Light Side vs. Dark Side: Star Wars Makeup for The Force Awakens

Who’s got tickets to Star Wars: The Force Awakens? I’m lucky enough that the comic shop I currently work at got to be a part of a pre-premiere event at a local theater. This means that I got early tickets to go see the new movie. I’m the hero of my apartment because I got my two roommates tickets as well! Even before I got these tickets. though, I had already planned to do something Star Wars related for this month’s Beauty and the Geek column. It was an abstract idea. Originally, I was going to try out Covergirl’s Star Wars product line, but didn’t want to spend the cash on their line of—from what I’ve read—lackluster products. I’d still like to try them someday, because they’re showcasing how geek media is slowly permeating into mainstream society, which is super fun to think about.

So instead, I decided to play around with various samples I had gotten from more indie companies, along with some mainstays in my makeup bag, to create a few custom Star Wars looks that I could rock at the Star Wars: The Force Awakens premiere. Before going into it, I decided to plot out the looks I wanted to do.

Obviously, Light Side vs. Dark Side was going to be a motif, but I had to think colors. For the Light Side, I chose blue and white with shades of gold. For the Dark Side, I chose black and red and black and silver. I tried to keep the color palettes within the idea we all get when we think of the words: “Star Wars”, “Light Side,” and “Dark Side.” For example, when I think “Light Side,” I think classic Princess Leia who wears no real makeup except brown eyeliner along her inner waterlines and some lightweight mascara. I also think tans and browns because of Obi-Wan’s jedi robes and CP30, and R2-D2, who are gold, blue, and white respectively. So I chose my tools, which of course included my makeup brushes and my batches of samples and mainstays separated into color palettes based on these influences.

Make-up 101

Before we get started, begin with a full face. I always follow these steps:

  1. Moisturizer
  2. Primer
  3. Concealer
  4. Foundation

I always tell people the last two are really requirements. Most of the time, I go without concealer and foundation especially if my skin has decided to be nice and clear for a change. But for big projects like this, I like wearing my foundation and concealer. I always put on moisturizer and primer on workdays. On the weekends, if I’m not going out, I’ll forgo primer, but moisturizer is a must. It helps balance your skin—especially if you have combination skin like mine—and keeps your skin free from over oiling or drying out.

Second, I always always follow these steps when applying eye make-up:

  1. Crease
  2. Lid
  3. Inner corner
  4. Browbone

I honestly, tend to skip the browbone a lot. Highlighting the browbone had never been a big thing for me, personally, because of my eyeshape. But you don’t need to add a color there either, you can just grab a highlighter or lighter colored concealer to highlight that area. I like to color in my crease first, because it’s easier to blend the lid color in afterwards. For the inner corners of your eyes, you’ll need a small brush to really pack on the color. Tip: I find that patting your brush against your lids provides a much stronger transfer of color than sweeping does. Sweeping, I’ve found, helps blending colors in together, while patting helps to pack the color on.

I always apply eyeliner last. Since I’m still new at using liquid liner, I usually create a line with either pencil or gel liner first, then go over it with liquid liner.

 

Light Side

R2-D2’s colors are white and blue. The items used (see below): NYX’s Jumbo Eye Pencil in “Electric Blue,” NYX’s Jumbo Eye Pencil in “Milk,” Maybellinne’s Gel Liner in black, Revlon’s Colorstay Liquid Liner (not pictured), Geek Chic Comestic’s eyeshadow “The Lure” and “Ravenstag,” and House of Beauty’s Lip Hybrid in “Bayside.”

You have to use a lip brush to apply House of Beauty’s Lip Hybrids. I loathe my ELF lip brush—it was a dollar so I got what I bought—so I cleaned off a lip sponge and used that instead to apply the product. If you ever get a lipstick in a jar which is pretty popular from indie companies from what I’ve noticed, make sure you have a decent lip brush. The product won’t apply as well without one. I prefer the sponges to brushes, but they sponges are harder to clean so keep that in mind.

20151213_164125[1]

For this look I actually called on the help of my friend and roommate. This was her “light side” Star Wars. I colored her crease first with the Jumbo Eye Pencil in “Electric Blue,” then colored her lid with “Milk.” I blended it all together before creating a line across her lip with the gel liner. I went over that line with the liquid liner. Finally, I added House of Beauty’s Lip Hybrid “Bayside” to her lips. See below.

20151213_170515[1]

20151213_171115[1]
House of Beauty’s Lip Hybrid in Bayside
The second look for the Light Side was a mix of golds and browns. I wanted to channel the jedi colors of tan and brown, but also include that pop of gold that is iconic to CP30’s design. The items I used were (see below): NYX’s Jumbo Eye Pencil in “Iced Mocha,” Maybelline’s Color Tattoo in “Bare,” Revlon’s Photoready Eye Art in “100 Topaz Twinkle,” Revlon’s Colorstay Liquid Liner, and House of Beauty’s Lip Hybrid in “Treasured.”

20151213_155728[1]

20151213_162023[1]

The crease is “Iced Mocha,” while the lid is Revlon’s “Topez Twinkle” with liquid liner. I also added a little bit of glitter (not pictured here) on the crease as well for extra pop.

20151213_164241[1]
House of Beauty’s Lip Hybrid in Treasured
Note on the House of Beauty Lip Hybrids, they do transfer, but their formula is really interesting. They’re thick, creamy, and have a lot of pigmentation. I haven’t worn the samples I bought for very long however, so I can’t speak in depth on their overall lasting power, or if they dry out. Perhaps there will be a review in the future!

Dark Side

For the Dark Side, I did another two looks. The items used were (see below): I used NYX’s Jumbo Eye Pencil in “Black Bean,” Geek Chic Comestic’s Hannibal eyeshadow in “He’s Eating Them,” and Surreal Makeup’s lip gloss in “Evil Queen” (not pictured). This was a pretty simple, if heavy, look because I used “Black Bean”—and let me tell you how much I abhor saying this—for a lipstick, too. It doesn’t stick all that well, but it went on smoothly. I found that with a top layer of Evil Queen, it stood up better and added an interesting sparkle to a rather matte look.

20151213_171400[1]

In the above image, my roommate’s lid is colored with Geek Chic’s “He’s Eating Them” and the crease is in “Black Bean.” Her lips are colored with “Black Bean” and overlayed with Surreal Makeup’s “Evil Queen.”

For the second look, I went with black and silver. I stuck with “Black Bean,” but switched out “He’s Eating Them” with Surreal Makeup’s “Gunmetal” mineral eyeshadow. I also switched the lips from black to silver. To create silver lips, I used clear lip gloss and mixed it with Gun Metal. Then I used a dome brush to pat “Blind Eye” onto my lips which gave them a great metallic sheen.

20151213_175805[1]

The final looks came out like this:

Now the big question: which Star Wars makeup should I wear to the premiere?

Advertisements
Desiree Rodriguez

Desiree Rodriguez

Desiree Rodriguez is currently majoring in Converged Communications. She's a writer, geek girl, and proud queer mestiza woman. Desiree is an entertainment writer for The Tempest, and contributor for Nerds of Color. Desiree has written for The Young Folks, The Feminist Wire, and Geeked Out Nation.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Close
Menu
WP Twitter Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com