CREDIT: DKSAMCO/THINKSTOCK
Cosplay is beautifully enhanced with coloured contacts and out-of-thisworld hair colour.

Cosplay is an amazing way to test not only your makeup skills but your creativity and how well you can put a character together. Some of the makeup can be very extreme, which you can improvise using eye shadows and lipsticks or you can invest in professional products such as Ben Nye or Kryolan.

The most difficult part to creating a cosplay look is that most are inspired by 2D characters, so you need to bring them to life on a 3D canvas: you.

A very important step is contouring the face to create a shape similar to the one of your desired character. If your character is more of a beauty look, then normal contouring (hollows of cheek, jaw line, sides of nose, etc.) with a powder is acceptable. However, if it is more of a creature, using cream products will create a stronger contour to change the appearance of your face shape. Using browns that have a cool undertone are the best when it comes to shaping the face.

If your cosplay character has a very extreme, fantasy look, you may need to change your entire skin colour (even to blues, purples etc.) In that case you have a few options.

You can use a cream based product, which will be very blendable and easy to apply, but the downside to this option is that it can smudge very easily so liberally powdering it is a must.

Another option is to use a watercolour, which will last longer, however, it can be a bit more difficult to get the application technique down. The ratio of water to paint is very important, and stippling will build the colour without wiping other colour off. If your budget is tight, you can always change the colour of the skin by using an eye shadow. This will take much longer as you will have to build up the colour to get the proper pigmentation and to make it not look blotchy.

Another important aspect to a cosplay character is the hair colour. You may have to alter your hair colour from blonde to black or go to the extreme of a neon pigment. If you are really dedicated to your look you can always dye your hair to the desired colour. Brands such as Manic Panic, Special Effects and Punky Colour are great for achieving bright neon colours. If you want something more temporary, you can always use coloured hair sprays. The only down side to these is that they can bleed if you start to perspire, and they aren’t very mouldable once they are in the hair so you need to make sure you have your hair styled before you put the colour hairspray in.

Finally, I would recommend getting coloured contacts to complete your cosplay look. It takes the humanoid factor out of the character and makes it look more fantasy. If you have any specific questions for your cosplay character, please email me at thebeautyboys@gmail.com