My friend was feeling a bit down, and so I invited him and a mutual friend over to mine for an evening, they made him tacos and I did his make-up.
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| Photograph and make-up by HouseCat. |
He tends to wear a mix of Romantic Goth and 'corp-Goth' fashion - a fondness for black shirts, waistcoats with nice buttons, brocade ties and cravats, black suits in slightly vintage cuts, etc. etc. I tried to do make-up that would suit his outfit, but my the designs I know well enough to try on someone else are all based on designs that go with the fully Romantic Goth outfits I usually wear. He wanted to look "full on Goth" and requested the same sort of swirlies that are ubiquitous and characteristic of my personal make-up style.
I very rarely get to do make-up on another person, so that was its own challenge. I actually think it is easier than doing it on myself with a mirror for the simple fact of it not being done in a mirror. I don't like doing eye make-up on other people because I am worried I will accidentally poke them in the eye, plus people are always twitchier when someone else is doing their eye make-up than they are doing it themselves - hard to draw on swirlies or eyeliner when the person is twitching!
A lot of people assume that if a man wears makeup he is either gay or genderqueer because make-up is seen as a female thing; my friend is heterosexual and cisgendered. Make-up is for anyone who wants to use it. Personally, I think the Goth scene in recent years has seen a reduction in elaborate and dramatic make-up, especially on men, and as I quite like dramatic make-up (and drawing swirlies), I would like to see a reversal of this trend.
A lot of people assume that if a man wears makeup he is either gay or genderqueer because make-up is seen as a female thing; my friend is heterosexual and cisgendered. Make-up is for anyone who wants to use it. Personally, I think the Goth scene in recent years has seen a reduction in elaborate and dramatic make-up, especially on men, and as I quite like dramatic make-up (and drawing swirlies), I would like to see a reversal of this trend.
Glad to be of service.
ReplyDelete~Ducky
Of service? This was an attempt to cheer you up! :P I think Ash wants their makeup done too now...
DeleteI'm looking back at this 10 years later. and I love how this was the first time I was ever put in makeup not to mock me, but to make me feel happy.
DeleteLooking back it really did make me so happy, and gave me the bravery to explore and discover who I am.
So I'm now a girl that still loves black suits with a slightly vintage cut.
Seriously thank you so much for really giving me this experience and opening up the ability to explore and now be who I turned out to be.
Good to see, and you're right, people just don't wear enough makeup these days! I used to do makeup on my friends a lot, and it's really hard to do when they twitch! I find that guys are a lot harder to put makeup on, they twitch way more and freak out about getting poked in the eye... lol. But your friend has good taste and I like the look :)
ReplyDeleteThank-you :) It seems that most Gothic make-up these days is smokey cat-eyes (nothing wrong with that, I do it often myself), with not many other designs. I miss the artistic stuff, the angular stuff, the Deathrock/Siouxsie stuff... I think people who don't often wear make-up, regardless of sex, are the twitchiest!
DeleteVery nice! Dramatic makeup needs to make a comeback. I do like a man in eyeliner! :)
ReplyDeleteI think I am going to post more of my fancily drawn/intricate make-up designs, as some sort of encouragement!
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