Starter Special Effects Kit!

Hey guys I thought I'd share something a little different with you today. I feel it's really important whether it's just a hobby or a career you want to go in to later in life to have a great basis of products in your starter SFX kit. Although not all of these are completely essential I believe all of them will be beneficial to you in there own way. Enjoy guys.

Liquid Latex: This is a must have in your starter kit, although its not as life like as some products it's brilliant for creating skin peel effects and can be built up using tissue in between layers of the latex to create a structure. Just be careful that someone isn't allergic to latex before you use this on them.

Mehron Synwax: Waxes are a great step up from latex and while not all that durable as they can be damaged by touch, they do allow you to quickly make raised effects that can be easily coloured and sealed. 

Silicons based modelling materials: Here I have sculpt gel from mouldlife. These are brilliant at creating a long lasting flexible structure and definitely a must have if you want a step up from latex and waxes. They usually come in two parts that are mixed together and then applied directly to the skin and then moulded from there before it cures. Some silicons, like sculpt gel, come with a third part which acts a deadener to soften the silicon mixture to give it more flexibility and you more working time with the silicon.

PPI's Skin Illustrator FX Palette: This is a palette of alcohol activated paints, although they are not completely neccesssary they are brilliant at creating long lasting colour compared to cream make up that can wear off easily. Just a warning they are also very expensive and not great for use around the eyes!

99.9% Alcohol: This alcohol is used to activate alcohol activate colours and can be used to clean small areas of skin before applying as adhesive.

PPI's Telesis Super Solv Plus: This acts a remover for adhesives and alcohol activated colours, it is very quick at removing everything and the 'Plus' version is more gentle on your skin.

Ben Nye Cream Colour Wheel: These colour wheels are brilliant for beginners as they're not too expensive and they provide you with a large amount of colours to create many different looks with. Although not as durable as alcohol activated paints, they are still brilliant for creating effects. (Master bruise wheel and Death wheel by Ben Nye photographed.)

Spirit gum and spirit gum remover: Although this isn't a serious contender when it comes to adhesives this is brilliant for beginners and it means you can adhere waxes much better to the skin. Try to aim for a matte version as this has less shine.

Bloodymarvellous Fake Blood: There are many different types of blood out there but I believe when starting off a light and dark blood are essential for you kit due to the different dimensions you can create with them. I would also suggest buying small versions in the beginning in case you don't like the texture or colour of the blood. Also try to make sure the blood can be used around and in the mouth for extra safety.

Variety of make up sponges: Pictured here are regular triangle sponges, a fake sea sponge and some stipple sponges. These are all great at creating different effects and breaking up colours so they're not so flat.

Fake Eyelashes: Although not essential they're great for finishing looks, just like contact lenses, and come in many different styles.

Metal palette: These are great for mixing different colours on and also for mixing each part of a silicon modelling material together.

Face/Eyeshadow brushes: These are great for when creating a whole looks rather than just a small cut and allow you to get detailed eyeshadow work.

Paint and SFX brushes: Theses are brillliant to use with alcohol activated and cream paints and also when using latex, waxes and silicons, as these brushed can be brought very cheaply so it doesn't matter if they get ruin by the latex, and silicons that will dry into them.

Spatulas: I forgot to photograph them sorry! BUT spatulas are esstential when working with wax and silicon as they allow you to easily blend out the edges of these materials into your own skin seamlessly.

I hope you enjoyed reading about what I think is important for you starter SFX guys and that its also helped you  to decide what products would be important for you to use in your starter SFX kit! Thanks again for reading another one of my blog posts!
Becky ox.

I Got Bitten! (Diseased Zombie Bite)

Hey guys after watching my YouTube feed fill up with tons of Halloween makeup looks, I saw a few variations on different types of zombies bites and I thought it would be really fun to create one of my own. Although I wish I'd done the bite further down as the anatomy isn't quite right with the bite being where it is, I'm still really happy with the result. Like the other looks featured on my blog, this would be perfect for Halloween (just remember a good adhesive and sealer will help it stay in place all night!). Hopefully you guys enjoy this look, and if so here's how I created it.

The Finished Look!

