Sometimes even the best ideas fall to the wayside, but that doesn’t mean the end result is any less fun.
When I asked Marilyn Ritchie, the Cultural Activities Center’s visual arts director, to give me a crash course in Halloween makeup - meaning to put the makeup on me - her original idea was to create the skeleton face she uses for Jacob Marley, the dead partner of Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol.”
However, as she went along she found the shape of my face wasn’t going to adhere to the skeleton plan.
At the start of my adventure, Ms. Ritchie explained it’s always good to have a plan whether it’s your own sketch or a photograph.
“Especially if you are doing it several times,” Ms. Ritchie said. “You want to try and be the same.”
I purposely had a clean-shaven face and Ms. Ritchie said for men that’s the best way to begin.
Her first step was to apply a base of cold cream.
“I put this on so that (the makeup) will come off,” Ms. Ritchie said. “If you have a nice cream base, the makeup on it won’t go into your pores.”
The next step was to apply a layer of clown white stage makeup “because you are dead,” Ms. Ritchie said.
As Ms. Ritchie covered my face with white goo she explained the process was better as a two-person job but it can be done alone.
“You can do it yourself,” Ms. Ritchie said. “Once you have the makeup plot or picture, then you have the pattern. And all you have to do is go by the pattern. It’s fun to sit down and plan it out, and if you’re like most people you’ll get some other great ideas.”
Once she finished the layer of white makeup she started to hollow out the eyes with a black makeup pen.
As she darkened my eyes she realized how unskeleton-like my face really was.
“So you could just be a ghoulish type thing or we might make you Kiss-like,” Ms. Ritchie said.
While I am a fan of the classic rock band, I wasn’t sure of the end result, but Ms. Ritchie assured me of her creativity when she recounted what she was for Halloween.
“I was She-It. You remember Cousin It? I was the female version,” she said. “Only I didn’t have hair, I had scarves. It was a little weird. I just have a million scarves and I didn’t have a costume.”
The final step in the process was to add a layer of powder to my face and then pat my face down with a damp paper towel.
“The powder soaks up the makeup oil and then the towel helps to set it,” Ms. Ritchie said.
After the makeup is set, Ms. Ritchie said it would stay in place depending on how a person touches his face or sweats.
“If you feel like you need to touch (the makeup) just press it lightly with your hand or a paper towel,” she said.
When the night is through, another layer of cold cream and a good rubbing with a paper towel or washcloth will help take down your Halloween face, Ms. Ritchie said.
During the makeup process I wasn’t facing a mirror, but Ms. Ritchie’s smile assured me.
“I’ll call you the Jack of Diamonds,” she said with a slight grin.
rrenfrow@temple-telegram.com
