Practising My Miss Havisham Look 2

I decided to practise my make up design along with my hair design to make sure I knew exactly what I was doing in my assessment as well as how long it would take me. I was pleased how the look turned out in the practise, however I thought that the under eye looked too dark and almost looked like a black eye. I will remember to make the colour more on the brown side during the assessment. I liked the hair and thought that I achieved what I wanted, however I wanted it to look more frizzy and messy, I believe this could be achieved by making the sections of hair that I styled smaller. For the assessment I will remember to make it look more brown rather than dark and blue. I have two hours for the assessment and I carried out the look in an hour and a half. This means I have a small amount of spare time if anything goes wrong as well as a good amount of time for images to be taken. 

Miss Havisham Practise 2

Miss Havisham Practise 2 

Practising My Miss Havisham Look 1

This week I began to practise my Miss Havisham make up design on my model. This was my first time practising my make up look so throughout the process I was able to make changes to suit the design. I began by applying a light base to the skin, I did not want it to be very pale, as I am concentrating on the earlier scenes in the book where she was not at her palest. I was careful to blend the colour down the neck and onto the ears in order to make the look seamless. After applying the base I created a darker shade, using my supra colour palette, to create dark under eye bags. I also applied the same colours onto the eyelids as during Pip's first encounter with her he describes her as having, 'dark eyes'. After standing back and looking in the mirror at my model I realised that the look could have been darker. I therefore added a grey colour on to the lids which I had not previously intended to do, but I think it helped to look slightly darker but not too much.  I however did not go too far with the darkness as I didn't want to make my model look completely hideous. I also added a small amount of black supra colour on the lashes as I wanted to darken the lashes but not make them any longer. I liked the effect that this gave, however there was a trouble with transferring onto the lid and below the eye whenever my model looked up or blinked, so for the timed assessment I will use mascara but will be careful to not create any length.

After the application of the base I applied duo lash glue to the lips so that I could create a dry lip effect. I liked how this effect turned out as I had previously struggled with it. I added a pink effect onto most of the lip area but added a deeper red colour into the areas that looked the most dry and this successfully added to the effect of making it look more raw. Once I stood back and looked at the lips I realised that they looked too pink and more like a lipstick, I therefore added a concealer to the outer edges of the lips to make them look less healthy. For the timed assessment I must remember to be careful about the amount of pink I apply to the lips. I also added more red onto the darker areas to make it a bit more intense.

I decided to add a dark colour into the contours of the face and focussed under the cheeks to make them look more hollow. I was careful to buff the edges away but keep the hollows dark. I didn't want to bring the colour too far onto the cheeks as I didn't want to give the cheeks any colour. As true to my design I did not apply any blusher as I was not trying to make my model look fresh. Once I took a picture of my design I decided that the face looked too clean and  a bit too pretty and, although I did not want to make my model look too unclean, I thought I needed to add more to put across the lack of care that Miss Havisham had for herself. I therefore added some darker patches onto the skin to make it look more distressed.

When designing the brows I wanted to keep them dark and thin, but slightly unruly as I didn't want to keep my model looking too groomed. However I decided that they looked too neat and straight and also dark for a Miss Havisham style look. I therefore decided to extend the brow further down towards the eye, and then ran a small amount of white supra colour through the brows on a mascara wand. For the timed assessment I will need to make sure that the colour of the brows matches that of the hair.

I am pleased the overall look that I have created so far. I will be however practising again so I can completely finalise the look and in my mind be perfectly clear with what I am creating. I am worried about the continuity side of the assessment so I will be taking pictures step by step of any make up that I carry out during the first assessment and I will also be making notes of anything that I feel is important for the continuity side of it. I may also bring in pots with me so any colours that I mix together, that I may not recreate accurately again, I can make in a larger quantity and store it for the second part of the assessment.

The Original Look

The Look After Changes 

The Look After Changes

Miss Havisham Hair Inspiration

When creating my hair design for Miss Havisham I wanted to get into the mind set of how she may be feeling as well as looking at the descriptions that Dickens gives of her. I am focusing on the beginning of the book, where I believe she would still retain some of her wedding day appearance, and as the book goes on her hair would become longer and more unkempt. Dickens writes, 'she had not quite finished dressing, for she had but one shoe on- the other was on the table near her hand- her veil was but half arranged, her watch and chain were not on' This desription has inspired me to create a look, that in some ways is sleek and finished but in other ways undone. I also liked the description of the interior of the house and especially picked up on the reference to cobwebs, 'An épergne or centre-piece of some kind was in the middle of this cloth; it was so heavily overhung with cobwebs that its form was quite undistinguishable' I thought the cobwebs could be represented well through the use of frizzy curls throughout the hair. I found this picture from the Topshop Unique Catwalk Spring Summer 2011, and thought that the frizzing effect did almost represent a large mass of cobwebs. In the victorian era it was also popular to have a smooth style on the top of the head along with a centre parting. I want to try to combine this look along with the frizzed hair and ringlets. I found the image below of frizzed hair with a smooth parting and think that it is style that I will keep in mind when creating my final look.

