Makeup in Film: Katniss Everdeen

There's no denying that the series that I've missed writing the most, over the past few months, has been the Makeup in Film series, so I am over the moon to be writing this one which I've been meaning to put together since I first saw the film (yeah, I've seen it twice!), so without further ado, here we go:

I've done a makeup in film post for Katniss before, back in March 2012, to coincide with the release of the first Hunger Games film, however, that post concentrated more on Jennifer Lawrence, so this time around I really want to focus solely on the character and how much she has changed since that first film came out.

As a character, Katniss isn't someone who you can imagine wears any makeup at all. Looking beautiful just isn't on her list of importance - behind, y'know,  staying alive!

In fact, in both films her makeup is still predominantly the same, in the sense that it is very minimalistic and looks like she isn't wearing any (even if we know that she probably is!):

However, an area that Katniss has completely changed is in regards to everything that she does relating to the Capitol, that has been created (in the film) by Cinna and his team.

In the first film, Katniss' makeup was quite simple and neutral, and at times appears to be trying to give her a look of innocence:

But, it is her Tribute makeup that really plays up that innocence with the soft skin colouring, and eye makeup that makes her eye look large, sweet and perhaps even vulnerable. Even the hair-style - in my opinion - has an air of childlike-ness to it.

Move forward to Catching Fire, and Katniss' makeup is completely different. It's gone from being minimalistic to more "full-on", first in the party scene:

And then in the Tributes Parade:

For me, Katniss' Tribute Parade makeup - and outfit - are incredibly revealing of her growth as a character, and her growing anger at both the Capitol and - probably most especially - President Snow. The makeup is very strong, bold and - in my opinion - empowering, and combined with that glare, it feels like Katniss (and Cinna), are staying "You can't control me. I'm not afraid of you any more."

For me, her Tribute Parade look is the most important one throughout the film.

Her "bridal" makeup look, I feel, is quite clever:

(if you haven't seen the film, or read the book 

and don't want spoilers,

 you might want to skip this next part!)

As everyone has seen the film knows, this outfit is to become Cinna's last defiance against the Capitol, and so much about this look is a hint of what Cinna had up his sleeve, as little things point towards birds:

• The feathers in her hair
• The wing-effect of her eyeliner, looks very much like the wings of a Mockingjay.

It is certainly a clever look.

I can imagine that the makeup artists have such an amazing time, plotting what looks Katniss could have,because there is so much room for creativity and imagination. It's just such a shame that the team did not receive an Oscar Nomination for their hard work.

Let's chat, trade tips, gossip and share 

(Go on! You don't know what you're missing!)

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Makeup in Film: Hunger Games Special: Effie's Eyelashes

First of all, apologies for this post being a whole four days later (better late than never, right?) but I wasn't happy with the images that I had, so I took the time to do them again, using a different photo-editing program and hopefully the post will be better for it :)

I hadn't intended to write another Makeup in Film blog post relating to The Hunger Games, but this was something that I just could no resist sharing because they're so damn cute!!

You might remember when I looked at Effie Trinket, I fell in love with these eyelashes:

I really should point out that I am not particularly a false eyelash wearer. I think that they can look fantastic, but I've never managed to find a pair that I felt comfortable wearing. Maybe I just need to get used to them, I'm not sure, but for these specific ones, I think I'd be willing to give it a shot.

At the time of writing my previous post, I wasn't sure if these lashes were available to buy, in the shops, so I was really happy when yesterday, a lovely reader shared a link to the Sephora website, and look what we have here:

These gorgeous lashes are made by a company called Paperself who after doing a little bit of research do some bloody amazing and creative eyelashes that really would convert anyone to giving them a try. The ones that Effie wears are called "Deer & Butterfly eyelashes", which intrigues me because even though I knew the lashes had butterflies on them, I'd completely missed the deer!

Even on the above image of the lashes, I'm finding it hard to spot the deer, and yet I can definitely see them on the images of the eyelashes where they're not being worn!

Unfortunately, the Sephora website only ships throughout the USA and Canada, so for those of us that live in the UK or anywhere outside of the USA and Canada, whilst it is great to know that it is possible to buy the eyelashes, it's no use to anyone looking to buy them, which seemed a shame. But, the information wasn't entirely useless, because at least I now knew exactly what product I was looking for, by company and my product name, so I was determined to find at least one stockist in the UK that supplied them!

