Geisha Makeup

I've not had a lot of traffic on these pages, but I did get a couple of requests for information on Geisha makeup.

Some of the makeup is highly specialized, but if you are doing cosplay or theatre, you can make do with what you've got available.

This is an instruction page from a manufacturer of cosmetics, in English no less.

My Kimono Sensei, Eiko-san, uses colors to better suit Gaijiin coloring (red next to my green eyes looks awful, but pink or even orange will work) and making subtle adjustments for impact. Eiko-san says the dark hair and dark eyes of Japanese people are brought out by the white makeup. The darkness of the hair and eyes serves as a foil for the white-face makeup, something that goes lacking for those of us with green or blue eyes. So if you have lighter eyes, you may need to use a slightly darker lipstick or perhaps draw heavier or darker brows. The changes will/should be subtle but it is enough to get a nice end result without deviating too far from the "traditional" look.

Of course, you can damn tradition all to hell and just do "Fresh Outta Harajuku", too.

I'm going to try to begin with regular postings once more, and hopefully, I'll get some pictures up and cross-post them to flickr.