http://www.hairromance.com/2012/02/backstage-secrets-from-nyfw-hairstylists.html

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/topshop-unique-spring-2011

I would like to use ringlets in my design as they were a very common look created in the Victorian era. In many of the victorian portraits ringlets feature. I like ringlets as they can create a smooth and finished look on the hair. I also believe that ringlets are a very beautiful style, the beauty, under the pain, that Miss Havisham still has at this time is something that I want to try to capture. Therefore I am interested in this style. Creating ringlets in the lessons that we had was also enjoyable.

https://www.pinterest.com/secretvictorian/victorian-hairstyles/

https://www.pinterest.com/auntjennysgirl/old-paintings-etc/

How Is The Grotesque Depicted In Great Expectations

The grotesque does not have one definitive definition but when I think of the grotesque I imagine something ugly and repulsive, however this is not always the case. There can be two ways of defining the grotesque. It can be something in between real and non real, or something in between funny and frightening. The use of funny has to be used with a pinch of salt as people have different ideas of what is 'funny'. The grotesque can however sometimes be the more conventional understanding of it, for example being ugly and almost comical.

When reading the book 'Great Expectations' I was unaware of this definition, so looking back on the book now and trying to find grotesque depictions has been quite interesting. When considering the more conventional idea of the grotesque I think the description of  Pip's Uncle Pumblechook is comical in the choice of words that Dickens uses, for example, 'a large hard breathing middle-aged slow man, with a mouth like a fish, dull staring eyes, and sandy hair standing upright on his head, so that he looked as if he had just been choked'. This description to me is humorous because it is so descriptive, exaggerated and almost repulsive.

In terms of the frightening element of the grotesque, to me the most frightening part of 'Great Expectations' is Pip's first encounter with the convict Magwitch. The encounter is very sudden, with the convict grabbing Pip and shouting, 'Hold your noise!' and with the convict even threatening Pip's life claiming he will cut Pip's throat. There is very little to suggest this encounter will take place as there is a large contrast between the relative calm nature of the story leading up to it. I also find the convict's wish to eat Pip's cheeks terrifying. The idea of cannibalism has frightened me for a long time, since discovering the films of Hannibal Lecter.

Another frightening scene in the book is where Miss Havisham sets herself alight, 'I saw a great light spring up. In the same moment I saw her running at me, shrieking, with a whirl of fire blazing all about her, and soaring at least as many feet about her head as she was high.' This is a frightening description and to me the use of the word, 'shrieking' is terrifying as you get a sense of her pain. It is also frightening that she got to such a dark place in her life that she chose to do this to herself.

Another element of the grotesque is the meeting of life and death and the blend of the two. To me Miss Havisham is almost ghostly with Pip referring her to being 'corpse-like' and like a 'skeleton'. As well as being a blend of life and death these descriptions are almost frightening.

http://www.literary-articles.com/2010/02/charles-dickens-use-of-humour-in-great.html

http://www.sooperarticles.com/art-entertainment-articles/grotesque-great-expectations-pips-early-encounters-magwitch-652194.html

https://literature-classics.knoji.com/charles-dickenss-greatest-comic-and-grotesque-characters/

Miss Havisham Make Up Designs

Make Up Design 1:

In this design I decided to keep the face pale, as the idea of Miss Havisham never seeing the light is a large feature throughout the book. I decided to use heavy contouring under the cheeks to make her look more frail and weak. I wanted to keep the eyes clear of any make up as in the Victorian era make up was minimal and almost frowned upon. I decided to use dark colours in the under eye area as she is described as having 'dark eyes' and, in my interpretation of her, I don't imagine her to be sleeping much because of her torment. The eyebrows in this design are white as Miss Havisham had white hair. I think this makes it look more realistic and in keeping with the descriptions given in the book. I also decided to use dry skin on the cheeks to resemble the lack of care she has given herself as well as the fact that she is described as never having been seen eating or drinking. I decided to keep the lips pink as I wanted to try to keep her looking slightly youthful as well as beautiful as I am keen to show her at her youngest point in the book. I decided not to use this design for the assessment as I will be carrying it out twice, and am worried for the continuity part of the assessment and that I will not be able to repeat it with enough accuracy.

Make Up Design 2:

In this design I decided to make Miss Havisham look slightly dirty. In the book she is not described as being dirty, but I wanted to try to capture the mistreatment of herself. Like in the previous design I wanted to keep the eyes clear of any make up as in keeping with the traditional Victorian style, but wanted to make the under eye dark, because to me this is an important feature of any of my Miss Havisham designs. I kept the eyebrows thin because sometimes under stress hair can be lost. I experimented with the lip colour as well as in this design because I wanted to capture the beauty still left in Miss Havishams character and, to me, a red lips is a classic mark of beauty. I decided not to use this look as I thought that the red lip was too heavy as well as not being in keeping with the Victorian look. Although this look would have been slightly more different to a traditional Miss Havisham look I thought that it might be better for a modern version. 

