WOUNDS

*warning* post contains blood

Day 2 of 7 Days of Halloween

I was afraid I was going to be late with this post and it's only Day 2 - how unorganised am I? This post is mainly me just messing about with liquid latex. I have done a few bits before but with no focus, really. I love bloody, gory, disgusting looking SFX, so I wanted to dip my toe into that side of makeup. I've watched loads of tutorials and how-tos, but you can only really learn by getting stuck in. I learnt a few tricks simply by experimenting and I am actually quite pleased with how they turned out.

SPLIT SKIN

I was so eager to try this one out, and I think I did well, except I perhaps should of used less tissue and a different one. It hasn't happened before, but you can clearly see the texture of it. I can't tell if it was the tissue or the top layer of the liquid was too thin. Everything else, I thought, was pretty good though.

I layered liquid latex (I use Smiffy's liquid latex) and single ply bits of tissue about 4 times. I tried to make sure all the edges blended into the skin. I left it to dry fully and applied 2 layers of foundation. I added just a touch of colour using my Morphe Brushes 35OM palette, marked out where I was going to make my slit. Using some small nail scissors and tweezers, I cut down the slit quite jaggedly and pulled at the edges with tweezers to make it more realistic. Colouring in the inside with black face paint, which I used this Snazaroo face paint pack for, gives the cut definition and dimension. Using the same face paints, I only used a tiny bit of water for the red paint to make it thicker an added it on and around the tears so it looks freshly cut. Taking my Morphe palette again, I added in some browns and reds around the slit and surrounding skin until I was happy with the look. I popped some Snazaroo gel blood in the split and let it seep out, whilst dabbing blobs around to look a bit splattered.

BITE

This bite is very similar to the split skin, but I just absolutely love the look of it and wanted to try this out for myself. I decided to not use tissue for this one, I used a lot of layers of liquid latex instead and found this made it look much better plus it was much easier to work with. The only downside is I did keep catching my boyfriends actual skin beneath whilst cutting the holes, luckily he's a good sport and didn't complain too much! But, this is definitely something to be careful of. I built up the layers of liquid latex slowly, by using thin layers. I spread these thin layers wider than I needed to ensure a smooth blend into the actual skin. After I was satisfied with the blend, I started to concentrate the liquid latex in the middle of the two U shapes with thicker layers, so I had enough to play with. Once all the liquid latex was dry, I used one layer of foundation to blend it into the skin. I marked out the position of the bites so they were even. I tore holes just like I split the skin in the previous one, with small nail scissors and the end of a makeup brush to stretch the holes out a bit. This was a little trickier as I had to make sure I didn't tear the liquid latex due to the holes being close and small together, whilst trying to stretch the skin around the hole. As you can probably tell, I messed up a tiny bit on the bottom right hole, but what I've learnt about these bloody,. gory SFX, it can be fixed by being covered in blood! I used black face paint inside the holes, again, to create definition and dimension. Using the same colours as before, from my Morphe 35OM palette, I created a bruised, bloody effect on the inside of the bite. I mainly used red shades and spread gel blood around the edges. I flooded the holes with just a bit of gel blood to ensure it didn't overspill too much and disguise the holes.

MOULDY HAND

I actually did this mouldy look about a month ago, it was the first mould I did with liquid latex and I'm still pretty damn proud of it. I used cotton wool in place of tissue to create the lumps and bumps. I covered the area in liquid latex first, then pulled apart a cotton pad and pressed the inside side down for a few seconds. I started to then dab it to create an uneven surface. Using my finger I rolled a few bits of the cotton around to create a few lumps and bumps, and moved my hand around to stretch the liquid latex a bit to make grooves and that created the wrinkles. I added one more layer of liquid latex and rearranged the lumps and bumps whilst it was still wet and then left to dry. For the colour, I chose to use my LaRoc Eyeshadow Palette simply because there is a great range of greens and browns to create the mouldy effect. I used browns around some bumps to create definition and used different shades of green all over to make it more realistic.

This look is pretty simple and very versatile. If you were to use shades of reds it could pass as scarring or burns, too. You can also layer up some more cotton wool to create more lumps and bumps for a bigger effect.

I am a beginner at using liquid latex, but I think I done a pretty good job, do you think? Do you like or do SFX makeup? What's your favourite type? Let me know!