Thread: To make-up or not to make-up?

I really don't like wearing make-up but I've been told that I don't need to be performing without it. Not because of my looks but because it's some weird unwritten rule of bellydance.

Normally, I wear make-up about once or twice a year, if at all. I don't think it does much for me because eyeshadow isn't that noticeable and foundation makes my skin dull and accentuates the fine lines. (That's without powder, too. Just a thin application of Maybelline Age Rewind foundation.)

I also try to use only organic skin and haircare products. (I haven't gotten any flack about my total lack of hair products... yet.) Then there's the fact that I sweat profusely.

Mentally, make-up is just bothersome. It irritates me that it's there and makes me very self-conscious. I seriously look forward to scrubbing my face raw.

After all the threads on here about make-up, I have to ask, is there anyone out there who DOESN'T wear make-up? Anyone?

I don't know anyone .w.: . Well, I mean, I don't know any professionals who dance without makeup. But I know many students and non-professional dancers who don't use it. Not because they don't like it, but because they're not aware of everything about beauty and costuming in bellydance...

I only wear mineral foundation on a daily basis. However, when I performed, even though I was just a student performer, I always wore at least foundation, eye shadow and lipstick. It's not just a "weird unwritten rule" it's so that your face and features can be seen by the audience. Trust me in that people can tell the difference and it does not appear professional when you go on stage without makeup.

When you're on stage or even on the floor at a restaurant, you need the make-up to "pop" your features. It also needs to be applied differently then if you were wearing street make-up since different lighting can wash you out.

Anyways, I'm certainly not a professional nor am I a make-up artist but they are here and I'm sure they'll be popping in to give you some great tips.

I don't wear make up on a daily basis, but years of performance pictures have convinced me that make up is part of my costuming- a gem dripping costume without make up just looks unbalance to me. Of course, I also am very, very pale with blonde-to-the-point-you-can't-see-them brows & lashes, so it does make a huge difference on me! I think of it as part of getting dressed up. I use Herbs of Grace mineral makeup, with ecobella mascara- works great & I actually have a lot of fun with it now! I have super sensitive eyes, & ecobella is one of the first mascaras that doesn't give me a full blown sinus reaction. Larimen is another brand that doesn't irritate, but I don't like the smell & it smudges more.

IMO, one needs makeup when performing. It's part of your costume. It looks strange and incomplete to me to wear a colorful costume (sometimes worth hundreds of dollars) and then have very "pedestrian" hair and face. Even if you're dancing in very close quarters, your features need to carry further and be more expressive and distinct than they would otherwise; you're performing, not being a regular person. Chances are, you're in some sort of situation where the lighting is dimmer than the grocery store or your kitchen, and you need makeup for your face to be seen. And if you're more than 5 feet away from your audience, you'll just disappear without a "strong" face. Of course one should adjust the makeup to the size of the venue (you would need more on the stage at Rakassah than in Uncle Joe's living room), but no matter how large or small the situation, or how fancy or casual, your makeup should reflect the rest of your outfit.

Some people are fortunate and have great hair or perfect features or skin or whatever, but it's not about that; it's about not looking washed out and "unfinished."

To me it's part of the costume. Most public performers wear makeup...actors for example so you can see their features from a distance. But i'm all for being an individual and if you don't want to wear makeup than don't. It's like wearing glasses while performing or not .. it's up to the individual. I wouldn't feel "complete" in costume with out some makeup and attention to my hair/nails etc....I think it makes for a more polished look.

Originally Posted by roguepen

I really don't like wearing make-up but I've been told that I don't need to be performing without it. Not because of my looks but because it's some weird unwritten rule of bellydance.

Normally, I wear make-up about once or twice a year, if at all. I don't think it does much for me because eyeshadow isn't that noticeable and foundation makes my skin dull and accentuates the fine lines. (That's without powder, too. Just a thin application of Maybelline Age Rewind foundation.)

I also try to use only organic skin and haircare products. (I haven't gotten any flack about my total lack of hair products... yet.) Then there's the fact that I sweat profusely.

