Lots of color equals beauty? Who made that one up? It’s not the colors, but the nuances that count. We took a look over make-up artist Stefanie Ziegler-Martin’s shoulder at the E.T.A Hoffmann Theater in Bamberg, Germany, as she wielded her make-up brushes amid colorful make-up pots.
Text: Julia Lutzeyer • Photos: Michael Gernhuber
Better than any cosmetic surgery: the interplay of light and dark
It’s just as exciting in the belly of the E.T.A Hoffmann Theater in Bamberg as it is on stage, only a bit more cramped. High up on the third floor, past the clothes racks hung with bright costumes, a long corridor, snatches of words from rehearsals. A door swings open: “Hello, I’m Stefanie.” I have now entered make-up artist Stefanie Ziegler-Martin’s realm: false beards, latex masks, wigs, hairpieces, wall mirrors everywhere, make-up spaces and an arsenal of brushes – fine and broad – cosmetic sponges, hair grips, powder pots and make-up palettes. Characters, personality types come to life here in the make-up room.
Mirror, mirror on the wall … finer nose, daintier chin, that’s how princesses are made – or wicked queens.
Stefanie’s next job: Renate.
The young actor is not long out of bed. She has dark-brown eyebrows, slightly blotchy skin and a few small zits. A lip piercing emphasizes her laid-back look. Less than an hour later, the sassy girl has disappeared. Stefanie’s brushes and powders have transformed Renate into an elegant lady, radiant with feminine grace. “A good make-up job makes a person straighten up, sit more erect,” says Stefanie. Renate puts it like this: “It gradually gets me into my role.” It’s good for the soul: Make-up gives people character.
Stefanie and her brushes are veritable transformation artists. First she winds Renate’s hair off her face and onto curlers. Then it’s the turn of sponge, brushes and make-up pots. With dabs and strokes, she distributes the make-up from forehead and cheeks, down the face, letting it fade out on the neck. Excess color disappears. “I just turn the sponge over and use it as an eraser,” says the make-up pro.
Too much make-up is like a scratch card. You never know what’s underneath.
Making the nose appear finer and the chin daintier is a breeze for Stefanie: “I use light shading on raised areas, like the bridge of the nose and the cheeks, and dark shading in the hollows.” She works swiftly, the brush is her magic wand. The matte brown on both sides of the nasal root, the top of Renate’s nose, evaporates into shadow. “Doing make-up is like sketching with light and dark.” It’s the same for the eye area. Color is used only to accentuate. Stefanie picks magenta. The cool pink on Renate’s eyelids make her brown doe eyes shine. “I would never have thought to use that color eye shadow,” says Renate, amazed.
The make-up artist’s gaze moves constantly back to the mirror, where it lingers on Renate’s face. “This is how I check my work from a distance.” Renate nods appreciatively. She likes what she sees in the mirror: a glamorous hairstyle, elegant, feminine contours. The look is just perfect for her role. Let the play begin.
Tips for getting the make-up just right
The best foundation for make-up is skin that’s well looked after. A gentle exfoliating scrub, like JAFRA Beauty Dynamics, for instance, removes dry skin cells. Apply moisturizing cream to the face 30 minutes before making up to allow sufficient time for the skin to absorb the cream.
Light colors lend a fresh touch. To put it another way: Less color is often more. A lighter eye area, made up with the soft shades of the JAFRA powder eyeshadow trios The Nudes or Romance, lend radiance even to more mature faces. Instead of a dark eye shadow, use eyeliner to create the necessary contour. With its flexible tip, the JAFRA Inkwell Eyeliner, available in the shades Coffee and Onyx, traces a liquid line above or below the eyelashes that dries quickly and neither fades nor smudges. Matte pigments are less prone to becoming lodged in tiny wrinkles than glitter particles.
The best way to find out which shades of the JAFRA foundations from the JAFRA Beauty and JAFRA Royal Jelly series best suit your complexion is to test them on your neck. The back of your hand is not so good for this because the skin there is usually darker and has a different structure from the face’s far more delicate skin.
Important to bear in mind when it comes to lipstick: The darker and more opaque the color, the more mature a woman looks. While it’s fine for young women to go for very matte lipsticks, older women are better advised to use a tinted lip gloss. Whether it’s JAFRA long wear lip gloss or the luxe shine lip gloss with nutritious Royal Jelly, the nuances spanning nude shades to plum red create a beguiling brilliance and provide the right color for every age.