So, I decided to have a look around, and this is what I found:

ASOS was the first website that I found them on, costing just £12, which I didn't think was too bad, considering how beautiful these lashes are, unfortunately, at the time of writing this, the lashes were out-of-stock, which was a little disappointing, but at least I knew for certain that the lashes were available in the UK, so I decided to continue hunting:

Also charging £12, Zuneta had also sold out of the full-size deer and butterfly lashes, however, they also sell smaller versions of the same ones, which focuses more on the butterfly and the deer antlers. Okay, so they're no the full ones, but they are still beautiful and only £10 for two pairs allowing you to create some interesting looks.

HQHair seemed to be one of the only website that still has some in stock, again for £12 and I am really tempted to pick some up!

Effie, however, wasn't the only character in The Hunger Games to be found wearing Paperself eyelashes, however. Does anyone know who, and in which scene, these beautiful lashes were worn?

Would you wear these lashes?

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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?

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Make Up in Film: Hunger Games Special: Effie Trinket

Another week down, means another week closer to the release of The Hunger Games film, and yesterday I booked tickets for the first screening in Lincoln, which I am very excited about. So, this week I decided to dedicate Makeup in Film to a character that has got to be the most interesting in terms of both makeup and fashion. I can imagine that the makeup artists (all 35 of them!!), had a complete field day with this one. And the Marketing Executives certainly have, as she has become the face of various Marketing Campaigns for the film, although perhaps most popularly as the face of the China Glaze collection of nail polishes that I've blogged about a couple of times.

That character is of course....

According to Linda Flowers, the Hunger Games' Hair Director, 450 wigs were needed to create Effie's look. And every different overall look that Effie sports, includes a completely different and matching eye makeup look. But, what a difference the overall look had on actress Elizabeth Banks, who plays the amazingly eccentric Effie Trinket:

I don't actually think that it's possible for Elizabeth Banks to look, naturally, more different to Effie. For me, she will always be best known (for now), as JD's "Baby Momma" in American Hospital Sitcom Scrubs. I honestly can't even remember her character's name, but Baby Momma just seems so apt, don't you think. Of course she's played many other roles, but for me she is Dr. Kim Briggs (yeah, I had to go look it up, but it probably wouldn't be fair to constantly refer to her previous character as Baby Momma!!)

Banks' look is very natural, and feminine and actually quite low-key. But then again, she doesn't really need that much makeup, because she is already naturally beautiful.

Effie Trinket, on the other hand, couldn't be more "un-natural" in her overall look. It's hard to know how to describe Effie's Capitol Look, other than Eccentric, Bold, Quirky, Wild and Colourful. Looking at images of Effie, such as the above one, her style is quite stylish and you can honestly imagine it fitting onto the Catwalk of any of the leading Fashion Shows across the world, which, let's be honest, are more artsy in style and appearance than any of the clothes that regular people would ever even dream of wearing.

However, look closer at her, in some of the cut scenes from the available trailers, and Effie's skin is a completely different story.

It's hard not to think that this close-up actually offers a deeper glimpse into the reality of Effie's look, than the character would care to admit. Nevertheless, Banks has commented to the media, several times, in magazines including Glamour and Total Film, regarding the pains and realities behind the seemingly stylish and perfect look.

You might think that Effie's skin is looking "rough", but that honestly is not even the half of it. Apparently, Banks used "sandpaper" on her skin, "to show that Effie has a cracked veneer, that perfection doesn't exist in the Capitol - it's actually become hideous."

This idea of faux perfection, reminds me of a scene from the 1995 film Clueless, in which Cher asks her male friend Christian if he thinks that Amber is pretty. In response, Christian describes Amber as being like "an oil painting", in that she looks great from a distance, but close up she's not that great. 

It's an interesting idea, as close-up you can see Effie's creases around her eyes and the texture of her skin seems quite revolting, in a way that ages the character significantly. And Banks even points out that she "wanted her to be tortured by her clothes", in the same way that she is tortured and manipulated by the Capitol, in the way that it controls everything about her, from her personality, to the way she looks. I guess it's kind of like saying that, that the people of the Capitol might appear to be living this life of luxury, above the other Districts, but in their own sadistic way, they are suffering just as much.

There is of course, one aspect of Effie's look, featured in the China Glaze campaign, that I absolutely love. And that has got to be those eye lashes!!

