How to Apply Geisha Makeup
The art of the Geisha originated in Japan. Japanese women dress up as Makio, who are Geisha apprentices. They wear Kimonos and Okobos. Geisha are professional performers. Although it takes many elements to create the whole Geisha look, the most important part is the Geisha makeup. Geisha makeup is the most recognizable characteristic on the performer and most think it is the most important.
Applying The Makeup
Applying geisha makeup isn’t terribly difficult, but it does take a bit of practice. Before you touch any makeup to your face, you need to clean your face, dry your face and apply a face moisturizer. The moisturizer will help protect your skin from the makeup that geishas put on their face. This makeup can dry out your face. A moisturizer prevents some of this.
Geisha Make Up for a Geisha Girl
The most important part of the Geisha make up is the very pale or white face. This effect can be made with white make up that you can buy at a costume store, or even in the costume section of the local Wal-Mart or CVS.
If you do not have time and need a really quick costume idea, check the make up drawer for the palest foundation that you have. Mix in some white talc powder and cover the entire face and your neck
Geisha Makeup
The traditional makeup of the tiro geisha features a thick white base (originally made with lead or rice powder) with red lipstick and red and black accents around the eyes and eyebrows.
The application of makeup is hard to perfect and is a time consuming process. To avoid dirtying the kimono makeup is applied before dressing. First step, a wax or oil substance, called bintsuke-abura, is applied to the skin. The second one, white powder is mixed with water into a paste and applied with a bamboo brush. This white makeup covers the face, neck, and chest, with two or three unwhitened areas (forming a “W” or “V” shape) left on the nape, to accentuate this traditionally erotic area, and a line of bare skin around the hairline, which creates the illusion of a mask.
Applying geisha makeup can be exhausting and has to be extremely precise due to the fact that one slip up with such a dramatic look can cause the geisha to look tacky, out of sorts, or unauthentic. Mastering the traditional geisha makeup look is exceptionally important as it is very expensive to hire a geisha and they must ensure that the customer receives what he/she has paid for.
The eyes and eyebrows are filled in next, done with regular cosmetics. Traditionally charcoal was used, but now any geisha will happily settle for a tube of Revlon. Lipstick is then applied in shades of bright red and mixed with crystallized sugar in order to ad a lustrous look to the lips that would otherwise be very think. Some lips are only colored in partially, while others are colored fully. This determines what level of geisha the woman is. The higher up the food chain of geisha that you progress, the fuller and redder the lips.
The geisha look is not very difficult to attain but it certainly needs a fair amount of practice. The first thing that you need to do is clean your face and apply a moisturizer. The geisha make-up has a tendency to dry up your skin and the moisturizer works as a guard against that dryness.
After you are done with the moisturizer, use a foundation. The trick is to apply the right amount of paint. It should not be very thick a layer and at the same time it cannot be too thin. This balance is something that comes with practice. You can go for an ivory foundation and then use the white powder. When applying the foundation, ensure that it goes well beyond your eyebrows and over your lips. Then draw eyebrows that are thin and dark slightly above your own eyebrows.
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