Cats the Musical - Character Jemima

by Jessica A.
(Hollywood, FL, USA)

see a sample of the makeup you're creating to the right.

Creating a professional stage look to go with a great costume doesn't have to be difficult. Thanks to mineral makeup, creating a professional look can be very easy, and not take a whole lot of time. Of course, there are always alternatives.

Professional Makeup - like Cats the Musical, character Jemima

Supplies:
Mineral face colors - Foundation in your skin tone and darker than skin tone - for the darker, 2 shades darker is best. White, black, red, orange (other colors may be used depending on the costume and your wig, if you have one). Cake or mineral liquid makeup is best for this look.
Latex or other makeup sponges - wedges are best
Large powder brush
Small brush for detail work - think of lipstick brushes
Translucent powder to set
Black eyeliner
Mascara
Deep red lipstick

Base colors
1-First, wash your face and lightly apply a moisturizer to provide a good base for your makeup. I recommend using a latex or other sponge to apply the moisurizer so that it doesn't go on too heavy.
2-Apply foundation in your skin tone across your forehead, and over your cheeks. Do not apply to the nose area, or to the area across your eyes. This will allow the white color to show better.
3-Identify the hollows in your cheeks (just under the bone). Apply the darker foundation color along the underside of your cheekbone, in the hollow, down to just under the jawline. Still avoid the nose and mouth area.
4-Apply the white makeup directly to the skin, in a 'stripe' from hairline to hairline and from just under the eyes to the top of the eybrows. (Cover your eyebrows completely). Apply white also directly to the entire nose area (curve the edge from under the eyes to along the sides of the nose) and around the mouth to just above the bottom edge of your chin. Use a small brush to make short outward strokes around the mouth outside the white area you just put down, to make it look like fur. The strokes should be no wider than small nail clipper and no longer than the bristles of the brush.
5-Carefully smudge the edges of each color into each other so you get a smooth transition between darker and lighter foundation, and between the light foundation and white. Set all base colors with a light dusting of translucent powder.

Time for detail!
1 - Red - use the small brush to put red lines along one side of the white fur strokes around the mouth area.
2 - Orange - use the small brush to put red lines along the other side of the white fur strokes around the mouth area.
3 - Black - here's where the fun starts!

Eyebrows - Starting from the top, use the small brush to draw a line from the center of the inside of your eyebrow to the outside edge of the eyebrow. Stay in the middle of the brow to avoid a surprised look. Once you've got your line, thicken it a bit on the top part of the line. When you get to the arch in the brow, add little 'wings' from the arch to the end of the brow. This should look like whiskers.

Eyes - Start out by lining the inner rims of the eye with the black eyeliner - all the way around. Also thinly line the outside of the eye on the bottom, gradually thicker on the top. Both ends should meet in a thick sideways "V" on either side of the eyes. Take the small brush and use the black mineral makeup to bring the inside edge of the eyes in - basically start from the coern on the inside of the eye and draw it in diagonally toward your nose about 1/4". Now take the black color and make a duplicate line below it, following the curve of the bottom of your eye but keep it separate from the eyeliner.

Nose - Use the small brush to carefully paint the underside of the edge of your nose, from one nostril all the way across to the other. You can decide whether it looks cat-like to you or if you need to go higher.

Mouth - Use the small brush to paint a thick line down from the center of your nose to near the top of your lip, then follow the outer edge of your lip to curve like a villain's mustache. Flip up your 'mustache' just above the outer corners of the mouth. Also apply the black paint at the bottom edge of your lip, but only partway. To find how far to go, put your pinky finger on either side of your mouth - and only paint to the inside edge of your finger.

Chin - Add just a few strokes of black to the crease between your bottom lip and your chin. Think of a goatee when making this.

Dust the entire face with the translucent powder to set, then apply mascara and lipstick as usual.

You're done!