Make Up Design 3, Final Design:

In this design I kept the skin pale, as like in the first design I wanted to reflect the fact that she rarely sees the sun. I wanted to keep the cheeks quite hollow as to reflect her weakness and perhaps malnourishment, I also added the same colour in patches on the skin as I believe that she may be unhealthy due to a lack of food and drink. I decided to make the brows slightly thicker to add to the look of youth but made them white to match the colour of the hair. I decided to make the under eye as well as the as the eye lids dark to reflect the description of 'dark eyes' and my own interpretation of her having a little amount of sleep. I created the effect of dry skin on the lips, to show her dehydration as well as lack of care of herself. I decided that I would use this look in my timed assessment as I think that it best represents my imagined idea of Miss Havisham. In the second design I was worried that I would not able to recreate the dry skin but I believe in this design it will be easier to recreate as it is over a smaller area. The rest of the design is quite simple so I think that it will be more easy to recreate in the continuity assessment.

Miss Havisham Make Up Inspiration

As well as possibly incorporating sores into my design I am keen to incorporate dry and chapped lips as in the book, it is highlighted that Miss Havisham rarely eats or drinks. I enjoyed the lesson where I learnt about how to apply this effect and was interested to look at dry lips in real life, so I was able to make them look as realistic as possible. In many of the images I found it was the bottom lip which appeared to look the most dehydrated. I found the image below online and, as strange as it sounds, liked the look of the dry lips, and wanted to try to recreate this type of effect in my design. The exercise of looking up the dry lips was useful as I now have a better understanding of the look of severely chapped lips.

http://www.sodahead.com/fun/whats-worse-dry-skin-or-chapped-lips/question-4514535/

I was keen to incorporate dark under eyes in my design as Miss Havisham is described as having 'dark hollow eyes.' I am keen to make it look as realistic as possible so started to look at and research dark circles around eyes. I was also keen to see if this look had ever been used on catwalk. Dark eyes have been created many times in terms of a dark smokey eye with sometimes it being bought down low, but never with the desired effect of making the models looking tired. I did however come across this image of model Cara Delevigne on the runway for Burberry, where she is wearing very minimal make up. This minimalist approach means that some of her dark eyes are clear to see. Surprisingly I liked this look as it  is very fresh. I also like the browny purply colour under the eyes as, even though it is not stereotypically beautiful, I think that somehow it is.  This is the type of look that I am trying to create for Miss Havisham, tired and down trodden but still beautiful.

http://primped.ninemsn.com.au/makeup/new-season-makeup-collections-from-burberry-nars-and-bobbi-brown

Miss Havisham Make Up Inspiration

When planning my Miss Havisham make up look I began to research normal everyday women of the Victorian era to get a sense of what life was like for them, as well as focusing on passages from the book 'Great Expectations' and the description of the appearance of Miss Havisham. While searching for the 'average' women I found this image online of a Victorian housewife, Anne Girling, who claimed to be a prophet and in the era was very radical. She claimed that Jesus visited her on Christmas Day in 1864 and told her to give up sex. She also claims that a flaming dove visited her and told her that she was a female version of Christ. She gained some followers for her claims but eventually was run out of Suffolk. I have found this image inspirational because I am interested in making a younger Miss Havisham, as during Pip's first encounter with her he describes her as being a 'wax work', but still with some signs of age. In this image it is obvious that she is an older women but she does not have any lines or wrinkles on her face, there is just a clever use of shading. I especially like the dark areas around the eyes, and believe that this is something that I will incorporate into my design, as well as the shading around the mouth which gives the illusion of age lines, coming down from the nose to the lip.

http://listverse.com/2014/08/11/10-wildly-eccentric-characters-from-victorian-england/

I found the image below from a newspaper article which talks about the treatment of women in the Victorian era and how they were sent to asylums if they suffered from stress, post natal depression or anxiety. To me this seems very extreme treatment of women and highlighted to me the difference between then and the help and support which would be carried out today, and also how lucky women are now in this society. The article features women who were deemed insane for a range of reasons such as child birth, infidelity and overwork.  The article also contained many interesting images of women from the asylums. They were interesting images as they contained a lot of pain in them, especially through the facial expression. This was very inspirational as I could draw a parallel with the pain that Miss Havisham would have felt. It left me wondering if she too would have been deemed insane. The image below shows a woman who has what looks to be sores, or cuts on her face. Although I am trying to make a younger version of Miss Havisham I still want to show her mistreatment of herself, and am considering using sores in my design. This image also helped me to realise that the cuts that Miss Havisham gave herself were not only factual but occurred in everyday, 'real people's' lives.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2141741/Sent-asylum-The-Victorian-women-locked-suffering-stress-post-natal-depression-anxiety.html