Dirtying Down - How to

Dirtying down your model includes getting dirt in the creases of the face, hands and under the nails. There's also a really easy way of making the teeth look unbrushed and dirty.

What you need to create this look:

• Greasepaints (black, brown & red)
• Tooth enamel
• Cotton buds
• Makeup brushes

Blackened Teeth

• Open the mouth and dry the tooth with a cotton bud
• Apply the black onto the tooth and keep the lip raised to allow the colour to dry
• Shade around the edges of the teeth to create a 3-D effect
• Always check the teeth throughout the shoot and have toothpicks to hand

Dirtying Down

• Apply any moisturizer to areas that will appear the most dirty on the skin
• Rub on fake dirt or spray colored hairspray to make the area darken on the skin
• Always remember to use the correct dirt or color for the surroundings that you are shooting the model in.
• Apply water or moisturizer to make the roots of the hair appear greasy as this is the area that becomes greasy first. You can also use brill cream.
• Spray dry shampoo on the hair to make it dull. 
• Always make sure you have dirtied down any areas of clothing that need to be dirtied down.

Claudia Final Look

Claudia she is a loner who isolates herself from the outside world. She gets inspiration for her look from magazines and films and also has an imaginary boyfriend called Quentin. She is very possessive of Quentin and will sometimes keep him prisoner and can be quite abusive towards him.

After playing around with a few ideas and creating some face charts i decided to go with a doll inspired character. I mentioned before that creepy dolls coming to life in movies has always been something that scared me and that's sometimes where you draw inspiration for great creations. 

I went for a typical white porcelain face as that is an obvious trademark for a doll, as for the blush i didn't want to focus on the apples as it made the look a little more clownish along with the style of lip i chose. I previously blogged about a fashion story called Japanese Noveau Glam Goth that included a really harshly applied contour so i attempted this kind of effect which unfortunately softened up A LOT on camera and it wasn't until i looked at the pictures later on that day that i noticed! I applied bottom lashes as well as top lashes to give a wide eye effect which also gives it that creepy look. 

For the hair i stuck with tight girly curls that i was planning on brushing out to give more of a wave but after seeing the finished results i decided to stick with it. I also made an over sized bow using black lace to accessorize the hair which you can see more clearly in the image below. 

Hair idea for Claudia

I know i want to do a hairstyle that has quite a lot of texture and volume as i think dead straight hair is a bit plain and obvious for a Gothic look. When browsing for inspiration i came across this image of Doe Deere and absolutely fell in love with the hair. It's very cute and girly but put with the right make-up look i think i can turn it around. By curling the hair in tight curls and softly brushing it out you can achieve more of a wave effect like in this image.

Dolls

Following up from my previous post i did a little more research on doll makeup and movies that feature scary dolls. There are a TON of doll creations around so it's important to put an individual twist on it and make it your own. I've seen a lot with this cracked, broken skin effect which looks great and is also fitting to the character of Claudia, a broken girl with a lot of problems.

It's something i can get quite creative with and also make it look quite fashion-y as well as creepy!

'May'

May is an American horror that was produced in 2002. It's about a lonely girl who had a rough childhood and is now isolated with her only friend being a doll called Suzie that her mother gave her. May starts to become a little more social and meets a boy, she beings to obsess over him and eventually freaks him out and he leaves. 

"If you can't find a friend, make one."

She starts to talk to the doll as if she were real and drives herself a bit crazy, that's when she starts killing people and cutting off their limbs to eventually create a new person who she names Amy. 

I felt there were a lot of similarities between May and Claudia and the film as a whole inspired me on this project. The characters are both strange and isolated to the outside world which makes it hard for them to make friends and talk to people. They have controlling personalities and both end up creating a person but in a different way. 

Quentin is just imaginary and is whoever Claudia wants him to be, May created Amy in a far more brutal way but i still connect the two. The doll Suzie is also key to this story, May is so alone that she begins to think the doll is real and that it is forcing her to make wrong decisions which got me thinking about other horror movies that feature doll characters like The Bride of Chucky and Dolls.

All things lace

 I've been pinning away on my inspiration board for Claudia and have come across some really incredible creations. A lot of images i am drawn to have been involving lace which is always something I've associated with the word Gothic.

I originally wanted to incorporate a lace lip (see image below) that i had seen on Instagram a while back but since researching i have found more interesting ways of using lace to make an effective look.

This image to the right really stood out to me, i like how the lace covers more of her face and it looks more mysterious which i think is fitting as Claudia is a mysterious character, she doesn't really know who she is and is definitely a person that would step outside the box with her look.

I have also thought about using lace as a stencil so instead of sticking on the lace to the face i could airbrush or paint over it so the pattern transfers onto the skin. The image below inspired that idea and also shows how it doesn't need to be black to show Gothic elements.