Mentally, make-up is just bothersome. It irritates me that it's there and makes me very self-conscious. I seriously look forward to scrubbing my face raw.

After all the threads on here about make-up, I have to ask, is there anyone out there who DOESN'T wear make-up? Anyone?

It sometimes feels funny to wear makeup if you're not used to it. I rarely wore it for years and years, now I wear it almost every day because my skin looks so bad (due to topical medicines and accumlated sun exposure).

Just so you know, while you are performing, generally people won't be close enough to you to tell that the foundation accentuates wrinkles...they will only see that it evens out your skin tone. If you can't wait to get it off after dancing, then go ahead and take it off right away with a baby wipe or something. You don't have to scrub it off, just swipe most of it off. I promise that the smoky remains of eye makeup and rosy lips look fine, as long as you've swiped in the right direction.

But really, a little bit of eye makeup and lipstick helps a lot. It helps the audience to see your face at a distance with the same detail that they would see it close-up. If your dance costume shows any kind of skin at all, your face can probably use a little color-unification to match the more even skin tones of the rest of your body, and then the makeup highlighting your eyes, lips, and cheeks draws the audience's attention back to your face from your body. This is important because bellydance is so highly driven by personality and a connection with the audience. Modern dancers often use makeup that is not so high-contrast, because they are usually connecting with the audience in a different way, not so presentational, but I believe they usually wear makeup, too.

What Nabila said! The reason why us performers make the big bucks is because there are people out there who would pay good money to create a fantasy. Hence, our costumes, stage names and pet unicorns. You wouldn't leave home without your unicorn, so why gig without appropriate stage makeup? I'd even venture to say that a bare face and plain-Jane hair can look unprofessional.

Believe me, this was a hard lesson for me to learn as a beginning dancer. My teacher had to give me a "talk." And I knew I had to step up my game when my male friend said to me, post-show, "Don'tcha need some kohl around your eyes or something?"

As far as the complexion goes, maybe you should try a primer before you use foundation? That will help everything go on smoothly and might prevent your makeup from caking into the lines on your face.

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

As far as the complexion goes, maybe you should try a primer before you use foundation? That will help everything go on smoothly and might prevent your makeup from caking into the lines on your face.

yes! a primer with your make up should actually reduce the look of wrinkles (& I've had nasty crows feet since age 18!) some of your objections (wrinkles, eyeshadow not dark enough to make a difference) could probably be solved with a little know how & experimentation- go look up some of azhia's advice (that is, if you actually want to explore this, of course!) It is a lot more fun once you know what you're doing (more or less!)

I've experimented with the make-up I have and wasn't thrilled. I have deep-set eyes with heavy eyelashes and eyebrows and not much distance between the eye and eyebrow. (I have a feeling if I wore false eyelashes, they would just get hung up in my eyebrows.) So, the eye make-up doesn't pop. It just makes me tear up.

I'm going to look into the face primer. I have the Urban Decay eye primer and it at least helps the eye shadow blend better and come off easier, too. Or I might just do some weird kitchen experiments to figure out how to make a fixative for rice powder.

I don't think I'm ever going to have to worry about becoming a professional --- my aversion for people and general misanthropy will prevent that... and overwhelming stage fright, too. But it would be nice to know there might be one person out in Bellyland who doesn't wear make-up or at least thinks that make-up isn't a big improvement.

Originally Posted by roguepen

but because it's some weird unwritten rule of bellydance.

It's not a weird unwritten rule of belly dance. It's a general rule of stage craft and there are volumes written on the subject. ..g.:

You have to make your face visible in situations where distance and lights wash out facial features. Under stage lights, you need to wear alot of (properly applied) makeup just to look like you have a face at all.

People who don't wear everyday makeup have a much larger task of finding/testing the right products for their needs and learning to use them for performance makeup. It can seem daunting and intimidating at first, but with a little guidance you will be able to learn to enhance your face, personality, dance, and costume with the right makeup.

Originally Posted by roguepen

I have to ask, is there anyone out there who DOESN'T wear make-up? Anyone?