What You'll Need:

Mouldlife Sculpt Gel in Flesh

IPA (99.9%) Alcohol

Metal Palette/ Metal/Plastic Spatula

Skin Illustrator FX Palette

Skin Illustrator FX Palette

Bloodymarvellous Scratch Gel

Bloodymarvellous dark/light blood

Various Sponges

Step One:

Wipe the area you're going to apply the sculpt gel to with makeup remover to make sure the area is free of any dirt and oils that could effect the adhesiveness of the sculpt gel to your skin. Then mix equal amounts of part A,B and C of the sculpt gel mixture (add more of part C if you prefer a longer working time with the sculpt gel), by using a different spatula or tongue depressor for each part you take out, as cross contaminating the parts will make it so the part you contaminated will be unable to be used again. Once these have all been thoroughly mixed together, take half the mixture and apply it to the area your bite will be in a semi-circle shape, and use the sides of a spatula to blend it into the skin seamlessly. Be careful to make sure you have enough working time to get the piece looking how you want it to before it starts to cure. Then do the same on the other side, to create a bite shape outline. 

My sculpt gel started to cure before I could add the teeth marks, so I simply just mixed up a small batch of new sculpt gel and added it onto the current piece smoothing down the edges again. I did one side at a time so once all the edges have been blended on one side, take a spatula or stiff brush (make sure it's a brush that you don't care about, as the silicon will cure in it and you'll have to throw it away) that has a squared off end, and begin to push this down into the sculpt gel and then scrape away from the structure, wiping off any excess on a tissue. Repeat this on the other side until you're happy with the results. Also as this is curing tapping it with a sponge will help to reduce shine and add texture to it.

Step Two:

Next take a cup or beaker you dont care about and pour a small amount off the 99.9% alcohol into it, making sure you're in a well ventilated area. Then take several triangle sponges and pull random size pieces out of them. Then using the yellow from the skin illustrator FX palette, pour a small amount of alcohol into it and dip the sponge into the colour, making sure you only have a very lightly pigmented amount of colour on the sponge and randomly dab this around the bite. Repeat this step with the green, blue and bruise tone from the palette, concentrating the darker colours more central to the bite.

Step Four:

Then using blood tone from the skin illustrator FX palette, create a more opaque colour by using less alcohol than you used with the other colours on the arm, and paint this into the bite with a small paint brush. To build up intensity allow each layer to dry before adding another. Then take a mixture of bruise tone and black, using barely any alcohol, and apply this to the deepest parts of the teeth marks to help create depth.

Step Five: 

Using the wound filler gel in scratch from Bloodymarvellous, use this to lightly coat the whole bite.

With just the wound filler gel

Then taking the light blood from Bloodymarvellous use this to fill the bite, and then using a tissue randomly dab the colour all around the arm to create a spattered effect. Then use the dark blood to fill certain areas of the bite and lightly tissue this just around the bite.

Step Six:

To remove use a cotton pad soaked in PPI's Super Solv plus (sorry I forgot to photograph this) and wipe this over the arm, this will remove the colour, and then using another soaked cotton pad start brushing up the edges of the silicon and they will easily lift up and then carefully you can pull the whole silicon piece off. (Be warned if you are doing this on a hairy area, much more care will need to be taken with the removal as silicon sticks to the hairs and pulls at them. If this is the case use a cotton wool bud soaked in the Super Solv plus and gently work at unconnecting the hair from the appliance.) Then once the silicon appliance has been removed go over your arm with more Super Solve plus until all the colours, blood and any leftover silicon is gone. Then wash the area with soap and water and use a moisturizer if the area feels dry.

Once again guys I hope you had fun learning how to create this look, and have even more fun re-creating it. Thank you!

Becky ox

It's Just a Scratch!

Hey Guys, I was very excited this week when my Mouldlife sculpt gel arrived in the mail along with PPI's skin illustrator FX palette! So as you can imagine I had to create a look straight away, and since this was my first time using the sculpt gel I opted for just creating some large 'scratch' marks on the forearm rather than doing anything overly extravagant. Just be warned I did tell my sister that putting it on her forearm wouldn't be fun to remove as when you remove the sculpt gel from a place that has a lot of hair it tends to pull at, although I'll show you how to over come this. Again this look would be brilliant for Halloween as the sculpt is a 2 part (the 3rd part acts as a deadener) silicon mixture that cures dry and flexible, meaning unlike wax it wont be squashed easily or wear off easily.
But anyway here's the look, I hope you enjoy! 

The Finished Look! 

