Goth Make-Up On A Man!

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. 

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. 

Love What You Do

❤ The HouseCat is a Happy School-Marm ❤

Here's my mid-month status report for the 'This Is CorpGoth' blog. 

As my longer term readers may know, I work at a primary school. I won't state which one because I like to keep my personal, private, Goth life separate from my work life. I really enjoy my job, it's probably the most rewarding jobs I've done. I also cannot be too specific due to the school's social media policy. 

I'm not a teacher, and my actual roles are quite varied, and I do extra things in a volunteer capacity. I'm hoping to go back to studying, and gain the required qualifications to become a teacher, but that's not possible right now for various reasons, mostly financial ones. I've had a rather different career before, having worked in retail and then getting into retail management, and this was a complete change. After I got made redundant within a month from my previous retail job because the store closed, and having seen so many shops go out of business while I was unemployed, I stopped applying only for more retail jobs, it just didn't seem secure, even applying for big high-street institutions, as several of those have gone under recently. I knew already that I didn't really want a long-term career in retail, and that I only got into that sector via the evening job I had at college, but I was torn between trying to make a living via running a gallery, or via illustration work and going into academia or teaching art, and didn't know which way to turn, but now I have worked with children for nearly a year, I've found that I love it.

The most important thing is knowing that my job contributes something positive to the world. I didn't feel that in retail, but it is really rewarding to know that what I do helps, even in a small way. Education is a very complicated thing, and needs a holistic approach - it's not just about teaching the subjects, but making sure the school environment is conducive to learning, and that the children are in a productive frame of mind, and I know that doing even minor things like wishing pupils "Have a good day at school!" first thing in the morning contributes to that. What I say is not scripted, it's not the forced politeness of working in a customer facing role, where people check to see if you're smiley enough. I don't need anyone to tell me to be smiley at work because I genuinely have a reason to smile.

Low sun on an evening commute in springtime.

I like that I get to spend time outside as part of my job, I also like living just close enough for it to be possible to walk to work in the summer, when it is light enough out for me to be walking that early in the morning. I've seen red kites, herds of deer, rabbits, foxes, hedgehogs, buzzards, and all sorts of other wildlife while walking first thing in the morning - including deer running across the patch of grass behind my local supermarket, which was quite an unexpected spot to see them! I rescued a baby crow on my way back from work last spring! I will probably start walking home from work now that the days are significantly longer, but I start too early to walk in. I get an absolutely amazing view in the morning, and watching the morning light over the mountains is enough to stop me in my tracks temporarily just to watch, sunsets over the other mountains in the evenings are also pretty special, and as I live a long way up a high hill, my reward to myself for walking all that way is to have a cup of tea next to my nice big living-room window and look back over that view.