Makeup in Film: Hunger Games Special: Katniss Everdeen

Week Three of our Hunger Games Makeup in Film Special, and another week closer to being able to finally see this film. I believe that tonight sees the premiere over the other side of the pond, in America, with the European Premiere taking place this Wednesday, at the O2 Arena, in London. It's funny, because I'm not really that interested in premieres, but if I could go to any premiere I wanted, it would definitely be this one.

I'd initially intended to save this feature for last (next week), but I changed my mind, at the last minute and opted to do this one, this week instead, purely because I'm not really sure who to focus on for the fourth feature in this series. But, here it is:

I feel quite lucky, in that when I read the books, by Suzanne Collins, I already knew who had been cast in the most predominant roles (Katniss, Peeta and Gale essentially), so when I was reading it, I found that I was imagining those actors when I was reading about their respective characters. For that reason, I've never had any issues with the casting of Jennifer Lawrence, in the role of Katniss. I know that quite a few fans had "better" ideas, including Kaya Scodelario (Effy, in E4's Skins) amongst other, and a few even had problems with the fact that Lawrence naturally has blonde hair (ever heard of hair dye, people). But, I feel quite glad that I had no preconceptions and I honestly do feel that she is the perfect casting. Not only because I knew of her, before I'd read the books, but because she is a great actress who had proven (in The Winter's Bone) that she can handle the grit necessary for a role like this.

I think that almost every girl has a famous female who they consider to be their "girl crush", and I will not deny that Jennifer Lawrence is currently leading the way, alongside Zooey Deschanel for me. Jennifer Lawrence just has this cuteness about her, that is absolutely adorable, and yet the roles that she plays are far from the cute girl-next-door type that you might expect her to play. In fact, her roles so far have been quite edgy.

I recently picked up the April issue of Glamour Magazine, because I wanted to try the free Hydrating Conditioner that came with it, and I noticed that there were several different covers, all of which featured the incredible Lawrence. However, it was this one that I ended up picking up, whether that was down to the product I wanted, or whether it was completely random, I haven't a clue, but my god, she looks absolutely incredible in this image:

I believe that the outfit (can you class this as an outfit?? It looks like a Swimming Costume, but I really don't think that was designed to go anywhere near a swimming pool!), is Prada, but I'm not 100% certain on that, so don't sue me!! But, whatever it is, it is the perfect "outfit" to show off Lawrence's absolutely incredible figure. If I had to say that I dreamt of being any body shape, it would be this one, and Lawrence looks beautiful in it, as she shows that curves can be beautiful. And Lawrence is definitely stunning.

This is going to sound incredibly strange, but I hope that some of you will understand what I mean. But, whenever I see images similar to the one above, I honestly do not see Jennifer Lawrence. I can only assume that it's the different hair colour, as well as the being stripped of the makeup that Lawrence typically wears, but all I see is Katniss. For me, I'm looking at Katniss Everdeen, as if inside my head she is a real person, who just happens to look a little bit like Jennifer Lawrence. But honestly, put a picture of blonde stunner Jennifer Lawrence, beside rougher-looking brunette Katniss Everdeen and I see two completely different people.

I really want to say that this is down to Lawrence's incredible Chameleon-esque acting skills, but I haven't had chance to see her properly, in this role to entirely judge. I honestly think that it's all down to the Katniss transformation. And that in itself is kinda crazy, because other than the hair colour, the makeup artists haven't really changed that much of her. Respectively, Katniss is the complete opposite of Elizabeth Banks' Effie Trinket, who underwent everything from huge coloured wigs, to sandpapering her skin and amazing false eye lashes to create her look. Instead, Lawrence was practically stripped (almost) all of her makeup to become Katniss and she sort of had what we could consider a "make under" for this role.

So yes, I'm not going to deny that I am in love with Jennifer Lawrence. If I could trade figures and looks with anyone, it would most definitely be her, because she always looks so bloody fantastic.

What do you think of the transformation of Jennifer Lawrence into Katniss?

Readers of the books: Airbrushing aside, is Katniss what you expected her to be, appearance-wise?