(p.s Sorry about the Pj's it was quite late :P)


What You'll Need:

Mould Sculpt Gel in Flesh

Mouldlife Sculpt Gel in Flesh

Mixing Palette, Metal and
Plastic Spatula

Isopropyl Alcohol (99.9%)

PPI - Skin Illustrator
 FX Palette

Isopropyl Alcohol(99.9%)

PPI - Skin Illustrator
 FX Palette

Bloodymarvellous Thick and Light blood

Various Sponges

Bloodymarvellous Wound filler
 gel in Scratch

Step One:

Pour some of the 99.9% alcohol into a cup/beaker you dont care about and then use a thin brush  (sorry I forgot to take a picutre of these, but they're ones that have been used in previous looks), and dip it into the alcohol so you're able to activate the aged blood colour from the skin illustrator palette. Make sure the brush is well coated in alcohol so the colour applied is quite transparent, if the colour is too opaque you can apply more alcohol to it to wash it out. 

Then take equal amounts of part A, B and C of the sculpt gel mixtures using a spatula or tongue decompressors if you have them. MAKE SURE you do not use the same end of the spatula or tongue decompressor to take each part of the mixtures out as, when part A and B are mixed together they cure and set, meaning if any of part A gets into B or B into A that silicon part will be ruined. Part C acts as a deadener and gives you more working time with the silicon and helps to increase the flexibility of the silicon once it has cured. Place each part out separetly on a metal palette (I used about 1gram of each part, and then applied more later to get my desired effect), then using whatever end of the spatula mix them together quickly.

Step Two:

Once the silicon parts have all been mixed apply directly to the skin over where you laid the marks earlier. Make sure to smooth out the edges to get a clean blend into the skin. You can also use a sponge as it starts to cure to help bring texture and reduce the shine of the silicon.

In this picture I added another 2 grams of each part A, B and C totaling 6 grams of the silicon mixture to help build up the edges of the silicon. Then carefully use the edge of your spatula to create the large scratches in the silicon pushing the excess silicon up towards the edges to help create more depth. Now allow the silicon to fully cure. You can speed up this process by using a hairdryer. The silicon will be cured once it is no longer tacky and has set in place.

Step Three:

Using the same cup/beaker as you used earlier to put the 99.9% alcohol in, refill this and use a thick wash of the aged blood in the Skin Illustrator FX palette to start filling in the inside of the wounds, allow each layer to dry before adding more colour to build intensity. Then using blood tone lightly wash this all over the scratches and around it blending it out with more alcohol and a sponge. Build the intensity where needed, such as the inside and perimeters of the scratch, by layering up the colour and using less alcohol. You can use a variety of different shaped brushes and sponges to create your desired effect.

Step Four:

Then take a metal spatula and use it to scrape out some of the would filler gel in scratch and apply to the inside of the scratches. (This stuff is extremely thick and I ended up having to use my fingers to get it to separate, but it creates a lovely effect when applied to the inside of the wound as it doesn't move.)

Just the wound gel added

Next take the thick blood from bloodymarvellous and apply this to the inside of the wound covering any areas where the wounder filler didn't go. Then taking the light blood apply this inside and around the scratches heavily and then use a tissue and dab the blood so only a little remains, this helps to create a splattered and messy effect.

After applying the light blood 

Step Five:

First use a pad soaked in the 99.9% alcohol and wipe this over the skin to remove the Skin Illustrator colours and blood. Then like I mentioned in the introduction since this was applied to a hairy part of the forearm it was a lot harder to get off than if it had been on smooth skin with little hair, as the silicon clings to the hair. So to remove this in the most comfortable way, using a make up glue remover such as PPI's Super Solv would be great, but unfortunately mine hadn't arrived in the mail yet so I used the 99.9% alcohol. To use this soak a cotton wool bud in the alcohol and start to carefully flick up the edges of the silicon by circling the cotton wool bud. Keep doing this and using new cotton wool buds soaked in alcohol until the whole appliance is removed, being very careful not to pull out any hairs or to pull too harshly on the silicon as it will hurt yourself or your model. Once the silicon appliance has been removed go over the area again with a pad soaked in the alcohol to remove any excess silicon or colour/blood and then wash your arm and apply moisturizer to it.

Thank you for reading this blog post guys, I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you have fun recreating the look.

Becky ox.