way this is done is by applying the

   eyeliner on the flat of the eyelid above the lashes on the bottom lid and below the lashes

   on the top lid.

3. Apply black eyeshadow around the entire eye.
4. Using a wet brush apply the same color to the top lid to make for a more rich color.
   />
5. />Once the wet coat is applied, then apply more eyeshadow dry.
6. Choose another color as a highlight if you choose, and use a powder.
7. Use eyebrow wax to shape eyebrows, then pencil over the eyebrows for a full look.
   />
8. />As in the 40′s look, apply black mascara, curl lashes, then apply mascara again.
   
   

   />

9. Use black lipliner on the lips and fill in, then choose a red colored lipstick and apply

   to tint.

Remember, bright colors attract the eye and thusly make whatever they are on look bigger

than it really is. The inverse is also true for darker colors. This is why black is such a

sliming color. When applying black lipstick however, this can be a problem. The dark color

will make your lips look smaller than they really are. If you have Angelina Jolie lips than

your fine, there isn’t anything in the known world that will hide those suckers! But if you

have smaller lips, this produces a predicament. In order to get around this problem, either

stick to the ever popular red lipstick that is heavily lined in black liner. The brighter

color on the inside draws the eye out and the darker color on the outside emphasizes the

curves of the lip making them look much larger than they are. You can also add a high shine

gloss to the top of the black lipstick. This too will give the lip an appearance of depth.

Try and stick with one or two well matched accent colors. For example; if you are going to

be wearing bright red lipstick, try and stick with neutral grey, dark brown, and black

colors. Don’t be the girl at the club who made the mistake of wearing blue eye shadow and

day-glo red lipstick. The black lights in the club always make this person look like a

walking light-bright.

For the Guys:

Now for men. If you are interested in wearing makeup, but you aren’t aiming for the David

Bowie, Ziggy Stardust androgynous look, then these tips will help.

1. />Follow the same guidelines as given at the beginning. Wash your face, cover up blemishes,

   put on foundation and generally prepare your face for being made up.

2. Gel your hair. If you are going to style your hair, do it before you put on your

   makeup.

3. Once

   your face is ready for makeup, the next thing to do is apply eyeliner. You can either apply

   liquid all the way around, or you can apply liquid on the top lid and pencil on the bottom

   lid. This is left to preference.

4. Use dark or black mascara to darken eyebrows and facial hair if your hair is not

   naturally black, or has not been dyed so. Mind you this will look silly if you are

   naturally blond. Use your best judgement.

src=”/images/Oct2006/makeover/chris6.jpg” class=”inline” style=”float:right;” />There are

other fun things that you can do as well. In this particular session, Rachael used blue

mascara as a temporary hair dye. Bear in mind that mascara is opaque so it can color

eyelashes which tend to be dark colored. This means that you can get wild colors and use

them on your hair to cover the color. This will create a better effect than spray-on

temporary hair color since it combs in. Play with the idea and come up with your own

creations.

Hopefully this has planted a seed that will allow your Gothic makeup creations to grow.

Just keep in mind that there are always other ideas, and these are simply to get you going.

The goth community is a creative one, so run with it!