Dictionary practical - Creating a makeup design from a word.

I chose the word ' Serendipity'. The meaning of Serendipity is; The chance occurrence of events in a beneficial way.
I found this word really interesting to work with and as soon as I heard the word and understood the meaning, visually I kept imagining numerous layers of the skin being flaked, removed, and shed similar to a snake each time revealing a new beautiful skin/ coating. 

In terms of creating a make-up look for this word symbolically, I think the make-up design could symbolise something 'bittersweet' about the character that wears it. If my word was a make-up design or a piece of art work being observed I would want my character to communicate that her the unluckiness and difficult experiences in her lifetime have done nothing to her pride, spirit and positivity and because of this she has been blessed by some superior spiritual Gods that decide to show her mercy for never losing faith, resulting in her receiving a new beautiful skin each time she battles something rough.

As my makeup design is layered, this made me think of Snakes and their beautiful snake skin, commonly used in High Fashion clothing collections and accessories. Although this is considered fairly inhumane by some in society and normal/luxurious to others in society, I always wonder what If something ridiculous, theatrical and bold could become the new trend, just like the Serendipity make-up look. Imagine that, people walking around with flaking Snake skin on their faces just to follow the trends of fashion gods.

Something that came to mind whilst I was looking more into my idea of merging human skin with texture and pattern was Skin scarification. Although Skin scarification is very common this day, used by many people to decorate their bodies, I am refereeing to cultural Skin scarification used and created by hand in countries such as Africa. Scarification in certain cultures is used as a form of decoration to beautify their faces and bodies, very much how we would use fake tan and lipstick, the only difference is, their decoration is very much permanent and painful. The process of traditional skin scarification consists of cutting different shapes or patterns into the skin, different tools used created different effects to the skin, once the wound had healed the pattern would become a permanent scar on the skin. 


Here is a make-up design I created to better describe my design, using shimmer earthy tones and glitter.

Products used;
Illamasqua Liquid Metals Palette
Kryolan Supra Colour Make-up Palette
Kryolan V2  Bright eyeshadow palette
Mac mixing medium 
Mac 3D Glitter Pigment