One way to learn about highlights and shadows in makeup is through trying a grayscale makeup. Monochrome makeup looks easy, but making something like grayscale makeup look believable is pretty detailed. Let’s dive into making a grayscale makeup look like it popped straight out of a black-and-white film
What is Grayscale Makeup?
Grayscale makeup is a monochrome makeup look. Monochrome means one (-mono) color (-chrome). Any time you’re creating a monochrome makeup look you are using one color of varying shades.
In this case, to create a grayscale makeup you would need to use different shades of grey to create highlights and shadows.
Let me remind you of what I mean by highlights and shadows. We need to create depth to make our makeup look 3D. Otherwise, using one shade of gray would make for a flat looking makeup.
Highlights and Shadows are the Keys
Today.com did a short tutorial on creating a grayscale makeup that included a really good tip.
Jamie Stone says to take a selfie and convert it into a black and white pic. This will give you a perfect idea of where you should highlight your face and where to create shadows.
Look at the picture above. The three shades of foundation look like they’re all one color, but you’d see in the color version that they are indeed three separate shades.
With a monochrome makeup look you only need to add white to lighten your base and black darken.
Tutorials
Here are some tutorials for creating a grayscale makeup to look like you came out of a black and white photo.
1920s Grayscale Makeup
In this first tutorial, Brianna Fox takes us to the 1920s with a winged eye and a beauty mark. She uses a personalized mixture of black and grey greasepaints to create her gray skin tone.
Black & White Makeup
Sharon Farrell’s tutorial for Grayscale Makeup adds more tips for creating the perfect black and white makeup. One tip she gave was buying gray instead of mixing your own colors. It saves time.
Great Gatsby Grayscale Makeup
This last tutorial gives great insight on how to highlight and contour a grayscale makeup look. The transformation is amazing! She also offers some insight on what makeup was actually like in the 1920s.
Give it a try!
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