There is only one time that I performed without makeup. It was at an open dance event that is usually pretty sparsely-attended (both by performers and by audience members), and I was feeling kind of "meh" that day and decided that being there and dancing without makeup was better than not dancing at all. I think I might have put on a little eye shadow and lip gloss, and that was it. I wore Melodia pants and a choli top, so I figured that since I wasn't wearing a sparkly, it'd be okay.

As soon as the dancing was done, the event organizer hunted me down and sternly told me, "You need to wear more makeup. We couldn't see your lips, and it looked like you had no eyebrows." Yeah, I haven't gone without makeup since.

If makeup leaves your face feeling icky, and eye makeup makes you tear up, perhaps you'd do better with mineral makeup. Back when I used to use liquid foundations (Clinique, MAC, etc.), I hated the feeling of it, too. I couldn't wait to scrub it off because the thought of that stuff on my face made my skin crawl. But to me, wearing mineral makeup doesn't feel like anything. Some of it is actually good for your skin, such as having anti-inflammatory properties. BareMinerals' new "Matte" foundation contains their RareMinerals "Active Soil Complex," which contains an organic soil mineral concentrate. LoveMatte.com

Makeup is almost 100% necessary, if not 100% necessary, for stage work of any kind. The idea isn't that you need necessarily to be glamorous for anything on stage (for bellydance, YMMV) but that your features disappear under lights and from far away. Stage makeup often looks heavy, but try standing 30-40 feet away from someone with it. They look normal. Without it, their features disappear. If you don't feel that it is enhancing any performance stuff, perhaps it is not the right makeup or applied strongly enough.

I suggest going to a makeup counter or finding a theater makeup person in your area if you're interested in learning how to do better makeup for stage. Bare Minerals is very organic, I believe, and I hear a lot of dancers on this board use it. I'm a fan of makeup in my personal life, but it is frustrating to find the right formula.

If you're young, have very good skin and are dancing in a more up-close environment in a coin set and Persian lace skirt, with waist-length naturally corn c9oloured hair you can get away without foundation/blusher/etc. You can do the hippy chick look of just eyeliner/kohl. But it's a very specific oldfashioned look that will ONLY work for the very young and beautiful, frankly.

You need foundation and you need powder if you sweat a lot. I don't sweat a lot and I have photos of myself looking like a boiled crab without powder. Powder will feel prickly and unpleasant as your sweat attempts to break through. You can take it off right away with wipes.

But as everyone said, it's part of your costuming and that's not just when you're on a stage, either. There is no performance dance form that I can think of where makeup is optional. Have you *seen* ballroom?

Originally Posted by zumarrad

There is no performance dance form that I can think of where makeup is optional. Have you *seen* ballroom?

Ballroom dancers scare the bejebbers out of me. They look like extras from 'Rocky Horror' that didn't make it on screen because they were just a bit too scary.

Would you perform in your street clothes? Then why, would you perform in your street face?

Originally Posted by roguepen

Ballroom dancers scare the bejebbers out of me. They look like extras from 'Rocky Horror' that didn't make it on screen because they were just a bit too scary.

..l;,..l;,..l;,

That is so true!

Of course, that's when the camera gets really close . . . otherwise, all that make-up let's them be seen by the person in Row 69, seat 12. Very important.

I "grew up" in my BDing doing mostly parties and other "intimate venue" gigs. I never wore false eyelashes then, although I made up fairly heavily -- or so I thought at the time. Of course, youth has it's advantages . . .

To this day, if I'm doing a party in Aunt Sally's living room, I'll opt for heavy mascara over false eyelashes most of the time and I'll do very heavy "evening" make-up. A stage or a dimly-lit room are completely different and really need different make-up techniques.

So, can you belly dance without make-up? Of course! But I wouldn't perform without it.

Deborah

You mentioned that there was little distance between eyelash and eyebrow..........Have you thought of waxing and shaping your brows? I too have heavy eyebrows. I found that it "opened" my face more and I think you might like it. I don't wear a lot of make up either, but it made my face look different enough and "clear". Does that make sense?

