https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/winter-full-body-makeup • Posted by Kumquat
This concept costume was created for an "Anything But Clothes" Rocky Horror show a few years ago. I was using the theme of "Winter" as my inspiration. I'd never done body paint before, so it was an experiment. I didn't have time to order REAL body paint online, but I would recommend it if you don't want the whole shebang to start rubbing off in an hour, like mine did. You can get high quality body paint from a site like this one: http://www.liquidlatex.com/liquidlatex2.html More expensive than the paint I used, but I hear it's worth it.
This concept costume was created for an "Anything But Clothes" Rocky Horror show a few years ago. I was using the theme of "Winter" as my inspiration. I'd never done body paint before, so it was an experiment. I didn't have time to order REAL body paint online, but I would recommend it if you don't want the whole shebang to start rubbing off in an hour, like mine did. You can get high quality body paint from a site like this one: http://www.liquidlatex.com/liquidlatex2.html More expensive than the paint I used, but I hear it's worth it.
Ok, so since I didn't have real body paint, I bought non-toxic kids finger paint at Michael's. I think we used the Creatology™ Finger Paint in a turquoisy-blue. I had a few friends helping me (it's a multi-person job!) and they started by doing layers of blue all over my body, *after* I'd put on my bikini. Make sure you apply it well into all the visible folds & creases of your body, and apply evenly all over so skin doesn't show through in patches. Allow to dry completely. This took about 30-45 minutes.
Then one of my friends used a cheap airbrush kit to spray swirls of silver in different places on my body, on top of the blue. This was just for more interesting detail. You can pick up something like this:http://www.michaels.com/Copic-Airbrush-Starting-Set-ABS-2/fa1240,default,pd.html?start=1&cgid=products-artsupplies-airbrushing This part took maybe 20-25 minutes.
While the spray was drying (it's pretty fast), another friend started working on my face. We used regular makeup on my face, both powders & pencils, and she drew lines of different shades of blue & silver all over. We did an especially bright shimmery turquoise on my eyelids. You can totally add glitter or gems to this step! This took about 20 minutes.
One of my friends also hand-painted some small wings on my back with a liquid silver paint, which looked very cool. (About 15 minutes) You'll notice that the paint on my body started to crack VERY quickly. I've been told this is due to 1. it not being real body paint, and 2. applying layers of paint that are too thin. So be sure to apply thick layers!
After all the painting & makeup was done, I added the head wreath I'd made the day before to top it all off. This was made from a bunch of silver & blue sparkly faux leaves I'd bought in Michael's floral section around Christmas time - very cheap. They have wire running through them, so you can just kind of wrap the stem of each leaf around the stem of the next, adding each new leaf and bending it into a circle as you go. You could also make a wire circle for a base and wrap them around that. Use floral tape if they're not staying, or if you have pokey bits of wire to cover up. Making the wreath took about 30 minutes. When all the paint was dry, I wrapped a string of small plastic icicles (not pictured) around my waist like a loose belt, also bought at Michael's just after Xmas. And that's it!