Traditional Elizabethan Look and Blanking out the Eyebrows

When trying to recreate an Elizabethan make-up, a key thing to remember is that the women would try to disguise their eyebrows to make their foreheads appear higher aswell as shaving their hairlines as a high forehead was a sign of nobility and wealth.  

To blank out the eyebrows you can use two methods and both will work well but choose the method that works best for you. 

What you will need: 

Bowl 

Warm Water 

Soap 

Brushes 

Blusher Palette 

Supra colour pallete 

Primer 

White Illamasqua Foundation 

Disposable mascara brushes 

Angled Brush 

Tiny bit of tint on the lips 

Powder- Setting powder 

Pritt Stick 

Pritt stick is super smooth to use and is quite shiny so needs to be powdered as it will show up in photography. The powder gives the brows a look of 'real skin' and that's the effect you require when blanking out the eyebrows. 

1. First take a small amount of glue onto a spatula, ask the model to close their eyes and using a sponge work the glue into the eyebrow going against the direction of the hair to begin with. This is to ensure all of the brow is covered and that the hairs will flatten. (You will need to work quite quickly as the glue will dry and it will be a lot harder to create a smooth look. 

2. Carry on working the glue into the eyebrows and smooth down any edges with your finger and press down. 

3. When you feel that the hairs are flattened and you have done enough layers pat on some powder lightly with a small puff before it dries. 

Soap 

Soap can be a great way of flattening the brows and if your model has sensitive skin you may wish to use sensitive, I scented soap (prepare beforehand). Soap is a good product to use as it doesn't dry as quickly as pritt stick so is easier to work with.

1. Take a small amounf of soap and create a paste with a small amount of water on the back of your hand or on a pallete. 

2. Ask your model to close their eyes and with the product into the eyebrows, again going against the direction of the hairs. 

3. Start to use the brush the other way and with your finger smooth down any edges and press down. 

4. With a wet baby bud, go around to take off any excess product, pressing hard to get rid of any texture. 

5. Let the soap dry (do not add powder) 

(use grease over the top when using soap) 

Base

1. For the base first apply your primer as normal all over the skin. 

2. Next take a small amount of the white illamasqua foundation and work it into the skin either with a sponge or a brush. (I found I liked using a brush for the first application and a sponge to perfect afterwards) 

3. Take the white foundation onto the ears and down the neck as these would be on show. 

4. Finish with a setting powder when all skin is covered. 

5. Elizabethans would have had a slight pink on their cheeks so apply your blusher to the apples of the cheeks only. 

 

Lips 

1. Only a slight colour would have been used on the lips in Elizabethan times so a berry shade lightly applied to the lips would be perfect for this look. 

Eyes 

1. Use your disposable mascara wand and work a white mascara or white grease based product lightly through the top and bottom lashes to disguise the natural darkness of the lashes wiggling your brush to get right to the root. 

Here are some pictures of my Traditional Elizabethan look: 

I found the base quite difficult at first as it didn't blend as I wanted it to, but as I got used to the product I found a way to blend it nicely. The brows could do with another layer of soap to flatten them and another layer of foundation also to cover them effectively. The eyes for this look I found were too dark as the lashes weren't covered enough so that is something I would change for a traditional Elizabethan look but I quite liked the berry colour that I used on the lips and the kryolan blusher as it's quite natural and Elizabethan.