Style Saturday: Androgynous Beauty
Today we’ll be talking about something a bit different. What is makeup and why do we use it? Do you use it for hiding (so called) flaws? Enhancing features? Denoting status? All are valid options. But when we boil it down to its very essence, makeup is paint and pigment we put on our skin to create an illusion. Our perception of beauty changes with every decade, making beauty an impossible thing to define, and that’s what makes it so wonderful. It is a mix of cultural norms and individual perceptions. There is no wrong or right.
I recently stumbled upon a gorgeous comic (thanks to our editor Declan‘s Comicphiles) called 8House, which not only puts the standard perception of beauty into question, but gender norms as well. It was quite common for men in our culture to wear makeup once upon a time, but now in the mainstream it’s treated like something only celebrities or people in the media make use of. 8House presents us with a beautiful world where makeup is treated as paint to add colour and ethereal beauty to its users, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
Arclight
I know the saying is ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’, but 8House #1 has too gorgeous a cover for you to ignore, and the book doesn’t disappoint. Arclight caught my eye straight away and, I must admit, at first I thought he was a woman, with his beautiful watercolour-like makeup and lacy outfit (oh you pesky gender norms making me jump to conclusions). Turns out he is an honoured knight!
This mask-like makeup seems like a popular design in the world of 8House, but none have been so colourful as Arclight’s. To create a painterly effect, I used both grease paints and eyeshadows on a fluffy brush. I’d also like to draw attention to the colourful contouring done to the forehead, and in unconventional spots around the lips and nostrils/nose. Free your mind of any pre-determined makeup rules and you too can immerse yourself in the world of 8House.
Sir Nowak
We don’t know much about Sir Nowak yet, apart from her strong regard for hierarchy and titles. The fact that she is completely covered in freckles, and all the characters have lines under their eyes, makes me think that the makeup in 8House is not used to mask (so called) imperfections or smooth out skin, but rather used for decoration or even in a ceremonial matter. Sir Nowak’s imposing presence in the few panels we’ve seen her in so far, is heavily contrasted with her choice of pastel colours for her appearance.
For such a flat and even eye makeup, I used good old fashioned face paint. I’ve talked a lot about customized liquid eyeliner colours in past Style Saturdays, and face paints are yet another versatile product you can use for super colourful eye liners.
If you’d like to fake some freckles like I’ve done, you can use a textured makeup sponge and some dark concealer or foundation for a natural effect. I also went in with a darker brow pencil and drew in some irregular shapes all over my face to give the freckles some dimension (they’re never just 1 colour!). To diversify it even more, I finished it off with some brown grease paint on the textured sponge and created the smaller darker freckles.
If you haven’t read 8House yet, I highly recommend it as your next read. It has inspired me tremendously. Let me know in the comments below what other comics inspire you makeup or style-wise!
