Theatrical Ageing

Theatrical make-up is used to portray a character and a certain mood. As the audience may be seated far away from the actor, the make-up needs to be bold enough to be seen from a distance. In early theatre the actors wore masks but the advancements of lighting and staging meant that the make-up needed to evolve into something more. Here I am going to show you how to create an ageing look. 

First prepare the skin: Cleanse, Tone and Moisturise. In the winter months when the skin is visible to the elements, it is advised to spend more time on prepping the skin and massaging the skin. This is done so that the moisturising product can get into the dry areas caused by the weather.

• Use a grease based product like Kryolan Supra colour as it blends easily and can build up so it is visible from the distance. 
• Apply the base as normal, starting with the chosen foundation. Only use concealer if the actor has spots or blemishes. The idea of theatrical make-up is to take out all the blemishes and create your own. 
• Make sure to cover everything that is visible. So if the hands are on show, make sure to age these too!

• Use a small pointed brush to get into the lines of the skin. With theatrical make-up you can blend with your fingers. 
• Moisturiser is also useful to blend the product before you put powder onto the face to set. 
• Make sure you blend the makeup into the hair line and lashes.

Health & Safety

As you will be using latex to create an ageing effect you need to know the risks.

• Always test the latex product before applying it to the clients face. It is preferred to do it two weeks before to test. If you don't have the time to do it before, apply a small dab of latex on the inside of your wrist. 
• If the product reacts with the skin, it will go red and itch. Remove the product straight away with warm water if irritation occurs. 

 

 As the idea is to make the person look older you need to take into consideration how aged skin looks. The skin isn't going to be plump and glowing anymore. It will have wrinkles, scars, imperfections and will start sagging. The tone of the skin may change lighter; going shades of white, grey or yellow. 

How to: 

• Start by applying the base, using concealer only to remove blemishes. 
• Take your grease based product and blend until you get a sepia to brown shade. 
• Ask the client to raise the eyebrows, screw up their eyes, smile and pout in order to determine where the wrinkles would be. Use the small pointed brush and draw along the lines created by the facial expressions. Blend with your finger to create the aged look. 
• Highlight under the lines created to define the lines. 
• To age the eyebrows, spray a brush wand with dry shampoo or coloured spray. Go against the brow to grey it and then go back the opposite way to get to the root of the hair. 
• Use coloured spray or dry shampoo in the hair, starting at the root and going to the ends. As hair doesn't grey evenly there will be different tones throughout the hair. 
• Next to age around the eye area you will need to use latex.
• Following the health & safety above, close the eye and stretch the skin so it is taught. Use a sponge and apply a small amount of latex. Stipple the sponge over the stretched area. 
• Use a hairdryer to dry the latex. Check on yourself the temperature of the hairdryer before blowing it onto the face.