Easy Step by Step for Old Woman Make Up for the Stage

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You wanna look old?  No!?

But it's so fun!

Okay... I'll be more specific.  Let's put on stage makeup for old age.  I promise, it's a lot of fun.

I totally freaked out my kids and husband.  The kids were watching me and saying how creepy I looked and asking me why I was doing this.  My eldest daughter wants me to do this for Halloween.  My youngest son said no to the creepy old lady face.  My husband jumped when I turned around.  So satisfying... I think.

[Tweet "I am about to learn how to look really old."]

Let's do this.

Materials needed:  Highlight, Shadow, brown eye liner, two small/medium flat brushes, and two wide flat brushes.

This kit is the one I used in theatre for college. It's got everything.

Nowadays, if you search for Ben Nye products all you'll see is Banana powder. Stinking Kardashians.

You can get a smaller personal kit if you'd like, instead of the full kit.

Here I am.  Yes, that'sbefore the old lady makeup, you dirty rat.  This is me at the end of a long day, okay. So there!  Yes, I did stick out my tongue.  I pulled back my bangs and hair so I could get to work. You should too.

Start with a fresh, clean face.

Put on a good foundation to even out your face for a good base. If your face is notoriously oily, I definitely recommend you put on a good primer first.

Picture Key:  White = Highlight  Black = Shadow

If you see a white arrow that is where you highlight.  If you see a black arrow that is where you shadow, etc.

We'll start from the top of the face to the bottom.  It's much easier this way, you won't smudge your makeup as you work.

Also, start with the highlights first.  You put in the big area of highlights, then the shading.  Then you add the specific highlights in afterwards.  Don't worry, I'll walk you through it.

Forehead

First, we'll age it with some basics.

Now we'll add in some wrinkles.  To do this:

1. Raise your eyebrows to wrinkle your forehead up.  Good.
2. Draw a flat line in each wrinkle.
3. Let go of your eyebrows.
4. Go back with your shadow and draw the line a bit darker and then gently drag your shadow straight up.  Not a ton, just a little bit.  See the picture for clarity.
5. Take your highlight and draw a very precise line just underneath the shadow.  It needs to be crisp.
6. Take a look and blend where needed.  DON'T blend your crisp highlight line.

Don't freak out!  At first it looks like brown lines on your face... it's okay.

ONLY do these wrinkles where you actually have them.  I am blessed with few forehead wrinkles.  I have two barely there ones.  I win!

As you can see, I have also done wrinkles between my brows.  These are the ones that'll turn ugly when I'm older.  Yikes!

Treat them the same way, exceptDON'Tblend the brown line.  Put a highlight line on the underside. If it's pretty vertical, put it on the inside part of the line (the part closest to the other eye).

Eyes

The best part!

1. First, highlight lid.
2. Take your shadow and start from the corner of your eye and get that eye socket shape.  Remember you're old, your eye is going to sink in a bit.
3. Then do the crease.  I naturally have a droopy lid - it will hang down when I'm an old lady, I'm sure.  This is why I have taken my shadow and drawn it down with the natural crease of my eye lid.
4. Add shadow at brow bone at a downward angle to get the droop effect.
5. Later I went back and put more shadow on my lid for it to be more sunken in.

Now the eye bag.  Yay!

1. Add shadow on your lower lid.
2. Highlight underneath it. The actual bag area.
3. Take your highlighter and outline the outside edge of the eye bag drawn a line.
4. Take more highlighter and blend that line out.  It'll look like a U.
5. Take your shadow, draw the line just above the highlight line.  Blend up and in.  Make sure your bag is heavier at the corner and fades as it nears your eye.  It shouldn't reach your outer eye.

• Last,  you take your brown eyeliner (or darker shadow) and draw a crisp line at the bottom of the bag (just above the highlight).
• Take your shading brush and blend slightly (upwards).
• Add in wrinkles (where they naturally occur) at your eyes.  Crinkle your eyes to find them.
• Draw in the shadow, then add a highlight underneath!  Easy!

Nose

With old age your nose is bigger.  It's unfortunate, but true.  I'm making my nose wider and my nostrils bigger.

1. To make wider you highlight down the nose, and the whole front portion of the nose.
2. To make nostrils bigger, you highlight those as well, all the way to the crease where you nose and cheeks meet.
3. Add shadow to the sides of your nose, draw a line right up next to the highlight and blend out to the cheeks into your foundation.
4. For the nostrils, follow the natural curve, but just outside the actual crease to enlarge them.

 Cheeks

1. Start at your nostril, follow the large crease down (if it's hard to find, smile, then follow the crease) to your mouth.
2. In the first picture I have a brown line crossed out.  I didn't like the way it looked so I just wiped it off and fixed it.  No sweat.  You can see it fixed in the second picture.
3. Draw the line and have it keep going past the mouth.  Your cheeks are going to hang real low as you become geriatric.
4. Blend that line out, it's a bit thicker than the rest of your wrinkle lines.
5. Add a highlight inside.
6. I added some to my whole cheek, blended carefully, no hard edge.

For an apple cheek - they'll be nice and full.  Probably from all that cake I'll be baking as a sweet ole granny.

1.  Start at the nostril and sweep out and up.
2. Blend upwards.
3. Add highlight to the middle of the cheekbone and the surrounding cheek area.  You just want it more concentrated there.
4.  Add a light coat underneath the shadow as well.
5. Add some blush to the apples of your cheek if you'd like.

Lips

In old age your lips become thinner.  Boo.  To do this is simple.

1. Put foundation or highlighter over your lips.
2. On your bottom lip add a natural lip color, but just inside your natural lip line.
3. On the top lip add a darker color also inside the lip line.
4. Add contouring with some shading and highlighting to the surrounding mouth area.
5. Add wrinkles to your lips.  Done and done.

Jaw

• Add highlight in a scallop motion alongside your jawline (above the ridge). It's like a 3, lying on its back, but 3 scallops, instead of 2.

• Add triangles of highlight underneath your scallop.  (See the picture below)

• Take your shadow and start at the top edge of the bottom highlight.  Is that confusing enough?  Make it a hard edge.
• Then blend the shadow up to meet the top scallop.  You don't want a hard edge where those two meet.

Before, During, and After

Now, go back and touch up anything you'd like.  Your face may not be perfectly symmetrical, don't worry about it.  Remember, this is stage makeup.  It's best seen at a far distance, not right up close.  It'll still look pretty dang sweet though.

Meet Granny Rochelle!

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[Tweet "I can make myself look old now!"]

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What stage makeup tutorial would you like next?

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Source: https://aslrochelle.com/rochelle-barlow/how-to-look-really-old-with-stage-makeup

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