Originally Posted by roguepen

Ballroom dancers scare the bejebbers out of me. They look like extras from 'Rocky Horror' that didn't make it on screen because they were just a bit too scary.

I think it was our good friend Princess Farhana who said, "If you don't look like a hooker crossed with a clown crossed with somebody who escaped from the state asylum, you're not doing your stage makeup right!" ..l;,

But seriously? I've gone out some nights and said to my boyfriend, "Jeez, I hope I wasn't too heavy-handed with the glitter eyeshadow." Then I get the pics back and look surprisingly, umm, civilized! The lighting, the distance from the crowd, and the energy you put out will all negate the Rocky Horror vibe!

Originally Posted by casbahdance

To this day, if I'm doing a party in Aunt Sally's living room, I'll opt for heavy mascara over false eyelashes most of the time and I'll do very heavy "evening" make-up. A stage or a dimly-lit room are completely different and really need different make-up techniques.

From the sound of things, the two of us must be performing in very similar settings ..g.:

One of my secret pet peeves is when dancers don't tone it down for gigging in close quarters. While you still want to amplify as much as possible for ANY public performance, you do it within parameters when dancing at events like cozy house parties. This is where knowing how to do an effective version of the nude lip, or swapping delicate Audrey Hepburn lashes for wild tarantula ones, or using a finer-grained glitter, can really help you go that extra mile.

Needless to say, I also forego the feather-tipped eyelashes and stripper glitter when dancing for Fortune 500 companies. Venue, venue, venue!!! ..l;,

Originally Posted by roguepen

Not because of my looks but because it's some weird unwritten rule of bellydance.
....I don't think it does much for me because eyeshadow isn't that noticeable and foundation makes my skin dull and accentuates the fine lines. (That's without powder, too. Just a thin application of Maybelline Age Rewind foundation.)...

Have you tried a light weight tinted moisturizer instead of a full on foundation? If your skin is fairly even this with a light dusting of loose translucent powder (maybe a dab of foundation or concealer in darker areas) may be enough.

Originally Posted by roguepen

I've experimented with the make-up I have and wasn't thrilled. I have deep-set eyes with heavy eyelashes and eyebrows and not much distance between the eye and eyebrow. (I have a feeling if I wore false eyelashes, they would just get hung up in my eyebrows.) So, the eye make-up doesn't pop. It just makes me tear up.
.....But it would be nice to know there might be one person out in Bellyland who doesn't wear make-up or at least thinks that make-up isn't a big improvement.

I have very deep set eyes as well. There are different techniques for different kind of eyes. There are TONS of youtube tutorials, BTW. Or ask a friend for some hands on help. Here's one example for deep set eyes:
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHTi0pc_K_U]YouTube - Deep Set Eyes Make Up Tutorial[/ame]
Have you ever learned about eyebrow shaping? Even doing just this will give a more polished and open look.
How to Shape Eyebrows - Step By Step Guide On How to Shape Eyebrows

If makeup isn't an improvement- then, to be blunt- it's not done properly. There is a way to enhance your features without looking like you just spackled an inch of war-paint on your face. Just like dance- applying makeup is a learned skill. Applying makeup FOR dance, is another skill on top of that.

what every poster has been saying is right!...i generally don't wear make-up for everyday, i'm frankly too lazy,and even my wonderful mineral makeup can mess with my acne if i overdo it.....for performance tho,both in theater AND BD, i never leave home without it....

cheaper makeup NEVER works, they're not highly pigmented, (most aren't) and just not designed for hard-core dancing or theater work....while an investment, make up like MAC, urban decay, smashbox are excellent cuz their colors are amazing, they tend to stay on til u take it off, and since so highly pigmented, you don't need alot, so will last forever....one investment will go a LOOOOONG way....
minerals are good, so is a silicone based line called face atalier..they don't clog pores (i sweat alot too)...azhia can tell you how to do your eyes, or better yet, invest in her DVD....it's amazing and you'll have alot of fun playing with the looks..soon enuf, makeup won't be a chore, but a fun tool :p

