Today I’m going to start off by saying: if you haven’t watched Mad Max: Fury Road yet, drop everything and GO WATCH IT NOW. Then watch it again. Okay, now that everything is in order, I AM AWAITED IN VALHA- um… I mean… Let’s put on some makeup, shall we?
Want to wear your Mad Max pride? Check out Tendai’s Style Saturday fashion guide for furious, rebellious style!
IMMORTAN JOE
He might be gross, he might be a douche, you may hate him, but he is terribly in fashion. Red and maroon shadows are very in right now, so why not take the opportunity to pay an homage to this masked fiend?
In the movie, he’s got red in his waterline, but here I’ve substituted it for black for a more wearable look. Red in the waterline will make your eyes look irritated, so it really is best left unused in the case of beauty makeup.
I also drew a really thin cat eye to separate the two colours because it gives a more polished finish to the look, rather than just having the two colours meet. I achieved this super thin line by using gel liner on a tiny flat brush.
With such a bold look like this, make sure your eyebrows are well-groomed and filled in, to match the sharpness of the shadow & liner.
Add plenty of mascara for a fierce look, and you’re good to go!
NUX/WAR BOY
I’ve been wanting to do Nux’s makeup since before I watched the movie and I hope to get around to making his prosthetics one day… but since we’re fresh out of prosthetics, why don’t we stick to some regular makeup?
You want to remember the war boys are all ridden with various diseases due to radiation, pollution and other things, so their skin is already weird to start off with. You won’t want to cover your dark circles under your eyes for this one. In fact, embrace them! The more the better! They are ghostly pale, too, but not in a uniform geisha skin kind of way. To get some gross looking patchy skin, I used white clown paint on a duo-fibre stippling brush and applied it with a dabbing motion, to get the texture from the brush. Don’t sweep or buff in the product, otherwise you will lose all the texture!
And that brings me to my next point: in post-apocalyptic looks like this, texture is ESSENTIAL. It gives much more depth to the character, showing where he’s been and what his surroundings are like. So don’t overlook the dirt! Dirtying up for cosplay can make such a huge difference and can take you from a simple costume to ‘screen ready’.
For my dirt, I used a variety of products. Black and brown face paint, grease paint, and alcohol activated paints. Using different products will simulate different types of dirt. There are even specialty products to simulate oil stains (like what Furiosa wears). Apply the dirt with a textured sponge so it won’t just look like a smudge. This could be a natural sea sponge, a special fx sponge, or (my favourite) a round facial cleansing sponge you can get from Penney’s for about €1 (they are textured somewhat like sea sponges). It is also important to pay attention to details like teeth, which would be fairly dirty as well. You can get tooth enamel for fairly cheap in specialty stores, but they do apply quite opaque in one solid block of color. Dilute it with alcohol (IPA) and apply it with a makeup brush for a more realistic application.
I mentioned the use of red in the waterline before, and here you can tell the effect it gives. I used a pink lip pencil in my waterline to make my eyes look irritated. For the rest of the eye makeup I used cake eyeliner (which is activated with water, much like face paint) and applied it with a brush and smudged it around with my fingers. Don’t be afraid to get down and dirty with it.
For the lips, I just used a dark concealer and a very dark brown pencil to make the lines. I highlighted in between the lines with a light concealer and the white I used on my skin. If you want to make the actual bumps to simulate the scars, I’d recommend using wax, but since it’s on your lips, it probably wont last very long. Rigid collodion is a product made for making indented scars and it works wonders, but I DO NOT recommend using it on your lips since the skin is so delicate there, so prosthetics (like in the movie) would be your best bet for prolonged wear if you want the bumpy texture. If not, just fake it like me!
If you don’t have a baldcap or goggles to hide your hair under, pretend you got a head injury (it’s kind of in his job description after all) and wrap it up in bandages and that’s that!
Are any of you planning on doing a Mad Max cosplay anytime soon?
If so, let us know in the comments bellow!