Banks' eyelashes appear to be quite light and subtle, but the addition of the false lashes to her upper lid and the outer corner of her lower lid, these really make an incredible statement. I love the fact that they have butterflies on them, and there is something so whimsical and so intriguing about them. I've seen some fairly creative lashes, in my time as a beauty blogger, but these are just so amazingly artistic. I'm not sure how much I'd like to wear them, but they look fantastic.

Effie is certainly an interesting character in so many ways. On the surface she comes across as being so superficial and annoyingly naive, however, underneath that "pretty" facade, you can just about catch a glimpse of a very vulnerable and controlled woman.

What do you think of Effie Trinket's crazy looks?

And do you think that Elizabeth Banks and the stylists and makeup artists have done a good job bringing Effie to life?

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Make Up in Film: Capitol Couture Anyone?

For the past couple of months, the Hunger Games community on Facebook has been rife with activity relating to the upcoming film (due out March 23rd!). But I don't think that anything has intrigued me more than the gradual drip-feeding of the Capitol Couture Tumblr page. 

The whole thing started in mystery, as we were given nothing more than the link to the password page. And of course, no one knew the password, so people were trying to figure it out. Eventually, we were told that the password was #LookYourBest, which brought us to this page.

Of course a few people got irritated at the idea of having to work out a password, just to come to a page where they had to sign up for something. But, I was intrigued purely because I wondered if it would hold more information on the China Glaze nail polish range, that I blogged about a while ago.

But, anyway, yesterday saw the end of the wait to see what the hell Capitol Couture was all about, and this is what we fans were treated to.

The spotlight is very much on character Effie Trinket, but I love the fact that there are elements of the real world in the film world to. For example, check out these Alexander McQueen shoes...

As well as these erm....interesting shoes...

If shoes aren't your thing, I was right to think that the China Glaze stuff would feature somewhere in here, and I wasn't disappointed, as we're given some nail tips:

Of course, considering that this is all for a film, it seems to be incredibly over-the-top, but as a beauty lover, as well as a fan of the books, I'm absolutely loving it, because it helps us to connect to the film. I just strongly hope that all this marketing on Twitter, Facebook and their various websites isn't a huge letdown but it's good that they've recognised that a great deal of their audience is so obviously female. and how many females don't love shoes and nail polish? As marketing goes, it is definitely very clever, albeit very expensive marketing!!

What do you think of this kind of marketing for a film? 

Too much, or just a bit of fun?

After all, it's only beauty products ;)

**I am in no way affiliated with the film, or any company associated with it. I'm blogging about it, because I'm a nerd, and a beauty lover, and this stuff excites me ;P**

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Hunger Games Nail Polish: It's Official!!

Just under a month ago, I wrote a post about the hoo-har revolving around a Hunger Games-inspired nail polish, that Lionsgate had threatened to pull the plug on. Just to remind you, they were alleged to look like this:

At the time, it was alleged that Lionsgate were suing the company behind China Glaze. However, thanks to the wonders of Facebook, I recently discovered that either Lionsgate have done a u-turn, or the lawsuit was a load of rubbish (I honestly haven't a clue which one it is), and the nail polish collection brought to us through a collaboration between Lionsgate and China Glaze, is very much heading in this direction.

And most importantly, I am excited about the new face that will be representing the range of polishes. Effie Trinket (eeee):

Image found on official Facebook page.

I know that she's only a fictional character, but you just know that this kind of role would be a dream come true for Effie. And she's the perfect character to use to promote the products. I've seen Effie in official film posters as well as the trailer, from which I was kind of "hmm" about Effie's overall look, but seeing it close-up in this ad, it looks amazing. I particularly love her eyelashes. You can just tell that there has been a lot of creativity with make up for this character.

She sort of reminds me of Tim Burton's Red Queen but in a much more subtle and much less severe kind of way.

Image found here.

The colours are ultimately the same, but the names are completely different, tot he idea portrayed in the original write-ups, which saw the colours being a symbol of specific things. Now, they appear to have a less obvious, and more general meaning for the film.

I'm really glad that they haven't changed the colours, because I honestly think that they all look fab. But, I preferred the original inspirations (spelling mistakes and all) for the colours, because I just felt that they better represented more specific factors and characters in the books/films.

Apparently, the polishes will be launched at the beginning of March 2012, presumably to coincide with the launch of the first film in the trilogy, and I can not wait to get my hands on these eeek!