oh, and i agree with the assessment, no makeup with an exotic costume (even melodias and a choli) looks unbalanced,and lacks polish.....even back in olden times, when stages were lit with candles or in a square in the sun, if you're far away, you can't see one's features, especially eyes and lips, and without blush, a performer looks ill, wan and tired.....if someone is there to be entertained, they don't want to think their performer is going to pass out :p......it's not weird 'rule', it's practical, since it's a performance art, appearance is important....even ballet dancers look doll-like and weird up close, but on stage look quite lovely...that old '40 foot rule' in theater.....if it looks good to the first row, it's fine', which means that up close, it probably looks like rocky-horror meets streetwalker meets clown :p

I don't wear makeup on a daily basis anymore. I used to until about 3 years ago, and now I don't miss it. I do, however, put some on for social events and performances.

I agree with PP, cheaper brand makeups usually aren't highly pigmented and can sometimes make you feel like your putting on a bunch of junk and not looking much better.

I also agree with other posters that have said to have your eyebrows shaped and use a primer under your foundation. Also, powder shouldn't make your lines more obvious, it should 'finish' your look, so maybe you're not using the right powder as well.

As for sweating a lot, use a setting spray over your makeup after you're finished.

There is one thing I would like to point, though, that others haven't already. You say that you use makeup only once or twice a year.... Are you using new products each year, or are you re-using your year-old products? If makeup is too old, it can make a big difference on enhancing or detracting from your natural beauty.

Old makeup can also be full of germs that can also all sorts of issues, like your eye watering issue.

xodinahox said something very profound....your NATURAL beauty.....make-up, applied right, is used to enhance YOU, your natural features, not to change anythinge......blush and contours show off the unique angles of your face, even play them up if they're your best feature.....amazing, huge eyes can disappear with light lashes, heavy brows or a deep set (mine are deepset too), but even a swipe of mascara, and liner will make eyes POP, color even more so......got luscious lips? blast 'em with color :p....i know in my case, in my 20's i was against make up cuz i felt it was 'fake' or 'plastic'....what a difference when done right and helped by supportive people....now i LOVE make-up, lashes, even hair......hair is your crowning glory, so you're gonna have serious fun with that, cuz that too, needs to be coiffed and polished for effect

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

From the sound of things, the two of us must be performing in very similar settings ..g.:

One of my secret pet peeves is when dancers don't tone it down for gigging in close quarters. While you still want to amplify as much as possible for ANY public performance, you do it within parameters when dancing at events like cozy house parties. This is where knowing how to do an effective version of the nude lip, or swapping delicate Audrey Hepburn lashes for wild tarantula ones, or using a finer-grained glitter, can really help you go that extra mile.

Needless to say, I also forego the feather-tipped eyelashes and stripper glitter when dancing for Fortune 500 companies. Venue, venue, venue!!! ..l;,

YES! This is such a great point!

One way to get make-up off easily is to use olive oil. Yes, the plain old stuff in your kitchen. While I don't perform, I do wear (MAC) make-up regularly and olive oil, followed by Neutrogena cleanser is quick and easy.

On a daily basis, if I have an appointment or am going into the office, my make up is tinted moisturizer, powder, one shade of eye shadow, mascara and a little lip gloss. Depending on the colour I am wearing, might add blush.

When I go on stage, I use the drag queen rating scale as my monitor. small restaurant, someones home, just enough that people would wonder if she is a he. Club, stage, etc., Drag queens weep with joy at the amount of make up I am wearing!

It may be helpful for you to take a class on stage make up. there is nothing to say that after you perform you have to keep it on. You can simply tech it down if you want after the performance.

{{{HUGS}}}

Originally Posted by shenudance

You mentioned that there was little distance between eyelash and eyebrow..........Have you thought of waxing and shaping your brows?

I pluck on a daily basis to keep them shaped and arched. I get compliments on my eyebrows a lot. Which I still find rather weird.

I have discovered in a quick experiment today that a swish of dark brown eyeshadow with a wide brush has more of an effect than attempting to contour with three colors.