Dark Elf makeup question

Terrel

Scholar
If there is already a thread please point me there.

I have a buddy who want's to dark elf with me, now one thing to know about him is that he sweats profusely and we at SoMN joke about him "Sweating his skin off" when he npc's.
We were talking about a substitute for makeup like a nylon mask to cover his skin and a wig for the white hair (or just plain bald)
This goes along with the first 10 words I typed out, could anyone give us some ideas on how to devise something for him?

Thanks

- Andrew C.
 
The only thing I know of that helps reduce over-active sweat and oil glands in the face is rubbing a cucumber on yourself daily.

Alas, sweaty face is, in my experience, one of the primary reasons people actually end up race changing away from full makeup races. Make up running into the eyes isn't terribly safe.

I had some decent success building a mask long ago for a scorpion wylderkin where we took some old black spandex-type material and I stretched it over his face, marking and then cutting and stitching so that he ended up with something form fitting over the face. I had to whip stitch it while it was pinned and on his head, which he claimed was not terribly comfortable. It laced up the back of his head to keep it on. To tell the truth, looked a bit more like a luchador mask, but it certainly worked. You could easily put a regular white wig over it. At that point, you'd only have to apply make up around the eyes, bottom of the nose, and lips (if you're that hardcore that is.) You'd probably want to affix something like eyebrows to the outside... or it might look a little too odd.
 
it can also depend upon what kind of make up you are using

cake make up tends to stay better

or even air brushing

theres also some kind of barrier spray to keep make up on, as ive not used barrier spray i dont know where you could get it or what it exactly consists of.
but i know it exisists and holds up well for my friends i see use it.
 
there's an Anoka MN costume shop that had both the cake make up and barrier stuff. Small make up was 5$, large was 18$ Barrier was I think around 7$ I just picked up some BenNye in green.

I'm currently testing it it feels light and comfortable, but being inside I haven't worked up a sweat.

http://www.partypapersanoka.com/?content_id=1

The Lady at the shop was nice and let me try on some before purchasing.
 
Unfortunately, if someone is sweating hard enough to lose their face, chances are no real combination of make up and barrier spray will work out. I have seen people sweat off liquid, cake, powder, and even airbrushed on make up with barrier spray applied both before and after make up was applied. The only thing I haven't seen people sweat off is grease... that's usually because they scratch it off before it ever has a chance to sweat off.

If he's willing to try it, there's a charcoal powder make up that if *it* doesn't stay on, nothing really will.
 
I once heard a rumor about a drill instructor who used to use a spray on anti-persperant on his face in order not to sweat as much as the trainees were. I'm not suggesting it, just letting you know about one option to stop face sweat that I heard.
 
Knowing who you're talking about, Terrel, i know that he sweats off his face THROUGH multiple applications of barrier spray. He might want to try an oil based makeup (I think we have some in monster camp that we can do an allergy test first... I found out the hard way tht I'm allergic to it). Setting the makeup with a charcoal powder might help too.
 
Terrel said:
I have a buddy who want's to dark elf with me, now one thing to know about him is that he sweats profusely and we at SoMN joke about him "Sweating his skin off" when he npc's.

I think that if your sweaty friend wants to play a Dark Elf he is probably fooct. Wearing black grease paint (apply it with a trowl :lol: ) is miserable, even in the winter. Anything which can be removed without harming the skin probably will be sweated off in a couple of hours.
 
As a big sweaty guy I know the sorrows. If he sweats a lot it's probably for a reason. Best not to stop that without a doctor's recommendation (there is medication for profuse sweating.) Worked in haunted houses for years and the only tricks that work were so uncomfortable I didn't make it through a 3 hour show. Some of the tricks will also regress you to high school acne. My sweating is the reason I can never play a full makeup race. That's okay, humans win! :D
 
of course humans win, but some people just cant handle playing such an awsome race. Maybe try regular elf instead, orrrr MWE if you want something more exotic and not face painty. For something close to human awsomeness, but not quite there barbarian and gypsy. You can alsways just have dark elf as a winter only secondary (which is what I have my heavy armor human secondary as).
 
I'm a bit late to the party here, I know, but I rarely check this part of the forum.

I had a bit of success in the fall and spring experimenting with liquid latex. It's a bit on the extreme side though, so I wouldn't recommend it to a lot of people, at least not for a full mask right away. I bought a quart of it and then "painted" it on my face and neck and even used it to paint and attach my ears. I would get my forehead, nose, cheeks, and neck fairly well, and then have to apply some black cake makeup to fill in the areas around my eyes, hair lines and mouth.
When I first tried it, I didn't use a liquid latex barrier spray, which I quickly learned was a huge mistake. LL sticks to itself, so if I leaned my head forward, the front of my neck would scrunch up, and when I straightend my head back up, the LL on my neck would tear, and by the end of my first weekend, it looked like someone has slashed my throat open. Once I bought some LL barrier spray, I got rid of the sticking problem fairly well. After that I found it stayed on extremely well even through immense sweating and even rain. Cleanup was also very nice as it's technically a latex mask, so grabbing the edge on my forehead and pulling down would remove everything and just leave me with makeup around the eyes, hairline, and mouth to cleanup with a baby wipe or two.

There are a couple of pretty big negatives though. The first is that LL comes off like a bandaid. This means if it gets in any of your hair, that hair is coming out with it. This is especially tricky if you have eyebrows, a goatee, or use the LL to hold your ears on. LL also shrinks a little tiny bit as it dries, so it kind of feels like your face is being squeezed a little tiny bit all day long. The last negative is that it does not breath at all. You will still sweat, but it will all happen under the LL, so if you wear it for too long or on really hot days, your face will just feel nasty and potentially break out with acne.

~Joe
 
One thing to keep in mind is that if you are hot and sweaty, so's your character. On really bad days, some of us use thinner material to "hide our faces from the sun". This way you have much less skin exposed to put makeup on. It makes sense IG, as what dark elf wouldn't want to hide from the sun, much like the bedoins and such wrap their faces in the desert.

I've actually been looking at full silicone masks online for my dark elf. After 15 years, I'm getting a little tired of makeup. They are EXPENSIVE however, running around $500.

Scott
 
I have a process that has served me well in all climates. Here is the order and process I use to apply make-up.

1. Hair, eyebrows, and facial hair when applicable. I use white cream make-up mixed in with hair gel for my hair. I also use the cream for my eyebrows and facial hair. I then use white spray for the hair on my head to get that extra white.

2. After that I use black cake make-up for my skin (Ben Nye or Mehron).

3. I use black liquid eyeliner for my lips. It won't sweat off, but eating will cause it to come off.

4. I then use a generous layer of black charcoal powder over all the black areas. After this there should be no thin areas of black.

5. To finish up I usually go over with at least 2 coats minimum of white rain hair spray to seal everything.

It has been my experience that my make-up stays on even through sweat. I have even been outside in a outright downpour and my make-up did not come off. The hair will be the first thing to go when it rains so I recommend a cowl. Hope this helps
 
jpariury said:
Vhossek said:
1. Hair, eyebrows, and facial hair when applicable. I use white cream make-up mixed in with hair gel for my hair.
I can't believe I've never heard of or thought of this. I may need to try it out some event.

Great adaptation. I have a general makeup question to a couple of friends from high school right now. They both work in stage productions in NY.
 
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