(This post is longer than my usual posts 🙂 If you want to download this book in PDF format so you can add to your dance resource collection, click here.)
It’s November and… Christmas events are coming up!
As you work on your funky Christmas pieces to perform this year, I wanted to share some great beauty articles with you!
But first, let me tell you my makeup failure story…
My Stage Makeup Failure Story
A few years ago, I had an opportunity to dance at an event as part of my instructors’ student troupe.
So there I was, at the backstage, squeezing myself and my little suitcase into a corner of the change room. I was frantically putting on my costume and making sure I had everything I needed. I had done my hair and makeup before coming to the event, so I just touched up a little bit, and I decided to focus on relaxing and breathe.
That was when my instructor at the time came to me and said that I needed to put on more makeup.
“You need something darker here, and darker there… it looks like a normal makeup.”
I had no idea what she was talking about. Darker where and what!? I dug through my bag and found my eyeshadow, and started to just put on more of everything. Then I showed my face to my instructor.
“No… put on more.”
I started to panic. I had to go out there and perform in a few minutes, but I had no idea what to do. More of what!? After that was a blur. My troupemate helped me put on more eyeshadow, and finally the instructor said it was okay.
But the worst part of it wasn’t that I panicked before performance.
For me, the worst part was that I did NOT feel beautiful on stage.
It’s really not a good feeling when people look at your face and tell you it’s not good enough.
(I know the instructor didn’t mean my face wasn’t good enough, and she only meant that my makeup wasn’t good enough… but at the time, both felt like the same thing.)
Not only that, I just felt so much stress and all the joy and excitement of performance was gone.
I didn’t share this story to make you feel sorry for me. In fact, I’m grateful that this event happened, because I researched and studied ways to do stage makeup so much afterward. But I don’t want you to go through this kind of experience to learn stage makeup. 🙂
My purpose for Sparkly Belly is to empower dancers and help them feel confident and beautiful on stage. So here I want to share with you my knowledge and materials related to stage makeup in a book format. In this book, you’ll learn everything you need to know about doing stage makeup for your next performance.
Introducing: Belly Dance Beauty Book – Tips and Tutorials from Experienced Dancers & Make Up Professionals
Introduction: For very beginners…
Don’t wear makeup on a daily basis? No problem, but you will want to put on makeup for performance, because as a performer, you are entertaining your audience with the overall look. For them to recognize you as a belly dancer, you have to look like one first!
Belly Dance Make Up for the Ultra Beginner
A good, encouraging introduction to stage makeup for belly dancers by Jade.
Chapter 1: Foundation
To begin your makeup, you want to create a nice clean canvas to work on, and foundation helps you do just that! Having a nice, smooth skin makes your makeup look much more professional.
How to Find the Right Shade of Foundation
A really great video by professional makeup artist, Lisa Eldridge. Great practical ways to understand your skin tone and find the right shade of foundation.
Basic Makeup Techniques for Dancers of Color
An amazing post about picking makeup colours for your skin tone by Christine Millan.
Chapter 2: Highlight & Contouring and Cheeks
This may be one of the most important (but often neglected) subjects when it comes to stage makeup.
Highlighting and contouring always come in a pair because they are literally light and shadow. Because the stage lights are very strong, they tend to wash away all your facial features. So it’s important that you recreate the features with makeup.
Alizarin’s Easy Belly Dance Eye Makeup
Great instruction on contouring eyes with pretty drawings by Alizarin.
Makeup Hacks: 4 Pro Tips for Belly Dancers
A nice, simple tip on contouring your cheeks. This post also gives other good tips on eyes and lips.
Ballet Makeup: Contour and Highlight for the Stage
See all of the above in action! This great video shows you how to do contour and highlight so even the audience in the back row will still see your facial expressions.
Chapter 3: Eye Makeup
I love eye makeup! And this is where you create the dramatic look that your audience is waiting to see.
Dramatic Sparkly Arabian Smokey Eye Makeup
There are tons of similar tutorials out there, but I picked this one because this look can be used to match costumes of any colours 🙂
Smokey Eye Prom Makeup Tutorial
For Asian eyes… I love this video, because it shows how to make your eyes larger for those of you who have flat “Asian” eyelids with no defined creases. I use the technique shown here as a basis of my eye makeup – the use of creamy shadow and adding powder shadow really intensifies the colour. Then add more colours above and out for stage makeup 🙂
Girls in da Hood: Eye Make Up for Deep Set, Hooded Eyes
A great article from one of my favourite belly dancer bloggers, Princess Farhana! Tips on stage makeup for hooded eyes. Useful tips on false lashes.
Paint It Black: Make Up Tips and Tricks For Femme Fatales
Another great article from Princess Farhana’s blog! Eye makeup using black. I apply my makeup a similar way. Start with black eye shadow then move up with other colours and create gradation.
Best Black Eyeliner for Dancers
This is a post I wrote a long time ago on my other blog, where I recommend my favourite eyeliners. Also the eye shadow primer mentioned here is excellent!
Chapter 4: Lips
The picture above is my favourite lipstick right now. It’s by Bite, and their lip sticks are made from food grade ingredients. In the past, I was always wondering how much of the lip stick I was actually “eating”, and this one makes me feel more at ease. It does not make my lips dry either, and yet it lasts a long time. The vibrant pink lip stick I’m wearing is called Palomino.
Illusions of Grandeur: Fabulous Hacks for Costuming and Stage Make up
Great tip on picking the right lip colour, in addition to blush & eye makeup tips and costuming tips! Another great post by Princess Farhana.
Red lip sticks are essential in your stage make up bag. An useful video with practical tips on finding the right shade of wine red lipstick.
Chapter 5: Waterproof, sweatproof, smudgeproof…Perfect makeup before/during/after performance
You don’t want your make up to start melting while you are up on stage. The only way to find out what product works for your skin and lasts long is try them all, but here are great recommendations from experienced dancers.
No sweat, huh? Making Belly Dance Stage Makeup Last
This is another one of my favourite belly dance blog by Mahin! Sign up for her newsletter if you haven’t already. This post shows Mahin’s great recommendations on long lasting makeup products
5 Ways to Use Your Makeup Setting Sprays
This video was shared in Mahin’s newsletter just this morning, and I had to squeeze it in this Beauty Book. 5 great ways to use makeup setting sprays for longer lasting makeup.
The Belly Dance Makeup Kit by Mellilah
Great recommendations for creating a comprehensive stage makeup kit!
Bonus Chapter: Stage Makeup vs Gig Makeup
What is the difference between stage makeup and gig makeup? What is “too much”, and what is “too little”?
Belly Dance Gig Make Up vs Stage Make Up
Victoria shows how she does her gig make up and stage make up. Great comparison, and useful tips!
Do you know any other good materials on stage makeup? Share in the comment section below 🙂
Hope this book helps you do even better makeup for the next performance, and feel beautiful on stage! I think learning to do makeup is really learning more about your own face and loving it for what it is. So don’t be shy, sit in a comfy couch with a mirror, and just examine your own face in the mirror. And try and practice the tips you found in this book 🙂
If you liked the book, share it with you classmates/dancer friends!
Do you want to keep this book in your dance resource collection? Download the PDF version by signing up for the Sparkly Belly newsletter 🙂
Click here to get the PDF copy of Belly Dance Beauty Book for free 🙂
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