Which colours are your favourites? I'm particularly drawn to Electrify as well as Luxe and Lush. And what do you think of using Effie Trinket to promote this line of nail polish? Corny or perfect?

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A Nearly Hungry Nail Polish...?

The Hunger Games is touted to be one of the biggest-selling films of 2012, and with a blanket of teaser posters, trailers and the placement of Districts, through the Capitol.pn website, we fans are certainly being spoilt in the marketing stakes. And if Lionsgate, the company behind this highly anticipated film had had their way, we could expect the mother of all beauty-related marketing tools to be heading in our direction, in the form of a China Glaze nail polish.

I say "if", because if the reports are true, American International Industries, who own China Glaze are planning on suing Lionsgate after the film company allegedly pulled out of the contract.

If the polishes had been released, these are what they are said to have looked like:

Image from here.

When I first heard this story yesterday, I really could not imagine what types of colours the range would have featured, but my speculation had included reds (for the flames of the fire) and golds (for the mockingjay) and dirty greys (for District 12), so I was really glad to find this picture of the collection. I was also glad to see that all of the shades, other than the red, was included, but I'm happy with the orangey shade.

I'm really hoping that Lionsgate figure stuff out with American International Industries, because I think that this China Glaze range would have been amazing, personally.

Marketing of films is always a tricky ones, firstly because you never know what is really going to do well. For example, look at the amount of hype that revolved around the making of Philip Pullman's Northern Lights (or The Golden Compass in film form!); marketing went crazy, it had a pretty amazing cast, and unfortunately, it inevitably completely panned at the box office, with plans for the second two books to be adapted apparently disappearing off the face of the planet!

However, for films that are a huge success, tie-ins can be a brilliant supplement to the overall film, as film-goers strive to have a piece of the film that they can keep.

It might seem crazy to have film tie-ins that are beauty products, but when you consider that the fans for these films are probably predominantly female, it actually makes perfect sense. Take a look at some of the other beauty-related tie-ins that we've had over the past couple of years:

Review can be found here.

What do you think of the Hunger Games nail polishes? do you hope that they'll be released? And what about beauty/film tie-ins? Are you a fan, or do you not see the point? Which ones are your favourites, and which ones do you wonder why they bothered?

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Sunday Summary 28.08.2011

What I've Been Doing this Week

Finally getting my eyes tested. That was long overdue

Helping to sort out my Aunt's house

Recovering from being ill - I hate being ill!

Reading...

Hunger by Michael Grant.
Second of the "Gone" Series.

It's taken me a fair while to read the second book in Michael Grant's Gone series, and whilst I did enjoy it, it wasn't quite as good as the first one. I think that the last quarter of the book just really seemed to drag, and i found myself getting bored and skipping paragraphs of narrative.

Now that I've finished this one, I'm a little bit undecided about whether or not to read the next book in the series: Lies. But I'll be deciding what to read tomorrow, and I'm currently not really sure what to pick up...hmmm!!

Watching...

Wilfred...the erm...dog...!!

Admittedly, I only watched this initially because Iw as curious to see what Elijah Wood is up to at the moment, but I have to say that after watching three episodes, I'm really loving this American/Australian comedy, which is simple genius. 

Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance at Reading Festival

It's now over four years since I saw My Chemical Romance live in Manchester, so it was really nice to be able to see them (on telly of course), live at the Reading Festival. It reminded me why I still consider them to be the best live act that I've so far had the opportunity to see. They really do have a great stage presence, and it made me really wish that I was there!

Listening to...

Bruno Mars - Marry You

I'm not really a fan of Bruno Mars, but I'm really loving this song. It was hard to beat, but I definitely prefer this version to the beautiful version that the cast of Glee did, although I still adore their version too!

Adele - Set Fire to the Rain

Again, I'm not really a fan of Adele's either, but after hearing this beautiful song following Misha's audition on X Factor, I have absolutely fallen in love with this track. It is gorgeous.

Madina Lake - Attics to Eden

With only two weeks to go until the release of Madina Lake's third album World War III, I've been taking the opportunity to catch up on their last album, which I'm a big fan of. Their first album wasn't really that great, in my honest opinion, but this one is absolutely perfect.

I love the creativity of Madina Lake's overall concept. And, I can't wait for their next album.

What have you been up to this week?

PS: For anyone who is interested, I also co-run an Entertainment blog, which I'd love you to check out :)

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